Effect of Prisoner Transfer and the Administration of the Transferred Sentence

When a prisoner is transferred, the responsibility for administering the sentence belongs exclusively to the receiving country. The sentencing country loses jurisdiction over the prisoner’s sentence, and violations of the terms or conditions of the original sentence, including supervised release, cannot be enforced even if the prisoner returns illegally to the United States after satisfying the sentence in the foreign country. The sentencing country, however, retains jurisdiction to modify or vacate the sentence, including the power to grant a pardon or amnesty. Under the COE Convention, the receiving country also has the power to pardon a prisoner or commute his sentence but, to date, this power has been used infrequently.

Under most of the treaties, the receiving country will continue the enforcement of the transferred sentence. Such continued enforcement will be executed under the laws, regulations and procedures of the receiving country, including any provisions for reducing the term of confinement by parole, conditional release, good-time release, or otherwise. In addition, the French and Turkish bilateral treaties and the COE Convention, provide the receiving country with the option of converting the sentence through either a judicial or administrative procedure, into its own sentence. When a sentence is converted, the receiving country substitutes the penalty for a similar offense under its own laws for that of the sentencing country. The receiving country, however, is bound by the sentencing country’s findings of fact insofar as they appear in the judgment. The receiving country may never administer or convert the sentence in such a way that the time the transferred person spends in prison exceeds the full term of the sentence imposed by the sentencing country. Nevertheless, it is possible for a prisoner to spend less time or more time in his home country because of differences in laws regarding applicable prison credits and the availability of different forms of conditional release.

[updated January 2020]