Now that 26-year-old Lovelle Mixon has killed four Oakland police officers the state is taking a hard look at the parole system. Mixon was one of 70 parolees on his probation officer’s case load and was wanted for missing appointment dates. About 12 percent of California’s 122,000 parolees are at large and Oakland’s mayor says the system is severely flawed:

I think that’s one of the darker secrets of the whole prison industry, that the . . . people who are let out are not well-supervised in many cases, although not all,” Brown said. “The supervision isn’t there. The surveillance isn’t there. The job training and preparation is not there.” [LA Times]

 

The last part of the mayor’s statement is crucial.  If adequate job training and placement is not mandated, this state and the country will continue to have the highest recidivism rate of developed countries, and people will continue to take extreme measures so not to return to jail.  

 

Many parolees are released from jail, made to fend for themselves, and are expected to find employment in an economy that doesn’t allow people with multipledegrees, and a clean record, to get a job.  Even when the economy isn’t in the tank, parolees are typically at the bottom of the now-hiring totem pole.

 

I have a uncle who recently returned home from a “vacation”. Part of his parole condition was to immediately find a job or he would be locked back up.  That was about six months ago and the only job he’s been able to find is assisting my granny who is an at home caregiver. I have a feeling it’s def some under the table deal but it’s been enough to keep him from getting locked up.

 

My uncle is one of the lucky ones. Most of the kids I work with are on probation and because their parole officers have so many clients many of them don’t get the attention they need. A few of them smoke that reefer with no fear of a drug test, while others don’t have a clue on how to feel out a resume. They spent so much time in juvie or camp, they’ve never had the opportunity to find real work, or finish school. It’s a grim reality, but the chances of them returning to jail are greater than them staying out of it, if they don’t get the proper assistance.  

 

I often wonder what would some of them do to make sure they don’t go back to jail. The state, and the entire country, best figure this prison system out before more people are caught on the wrong end of another person’s desperation.

Tags: California Parolees-at-Large, California Prison System, Lovelle Mixon, Oakland Police Shootings, United States Prison System, US Recidivism Rates