Interstate Compact in Colorado – A Guide to How It Works

Colorado is a member of the interstate compact – formally called the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision – which regulates if and how you can have your probation or parole transferred between states. If you move to or from Colorado in violation of the interstate compact, you face being remanded to jail or prison.

Can I move states if I am on probation or parole?

The interstate compact may allow you to move to or from Colorado for any of the following eight reasons:

1. You are a military member, or you live with family members who are in the military.
2. You are a military veteran, and your medical/mental health services were transferred to another state.
3. Your employer has directed you to move.
4. You can get a job in the receiving state, and you can live with a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, adult child, adult sibling, spouse, legal guardian, or step-parent who has lived in the receiving state for at least 180 days.
5. You have a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, adult child, adult sibling, spouse, legal guardian, or step-parent who has lived in the receiving state for at least 180 days, and that resident family member(s) is willing to help you and has sufficient means of support.
6. You live with family who are moving.
7. You are already a resident of the receiving state from having lived there for no less than one year before committing the crime you were put on parole or probation for.
8. Discretionary reasons, such as moving would be in your best interest and will not pose a public safety risk.¹

Note that “moving” means to live in the receiving state for more than 45 days in a row in a 12-month period.²

Am I eligible to move under the interstate compact?

If you are on parole or probation for the following types of offenses, you may be eligible to move under the interstate compact:

• Any felony; or
• Misdemeanors that involve physical harm such as domestic violence, firearms, a repeat DUI, or sex offender crimes.³

In addition, you must have at least three months of supervision remaining. Plus you must be in substantial compliance with your parole or probation.

Note that the interstate compact does not apply to you if you are subject to a deferred sentence with no supervised program.⁴

What is the transfer process like?

First discuss the possibility of moving with your parole or probation officer. If the officer finds that you are eligible, the officer submits the required documents to the Interstate Compact Offender Tracking System.

Then the receiving state will either reject the transfer request or accept it and send you new reporting instructions and a “plan of supervision.”

How long does it take to get approved for Interstate Compact?

This entire “transfer of supervision” process under the interstate compact takes about two months, but it can be longer. Even if it seems like a “sure thing” that the relocation request will go through, you may not move until the entire request process has finished.⁵

Will conditions of supervision remain the same?

Following a move across state lines to or from Colorado, you are subject to the same or similar probation/parole conditions that you followed in the sending state. You must comply with any registration and DNA testing that the receiving state mandates. Plus if you violate your conditions, you can be remanded to jail or prison.

Is Colorado part of the interstate compact?

Yes, all fifty states follow the interstate compact rules. The District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico are members as well. Since the interstate compact has the authority of federal law, it trumps state law.

The national interstate compact office is located in Kentucky.

Why would an interstate compact be denied?

When a receiving state denies your transfer request, it is typically because you have no ties such as family or employment.

Additional reading

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• The Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision: Parolee and Probationer Supervision Enters the Twenty-First Century – McGeorge Law Review.
• Interstate Supervision of Parole and Probation – Crime & Delinquency.
• Interstate Cooperation in Probation and Parole – Federal Probation.
• Developments in Interstate Compact Law and Practice 2021 – Urban Law.
• The Interstate Compact for the Supervision of Parolees and Probationers – Intramural Law Review.

See our related articles on Colorado probation.

Legal References

1. Rules 3.101, 3.101-1, and 3.101-2; see also Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision, About. See also C.R.S. 18-1.3-202. See also Martello v. Baker (Colorado Supreme Court, 1975), 189 Colo. 195.
2. Rule 2.110.
3. Rule 2.105.
4. Rule 2.106.
5. Advisory Opinion 3-2004, Rule 3.102(b). See also Advisory Opinion 9-2006, Rule 2.110. See also Advisory Opinion 3-2004, Rule 3.102(b). See also Colorado Interstate Compact, Fee Information. See also Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision (ICAOS), State Docs, Fees. See also Interstate Commission for Juveniles.