Life on Parole

Most who go to prison end up back on the street eventually. But before they can resume their life, reconnect with family, and get a job, former prisoners must undergo the parole process. Filmmaker Matthew O'Neill's PBS-aired Frontline documentary (produced in collaboration with the New York Times) follows four individuals over a year and a half as they go through parole, which is not the same as freedom, but rather a "measure of freedom." Always there are rules: no drug use, limited alcohol consumption, no contacts with crime victims or fellow defendants. In one case, a parolee can't associate with his girlfriend, because she reported him to the police when he stole her TV set. Ex-prisoners have to learn to deal with feelings of guilt, anger, and frustration over their inability to find a job or pay child support. All too many succumb to the lure of drugs and alcohol, falling into bad habits, and even unwisely texting and posting their drug and alcohol use on social media. They can even become a "return customer" to lock-up by making a forbidden visit to a convenience store to buy cigarettes. Parolees often become fed up with the rules of parole boards and halfway houses, resuming their old ways and angering parole officers (who say that they "make a living on second chances"). As the film comes to a close, most of these four prisoners are still hanging on, barely. And one parolee sums it up best by claiming that "parole is a noose that you tighten yourself." Recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)