An independent Executive branch agency, CSOSA provides supervision and related supportive services for more than 2,000 District of Columbia offenders who are either on probation, parole, or supervised release, with the objective to increase public safety, prevent crime, reduce recidivism, and garner and maintain confidence and cooperation from the local community.  

CSOSA was created by the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, to provide financial assistance to the District of Columbia by restructuring and moving a number of criminal justice entities of the D.C. government into the new federal agency. Under the direction of a trustee appointed by the U.S. Attorney General, adult probation, parole, and pre-trial services were reconfigured to operate within CSOSA. The new agency assumed its probation function from the D.C. Superior Court, and its parole function from the D.C. Board of Parole, and the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency was set up under the CSOSA umbrella as an independent entity with its own budget. For its first three years, CSOSA operated in a trusteeship arrangement. It received certification as an independent Executive agency on August 4, 2000.

CSOSA is an adult offender supervision program that provides pre-trial services for the federal and local courts of the District of Columbia, as well as supervision for adult D.C. offenders on probation, parole, or supervised release. It is composed of two components, the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency (PSA) and the Community Supervision Program (CSP), both of which work on behalf of the court or agency that has jurisdiction over the person being supervised. CSOSA also addresses the conditions that fuel recidivism, including addiction, unemployment, lack of education, unstable housing, and broken relationships.

Among its specific functions:

Determining and maintaining uniform supervision and reporting practices.

Providing verified background information and criminal histories on all arrestees.

Operating and maintaining a sex offender registry for the District of Columbia.

Establishing and implementing an effective Risks and Needs Assessment and case management process to help officials determine whom it is appropriate to release an offender and at what level of supervision.

• Establishing and implementing an ongoing evaluation process that assesses a defendant’s compliance with release conditions and an offender’s progress in reforming his or her behavior.
• Providing close supervision of high-risk defendants and offenders, with intermediate graduated sanctions for violations of release conditions.
• Placing certain high-risk offenders on GPS monitors; putting in place stringent contact standards and drug testing requirements; and utilizing Day Reporting and Violence Reduction Programs to target non-compliance potential among high-risk offenders with violent histories, particularly those who are unemployed.
• Presenting information on appropriate Treatment and Support Services, including links to the District’s health and mental health agencies, and community-based education and training, to assist defendants in complying with release conditions, and offenders in reintegrating into the community.
• Utilizing, when appropriate, a new resource, The Reentry and Sanctions Center, a 28-day residential program, which provides intensive assessment and treatment readiness programming to offenders at point of reentry.
• Maintaining an active community presence, with field offices and officers located primarily in the neighborhoods where offenders live and work.
• Conducting joint field visits or accountability tours with the Metropolitan Police Department at offender’s home or work site.
• Establishing partnerships with other criminal justice agencies and community organizations.
• Contracting with faith-based organizations as well as other neighborhood providers of residential, outpatient, and sex offender treatment services, and referring offenders to the ones that relate to their specific needs.

From the CSOSA Web Site

Pretrial Services

DC Public Safety Radio and Television shows

Audio podcasts

Video podcasts

In 2010 and 2011, CSOSA has to date spent $64.8 million in 542 contractor transactions for services such as ADP software ($37,309,375 million), other management support services ($9,794,657), and ADP support equipment ($3,087,649).

The top five recipients of contracts with CSOSA are:

1. IPI Grammtech                                                                                          $35,145,691

2. Inter-Con Security Systems Inc.                                                                 $5,820,798

3. Satellite Tracking of People LLC                                                                  $2,260,820

4. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority                                                  $1,351,164

5. The Center for Clinical and Forensic Services Inc.                           $1,118,866