Releasing Inmates to Other Countries

North Carolina law allows certain inmates to be released from incarceration to return to another country. Rapid REPAT. Since 2008, certain inmates have been eligible for an early conditional release from an active sentence in North Carolina to be removed from the United States. The Division of Adult Correction refers to the program as Rapid REPAT, as it shares characteristics with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program of the same name. In the ICE program, REPAT stands for “Removal of Eligible Parolees Accepted for Transfer.” Under G.S. 148-64.1, the Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission may conditionally release an inmate into ICE custody if all of the following requirements are satisfied. The inmate is subject to a final order of removal. (Sejal Zota and John Rubin cover the details of the removal process in their excellent and recently revised manual on the Immigration Consequences of a Criminal Conviction in North Carolina.) The inmate was convicted of a “nonviolent criminal offense,” which is defined to include only the following offenses: Breaking or entering buildings under G.S. 14-54 (prison regulations say this provision also covers larceny); Breaking or entering into a motor vehicle, etc., under G.S. 14-56; Possessing stolen goods under G.S. 14-71.1; Obtaining property by false pretenses (less than $100,000) under G.S. 14-100; Possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance under G.S. 90-95(d)(4); An impaired driving offense that does not result in death or serious bodily injury. (The law appears to have been written with DAC in mind, but it seems like [...]