# When convicts are released... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246 "2007-09-06T15:14:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/1 "2007-09-06T15:14:45Z")
When convicts serve their terms and are released, do the authorities still give them a new suit, twenty bucks, and a bus ticket? I have this idea in my mind, but the size of the monetary sum leads me to think that it’s a detective-story convention that dates from the 1930s, when twenty bucks might have been a month’s rent. So do long-term inmates get anything to help them reintegrate into society? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/2 "2007-09-06T15:21:42Z")
[Here](http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:o_QXkEZmaPwJ:www.csosa.gov/Olipa/newsinterest/tips_journalofcommunitycorrections_fall2006.pdf+halfway+house+release+prison&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us) is an interesting article about the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency in Washington D.C. which performs a variety of functions regarding recently released prisoners. The article mentions halfway houses as one destination for said prisoners. Not a comprehensive answer, but a start I hope. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/3 "2007-09-06T15:22:48Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] So do long-term inmates get anything to help them reintegrate into society? [/QUOTE] In the U.S., it varies among jurisdictions. Here is an example: > [@](#): > > 1.2 Eligibility Criteria for Discharge Allowance and Clothing - An inmate may be entitled to a discharge allowance upon release or discharge, including a supervised release, See Attachment F. (Checks or cash shall not be issued in lieu of clothing.) > > ``` > 1.2.1 Inmates shall be provided gender appropriate clothing upon release or discharge, as follows: > > 1.2.1.1 One pair of blue jeans. > > 1.2.1.2 One shirt. > > 1.2.1.3 One pair of undershorts/panties. > > 1.2.1.4 One bra. > > 1.2.1.5 One pair of hosiery or socks. > > 1.2.1.6 One pair of shoes or boots for inmates who do not own personal footwear. (Inmates wearing footwear that has been issued to them shall not be issued new footwear prior to their discharge.) > > 1.2.1.7 Female inmates may choose a dress, instead of jeans and a shirt or a skirt instead of jeans at facilities where donated clothing is available. > > 1.2.2 An inmate with less than $50 in a dedicated discharge account shall only receive the allowance amount needed to make a total of $50, if eligible. > > ``` > > 1.3 Determination of Eligibility - Before an inmate is released or discharged, staff shall confirm the inmate’s entitlement to a discharge allowance by: > > ``` > 1.3.1 Examining the inmate's file and conducting a pre-release interview to determine if the inmate meets the eligibility criteria for discharge allowance. > > 1.3.2 Ensuring that inmates who meet the eligibility criteria for discharge allowance receive the discharge allowance. > > ``` > > * * * > > 1.5 Transportation Assistance for Paroled/Discharged Inmates - When appropriate, Wardens may issue to paroled inmates, if consistent with the signed conditions of supervision, or to discharged inmates a nontransferable ticket on a railroad or bus serving near the place of discharge to the first railroad depot or bus station beyond the State limits. > > ``` > 1.5.1 Checks or cash shall not be issued in lieu of a ticket. > > 1.5.2 Tickets shall be purchased from discharge appropriated monies. If the ticket is not used within three days after the date of discharge, it shall be voided and the funds returned to the discharge account, unless use of the ticket was precluded because of the inmate's illness. > > 1.5.3 Wardens shall ensure that inmates who need transportation upon release are transported in accordance with Department Order #705, Inmate Transportation. > > 1.5.4 All exceptions shall be approved by the Deputy Director for Prison Operations. > > ``` [http://www.azcorrections.gov/adc/policy\_inclusion.asp?menuName=/all\_includes/custommenus/do\_m3.htm&fileName=/Policies/905.htm#905.10](http://www.azcorrections.gov/adc/policy_inclusion.asp?menuName=/all_includes/custommenus/do_m3.htm&fileName=/Policies/905.htm#905.10) ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/4 "2007-09-06T15:25:36Z")
In California they get clothes, $240 no bus ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/5 "2007-09-06T15:33:05Z")
Here’s some information about how it works in Canada: [http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/letstalk/2007/32-1/8\_e.shtml](http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/letstalk/2007/32-1/8_e.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/6 "2007-09-06T15:39:44Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] In California they get clothes, $240 no bus ticket. [/QUOTE] Looks like $200, less the cost of a bus ticket, at least until recently: > [@](#): > > Inmates too often leave prison with $200 minus the cost of a bus ticket, and no prospects for success once they return home. [http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Communications/press2007\_0807.html](http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Communications/press2007_0807.html) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/7 "2007-09-06T15:42:09Z")
When an old friend of mine was released early from a 40-year manslaughter sentence (14 years,) it went like this. His was picked up at the prison by a grumpy county cop “to attend a hearing.” He didn’t know what the hearing was about until a judge told him he was a free man. The same county cop was supposed to take him back to get his stuff, but it was getting near the end of the cop’s shift. He unceremoniously dropped off my friend at a McDonalds, and he drove away to clock out. Twenty bucks, a suit, and a bus ticket? No. He had to bum change for a couple of phone calls, to get somebody to take him back to his home town. His lawyer helped him to get a job and a place to rent. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/8 "2007-09-06T16:01:16Z")
