HEARING FOCUSES ON FUNDING FOR OFFICES OF PROBATION AND PAROLE

            PHILADELPHIA, September 12 - State Sen. Shirley Kitchen today joined members of the Senate Judiciary Committee at Philadelphia City Hall for a public hearing on state funding for county offices of probation and parole.

            “Improving our probation and parole system is just one more way that we can improve prison reform as a whole,” Kitchen said. “We need to find a better way to meet the counties’ needs and improve the system in a cost-effective manner.”

            As a result of a House Resolution in 1999, the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee conducted a study of costs and services in our statewide county adult probation system.

            The study concluded that counties across Pennsylvania are struggling with an ever-increasing caseload; county probation and parole officers are woefully underpaid; and staff turnover rates are high.  Although the data from this report is eight years old, the problem hasn’t gone away, according to today’s testimony.

             In fact, the state prison population has increased five-fold over the past 28 years, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. The trend will continue in the future. According to estimates from the Pew Foundation, Pennsylvania will experience a 17 percent growth rate in prison population in the next five years.

            “Monitored probation and parole is an effective step toward rehabilitating offenders,” Kitchen said.  “They can receive job training, pursue work opportunities and get drug treatment if they need it.”

            Kitchen said that offenderS left alone may slip through the cracks and return to a life of crime and that monitored probation and parole is a key element in reducing recidivism.