In California, prison inmates serving sentences for serious or violent felonies get placed on parole upon their release. Parole is a supervisory program where “parolees” abide by various terms for a set number of years as a condition of remaining out of custody.
For the most part, California has a mandatory parole system. This means that unless public safety presents an overriding concern, inmates who are eligible for parole must be paroled once they serve their sentence. Eligible parolees are supposed to be paroled unless they present an overriding public safety risk.
If you were sentenced to a specific number of years in California State Prison – called a determinate sentence – then you should be automatically released on parole as soon as you finish serving your sentence.
If you were given a sentencing range such as 15 years to life – called an indeterminate sentence – then parole eligibility begins once you serve the sentence’s lower range. (If you were sentenced to life with the possibility of parole with no lower range, then the minimum eligible parole date is typically seven years into your sentence.)
Once you are eligible for parole on an indeterminate sentence, you go in front of the Parole Board for a “parole suitability hearing” – commonly called a “lifer hearing” – where the Board determines if releasing you would pose too great of a public safety risk. Note that if you are classified as a sexually violent predator (SVP), the Board holds a special SVP parole hearing to determine if you are ready to reenter society.
Sometimes inmates get paroled at their first lifer hearing, while others have repeated lifer hearings and never get released on parole. Therefore, it is important to have a criminal defense attorney with you advocating on your behalf and presenting all the available evidence of your rehabilitation and compliance. 1
California parole is a supervised program that takes place when inmates reenter the community after being released from prison. Sometimes parole is automatic. Other times it is not.
In California, you can earn “good time credit” (sometimes referred to as “work time credit”) while in prison to push up your parole eligibility date.
Inmates traditionally had to serve at least two-thirds of their determinate sentence before being paroled. Though currently, the state is allowing “day for day credit” so you may be eligible for parole after serving only half your determinate sentence. 2
However, you must serve at least 85% of your determinate sentence before getting paroled if your conviction was for a violent felony. 3 Also, you are not eligible for good time credit at all if you:
California has six levels of parole supervision:
Your level of supervision may change depending on your needs and community safety. 5
Common conditions parolees in California have to follow are:
Note that you do not have to report to a parole officer if you are placed on the non-revocable parole program. However, you would still be subject to warrantless searches. 7
Depending on what you were convicted of, there may also be specialized parole conditions such as:
Refusing to sign and acknowledge your parole conditions will cause the Board to revoke its offer of parole and incarcerate you for an additional six months. 9
Average parole terms in California are three years, although some can run as long as five or ten years depending on the crime you were convicted of. If you are released after a murder conviction, parole typically lasts for life unless an exception applies. 10
Yes. Parole officers (also called parole agents) are California Department of Corrections employees tasked with supervising you during your parole.
Parole agents report directly to the Board of Parole Hearings. They prepare plans and recommendations for you prior to release. They also help you arrange for services such as
Parole officers (also commonly referred to as parole agents) are in charge of parolee supervision.
If you are accused of violating parole, your parole officer investigates and makes a recommendation to the Parole Board either to
The court is then allowed to keep you in custody while you await your parole revocation hearing. This hearing is like a mini-trial where the state presents evidence of your alleged violations, and you (or your attorney) are allowed to defend yourself.
Parole revocation hearings are more difficult for you to win than criminal trials. In criminal trials, the state has the burden to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; whereas in parole revocation hearings, the state has to prove your violation only by a preponderance of the evidence – which is a much lower standard. 11
If you are placed in the “non-revocable parole program,” violating a parole term will not threaten your parole status, and you will not have to attend a hearing. The only time you risk going back to prison is if you get arrested and convicted for an entirely new crime. 12
If you are sentenced to life in California State Prison without the possibility of parole, there are three ways you may be able to get released:
You must go on parole after serving a California State Prison sentence for a serious felony, a violent felony, or a sex crime where you are deemed-high risk.
Community supervision – formally called post-release community supervision (PRCS) – is available only for low-level felony offenders through a government measure called realignment. PRCS is shorter and less intensive than parole, though you can be rearrested for violating its terms.
You may be eligible for early parole from California State Prison if you are at least 60 years old, have been incarcerated for 25 consecutive years, and meet certain other requirements. You can request elderly parole at a regularly scheduled parole hearing or by asking for an advance parole hearing once you become eligible for the program.
If you are in California State Prison and suffer from a mental illness, you could be eligible for mentally disordered offender (MDO) status: This permits you to be paroled as long as you continue to receive mental health monitoring.
You go on parole after you serve your prison sentence. In contrast, probation reduces or eliminates the time you have to spend in custody at all.
Also, parole applies only to certain felony cases. In contrast, probation is available in most cases including misdemeanors.
Parole and probation are similar in that both require you to abide by various terms, and you risk being remanded into custody for violating them.
No, there is no parole in federal prison, though there is a supervised release program governed by federal sentencing guidelines.
For more information, refer to the following:
