Around half of all new admissions to Missouri's prisons come from people who have violated their probation or parole. Those cases sent more than 5,000 Missourians back to prison last year — and a lack of transparency is a reason.

Thousands of people move in and out of Missouri's parole system every year. In 2008, Terrell Robinson walked free after serving 21 years of a 50-year sentence for a robbery he committed in St. Louis at 17.

His release seemed like the start of a new life. But one year later, Robinson violated the terms of his parole . He was sent back to prison.

"The parole board is a draconian system, it's cruel and severe," Robinson said in a phone call Thursday from the Northeast Correctional Center. "We're at their mercy, whether we believe it or not."

Robinson has

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