PAROLE- CONCEPT, ORIGIN AND

DEVELOPMENT

Dr. Moirangmayum Sanjeev Singh

Assistant Professor
Centre for Police Administration
Panjab University
• Parole is the conditional release of an offender who has

already served a portion of his sentence in a correctional

institution.

• Conditions of parole often include things such as obeying the law,

refraining from drug and alcohol use, avoiding contact with victims,

getting a job and meeting with a parole officer.

• The term became associated during the Middle Ages with the

release of prisoners who gave their word.

• Parole has emerged as one of the most acceptable form of

correctional device in modern penology.

• It has been universally recognized as one of the most appropriate

methods of treatment of offenders for their reformation and

rehabilitation in the normal society after the final release.

• It also reduced overcrowding in prison.

• The problem of overcrowding was seriously discussed in the UN congress
on Treatment of offenders held in Geneva in 1955.
• In the subsequent UN congress held in London in 1960, it was stated that it
should be customary that the prisoners should spent later part of their
sentence on parole or in open institution where they can live with their
families.
• Of these two parole is perhaps more effective and popular
• Parole is one such device which seeks to protect society and assist the
ex-prisoner in re-adjusting himself to a normal free-life in the community.
• So, it has dual purpose, protecting the society and at the same time
bringing about the rehabilitation of the offender.
 Concept and Definition of parole
• The word parole comes from French word “ je donne ma parole”
means ‘I give my word’.

• The term was first coined by Samuel G. Howe, a custom penal

reformer in 1847 in a correctional context.

• In 1876 parole was introduced by Brockway Zebulon as a way to

reduce jail overcrowding and at the same time as a way to
rehabilitate prisoners by encouraging them to win their way out of
prison through good behaviour.
• Historically, parole is a concept known to military law and denotes
release of a prisoner of war on promise to return.

• These days parole has become an integral part of criminal justice

system in most of the countries.

• The life in a prison is so rigid and restrictive that it hardly offers any
opportunity for the offender to rehabilitate himself.
• It is therefore necessary that in suitable cases the inmates should
be released under proper supervision from the prison institution
after serving part of their sentence.
• The ultimate significance of parole lies in the fact that it enables the
prisoner a free social life yet retaining some effective control over him.
• Parole is essentially an individualized method of treatment of offenders
and predict a final stage of adjustment of the incarcerated prisoner to the
community.
• The conditional release from prison under parole may begin anytime after
the inmate has completed at least one-third of the total term of his
sentence but before his final discharge.
• As a result of the introduction of parole into penal system, all fixed term
sentences of imprisonment above 18 months are subject to release on
licence.
• While on parole, the released prisoner remains in the custody
and under the supervision of the paroling authority.
• The period of parole may be as long as the time the prisoner
would otherwise have served in the institution.
• At any point during this period, parole may be revoked for a
violation of parole regulations and the violator must return to
the institution to serve the remainder of his sentence in
confinement.
• Parole is taken as an act of grace and not as a matter of right and the
convict prisoner may be released from confinement but is deemed to be
part of the imprisonment.
• Release on Parole is a part of the reformative process and is expected to
provide opportunity for the prisoner to transform himself into useful
citizen.
• In countries like Britain, prisoners are released from prisons on parole and
licence and kept under supervision until the term of imprisonment expires.
• During this period, the released prisoner has to abide by the rules and
regulations prescribed under the law.
• Parole is differs greatly from pardon.

• in that parolees are still considered to be serving their sentences,

and may be returned to prison if they violate the conditions of
their parole.
• Conditions of parole often include things such as obeying the law,
not voting in an election, refraining from drug and alcohol use,
avoiding contact with the parolee's victims, obtaining employment
and keeping required appointments with a parole officer.
• J.L. Gillin – Parole is the release from a penal or reformative institution, of
an offender who remains under the control of correctional authorities, in
an attempt to find out whether he is fit to live in the free society without
supervision.
• Donald Taft – It is a release from prison after part of the sentence has
been served, the prisoner still remaining in custody and under stated
conditions until discharged and liable to return to the institution for
violation of any of these conditions.
Origin and Development of Parole
• Prior to the mid-nineteenth century most offenders were
sentenced to flat or determinate sentences in prison. Under this
type of sentencing, an offender received a specific amount of time
to serve in prison for a specific crime. This created a major
problem when prisons became crowded. Governors were forced
to issue mass pardons or prison wardens had to randomly release
offenders to make room for entering prisoners.
• The idea of parole was introduced in 1840 by Alexander
Maconochie, a Scottish geographer and captain in the royal navy.
• Maconochie was appointed governor of the notorious English penal colony

at Norfolk Island off the coast of Australia. At the time, English criminals

were being transported to Australia and those sent to Norfolk Island were

considered "twice condemned"; they had been shipped to Australia from

England and from Australia to the island.

• Instead of necessitating the prisoners to serve their sentence hopelessly

until full sentence had been served, he aimed to punish the prisoners for

the deed committed and to train them for the future.

