743

Role of the States in the Transfer Process

The majority of prisoners who participate in the transfer program are convicted of federal offenses. State prisoners, however, are also eligible to apply for transfer. Every state has enacted legislation permitting them to participate in the international transfer program. As a result each state has established policies and procedures governing their administration of the transfer process. If a state determines that a state prisoner is an appropriate candidate for transfer and approves his request, the state prisoner's application will be submitted to the federal government for consideration. Although the federal government approves most applications from state prisoners, it will deny such applications if there is a compelling federal interest or if any of the major statutory or treaty requirements are not satisfied. The federal government only considers a transfer application from a state prisoner if the state has approved the request; it is without the authority to compel a state to transfer a state prisoner. State contact information and state legislation can be found on the IPTU Web site at http://www.justice.gov/criminal/oeo/iptu/. [new March 2012] [cited in USAM 9-35.010]