The data were collected over 2.5 years starting in 1994, when the author entered an established volunteer intern program operated by the California Department of Corrections and gathered information by means of participation. After 12 months of internship, the author interviewed and observed additional parole agents and reviewed parolee files over an 18-month period. Results indicated that although the agency and its field agents still espouse the validity of normalization and reformative goals in this part of corrections, the resources and commitment to carry out those aims are in short supply. Consequently, agency actors appear to have constructed the parolees as ones who are dispositionally flawed and who are ultimately responsible for their own improvement. The analysis also considered the findings in relation to Simon's 1993 analysis of the agency's struggle to develop a plausible account of parole's purpose in the face of shifting structural, political, and institutional demands. Notes and 54 references (Author abstract modified)