California’s discretionary parole process sends the message that personal transformation matters less than race, ability to hire a lawyer, and other subjective factors outside of applicants’ control.
Black applicants are the most likely to appear before a parole board, but Black people are the least likely of all racial groups to be granted parole.
What’s more, people with private attorneys are TWICE as likely to be granted parole than their counterparts.
While Black, Brown, and poor applicants have disproportionately poor outcomes, applicants also face bias based on other characteristics like gender identity, age, verbal and non-verbal communication, disabilities, religion, education, and mental health.
“He claims to have a learning disability, and he can’t learn to read… But I don’t care if you have a disability. I really, really don’t. Because you make no effort to do anything else around it. I mean, with a disability, there are things you can do instead of sit around here and b*tch about having a disability.”
A California Board of Parole Hearings Commissioner on a parole applicant with a learning disability
Story: Miguel
Miguel is a native Spanish speaker with very limited English and a learning disability. The first time he heard from his parole board-appointed attorney was five minutes prior to the hearing itself, during which they communicated through an interpreter. It was clear the attorney had not reviewed Miguel’s case documents, and did not inform him of any of his legal rights. The hearing was conducted in English and via video. Miguel was denied parole.
“Did they know that you were a woman biologically?[…] You were really living in a facade.”
A California Board of Parole Hearings Commissioner on a transgender parole applicant
It is wrong to keep people who pose no risk to public safety in prison indefinitely with no hope of returning home. Parole reform would benefit families and communities across California.
The continued incarceration of people who pose no risk to public safety comes at enormous human and financial cost to individuals, communities, and the State of California. Families already battling systemic racism, poverty, and other obstacles face massive lifetime costs when a loved one is sentenced to a life term in prison: nearly $900,000 for a 50-year sentence. In total, Californian families lose over $9 billion per year to current and past incarceration; nearly 75% of those losses are in costs to Black and Latinx families.
If more people were granted parole each year in California, the direct dollars saved by communities currently impacted by incarceration could provide university tuition for more than 230,000 young people.
People who have done the hard work of transforming themselves while in prison bring home invaluable skills and contributions to their communities, including youth mentorship, violence prevention strategies, and effective tools for repairing harm and conflict. In short, they have a crucial role to play in enhancing community safety.
By some accounts, up to half of all people returning home after lengthy prison terms begin actively volunteering in their communities upon their return – most often, with youth. By comparison, only 25% of the adult population in the country volunteers their time.