• He developed a plan and divided it into 3 grade system. The first
and second grade group was mainly for the promotions earned
through good behavior, study and labor.
• The third grade consisted of obtaining conditional liberty outside
the prison while obeying rules. On violation of such rules, the
prisoner would return back to prison and would start all over again
the rank of three-grade process.

• The ticket to the 'leave system' was reformed and this led to what
many consider as world's first parole system.
• The prisoners who were served indeterminate sentences i.e. open
ended sentences could now be released if they show evidences of
reforming and rehabilitation. Through participation in the grade
system which was based on the unit of marks, ensured they
earned marks for their good behavior and lost marks on their bad
behavior and could spend them on passage to higher classification
statuses ultimately conveying freedom.
• This thought was based on the ideology that a sentence should
not be a mere arbitrary sentence but a source for reformation and
the greed to return back to the society.
• In 1847, parole was first coined in a correctional context by Samuel G. Howe, a
Boston penal reformer.
• Like Maconochie, Sir Walter Crofton believed the length of the sentence should not
be an arbitrary period of time but should be related to the rehabilitation of the
offender.
• After becoming the administrator of the Irish Prison System in 1854, Crofton initiated
a system incorporating three classes of penal servitude: strict imprisonment,
indeterminate sentences, and tickets-of-leave.

• This indeterminate system or Irish system, as it came to be known, permitted

convicts to earn marks to move from solitary confinement to a return to the
community on a conditional pardon or ticket-of-leave.
Origin of Development of parole in
USA:
• Can be traced back to the earlier system of indenturing prisoners
which meant removal of prisoners and handing them over to the
employees for work and supervision on condition of being returned
back to prison if they did not behave properly.

• Soon after, few state officials were associated with prisons for
supervising and guiding the prisoners in their rehabilitation.
• By end of 18th Century many Prison Aid Societies were formed to
assist and help ex-convicts in their rehabilitation in the society
• By 1840’s similar functions were assumed by the Federal states.

• The Elmira Reformatory in New York State was the first to adopt the system of parole
in 1876.
• Adopted by other states in America.
• The main objectives of parole today are rehabilitation of the offender and at the
same time protection of society from his anti-social acts.
• The united Nations Board of Parole Research unit is engaged in working out standard
rules for parole to be applicable throughout the US.

• With the passing of the Parole Reforms Act, 1977, a uniform system of parole has
been implemented throughout the country so as to do away with inequalities of
sentencing and its evil effects on prisoners
The British Parole System
• The failure of the British system of penal transportation and its
unsatisfactory consequences led to the origin of parole in England.
• The abolition of the system of transportation of prisoners as a penal
servitude resulted into overcrowding of British prison.
• Consequently a new method known as ‘Ticket on Leave’ was introduced in
the later decades of 18th century as a measure for reducing the prison
population.

• Unfortunately the system did not yield good results because prisoners
were discharged from prisons merely on surety for good behaviour
without being prepared and trained for a disciplined life in the community.
• The Parole Board for England and Wales was established in 1968 under the
Criminal Justice Act 1967.
• The Parole Board is governed by the Parole Board Rules 2016 made by
Parliament under the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
• Parole Board members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Justice, but
are required to take judicial decisions independent of Government. The Parole
Board's role is to make risk assessments about prisoners and to make a binding
direction to Government about whether prisoners are released into the
community on parole. The Parole Board must also give advice to Government
when asked, most often about whether offenders are ready to be moved to
open prisons from the closed prison estate.
• The British penal system admits the following categories of persons for
parole:
• Those who are convicted of serious offences for which sentence
exceeds 3 years. The parolees in such cases are to report to the police
every month during the period of parole
• Those who are habitual offenders and sentenced under the preventive
detention laws.

• Juvenile delinquents who are institutionalised in borstals,

reformatories and rehabilitation centres.
• The release of prisoners on parole has now been accepted as a part
of the rehabilitative programme in Britain.

• It give an opportunity to the convicted prisoner to prove that he can

return to community as a law abiding citizen if trusted and allowed
to forget that he is an ex-convict.
The Educative Reformative Scheme in
Hungary
• The successful working of parole in America inspired socialist countries to
adopt similar measures for their prisoners.
• Particularly, Russia and Hungary found the system most workable and
effective.
• The Hungarian jurist have evolved a system called “Educative Reformatory
Work” as a punitive reaction to crime.
• The Educative Reformatory Act, 1950 was passed by the Hungarian
Parliament for individualised treatment of inmates.
• Under the system the investigations are made by social agencies but the
ultimate decision whether the offender should be put to educative
reformatory work, rests in the judge.
• Under this act the prisoner is set free on parole and period of parole
ranges from a minimum of one month to a maximum of two years
depending on the propensity of the prisoner.

• During this period the inmate is assigned specified compulsory work for
which he is paid diminished wages.
• Thus, he no longer remains a burden on the state and seeks to
rehabilitate himself at his own cost.

• The system however, does not work successfully if the period of inmates
sentence exceeds five years.