SJC Exchange Library

Originally posted by Wanda Bertram on 07/14/2025

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Hi everyone,

Parole is an essential tool for reducing incarceration, but in its current form, it does not achieve this goal. Most parole systems in this country need drastic reform merely to live up to their stated promises - much less their full potential for decarceration.

The Prison Policy Initiative and the MacArthur Justice Center's National Parole Transformation Project, in consultation with directly-impacted people and their advocates across the country, have released a new set of 16 principles for necessary parole reform. The Prison Policy Initiative published a quick summary of the guide, Principles for Parole Reform, in a blog post. The full guide is available on the MacArthur Justice Center's website at https://www.macarthurjustice.org/principles-for-parole-reform/.

The full guide explains why each of its 16 principles are necessary, and how each one can be achieved through legislative reform and policy change. While we recognize that political realities mean that reform has to look different everywhere, we hope these guidelines will help advocates seeking to close the gap between the promise of parole and the reality.

We welcome other organizations to sign on to these principles as well. If your organization works on parole reform and would like to sign on, you can do so through MacArthur Justice Center's National Parole Transformation Project's website.

If you have any questions about this work, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Take care,

Wanda

Prison Policy Initiative