(Video about Phillip Garrido the kidnapper who went to jail after having two children with his victim)

The Office of the Inspector General unleashed harsh criticism of the California parole officers responsible for watching Phillip Garrido, a convicted kidnapper and rapist. The parole officers had been assigned to checking in on Phillip Garrido but during that time the Garrido parole officers failed to notice that he had held Jaycee Lee Dugard captive for 18 years, missing many chances to free her, as she was “right under their noses”. Garrido had kept the kidnapped victim for 18 years, during which time she seemed to developed a form of Stockholm Syndrome. Her mother stated she felt guilty for bonding with her captor. The two children she bore with him even cried when they heard that their father would go to jail.

Garrido was spotted with two children as he tried to enter the University of California, Berkeley, campus to hand out religious literature. Police officers said he was acting suspiciously toward the children. Rather than the parole officers doing their job during the 18 year ordeal, it was those police officers who got suspicious from an encounter, who informed the parole officer to do a checkup on him.

The criticisms may be rhetoric for public consumption, if indeed the parole officers may have done all that was required of them in the Garrido case. Typically, parole officers are only required to make a visit that is often no different from what a stranger or relative might do. The parole officer would chat with Garrido, ask him about his job, his hobbies, and what he has been doing. The parole officers are not required to dig through every nook and cranny of Garrido’s home, rather parole officers are expected to look around and if anything triggers their suspicion, then it is their obligation to conduct a more thorough search. Most parole officers are given allowed to use their own discretion of the timing of home visits and just how thoroughly to search the premises.

The case load of parole officers also came under criticism from media and the public. The average parole officer may be supervising up to 200 former offenders at any one time.