Slowly, more people are supporting the idea that reforms in the community supervision system are feasible and working, according to an article published by The Crime Report. Jessica Jackson, Chief Advocacy Officer at REFORM Alliance, elaborated more on the situation of how COVID-19 has affected and influenced these changing views. The pandemic has led offenders to be able to remotely check-in with probation officers, which allows for more focus and time being spent on rehabilitation. Government resources in the past have been spent on maintaining a parole and probation system that sends more individuals back to jail for technical violations rather than criminal behavior. It is structured to punish the individual instead of rehabilitating and taking a more reformed approach to reducing recidivism. Many individuals have expressed they do not feel supported by their officers and find it already hard readjusting to life outside bars without having to worry about all the technicalities. Arthur Rizer, a former police officer and law professor at George Mason University says community supervision should support individuals released from detention rather than just supervise them.
In order to reduce mass incarceration, something has to change in the support and rehabilitation resources offered to individuals in the community supervision division. TRACKtech, LLC is working to bridge this gap between individuals not feeling supported and provided enough resources to stay out of jail. With the TRACKphone, officers are able to remotely check-in with individuals via bio-metric identification and video conferencing. This allows for them to monitor an individual’s location and make sure they are compliant. Individuals also have access to a wide variety of rehabilitative resources and calendar reminders for job interviews and appointments. This helps them better integrate back into society and provide them with some stability to reduce recidivism rates.