The Revolving Door

Two-thirds of all the inmates California releases on parole go back to prison within three years, according to a report from the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).

Because California is the only state that has both determinate sentencing and mandatory parole, its recidivism rate has long been among the highest in the country. The study, which tracked about 108,000 state prison inmates released in 2005 and 2006, is California's first attempt to do a deep-dive analysis on the characteristics of recidivists. "This gives us clues about what parts of the population are most likely to return to prison, and it helps us in making informed decisions about where we need to concentrate our efforts and on whom," says Terry Thornton, a CDCR spokeswoman.

Men age 18 or 19 are the most likely to reoffend, and the rates go up the more often a parolee has been to prison. The recidivism rate of first-time offenders, for example, is 51 percent, compared with parolees who have been to prison three times, who wind up back in lockup 70 percent of the time.

But the primary reason that ex-offenders recidivate isn't for committing a new crime--47 percent of felons are locked back up for violating the terms of their parole, which could happen if they are caught around guns and knives, disobey any law, fail to report a change of address, or leave the county or state without permission from their parole officer.

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