As we have noted, one primary reason proponents cite for removing the Governor from the parole process is the significant cost to the state of delaying recommended paroles -- conservatively between $30,000 and $60,000 per month -- while they are being considered by the Governor. The cost of community supervision through parole is a fraction of the cost to incarcerate each offender.

 

     But the economics of parole go far beyond saving the expense of feeding, housing, and providing medical care to offenders. Most offenders were employed when they were arrested. Incarceration results in lost income tax and sales tax revenue to local, state and the federal government; lost productivity; delay in paying victim restitution or court costs and fines; and uninsured, sometimes extensive medical care. Perhaps most important, incarcerated parents can’t financially support dependent children or other family members, often resulting in increased need for public assistance for offenders’ families. Many children must be placed in foster care. Some statistics suggest children whose parent is incarcerated are more likely eventually to be incarcerated, themselves.

 

     The possibility of parole provides incentives to become involved in treatment and educational programs while incarcerated, and to maintain good behavior. Parole maintains these incentives on the street, because a parolee who violates the conditions of his/her parole, by committing a new offenses, failing to attend treatment, failing to submit to drug testing, and so on, may almost immediately be brought back to prison through revocation, and the time spent on parole may not be counted toward the completion of his or her sentence.