Source: http://pcr-consultants.com/tag/probation/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 15:15:26+00:00

Document:
“A high-speed chase ended in a crash south of Hanceville and the capture of a man wanted for a federal parole violation.
Reynolds was wanted for a federal probation violation for possessing a firearm. Having, holding, or owning a gun is a big no-no on federal supervised release (or probation).1 A probation violation for possessing a firearm means a quick trip back to prison.
Reynolds, wanted for a probation violation, leads police on a high speed chase.
An officer spots Reynolds and attempts to pull him over. Instead of complying, he speeds away and leads law enforcement on a high speed chase that ended Reynolds wrecking his truck. What started with a possible routine traffic-stop-turned-arrest, turned into a very dangerous situation.
Reynolds may have been facing a few years inside prison walls for his probation violation. That’s a federal court issue. Instead of just pulling over when an officer spotted him in his truck, he ran away. This is (most likely) going to add Alabama’s version of the following charges: reckless driving, reckless endangerment, speeding, resisting arrest, and possibly even attempted vehicular assault.
If, in the process of living life, you become wanted for a federal probation violation, nothing you can do can make that problem go away. It is possible, however, to make things much, much worse. Reynolds may have been facing a few years in federal prison for his violation (if the government could prove that Reynolds did, in fact, possess a gun when he wasn’t supposed to). After this high speed chase with local law enforcement, though, he is facing many more years in state prison to add to the federal time he still has to do.
Lesson #1: Don’t try to run away from law enforcement. It almost never works, and always makes things worse.
Lesson #2: Running away from a federal probation violation doesn’t make it go away.
Lesson #3: Don’t be like this guy. If you’re in trouble, get an attorney and face it head on. It may just save years of your life that would otherwise be wasted behind bars.
How Often Does Your Federal Probation Officer Visit?
Each federal district has a large amount of discretion over local USPO policy. For this reason, the treatment of probationers and supervisees can vary widely. However, because of the policy set forth in Monograph 109 (available here), much of how those under federal supervision are treated remains similar everywhere.
Generally, when an inmate of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is released from custody, that inmate goes to a halfway house. Once their time in the halfway house is finished, a term of supervised release begins. Initially the level of supervision on the outset is the highest it will be for the supervisee. This includes residential visits from the PO to approve housing, and a visit or two to the supervisee’s job site to verify employment.
Monthly in-person visits from a PO are common in the first months of supervision. After a year or so (maybe even sooner) those visits become more infrequent. This signifies a change in “Supervision Intensity” or some such phrase as used by the local USPO. A supervisee will rarely hear of the internal policy or paperwork involved in the levels of supervision, but the intensity by which the supervision occurs can be easily observed.
There are a lot of reasons to want to get off of federal supervision as fast as possible, and those will be covered in a later post. How often you see your probation officer is discussed above and illuminates information that is important to this cause. Why, you ask?
This descending intensity of supervision is an indicator that the USPO is less interested in a supervisee. Less interest means they believe that there is less of a threat to society posed by the supervisee. That means the USPO is much less likely to stand in the way of a bid to get off of supervision early. If the USPO isn’t standing in the way, the judge is much more likely to grant the request.
This is a great thing! Paying attention to the amount of attention you are getting from your federal probation officer makes you better informed for your request for early termination. Early termination is freedom, and freedom is priceless!
This article is a bit old, but we dug it up out of the archives from the Kansas Federal Defender Blog. Sentences handed down after revoking federal supervised release and probation can be run consecutively, even if the court re-starts supervision post-release.
However, this isn’t necessary, as revocation sentences for supervised release and probation violations are not mandatory. Just like regular sentences after U.S. v. Booker, these guidelines in USSG §7B1.3(f) are advisory, and have been even before Booker.
Concurrent sentences are allowed. The ‘mandatory’ part: the violation report will say that a SRV sentence “shall be ordered to be served consecutively to any sentence of imprisonment that the defendant is serving,” whether or not related to the SRV, citing §7B1.3(f). Sounds kinda mandatory, doesn’t it? But not so.
The ‘advisory’ part: Even before Booker, the revocation guidelines were only advisory because the Commission issued only policy statements rather than actual guidelines (the SRV report usually notes this when advising that the Court that it can go ‘outside’ the range without notice, citing the upward departure case of Burdex). Still, the question often arises whether concurrent sentences are permissible. The Tenth Circuit says yes , the district court has discretion to impose concurrent sentences, not withstanding the advisory mandate of §7B1.3(f), as this is allowed by 18 USC §3584.
The same language applies to SRV’s, per 18 USC §3583(e) and (i).
Not so nice. A recent guideline amendment, effective 11.1.2006, imposed or perhaps clarified, that three offense levels should be added when an offense was committed on PRETRIAL release, USSG §3C1.3. (Btw, to avoid confusion, USSG here refers to the guidelines, not the other USSG, United Skates School Group.) This attempts conformance with 18 USC §3147, usually referenced at the Rule 5 when released on bond. Remember, ‘appropriate sentencing notice’ must be provided before this three levels applies, but the Rule 5 advice may serve as notice, US v. Browning. 61 F3d 752 (10th Cir 1995).
This article is a bit more legally technical than the average blog post here at PCR Consultants, but the content is good and can be very important.
Avoiding violations is always best, but not always easy. E-mail us if you need some solid information regarding supervised release, and how to keep out of trouble.

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