[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 144 (Thursday, July 25, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 38569-38570]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-18861]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Parole Commission

28 CFR Part 2


Paroling, Recommitting, and Supervising Federal Prisoners: 
Transfer Treaty Cases

AGENCY: United States Parole Commission, Justice.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Parole Commission is amending its regulations on 
transfer treaty cases by reducing the number of hearing examiners 
required to conduct a hearing for a prisoner transferred to the United 
States pursuant to treaty. The number is reduced from two hearing 
examiners to one hearing examiner. The recommended decision of the 
hearing examiner shall be reviewed by the executive hearing examiner, 
and the Commission will not act upon the case until a panel 
recommendation consisting of two concurring examiner votes is obtained. 
This change will not otherwise affect the procedures followed at a 
special transferee hearing. This procedural rule is necessary for the 
Commission to operate within the substantially reduced Congressional 
appropriation anticipated for Fiscal Year 1997.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 26, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pamela A. Posch, Office of General 
Counsel, 5550 Friendship Blvd, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815, Telephone 
(301) 492-5959.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a procedural rule change affecting 
only those prisoners who are transferred to the United States, pursuant 
to treaty, to serve a sentence imposed in the transferring country. For 
a prisoner who is serving a foreign sentence for a crime that was 
committed on or after November 1, 1987, the Parole Commission is 
obliged to conduct a special transferee hearing upon his return to the 
United States, and to determine a period of imprisonment and a period 
of supervised release, within the framework of the foreign sentence, 
according to the rules and guidelines of the U.S. Sentencing 
Commission. See 18 U.S.C. 4106A (1988).
    Until now, the regulation governing such cases, 28 CFR 2.62, has 
required that special transferee hearings be conducted by panels of two 
hearing examiners. In all other hearings conducted by the Commission 
(including parole and parole revocation hearings for domestic 
prisoners) hearings are conducted by a single

[[Page 38570]]

examiner. The recommended decision of the hearing examiner is reviewed 
by the executive hearing examiner, and the Commission is presented with 
a panel recommendation pursuant to 28 CFR 2.23. The same procedure is 
now extended to special transferee hearings.
    The Commission originally decided to require panel-conducted 
hearings for transfer treaty prisoners because of the complexity of 
sentencing guideline issues and the absence of any statutorily-
authorized administrative remedy procedure. The determination of the 
Commission becomes subject to direct appeal to a United States Court of 
Appeals pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 4106A(b)(2)(A). However, the Commission 
has improved its pre-hearing assessment procedure, and has added a 
review by its Office of General Counsel before each case is submitted 
to the Commission for decision. These additional safeguards have 
reduced the possibility of error which diminishes the need for two 
hearing examiners to conduct each hearing. Moreover, the Commission 
anticipates a severely reduced Congressional appropriation for Fiscal 
Year 1997, and it can no longer afford to send panels of hearing 
examiners to conduct each special transferee hearing. With the 
additional safeguards described above, the Commission believes that the 
hearing and decision making process for transfer treaty prisoners will 
continue to be as error-free as possible.

Implementation

    This procedural rule change will apply to all special transferee 
hearings conducted on or after the effective date shown above.

Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory Flexibility Statement:

    The U.S. Parole Commission has determined that this rule is not a 
significant regulatory action for the purposes of Executive Order 
12866, and the rule has, accordingly, not been reviewed by the Office 
of Management and Budget. The rule will not have a significant economic 
impact upon a substantial number of small entities within the meaning 
of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 605(b).

List of Subjects in 28 CFR Part 2

    Administrative practice and procedure, Probation and parole, 
Prisoners.

The Final Rule

    Accordingly, the U.S. Parole Commission makes the following changes 
to 28 CFR part 2:

    (1) The authority citation for 28 CFR part 2 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 18 U.S.C. 4203(a)(1) and 4204(a)(6).


Sec. 2.62   [Amended]

    (2) Section 2.62 is amended by substituting ``a hearing examiner'' 
for ``a panel of examiners'' in paragraph (h), introductory text; by 
substituting ``The examiner'' for ``The examiner panel'' in paragraph 
(h)(1) introductory text; by substituting ``The examiner'' for ``The 
examiner panel'' in paragraph (h)(5).
    (3) Section Sec. 2.62(h)(6) is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 2.62   Prisoners transferred pursuant to treaty.

* * * * *
    (h) Hearing procedures. * * *
    (6) The transferee shall be notified of the examiner's recommending 
findings of fact, and the examiner's recommended determination and 
reasons therefore, at the conclusion at the hearing. The case shall 
thereafter be reviewed by the Executive Hearing Examiner pursuant to 
Sec. 2.23, and the Commission shall make its determination upon a panel 
recommendation.
* * * * *
    Dated: July 12, 1996.
Edward F. Reilly, Jr.,
Chairman, U.S. Parole Commission.
[FR Doc. 96-18861 Filed 7-24-96; 8:45 am]
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