The New Jersey Intensive Supervision Program (ISP) provides certain offenders who are sentenced to state prison an opportunity to work their way back into the community under intensive supervision before they are eligible for parole. The Intensive Supervision Program is, as the name implies, “intense”. Success is not assured and therefore the program may not be suited for everyone that is facing a prison term.

Those that have been convicted and sentenced for a first-degree crime are ineligible for ISP. In addition, those that have been convicted and sentenced for homicide, vehicular homicide, robbery, or a sex offense are also ineligible.

The ISP program requires that the offenders present a plan that will give full assurance to a Screening Board and a Resentencing Panel of judges that their return into the community will not jeopardize the public’s safety and will result in a positive social adjustment. In addition, the participants must continue to demonstrate to staff and the Resentencing Panel that they should be allowed to continue to participate in the program. The Screening Board consists of a three-member panel that is responsible for screening applicants and recommending or denying placement into ISP. The Screening Board will review your pre-sentence report and recommend you into ISP. The Panel of Judges will then consider your application. If the Panel of Judges deny your application because you were not considered to be a viable candidate then you will receive a rejection letter. Otherwise, an officer will contact you to schedule an interview. The officer typically inquires about the defendant’s plans for living, treatment, and employment if they are released from prison. The defendant is immediately released from prison when the application processes concludes and the defendant has been accepted into ISP.