Traditional views emphasize that the first few days after parole are critical ones characterized by extreme stress. Results of this followup study indicated that respondents did not exhibit gross stress symptoms immediately following release but instead experienced stress prior to release from prison. While most claimed concern about employment, only one man saw finding work as critical to his survival on parole. Respondents were chronically short of money but not to satisfy basic needs. Most anticipated more discrimination because of their prison record than they later experienced. While many parolees worried before release that old associates would lead them astray, most were relieved to find this was not the case immediately after release. However, these conflicts emerged again in the later interviews. Respondents in 17 percent of the interviews expressed doubts about their abilities to manage their own behavior. At least 85 percent of the respondents in every interview felt they had several sources of emotional and material support. The different view of parolee stress depicted by this study may be influenced by over half the respondents having furlough or work release experiences and recent liberalization of parole policy. The findings show that parole was not central in the respondents' lives and that traditional practices of declining intensity of postrelease supervision may be counterproductive. Interviews suggested that the ability to maintain hope of achieving a satisfactory life was a critical factor and that when this failed, a return to crime often followed. The paper includes 3 footnotes and 16 references.