The Impact of Inmate Visitation on Parole Decisionmaking: Translating Parole Performance Goals into Parole Decisionmaking Practices

• In Event: Familial Ties, Incarceration and Reentry

Abstract

Recent studies highlight the positive influence that visitation of inmates by family members can have on inmate behavior upon release and overall reintegration into society. Less is known, however, about the impact that inmate visitation has on the decision to release inmates via discretionary parole. In other words, does the accumulated knowledge of positive family influences on inmate reentry and reintegration translate into parole decisionmaking that consider such factors when granting or denying early release? This study fills in this gap by examining recent parole decisions drawing on a random sample of 1200 cases from Pennsylvania. The analysis will seek to determine whether various measures of inmate visitation have an impact on the parole decision above and beyond other parole determinants ostensibly related to the achievement of crime prevention and successful reentry. The study will also attempt to distinguish among differences based on the type of relationship between the inmate and the visitor/s (e.g., family v. non-family) and to test for possible interactions between visitation measures and other parole decision predictors. The implications of the findings for parole decisionmaking and its consequences, including prisoner reentry, will also be discussed.

Author

• E. Rely Vilcica, Temple University