Until the 1980s, most prisoners were released after parole boards deemed them "ready," meaning the parole board believed that they were rehabilitated and/or had productive connections to the community, such as a job, a housing arrangement, and ties to family. Release decisions were therefore based on some generalized assessment regarding how a person would fare once released from prison. ^[1]   Today, that is not the case. In 1976, 65 percent of released prisoners were released by a discretionary authority, such as a parole board. ^[2]   By 2002, 16 states had abolished the discretionary parole function altogether. ^[3]   (See Appendix, Chart of Status of Parole by State, for a state-by-state itemization of releasing-authority policies.) Currently only a minority of prisoners 24 percent is released through a discretionary process. The remainder some 76 percent is released under some predetermined mechanism such as mandatory release, a split sentence, or unconditional release. ^[4]   (Trends in methods of release from prison can be seen in the table "Method of Release from State Prison, for Selected Years, 1980-99.")