Bureau Of Prisons Announces Updates To First Step Act Calculations

The BOP announced yesterday that it was going to provide updates to prisoner sentence computations to provide more clarity of release dates. When a sentence is imposed, prisoners are given 54 days of Good Conduct Time for every year of the sentence. For example, someone with a 2 year sentence would earn 108 days off of their sentence and someone with 3 years would earn 162 days off the sentence. However, the First Step Act credits, up to 15 days for every 30 days of programming, are earned monthly for participation in programming and productive activities. This has caused issues for the BOP as they cannot award First Step Act credits until they are earned. The resulting problem was that both prisoners and their case managers could see a date in the future when the prisoner would likely be released but there was no mechanism to plan for such a release.

Prior to the First Step Act, prisoners, no matter their security level, would have to serve 85% of their sentence. The First Step Act allowed for an incentive of up to one year off a sentence and an unlimited amount of credits toward home confinement by participating in certain programs. However, the BOP has encountered difficulties along the way in implementing this calculation that allows prisoners to earn up to 15 days per month of either time off their sentence or time in home confinement. Now, it is possible that prisoners, mostly minimum and low security prisoners, to earn credits that place them in the community sooner.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has implemented the First Step Act law in fits and starts. Caught off guard in January 2023, the First Step Act final rule in the Federal Register defined that many federal prisoners could earn up to a year off their sentence marking a major change in how federal sentences are carried out by the BOP.

As the BOP has implemented this process, it has been plagued with computer problems to calculate the credits, inconsistent interpretation of the First Step Act and poor communication to the line staff at prisons who are tasked with implementing the programs. The result is that the BOP has held prisoners in institutions longer than necessary and in some cases held them beyond their release date. However, the past year has seen marked improvements and the BOP has announced improvements to communicate release dates to prisoners who are confused as to when they will be released.

The BOP announcement goes a long way in avoiding confusion but there will likely be more questions. The BOP stated that there will now be additional date calculations added to prisoners’ sentence computations. These are:

• FTC Conditional Placement Date: The date when an Adult in Custody (AIC) may be eligible for pre-release placement based on earned FSA Time Credits.
• Second Chance Act (SCA) Conditional Placement Date: The date when an AIC may be eligible for release under the SCA. SCA eligibility requires an individualized assessment and is not guaranteed.
• Conditional Transition to Community Date: The earliest possible release date, based on a combination of FTCs and SCA eligibility.

The FTC Conditional Placement Date is the projected date the prisoner will earn the maximum amount of First Step Act credits to reduce the sentence (maximum amount is one year). The FTC Conditional Placement Date is important because it allows for prisoners to know when they will leave BOP custody and start supervised release. It also allows the BOP to plan for that person’s release by requesting placement in community settings for the last part of their sentence.

The Second Chance Act was enacted by President George W. Bush and has been the primary way that prisoners were placed into community settings (halfway house and home confinement) for up to one year. The SCA Conditional Placement Date is for those who earn less than the full 365 days of credits under the First Step Act but can get up to a year in halfway house / home confinement. This provision is also available for those who are ineligible for First Step Act credits.

Finally, and probably the most difficult to understand, is the Conditional Transition to Community Date which uses both First Step Act and Second Chance Act. This is what the BOP has termed “stacking” by allowing prisoners to use both laws to maximize the amount of time they can spend in the community. To date, the BOP has limited the use of this provision. Prisoners believe that they should get a reduction in sentence under First Step Act, additional time in home confinement and up to a year under the Second Chance Act for placement in halfway house.

In its release, the BOP stated that “The Residential Reentry Management Office [tasked with placement of prisoners into the community] will work to ensure that AICs are placed in the community according to these recommendations, provided there are adequate resources in the community.” However, a shortage of community placement options, namely halfway houses, are limited which causes delays in placement of prisoners. The result, too many prisoners are spending more time in costly institutions than in halfway houses.

Halfway houses, long used by the BOP, have been used to place prisoners in community settings because they needed resources. Prisoners who have been incarcerated for decades needed a place to live, a chance to save some money and an opportunity to find lasting employment. However, the First Step Act has interrupted that common-sense approach which has now placed an emphasis on placing minimum and low security prisoners, many who do not need the resources of a halfway house, into community settings earlier. This also comes at a time when the BOP has not increased its halfway house capacity since the passage of the First Step Act in December 2018.

The communication of these dates is an improvement but it is certain to bring more questions from prisoners.