Obama Appoints Former DC Police Chief Fulwood Recommended by Norton to Chair U.S. Parole Commission

Obama Appoints Former D.C. Police Chief Fulwood Chair and a Vice Chair Recommended by Norton to U.S. Parole Commission

May 19, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) today said she was delighted that President Obama has nominated former D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Isaac Fulwood Jr. as chair and Cranston J. Mitchell for reappointment as vice chair of the U. S. Parole Commission. Norton said, "Considering that many of the major issues facing the Commission relate to District residents and are new to the agency, fresh approaches are needed. Commissioner Fulwood has already been a breath of fresh air for the Commission and is, even as a commissioner, reinvigorating the Commission." During his tenure as a commissioner, Fulwood introduced the first reforms to meet the needs of the new majority population under the Commission's jurisdiction, D.C. Code felons. Norton said that Fulwood's ideas also have been effective in assisting the successful reentry of inmates to civil society in the District.

Fulwood is a lifelong District of Columbia resident. His law enforcement experience and civic contributions, especially his mentoring of D.C. youth, have earned him widespread professional and community respect. Commissioner Fulwood also serves in a voluntary role as chair of the D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys, which Norton established to help African American men and D.C. residents focus greater attention on the deep problems of Black males, including high dropout rates from school, high crime and absent-father rates, and low marriage rates. "I believe that Commissioner Fulwood, with his tough law enforcement experience as chief of police here and as an experienced U.S. Parole Commission commissioner, will be a particularly effective chair of the Commission," Norton said.

Norton alsorecommended the current vice chair, Cranston J. Mitchell, a Republican, whose first term expired in March, for reappointment to the bipartisan Commission. Norton said Chairman Mitchell, "has brought intelligence, collegiality, and a wealth of experience in the field to the Commission." Mitchell's law enforcement experience at the federal and local levels has been valuable to the Commission, Norton added. He has been a chair and director of the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole, a police officer, and a counselor and administrator in the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Division of Vocational Training.

Although the Commission is a federal agency, its chief responsibility today is for District of Columbia Code felons upon release, whose responsibility was transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the Commission by the 1997 Revitalization Act. With federal parole eliminated, the Commission has been phasing out federal offenders for many years, while new D.C. Code felons requiring supervised release have been continually added. Consequently, today, the Commission has responsibility for approximately 4,000 federal offenders and 9,500 D.C. Code felons, most of whom are housed in federal prisons around the country. In time, the Commission will have jurisdiction only over D.C. Code felons requiring supervised release, as well as some military code offenders.