Despite the First Step Act, some federal inmates remain in prison for months longer

Walter Pavlo, president of the consulting firm Prisonology LLC, whose experts include former Federal Bureau of Prisons case managers, guards and sentencing professionals, said he regularly sees cases of inmates who remain in prison past the dates they were supposed to. have been transferred, with an underlying problem that appears to be a lack of capacity in halfway houses.

Nationwide, the BOP says it hires around 160 recovery sites offering more than 10,000 beds, although it is unclear how often they are at capacity and whether they can offer additional space.

More than 8,200 inmates are in halfway houses, the agency says.

In response to the question of whether the BOP tracks how many inmates may be incarcerated longer due to delays in their transfer, the agency said Thursday that such information is not collected.

“Every effort is made to review and adjust available resources in the community so that individuals can utilize” the time credits, the BOP said.

The agency added that it “makes every effort to place individuals who qualify for release under the First Step Act” but that “some areas, specifically populated urban areas, are experiencing capacity concerns.”

Pavlo said he has also seen this anecdotally.

“I have families calling halfway houses every day asking when they will have openings,” he said. “What’s frustrating is that it’s so confusing.”

The First Step Act, a bipartisan law signed in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump, was enacted to give “minimal risk” or “low risk” offenders an opportunity to receive reduced sentences. Supporters believe the law could reduce harsh sentences for non-violent drug offenders, reduce recidivism and help decrease the prison population while decreasing racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

More than 144 thousand people are held in BOP custody, a number that has generally declined over the decades, agency data shows. The agency says more than 33,500 inmates who qualify under the First Step Act have been released.

But as the law has been implemented over the years, concerns have grown about whether time credits are being properly added up and applied as case managers record information. In 2022, as the BOP adjusted time credits programA new computer application was launched to automatically calculate these credits, although it initially suffered a technical failure.

The BOP said Thursday that “credits are being calculated as required by the First Step Act.”

Pavlo said the issue has now moved beyond the calculation of time credits to the agency’s responsibility to guarantee inmates a place outside of prison or in home confinement as part of their pre-release custody.

The First Step Act mandates that the BOP director “will ensure that there is sufficient pre-release custody capacity to accommodate all eligible prisoners.”

On a 2023 Annual Reportthe agency said it was still “too early to assess the cost savings resulting from implementation” of the law, and that BP remains “responsible for the costs of individuals who are transferred from an institution” to a halfway house or home confinement.

“The BOP does not have any cost savings to report based on the early transfer to pre-release custody at this time,” the report said.

Data Published in the Federal Register in September shows it costs $116.91 per day to house a federal inmate, compared to $107.39 per day for a halfway house. O cost for home confinement supervision it was about $55.26 per day in the 2020 fiscal year.

Rep. David Trone, D-Md., a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said additional savings are incurred when an inmate who has gone through First Step Act programs is rehabilitated, finds work through transitional housing, and ultimately analysis, does not return to prison.

“I always refer to the First Step Act as soft criminal justice,” Trone said. “We need to make real savings and give people real second chances. We have not executed the First Step Act adequately.”

Ames Grawert, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice who has studied the law, said it wouldn’t be surprising if inmates weren’t released to halfway houses as soon as they should due to capacity — but it’s up to Congress to ensure BP has the funding to implement the First Step Law and that the infrastructure is in place.

“Implementation is always a challenge with any law, especially when it comes to a system as complex and troubled as the Bureau of Prisons,” Grawert said. “It doesn’t mean that people made mistakes in drafting the bill, it just means that following through is very, very difficult to accomplish.”

Potarazu, an ophthalmic surgeon, said he spent at least four more months in prison on charges related to financial fraud after being eligible to be transferred to a halfway house in 2023 under the First Step Act.

He first filed a petition in 2022 seeking to have his time credits accurately calculated, and a federal judge in Baltimore finally ruled his case on Wednesday. The case was dismissed without prejudice after the judge said his case was “moot” because Potarazu was no longer in BOP custody.

But, Potarazu said, it was validated after the judge wrote that “the BOP admits that petitioner’s earned time credits were incorrectly calculated several times.”

The agency declined Thursday to comment on the decision.

Potarazu said he ultimately wants to see others like him released when the BOP is legally required to do so, and that prisoners should not have to assume they will remain behind bars longer than they should and go to extremes. of litigation that could take years.

“Even when you have the vision to do it, you’re still stuck,” he said.