What the May 2018 House Bill Proposed

The May 2018 House version of the First Step Act (H.R. 5682) laid the groundwork for the law Congress passed that December: a risk assessment system, time credits for programs, a good time fix, and compassionate release motions filed by prisoners themselves. Much of it became law, but the final version changed several rules that matter to people in prison today. This post walks through the House bill point by point and flags each difference.

Update (October 2026): This post describes the House bill as it stood in May 2018. The First Step Act became law on December 21, 2018, in a changed form (Pub. L. 115-391). The final law added sentencing reforms and changed the time credit rules. Key differences are marked "2026 note" below. For the law as passed, see our section-by-section summary.

On May 9, 2018, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bipartisan federal prison reform bill called the First Step Act (H.R. 5682). "FIRST STEP" stands for "Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person." The bill grew out of the Prison Reform and Redemption Act.

To become law, the bill had to pass the full House, pass the Senate, and then be signed by the President.

At the time, a House floor vote was expected by the end of May 2018. The bill's chances in the Senate looked promising, but some activists opposed it because it did not include sentencing reform.

Here are the key points of the May 2018 bill.

1. A risk and needs assessment system

The bill told the Attorney General to build a "risk and needs assessment system" within 180 days. The system rates each prisoner's risk of committing new crimes after release (called "recidivism") and helps Bureau of Prisons (BOP) staff decide which programs each person should take.

The BOP then had 180 days to start using it. People within two years of release would get first priority for programs. All programs had to be "evidence-based," meaning research shows they work.

The bill let the BOP "use existing risk and needs assessment tools, as appropriate." The BOP had earlier built a risk and needs tool called the "Inmate Skills Development System" (ISDS). But it was phasing out ISDS in favor of "Insight," a new program that the Justice Department's Inspector General said "will enable institutions to better track an inmate's progress in correctional programming and will allow subject matter experts to include feedback about the inmate" (DOJ OIG report).

In 2018, we expected the BOP to use Insight, or whatever new name it gave that system, as the risk and needs assessment system the bill required.

2026 note: That guess was wrong. The final law also gave the Attorney General 210 days, not 180, to build the system. On July 19, 2019, the Justice Department released a new tool called PATTERN (DOJ announcement).

2. Rewards for taking programs

The bill offered rewards to people who take recidivism reduction programs. These included:

• Phone time, or video calls if available, of up to 30 minutes a day and 510 minutes a month
• Extra visiting time, as set by the warden
• A transfer closer to your release home, if bed space, security level, and the warden allow it
• Higher commissary spending limits and more products
• More email access
• Consideration for preferred housing units
• Other rewards approved by the BOP Director

2026 note: The final law kept these rewards in 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(1)-(3).

3. Time credits toward a halfway house or home confinement

Eligible prisoners who take programs or "productive activities" can earn "time credits." In the House bill, these credits only moved you into prerelease custody sooner. Prerelease custody means a halfway house (a Residential Reentry Center) or home confinement.

The credit amounts are:

• 10 days for every 30 days of successful participation
• 5 more days for every 30 days if the BOP rates you minimum or low risk and your risk has not gone up over two assessments in a row

Programs finished before the law passed do not count.

Under the House bill, you could use your credits to transfer to prerelease custody once you had "been determined to be at minimum risk or low risk for recidivating pursuant to their last two reassessments."

The BOP Director could deny an eligible person's transfer only "if the warden of the prison finds by clear and convincing evidence that the prisoner should not be transferred into prerelease custody based only on evidence of the prisoner's actions after the conviction of such prisoner and not based on evidence from the underlying conviction, and submits a detailed written statement regarding such finding to the Director of the Bureau of Prisons." In plain terms, the warden had to prove the point strongly, using only what you did after your conviction, not the crime itself, and put the reasons in writing.

2026 note: The final law kept the 10-day and 5-day amounts. It also lets you use credits toward early supervised release (up to 12 months), not just prerelease custody (18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)). The final law did not keep the warden's "clear and convincing evidence" veto. Instead, if you were not rated minimum or low risk in your last two assessments, you need the warden to approve a petition (18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(1)(D)). The BOP issued its final rule on time credits in January 2022 (BOP rule).

4. A fix for the "54-day" good time problem

Good conduct time is time off your sentence for following prison rules. The statute said 54 days a year. But the BOP only gave credit for time actually served, which worked out to about 47 days for each year of the sentence. The Supreme Court upheld the BOP's method in Barber v. Thomas, 560 U.S. 474 (2010).

