PEF peers into budget, page by page, department by department
PEF to state budget makers: Don’t turn your back on parolees
By SHERRY HALBROOK
The state Executive Budget proposal to cut 67 positions at the state Division of Parole, including 47 field parole officers, would jeopardize the security of New York state communities.
The timing couldn’t be worse for reducing the number of parole officers, since the reform in January of the Rockefeller Drug Laws will place an even heavier burden on state parole officers who are already overloaded with high caseloads and paperwork.
The number of parolees supervised by state parole officers gradually increased from 53,700 in 1994 to 59,320 in 2002.
Caseloads already range as high as 120 parolees for a single officer, yet the state has 118 vacant parole officer positions, 66 of these in New York city where the average caseload is in the 75-83 range.
However, the state Division of Parole uses “fuzzy math” to make their caseloads appear much lower by counting parolees as fractions after they have been under supervision for a year.
That’s because the Division lowers the number of required times the parolee must contact their parole officer from four per month to four every three months after the first 12 months of supervision.
PEF members at the Division of Parole say this is an unrealistic, one-size-fits-all approach that can be dangerous when applied to parolees who resist their officer’s support and supervision and are determined to do as they please.
To compound the problem, the Division of Parole’s unwillingness to approve overtime and its unrealistic requirement that officers return to their offices at the end of every workday to file paperwork, are creating a time crunch that leaves officers scrambling and working unpaid overtime to fulfill their most important responsibility — keeping parolees on the straight and narrow path and the public safe.
PEF urges state leaders and the Division of Parole to keep all parolees on intensive supervision (four contacts every month) for the first two-thirds of their parole-supervision period.
Specialized caseloads for violent felony and sex offenders should remain at their current ratios of 25 parolees per officer, but caseloads for other officers should be reduced substantially to allow for the extended intensive supervision.
And the union strongly urges the state to fill all vacant parole officer positions over the next three years.
At the very least, the 47 positions should be restored to the 2005-06 budget. While that would add $493,520 in spending, the state saves at least $40,000 for every parolee who does not commit another crime and/or violate his parole and return to prison.
KNOW THE FACTS — Download the PAROLE fact sheet at www.pef.org
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