> [@](#): > > During the period of 1870 to 1940 the penitentiary received 21,888 prisoners. Out of the 1940 population of 1378, seventeen were women. In 1940, the average age of all prisoners was twenty-eight. By law in 1940, a prisoner upon discharge was given $5.00, a suit of clothes, and a railroad ticket. In 1995, a prisoner upon discharge was given $100.00, a suit of clothes, and a bus ticket. [http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/pen/history.htm](http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/pen/history.htm) > [@](#): > > § 6540. Discharge allowance. > > (a) Persons discharged upon completion of their term or released on parole or mandatory conditional release may be supplied in accordance with the Department’s rules and regulations, within budget requirements, with satisfactory clothing and transportation to the point of destination within the State. If the inmate’s family is financially able, or if the inmate has resources, these shall be used prior to the use of public funds. > > (b) Payments to eligible inmates who upon their release from an adult correctional facility are financially unable to obtain transportation away from the facility shall be expended as follows: > > (1) Upon release, a prisoner who within 30 days prior to release has $50 or more in the prisoner’s inmate account or accounts shall not be eligible for such payment, but shall be paid the amount in the prisoner’s inmate account or accounts. > > (2) Upon release, a prisoner who has less than $50 in the prisoner’s inmate account or accounts shall be paid the amount remaining in the prisoner’s account or accounts and may be paid an additional sum sufficient to ensure transportation to the prisoner’s place of residence. Such sum sufficient, together with the funds available in the inmate account, shall not exceed $50. > > (3) Any prisoner who, after using option (1) or (2) of this subsection, has insufficient funds to provide a one-way bus ticket to the prisoner’s place of residence, shall forfeit all such funds and shall be provided with a one-way bus ticket to the prisoner’s place of residence, as well as sufficient funding to provide food during travel. (11 Del. C. 1953, § 6539; 54 Del. Laws, c. 349, § 1; 62 Del. Laws, c. 259, § 1; 73 Del. Laws, c. 320, § 2; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1.) > **[Delaware Code Online](https://delcode.delaware.gov/title11/c065/sc07/index.html)** ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/9 "2007-09-06T16:15:49Z")
In New York, we will give a released prisoner a suit if he doesn’t have any clothes of his own. We give him a check for whatever money he has in his commissary account. If it’s less than forty dollars, we’ll give him that amount instead. If he doesn’t make his own arrangements to be picked up, we’ll give him a ride to the bus or train station and a ticket to either his county of residence (providing it’s in New York) or the county he was arrested in. That’s the minimum. Under most cases, we actually do more. We’ll help them contact family members or friends to assist them after they’re released. We’ll make arrangments for them to receive clothing or money for their release. We’ll help them apply for jobs. We’ll help them look for halfway houses and drug treatment programs. We’ll give them a thirty day supply of any medications they’re taking and help them to make medical arrangements. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/10 "2007-09-06T16:25:02Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] we will give a released prisoner a suit [/QUOTE] What kind of suit? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/11 "2007-09-06T16:35:48Z")
Apparently, in Maryland they get a ride to the bus station, a white t-shirt and prison issue jeans, and $50: > [@](#): > > Each had been released that morning and each wore prison-issue jeans and white T-shirts. > > “It’s hard. They release you with $50 in your pocket,” Stormes said. [Herald-Mail Media: Local News, Politics & Sports in Hagerstown, MD](http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=172222&format=html) Florida: > [@](#): > > DOC gives released inmates $100, a set of clothes and a one-way, in-state bus ticket. It also offers Project Reconnect, a program that provides offenders who have received a general equivalency diploma or vocational certificate with job placement assistance upon release from prison. In addition, inmates participate in a release plan where the DOC tries to help those who have no place to stay after prison find a home. [http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/fci/outsideprisonwalls.html](http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/fci/outsideprisonwalls.html) > [@](#): > > The vast majority of offenders — more than 95 percent, according to some studies — are simply released from prison with a bus ticket, “gate money” (a small amount of cash), and the promise of supervision in the future. > **[The Seattle Times | Local news, sports, business, politics, entertainment,...](https://www.seattletimes.com)** > > Local news, sports, business, politics, entertainment, travel, restaurants and opinion for Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/12 "2007-09-06T17:44:09Z")
[QUOTE=Gfactor] What kind of suit? [/QUOTE] A law suit? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/13 "2007-09-06T19:25:21Z")
Thanks, everyone! Looks like I have some reading to do… ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/14 "2007-09-06T20:10:06Z")
Paging **casdave** for the British side. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/15 "2007-09-07T02:20:11Z")
[QUOTE=Delaware Department of Correction, via Gfactor] (3) Any prisoner who, after using option (1) or (2) of this subsection, has insufficient funds to provide a one-way bus ticket to the prisoner’s place of residence, shall forfeit all such funds and shall be provided with a one-way bus ticket to the prisoner’s place of residence, as well as sufficient funding to provide food during travel. [/QUOTE] What if the prisoner’s place of residence is Hawaii? Or Uzbekistan, for that matter? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/16 "2007-09-07T09:44:56Z")
> [@](#): > > What kind of suit? What we refer to as “parole wear” - pants, shirt, sport coat. Tan and brown. > [@](#): > > What if the prisoner’s place of residence is Hawaii? Or Uzbekistan, for that matter? That’s whay we have the rule that’s it’s your county of residence or county of arrest. If you’re from Hawaii or Uzbekistan, you’re only going to get a bus ticket back to Brooklyn - we figure you made the rest of the trip on your own once before. (Actually, if you’re from Uzbekistan and you’re not a citizen, we’re probably going to turn you over to INS and you’ll get a ticket home when you’re deported.) ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-convicts-are-released/418246/17 "2007-09-07T13:57:01Z")
In our county jail they release you out the front door and that’s it for the cops. They tell them to go to the church’s for food , transport, and other assistance. The church’s don’t have the resources to take care to jail discharges, so they may give them food money for a day, and drive them someplace, but normally no assistance beyond a meal. Luckily there is a St. Vincent Depaul that provide shoes, pants and the like. Goodwill on the other hand will not cloth these people.