California Criminal Justice FAQ: How many parolees re-offend and return to prison each year?

Growth in Numbers of Parole Returns to Prison

Most parole violators (PVs) are returned to custody (PV-RTC) for violations of the conditions of their parole, while others are convicted in courts for new crimes with new terms (PV-WNT).
The total number of parole violations that resulted in an offender being returned to prison has increased three-fold over the past 20 years from about 32,000 PVs in 1987 to 93,000 in 2007. There were about 127,000 individuals under state parole supervision at the end of 2007.
The larger number of parole returns mostly reflects increases in the total prison and parole populations, which have grown by almost three-fold since 1987.
For more information on the number of parole violators, please see the Deparment of Corrections and Rehabilitation's report titled Rate of Felon Parolees Returned to California Prisons.