DCIST has published an article on the local control of parole issue titled D.C. Could Take A Pivotal Piece Of The Criminal Justice System Back From Federal Control. Why Is It Taking So Long?. Some highlights from the article:

• The U.S. Parole Commission has wrought decades of harm on D.C. residents, especially Black D.C. residents …
• It’s a rare instance where everyone involved seems to agree on a path forward: D.C. should regain local control over parole. And yet, year after year, the city’s government has been unable to make it happen, despite assurances that a solution was imminent.
• … now, the city faces the prospect of instituting a local parole board at the exact time Congress could switch back into Republican hands, clouding the future even more: D.C. is not a state, so a GOP majority could hypothetically choose to reject any local parole solution the city puts forth.
• “Consistent with my own push for statehood, of course I was gung ho about giving this authority back to the District,” D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton told the Washington Post last summer. “But the District has taken no action to prepare for this reversion.” Still, a senior Bowser advisor told the outlet at the time that D.C. wouldn’t need an extension past the 2022 deadline.

CLICK HERE to read the whole article.