In December 2015, rising rap star Meek Mill opened for Nicki Minaj at the Atlanta stop on her The Pinkprint album tour. The rapper was a budding talent in the hip-hop industry—Meek Mill was preparing to release his highly anticipated third studio album, Dreams Worth More Than Money, and was set to perform at the BET Awards the same year.
But Meek Mill failed to report these performances to his parole officer. In November of 2017, he was sentenced to two to additional four years in prison for technical violations of his parole. These “technical violations” did not involve new crimes, but rather minor infractions, such as missing a parole meeting or, like Meek Mill, failing to report travel.
One in four of the 1.9 million people incarcerated in the US within the last 20 years are in prison for technical parole violations. Parole conditions, while commonly considered a way to deter further crimes, are often so restrictive that they make technical violations inevitable. These strict conditions often keep parolees trapped within a cycle of supervision under a parole officer, a technical violation concerning one of your conditions, and imprisonment.
“What I don’t think people realize is how hard it is to make curfew if you do not have a driver’s license, especially if the only job you are able to get is inaccessible to public transportation or outside the geographic restrictions of your parole,” Ginia Bellafante, a New York Times city columnist, emphasized to The Politic. “Parolees have to keep up with these conditions while also rebuilding trust and relationships with family and loved ones.”
Almost all parolees must report to a state-appointed supervisory parole officer, pay court-ordered fines and fees, maintain a job and a permanent place of residence, submit to random drug and alcohol testing, remain within specific geographic areas, and avoid people with criminal records. In addition to these parameters, many parolees must follow additional conditions specific to their case, such as answering an alcohol-monitoring wristband or wearing an electronic surveillance device.
Parole was not always a fixture of the American criminal justice system. The practice emerged and developed in the late 19th century, with New York being the first state to administer a parole system. These systems did not emerge out of a desire to reduce incarceration; rather, an overcrowding epidemic sparked the implementation of parole policy. By 1942, the parole system had become a widespread American phenomenon, as prisons across the country attempted to offload prisoners from overcrowded facilities.
Parole emerged as a band-aid solution to the prison overcrowding issue. But in recent years, parole has become a fixture of its own. This attempt to reduce recidivism and help people adjust to life after prison has introduced inhumane hurdles to integrating back into society.
The French word parole, meaning “ a word of promise,” demonstrates the transactional thinking that still operates within the US parole system. Those who are incarcerated promise to meet certain conditions in exchange for early release that can be withdrawn based on not being able to satisfy their requirements. But parolees are also facing broken promises of protection.
Connie Utada, a senior manager with The Pew Charitable Trusts’ who researches parole policy in the US, worries that public perception of parole inhibits reform. “Individuals on supervision are often regarded as fortunate to not be in jail or prison,” Utada said. “Those conditions, and the challenges many face to comply with them, have created a cycle of correctional control that [has] transformed supervision from an alternative to incarceration to a driver of admissions to prison or jail.”
For some, parole provides a structured environment and advice-based support that helps parolees learn how to reintegrate back into society. But for most, the parole system is overregulated, making it hard for the parolee to navigate the conflicting technicalities and succeed in such an environment.
Parole has morphed since its original conception as an early removal from the prison system. Today, parole is often automatically tacked on to the end of a prison sentence, regardless of the severity of the crime. This fundamental change in the implementation of parole has exacerbated the revolving-door nature of the criminal legal system; people arrested for nonviolent or drug offenses in their youth remain entrapped in a cycle of imprisonment for decades.
The struggles of parolees are exacerbated by a judicial system that is overextended and unable to meet their needs. When people are arrested for technical violations of their parole, such as missing a meeting with their supervision officer, they often languish in pre-trial detention for several months while their sentences are paused. Dolly Prabhu, who leads the probation docket at the Abolitionist Law Center Court Watch, notes that these long wait times are a result of serious flaws within the legal system.
“A lot of public defenders are always stretched thin. Probation and parole violations are often seen low on the list, which is not at the fault of public defenders’ offices,” Prabhu said. “Many people cannot afford a private attorney, who has the time to get to know them, their story, and work on the best strategies to represent them in court.”
The disconnect between the public perception of parole and the reality of parolees’ lived experiences makes understanding and supporting reform initiatives more difficult. Many Americans believe that continued surveillance after prison release only applies to those who have committed felony-level or violent crimes.
But although parole has historically been an overlooked issue within the U.S. criminal legal system, that may be changing. National organizations such as REFORM Alliance aim to transform national parole laws, systems, and beliefs to provide alternative pathways for success after prison. Meek Mill co-chairs REFORM’s work to reform probation and parole through investing in a variety of technical violation cases and using social media to expand their message. After he was incarcerated, the #FreeMeekMill movement sparked on social media led to his release. Since then, Meek Mill has used his platform to shed light on the countless others who have struggled against these technicalities who lack the same resources and support he had.
REFORM works with bipartisan experts, system leaders, advocates, and policymakers to address the revolving door problem that has plagued the criminal justice system. They primarily work to shorten parole sentences by considering parole conditions on a case by case basis. The organization also looks to make conditions more geographically accessible through remote reporting so people can connect to their parole officers from a variety of locations, curbing geographic and time barriers to job success.
The organization has won several victories, passing 17 bills in 11 states since being founded in 2019, and creating pathways for about 700,000 people to leave the supervision system. REFORM hopes these bills can allow people to exit the supervision system and reduce the chances of reoffending. REFORM and other justice organizations also work to spread awareness about the realities of the parole system.
The parole and criminal justice system have been crafted on regulations and conditions that function like an added sentence on top of prison time. These advocates say the solution is not to remove the parole system all together and replace it with something else. Their goal is to change the incriminatory culture of the United States and reduce the populations that we have in prison. Parole problems are a symptom of a larger condition—the fundamentally flawed approach to criminal justice in this country. Using reflection and conversation to bring about parole reform is a distinct step that can help positively transform the criminal justice system.
Cover image: Original Graphic (Malik Figaro/The Yale Politic)