Norton to Revise D.C. Parole System (3/12/08)

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), following a hearing on sentencing and parole system for D.C. offenders, said that she will seek wholesale revision of antiquated and counter productive U.S. Parole Commission procedures. She said that testimony at the hearing showed that the congressional transfer of D.C. prison, reentry, and parole jurisdiction to federal authority in the Revitalization Act did not intend rote adoption of federal parole procedures meant for a far different criminal population. Contrasting experiences of two ex-offenders, who testified, demonstrated how alternatives to re-incarceration, especially for ex-offenders who were employed, were preferable to automatic return to prison. Expert witnesses, including U.S. Parole Commissioner Isaac Fulwood, Jr., a former D.C. police chief, offered convincing testimony that longer sentences do not decrease recidivism. Perhaps the most troublesome revelation of the hearing was that most parole revocations result not from criminal acts, but from failed drug tests or failure to meet with parole officers. The effect of parole, she said, is to countermand the considerable taxpayer investment in generally well regarded job training and drug rehabilitation programs by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and for reentry services provided by Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.