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File Name | S22-Policy-NCFCA-33-AFF-DCParole.docx |
File Size | 565.52 KB |
Date added | January 3, 2022 |
Category | Policy (NCFCA) |
Author | Luke Carlsen |
Resolved: The United States Federal Government should significantly reform its policies regarding convicted prisoners under federal jurisdiction
Case Summary: This plan passes H.R. 658, which will transfer power from the United States Parole Commission to the local government of the District of Columbia and allow them to manage their own parole system. Offenders convicted of crimes in the District of Columbia get sent to federal prison (even if the crimes they committed were not literally “federal” crimes). DC offenders therefore fit the resolution as convicted prisoners “under federal jurisdiction.” Congress has jurisdiction over the District in “all cases whatsoever” (Art. 1 Sec. 8 of the Constitution), but it has, since the mid-1970s, allowed the District some measure of self-government under local elected leaders. Congress still retains full jurisdiction and can change or retract local decision-making at any time.
The District used to manage parole for its imprisoned offenders. But in 1998, an Act of Congress transferred power over parole from the local DC government to the US Parole Commission, the same agency that handles parole for all other federal inmates. This case argues it’s time to go back to the old way and let DC handle its own parole and supervised release prisoners, even if they’re still in federal prisons.
Parole was abolished for all other federal inmates starting in 1987, so the USPC has only a few “regular” older inmates left who are still eligible for parole – the ones who were convicted before the rules were changed in ’87. The vast majority of USPC’s work involves DC prisoners, given that there are so few regular federal prisoners left from before 1987.
The local DC government abolished parole beginning in August, 2000. But all the DC prisoners in federal custody convicted before that time are still eligible for it. In addition, the Parole Board manages the cases of prisoners on “supervised release,” which are an ongoing number that continues into the future, regardless of parole. Lots of prisoners are given terms of “supervised release” at the end of their sentence or as part of their sentence, and the abolition of DC parole does not change this.
The US Parole Commission and the federal CSOSA (Community Supervision and Offender Services Agency) have been failing in their duties to manage DC prisoners properly, leading to unjust outcomes and not representing the needs of the local community in Washington. This bill gets USPC out of the picture, turns CSOSA over to the local District of Columbia government, and puts parole/supervised release under the localized CSOSA.