After all, the counties also run drug-rehabilitation, housing and job-placement programmes that the probationers need to build new and cleaner lives.

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"Isolation can be a breeding ground for depression and deviancy, " said Irwin, a psychotherapist who works with court-mandated parolees and probationers in California.

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But SCIS praises changes in training in recent years, such as a guaranteed year's work for probationers to allow them to hone their skills.

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