Worcester, Massachusetts, parole services are provided by the Region 4 parole office, which is located in Worcester. Parole in Massachusetts is overseen by the Massachusetts Parole Board, which is an agency within the Executive Office of Public Safety. Through the Massachusetts Parole Board, offenders are granted parole and supervised while under parole.
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As of December 2010, there were 301 offenders under parole supervision in Region 4, which totals 9 percent of the total number of parolees in the State of Massachusetts. During this time, 6 parole officers worked in the Region 4 office, each of whom had an average caseload of 50 parolees.
Worcester is the county seat of Worcester County. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of more than 181,000. Its central location in Massachusetts makes it part of the Greater Boston statistical area, or part of the Boston-Worcester-Manchester region.
Parole Officer Careers in Worcester, Massachusetts: Minimum Requirements
for Employment
The minimum entrance requirement for Worcester-based parole officer jobs is 5 years of full-time experience in one of the following areas:
- Parole work
- Probation work
- Social work
- Criminal justice
- Vocational counseling
- Rehabilitation counseling
- Psychology
In lieu of 5 years of experience, the following may be substituted:
- An associate’s degree or higher in law enforcement, criminal justice, social work, law, human services, rehabilitation, sociology, psychology, or counseling may be substituted, with two years of education for six months of experience.
- A master’s degree in one of the above areas may be substituted, with two years of education for one year of experience.
- A doctorate in one of the above areas may be substituted for work experience.
All candidates for Worcester, Massachusetts, parole officer jobs must be able to obtain a permit to carry firearms, and they must possess a valid Massachusetts driver’s license.
How to Become a Parole Officer in Worcester, Massachusetts through Training
Further training may be required to attain parole officer careers in Worcester. For example, based on the assignment, parole officers may need to receive certification in the following areas:
- Firearms Instructors
- Firearms
- Pepper Spray
- Pepper Spray Instructors
- Handgun Retention
- Defensive Tactics Instruction
Parole Statistics in Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Parole Board operates 8 regional reentry centers throughout the state, including an Intensive Parole for Sex Offender Program. The Massachusetts Parole Board currently has about 200, full-time employees, who are assigned to the 8 regional field offices, as well as to the Central Administrative office in Natick and to the state and county correctional institutions located throughout the state.
The Parole Board, in 2010 alone, conducted 8,205 institutional release hearings, and 5,163 inmates were paroled, resulting in a paroling rate of 63 percent, which is a 5 percent decrease from 2009’s paroling rate of 68 percent.
In 2010 the Massachusetts Parole Board released 4,507 individuals from parole, a decrease from 4,716 in 2009 and 4,684 in 2008. It is estimated that the cost of supervising an individual on parole for one year is $5,000, compared to $30,000 to $40,000 a year for incarcerating an offender.