Often, Parole Is One Stop on the Way Back to Prison This year, a record 600,000 inmates will be
released from state and federal prisons nationwide,
up from 170,000 in 1980.

As the former prisoners return, largely to the poor
neighborhoods of large cities, there is mounting
evidence that they represent what some
criminologists and prison officials now call the
collateral damage of the prison- building boom.

Because states sharply curtailed education, job
training and other rehabilitation programs inside
prisons, the newly released inmates are far less
likely than their counterparts two decades ago to
find jobs, maintain stable family lives or stay out of
the kind of trouble that leads to more prison. Many
states have unintentionally contributed to these
problems by abolishing early release for good
behavior, removing the incentive for inmates to
improve their conduct,