This study examined how parole might operate as a labor market institution, and how it might contribute to the governance of poverty and social marginality.
Drawing on a series of correctional, employment, and arrest records for a cohort of parolees in Michigan, this study found that parole generally supervised a jobless population, but also supervised a significant number of people who work. The study also found evidence that parole, contrary to many expectations, increased the odds of employment; however, there was not convincing evidence that parolee employment alleviated individual poverty or reduced the odds of recidivism. These results inspire a conceptualization of parolefare, another poverty regulating regime that successfully motivates worker-citizenship but does little to extend or protect the life chances of the poor. (publisher abstract modified)