The bill requires the BOP to give up to 54 days for each year of the sentence the judge imposed. So a 10-year sentence can earn up to 540 days.

The bill also changed how partial-year credit works: "credit for the last year of a term of imprisonment shall be credited on the first day of the last year of the term of imprisonment."

Under the House bill, these changes would apply right away once the law was enacted. In 2018, it was expected that about 4,000 people would be released right away when the fix took effect.

2026 note: The fix became law at 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b). It took effect on July 19, 2019, when DOJ released its risk tool. DOJ said more than 3,100 people were released that day (DOJ announcement).

5. Non-citizens and time credits

Under the House bill, people facing deportation could earn time credits like anyone else. Instead of going to a halfway house, they would be turned over to immigration officials (ICE) for removal.

2026 note: The final law is stricter. If you have a final order of removal, you cannot apply time credits at all (18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(E)).

6. No shackling of pregnant prisoners

The bill generally bars the BOP from using restraints on prisoners during pregnancy, labor, and recovery after birth. This became law at 18 U.S.C. § 4322.

7. Keeping prisoners closer to family

The bill changed 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b). In the House version, the BOP had to:

"designate the place of the prisoner's imprisonment, and shall, subject to bed availability, the prisoner's security designation, the prisoner's programmatic needs, and the prisoner's mental and medical health needs, place the prisoner in a facility as close as practicable to the prisoner's primary residence, but, in any case, not more than 500 driving miles from the prisoner's primary residence. Subject to bed availability and the prisoner's security designation, the Bureau shall transfer prisoners to facilities that are closer to the prisoner's primary residence even if the prisoner is already in a facility within 500 driving miles of that residence, unless the prisoner chooses to remain at his or her current facility."

In plain terms, the BOP must place you as close to home as it can, and within 500 driving miles. It must also move people closer to home even if they are already within 500 miles, unless you choose to stay where you are.

2026 note: The final law softened this. It says the BOP must place you within 500 driving miles "to the extent practicable," and it lets the BOP also weigh other security concerns. No court can review the BOP's placement decision.

8. Asking the court for compassionate release

Compassionate release is a court order cutting a sentence short for serious reasons, such as terminal illness. Before this bill, only the BOP Director could ask the court for it.

The bill lets you file the motion yourself. First you must ask the warden. Then you can go to court after you finish the BOP's appeal process, or 30 days after the warden gets your request, whichever comes first.

2026 note: This became law at 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). The Sentencing Commission rewrote its compassionate release rules, USSG § 1B1.13, effective November 1, 2023 (amendments). In May 2026, the Supreme Court limited what reasons can count (Rutherford v. United States, No. 24-820, opinion; Fernandez v. United States, No. 24-556, opinion).

9. Help getting ID

The bill amends 18 U.S.C. § 4042. The BOP must help you get identification before release, including a Social Security card, a driver's license or other photo ID, and a birth certificate.

10. More sales for UNICOR

Federal Prison Industries, known as UNICOR, runs prison factories. The bill lets UNICOR sell to more buyers, to create more prison jobs. It also requires that at least 15 percent of your UNICOR pay be set aside for you to use after release.

11. Other changes

The bill requires the BOP to give tampons and sanitary napkins to women for free. It also calls for mentorship programs that pair young prisoners with people in the community, which may include formerly incarcerated people.

12. Many people cannot earn time credits

Unfortunately, the bill shut a large number of people out of time credits. If you are serving a sentence for any of the following, you could not earn them under the May 2018 House bill. (This is the House bill's list, not the final law. See the 2026 note below.) Unless noted, section numbers are in title 18 of the U.S. Code.

