ABSTRACT
The term "parole" often elicits images of a prisoner making his case for early release before a panel of individuals. Parole in California was first implemented in 1893. Prior to this, prisoners left confinement by escaping, upon completion of their sentence, or by executive clemency and pardons. The first sign of a shift was the establishment of a parole bureaucracy designed to control parolees and provide services. The bureaucracy was established in 1908 with the introduction of the first parole officer, who was located in San Francisco. In 1931, the parole bureaucracy expanded to include the newly created Board of Prison Terms and Parole, which took over the fixing of prison terms and the granting/suspending of parole–powers previously held by the State Board of Prison Directors. Parole extends the supervision and control exercised over a person to that most trying period immediately following release from a penal institution.
