The biggest problem with the parole system in America is politics.

In my state of Oklahoma and in most other states, sex offenders do not make parole. Violent offenders rarely make parole and being a sex offender makes it worse.

Parole could be a very effective program to show an inmate some compassion by allowing him to return to society and to lessen our problem with prison overcrowding. But parole does not happen to most offenders because nobody wants to appear "soft on crime"

Sex offenders have one of the lowest recidivism rate of all criminals. I have seen estimates, but most would agree that it is approximately five percent. So, with that in mind, does it not make common sense that sex offenders---especially with the scrutiny they have when released---especially with the public's love affair with the sex offender registry which purports to protect the public---would be one of the safest group of criminals to parole and keep the public safe?

Yes, it would make commons sense, but corrections and politics are never bothered by critical thinking and common sense. The public has seen too many John Couey's---the man who raped and murdered Jessica Lunsford--to allow a sex offender to be released early. The fear factor takes over so sex offenders just do not make parole.

There are two major reasons I personally think that sex offenders never make parole--------1) more retribution. To satisfy society's insatiable appetite for revenge, sex offenders are left in prison. They are still very upset for the acts of which a sex offender was accused and convicted and they plan to make him or her stay in prison for as long as possible, and 2) more importantly, if they release a sex offender on parole and he rapes someone while out, then too many heads would roll and the people to be deemed responsible would be out of a job.

In my last two years in prison, I had a parole hearing each year. I waived my hearing both times.

Why? Several reasons. First I was not going to ever make parole anyway. I refused to admit guilt and that is an almost certain way to be denied parole and secondly, I was not about to let them handcuff me, put me on a dilapidated old bus and transport me down to the parole hearing. I did not want to give them the satisfaction of treating me like an animal when I was not even guilty. I was not in the mood to play their game.

The system is rarely fair and it is even more rare that the system is a productive tool to keep the public safe.

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