KITCHEN CALLS FOR REPORT ON BALANCE OF PROBATION, PAROLE OFFICERS

            HARRISBURG, October 9 – The Pennsylvania Senate this week approved state Sen. Shirley Kitchen’s resolution that authorizes a report on the balance of probation and parole officers across the state. 

            The resolution directs the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to identify relevant inequities in funding distribution, caseload assignment, hiring, training and retention, offender supervision levels and frequency of contacts.  The report is due on Oct. 31, 2009.

            “This resolution is a solid step toward prison reform and will help us improve our prison system,” Kitchen said. “We need to make sure that our probation and parole officers have the proper tools to perform their job effectively.

            “Monitored probation and parole is an effective step toward rehabilitating offenders,” she added. “If left unsupervised, these offenders could fall through the cracks of the system and return to a life of crime, but with the support of the county probation and parole programs, they can be directed to the right path toward life as a productive member of society.”

            Last month, Kitchen 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.

            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.

            In addition, 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.