What is Parole?
Parole is an administrative status created by statue. Parole comes from the French "parole
d'honneur" meaning word of honor. The origins of parole are in 1840's Australia. The
prison superintendent, Alexander Maconochie, installed a system of release. Within a few
years he lost his job for being too lenient. The Irish were next, when Walter Crofton
installed a release system utilizing post-release supervision by the police and later by
Inspectors of Released Persons which were the original parole officers. The first parole in
the United States came in 1876 at the New York State Reformatory for Juveniles.
Conditional release was installed, which was parole. By 1898 many states followed, and
the federal government established federal parole in 1910.
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