Jurisdiction over any proceeding to challenge, modify, and/or set
aside
the offender's conviction or sentence remains with the country in which the
sentence was imposed. The transferring country also retains the power to
pardon
or grant amnesty to an offender, in which case the receiving State is
required
to release the prisoner. Otherwise, the sentence itself is transferred and
the
completion of the transferred offender's sentence is carried out in
accordance
with the laws and procedures of the receiving country, including the
application
of any provisions for reduction of the term of confinement by parole,
conditional
release, or otherwise.
The Federal Government enforces the sentences imposed on United
States
nationals who are transferred from foreign prisons back to this country. It
is
bound by the treaties with Mexico and Canada not to enforce any sentence of
confinement in such a way as to extend a sentence's duration beyond the date
at
which it would have terminated according to the sentence imposed by the
sending
country. With respect to prisoners who are transferred from countries which
are
signatories to the Council of Europe Convention (see list of
signatory
countries, infra) the United States has elected to "continue" rather
than
"convert" sentences imposed by the sentencing State. Notwithstanding these
understandings, the United States is permitted to apply its own laws
relating to
the administration of such sentences. Accordingly, after a prisoner is
returned
to the United States, the United States Parole Commission conducts a
transferee
release determination and determines the release date of the transferee in
accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 4106A (or in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §
4106
in the case of transferees who committed their offenses prior to November 1,
1987). Such release date would, with respect to transferees whose offenses
are
committed abroad after November 1, 1987, include a term of supervised
release
following release from prison.
When prisoners are transferred from one country to another, the
transferring country loses jurisdiction over the prisoner's sentence, and
violations of the terms or conditions of the original sentence cannot be
enforced
by the transferring country, even if the prisoner should return, lawfully or
unlawfully, to that country. Accordingly, the United States has no
authority to
revoke supervision or to impose sanctions for violations of the conditions
of
parole or supervised release of a prisoner who has been transferred out of
the
United States but who later returns to this country after being released
from the
foreign prison.