Changes to Post-Release Supervision on the Way

Under existing law, only Class B1 through E felonies get post-release supervision (PRS). They are released from prison “on the date equivalent to [their] maximum imposed prison term less nine months, less any earned time,” G.S. 15A-1368.2(a), and their period of supervision in the community is generally 9 months. For sex offenders, period of supervision is 5 years. G.S. 15A-1368.2(c). If a post-release supervisee violates the conditions of supervision, the Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission (Parole Commission) can revoke PRS and place the offender back in prison “up to the time remaining on his maximum imposed term”—which will, of course, be 9 months, because that’s how much time he had remaining on his sentence when he was released. G.S. 15A-1368.3(c)(1). As part of the Justice Reinvestment initiative, analysts from the Council of State Government (CSG) reviewed criminal justice data from North Carolina and made recommendations for how our system could be improved. One of their findings (set out in the reports available here) was that the vast majority of inmates leave DOC with no supervision in the community, and that those inmates tend to have a higher re-arrest rate than those released to post-release supervision. In response, the CSG group recommended changing the law so that all felons would have supervision in the community upon release. By way of background, the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission has analyzed this issue in detail for many years, most thoroughly in its 2008 recidivism report (see pp. 53–74). When it controlled for [...]