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Abstract: 

Like many other states, Kentucky currently faces a severe budget crisis and is seeking ways to lower its prison and community corrections costs. The Commonwealth recently asked the authors to investigate ways to reduce its prison population and the number of parolees returned to prison. This article focuses on our study of the prison and parole experience of men and women in Kentucky. The article includes discussion of Kentucky’s growing prison population and failing parole practices; the study methods, interview samples, and data; and the organizational structure that produces parole failures in the Commonwealth. Based on our findings, several promising reforms are recommended that if implemented would serve to reduce the prison population and the rate of parole failure.

Keywords: mass imprisonment

Affiliations:  1: George Washington University; 2: Northern Kentucky University; 3: Marquette University.