About the Report The Report, Part II: Review of the Re-Entry Process:

chapters and policy statements:
About the Report of the Re-Entry Council

Policy Statement 27, Research Highlight 3

Large caseloads for parole and probation officers may reduce the likelihood of enhanced attention to the health and housing needs of releasees.

Increasing caseloads and diminishing budgets for parole services across many jurisdictions may reduce the likelihood that parole and other supervision officers can expand their role to work closely with their clients and community service providers on treatment, housing, and other special needs. The average parole officer carries a caseload of about 70 parolees. [1]   As a result, parole officers see their clients about twice each month, an average of 15 minutes per visit. [2]   Probation caseloads are even larger, averaging roughly 130 probationers per officer. [3]   With such demands on the capacity of community supervision staff, the need for cooperation and coordination between the criminal justice system and community-based service providers is paramount for successful re-entry.

  1. Joan Petersilia, When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003). back
  2. Michael Tonry and Joan Petersilia (eds.), Prisons (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1999). back
  3. Camille G. Camp and George M. Camp, The Corrections Yearbook 2001 (Middletown, CT: Criminal Justice Institute, 2002). back
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