Prison Fellowship Backs Safer Supervision Bill – Update for November 28, 2025

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

PRISON FELLOWSHIP THROWS SUPPORT TO SAFER SUPERVISION ACT

(And, no, I am not even going to comment in passing about the President’s annual turkey-pardoning spectacle last Tuesday, which President Trump managed to make even more cringeworthy than normal by using the occasion to take yet another swipe at former President Biden).

Prison Fellowship, the nation’s largest faith-based nonprofit serving currently and formerly incarcerated people, announced last week that its staffers –including 18 former prisoners – will blitz congressional offices to encourage lawmakers to support the Safer Supervision Act (S. 3077 and H.R. 5883).

The legislation aims to modernize federal supervised release by requiring courts to make individualized determinations at sentencing whether supervision is appropriate and allowing FTCs – earned time credits during incarceration – to be applied toward conditional release.

Supervised release has become almost universal in federal sentencing. In 2024, it was imposed in nearly 99% of cases involving black defendants, 98% for white defendants, and 83% for Hispanic defendants. The average term of supervised release in 2024 was 47 months, following an average prison term of just over five years.

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Senate version and Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) – no relation to Mike – introduced the House bill. Both bills have Democratic Party co-sponsors.

S. 3077, Safer Supervision Act

H.R. 5883, Safer Supervision Act

Daily Reflector, Prison Fellowship Urges Congress To Pass Safer Supervision Act With Day of Action on Capitol Hill (November 18, 2025)

~ Thomas L. Root