Parolees: Underserved in California

Of the many people we want to represent in our project, parolees are prominent. During a recent interview between the students and the Oakland Police Deputy Chief David Kozicki, it became clear that parolees are challenged to be in and out of society, creating situations where parolees often return to jail. Today's Oakland Tribune highlights a study published by the RAND Corporation that supports just that.

The study took a close look at four counties in California, Alameda County among them, and at the services offered to parolees as they reintegrate. The study found that California parolees "have a higher-than-average need for drug treatment, health care and mental health services, but tend to return to communities where such services are severely strained."

The study focused in on Oakland, and found that "In Alameda County, five distinct clusters of parolees, concentrated primarily around Oakland and the northern section of the county, accounted for almost 45 percent of the returning parolee population," the study found. "One issue that stands out is that in all three of the large urban counties — Alameda, Los Angeles, and San Diego — most parolees resided in areas with the lowest levels of accessibility to general acute care hospitals, with Alameda County having the largest share of parolees in the lowest accessibility areas."

What organizations are out there trying to fill this gap?

What can the state or city do to improve the re-entry of parolees?