Norton Bill Seeks to Extend the U.S. Parole Commission (7/17/08)

Norton Bill Seeks to Extend the U.S. Parole Commission

July 17, 2007

Washington, DC - As part of her continuing oversight begun last year of District Code felons, ex-offenders and parolees under federal jurisdiction, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) testified at a hearing late yesterday for her bill to extend the U.S. Parole Commission for three years beyond its current expiration date of November 1, 2008. Currently, the Parole Commission has oversight of more than 9,000 D.C. offenders, and more than 2,000 more federal felons. However, Norton sharply criticized the refusal of the Justice Department to agree to permanent authorization of "this federal agency with a vital continuing federal mission." Besides the inefficient and counterproductive use of congressional time, Norton said the coming deadline had disrupted the work of the commission and put public safety at risk. Next year, she will again seek a permanent reauthorization of the Commission.

Also, at Norton's request, the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security heard testimony from a D.C. resident, Horace Crenshaw, who was re-incarcerated and lost years of "good time," which then added to his years on parole. However, following his second infraction, the Parole Board used a sanction procedure that included drug rehabilitation, allowing him to keep his job. Norton is working on a bill to bring the U.S. Parole Commission's procedures in line with best practices.

The Congresswoman's testimony follows:

Thank you for the opportunity to testify concerning the extension of the United States Parole Commission, vital to provide for the continued operations of the Commission. You have my special gratitude for holding this hearing so expeditiously in light of the expiration of the Commission on November 1, 2008. Among a number of important changes requested by elected District officials, the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997 transferred the city's responsibility for D.C. Code felons to federal jurisdiction; made the U.S. Parole Commission the responsible agency; and abolished the District of Columbia Board of Parole. The Revitalization Act also required the Parole Commission to assume jurisdiction for parole release decisions, mandatory release supervision, and revocation decisions by August 5, 2000.

The Parole Board is a hybrid local-federal anachronism representing unfinished business for the Congress. The Commission also continued its jurisdiction over parole matters for ex-offenders whose convictions for federal crimes occurred before the new federal sentencing guidelines that abolished federal parole took effect. However, the numbers of federal offenders as well as pre-2000 D.C. Code offenders have been diminishing. The Commission has been phasing out federal offenders for 20 years, but new D.C. Code offenders mandated by the Revitalization Act are continually added every year and require supervised release.

Today should have been the occasion to recognize the inescapable reality that the U.S. Parole Commission has a new, permanent role and a new set of parolees who will be added annually, assuring the permanency of the Commission's mission. However, my bill to give the Commission permanent status was turned away by the Attorney General's office, and that office would not even accept a five-year extension. As a result of this bewildering refusal in the face of facts to the contrary, the House and the Senate today must take time from urgent national business, after only three years, to repeat a needlessly mandatory ritual we completed only in September 2005, when Congress, once again, extended the life of the Commission.

The effects of this short-sighted approach are already playing out with counterproductive results. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the Commission to plan for the expiration of the Commission three to six months prior to actual expiration or face due process challenges to release dates. Most seriously, this requirement could mean an artificial adjustment of prisoners release dates at odds with statutory intent, in order to allow for appeal dates for inmates in light of their right to contest release dates before the November 1st expiration date. This order from a single circuit could prove unworkable. Imagine other circuits adopting a similar position, and it becomes clear that there is an urgent need for immediate passage of the bill to extend the Commission for at least three years, notwithstanding the rank inefficiency and needless work for the Commission and the Congress because of such a short a statutory life. This short, arbitrary sunset date for a federal commission with the important public safety mission to monitor ex-felons is risky and totally unnecessary.

The public safety mission of the Commission should and will assure continuing oversight, perhaps more often than a three-year cycle. For example, oversight hearings by the Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and District of Columbia are planned on a number of Commission issues, most seriously, the unjust and counterproductive loss of street time, regardless of the nature of the parole infraction, about which you will hear directly from a witness who has been harshly affected. To its credit, the Parole Commission and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) have worked diligently to mitigate some of these negative effects, but we are preparing more permanent statutory relief for introduction in the next Congress.

Currently, the Parole Commission has 2,512 federal offenders while it has 9,466 D.C. Code offenders. Without immediate Parole Commission extension, the supervised release of the 9,466 D.C. Code offenders will no longer be monitored. I ask that the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security extend the U.S. Parole Commission to ensure that there is a supervised release program in place for D.C. Code and federal offenders.