THE STUDY HAD TWO HYPOTHESES: (1) THE HIGHER THE DEGREE OF AN INMATE'S PRISONIZATION, THE MORE LIKELY THE PRISONER IS TO FAIL ON PAROLE, AND (2) UNSUCCESSFUL PAROLEES HAVE FEWER INTIMATE CONTACTS WITH PEOPLE OFFERING ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT ON PAROLE AND MORE CONTACTS WITH PERSONS ENCOURAGING THEM TO VIOLATE PAROLE THAN DO SUCCESSFUL PAROLEES. A QUANTITATIVE SYSTEM WAS USED TO MEASURE INMATES' RATINGS WITH REGARD TO SUCH FACTORS AS MEAN LENGTH OF SENTENCES, PERSONALITY STABILITY, LACK OF POSITIVE RELATIONS WITH PERSONS NOT IN PRISON, AND READINESS FOR INTEGRATION INTO PRISON CULTURE. THE DATA INDICATED THAT, IN GENERAL, PAROLE FAILURE IS MORE CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE FACTORS RELATED TO A HIGH DEGREE OF PRISONIZATION THAN IS PAROLE SUCCESS. THE RELATIONSHIP IS NOT CONSISTENT FOR ALL FACTORS AND IS NOT, THEREFORE, A SUFFICIENT EXPLANATION FOR PAROLE FAILURE. TO TEST THE SECOND HYPOTHESIS, INFORMATION WAS COLLECTED ON THE MEAN NUMBER OF CLOSE FRIENDS PAROLEES HAD WHILE ON PAROLE; THE PERCENT OF PAROLEES WHO HAD LIVED WITH OR HAD INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH PERSONS WHO HAD ENCOURAGED THEM TO ADHERE TO PAROLE REGULATIONS; AND THE THE PERCENT WHO LIVED WITH OR INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED WITH PERSONS WHO HAD BEEN IN PRISON, TEMPTED THEM TO VIOLATE PAROLE, OR SOLICITED THEM TO PARTICIPATE IN CRIME. THE PERCENT OF PERSONS WHO HAD COMMITTED CRIMES OR WHO ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH PERSONS WHO WERE COMMITTING CRIME WERE ALSO CONSIDERED. FINDINGS INDICATE THAT THE NATURE OF EXPOSURE TO CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR IS MORE CLOSELY RELATED TO PAROLE SUCCESS OR FAILURE THAN ARE MOST OF THE PRISONIZATION FACTORS TESTED. STUDY DATA IS PROVIDED. (DAG)