California's New Non-revocable Parole Program
In an effort to
- improve parole supervision,
- relieve California’s over-crowded prisons, and
- reduce recidivism (that is, the number of people who are released from prison and go on to commit new crimes),
the California Department of Corrections recently launched a new program…non-revocable parole.
When a parolee allegedly violates his/her parole conditions, he/she is entitled to a California parole revocation hearing. At that hearing, the hearing commissioner determines whether there is enough evidence to revoke the parolee’s status and return him/her to the California state prison.
However, under the non-revocable parole program, certain parolees will not attend California parole revocation hearings. Individuals who are placed on non-revocable parole will only be returned to prison if they are arrested for a new offense…and only if they are convicted of that offense in the same manner as any other criminal defendant.
In addition, parolees on the non-revocable parole program don’t report to a parole officer. They do, however, remain subject to warrantless searches by the police.