• (i) § 113(a)(1): assault with intent to commit murder.
• (ii) § 115: influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a federal official by injuring a family member, except for a threat.
• (iii) any section of chapter 10: biological weapons.
• (iv) any section of chapter 11B: chemical weapons.
• (v) § 351: assassination, kidnapping, or assault of members of Congress, the Cabinet, or the Supreme Court.
• (vi) § 793: gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information.
• (vii) § 794: gathering or delivering defense information to aid a foreign government.
• (viii) any section of chapter 39: explosives and other dangerous articles, except § 836 (transporting fireworks into a state that bans their sale or use).
• (ix) § 842(p): distributing information about explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction, but only if the conviction involved a weapon of mass destruction (as defined in § 2332a(c)(2)).
• (x) § 844(f)(3), (h), or (i): use of fire or an explosive.
• (xi) § 924(e): unlawful gun possession by a person with 3 or more convictions for a violent felony (the Armed Career Criminal Act).
• (xii) § 1030(a)(1): computer fraud involving national defense or restricted information.
• (xiii) any section of chapter 51: homicide, except § 1112 (manslaughter), § 1113 (attempted murder or manslaughter, but only if the conviction was for attempted manslaughter), § 1115 (misconduct or neglect of ship officers), or § 1122 (protection against HIV).
• (xiv) any section of chapter 55: kidnapping.
• (xv) any offense under chapter 77: peonage, slavery, and trafficking in persons, except §§ 1592 through 1596.
• (xvi) § 1751: assassination, kidnapping, or assault of the President or presidential staff.
• (xvii) § 1841(a)(2)(C): intentionally killing or trying to kill an unborn child.
• (xviii) § 1992: terrorist attacks and other violence against railroad carriers and mass transportation systems on land, on water, or through the air.
• (xix) § 2113(e): bank robbery resulting in death.
• (xx) § 2118(c)(2): robberies and burglaries involving controlled substances that result in death.
• (xxi) § 2119(3): carjacking that results in death.
• (xxii) any section of chapter 105: sabotage, except § 2152.
• (xxiii) any section of chapter 109A: sexual abuse. For § 2244, only a conviction under § 2244(c) (abusive sexual contact involving young children) made a person ineligible.
• (xxiv) § 2251: sexual exploitation of children.
• (xxv) § 2251A: selling or buying children.
• (xxvi) § 2252(a)(1) through (3): certain activities involving material showing the sexual exploitation of minors.
• (xxvii) a second or later conviction under § 2252A(a)(1) through (6): certain activities involving child pornography.
• (xxviii) § 2260: producing sexually explicit depictions of a minor for importation into the United States.
• (xxix) § 2283: transporting explosive, biological, chemical, radioactive, or nuclear materials.
• (xxx) § 2284: transporting terrorists.
• (xxxi) § 2291: destroying a vessel or maritime facility, but only if the conduct involved a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.
• (xxxii) any section of chapter 113B: terrorism.
• (xxxiii) § 2340A: torture.
• (xxxiv) § 2381: treason.
• (xxxv) § 2442: recruiting or using child soldiers.
• (xxxvi) Atomic Energy Act § 57(b) (42 U.S.C. § 2077(b)): taking part in developing or producing special nuclear material.
• (xxxvii) Atomic Energy Act § 92 (42 U.S.C. § 2122): prohibitions on atomic weapons.
• (xxxviii) Atomic Energy Act § 101 (42 U.S.C. § 2131): atomic energy license requirement.
• (xxxix) Atomic Energy Act §§ 224 or 225 (42 U.S.C. §§ 2274, 2275): communicating or receiving restricted data.
• (xl) Atomic Energy Act § 236 (42 U.S.C. § 2284): sabotage of nuclear facilities or fuel.
• (xli) 49 U.S.C. § 60123(b): damaging or destroying a pipeline facility, but only if the conduct involved a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.
• (xlii) 21 U.S.C. § 841: making or distributing a controlled substance, but only for a conviction under § 841(b)(1)(A), (B), or (C) where death or serious bodily injury resulted from use of the drug.
• (xliii) 8 U.S.C. § 1326: reentry of a removed noncitizen, but only if the person is described in § 1326(b)(1) or (2).
• (xliv) any section of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (then cited as 50 U.S.C. App. 2401 and following).
• (xlv) International Emergency Economic Powers Act § 206 (50 U.S.C. § 1705).
• (xlvi) National Security Act of 1947 § 601 (50 U.S.C. § 3121): revealing the identities of certain undercover U.S. intelligence officers, agents, informants, and sources.
• (xlvii) an offense described in § 3559(c)(2)(F) (a "serious violent felony"), if you were sentenced to more than one year for it and you have a previous federal or state conviction, for which you served more than one year, for murder (§ 1111), voluntary manslaughter (§ 1112), assault with intent to commit murder (§ 113(a)), aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse (§§ 2241 and 2242), abusive sexual contact (§ 2244(a)(1) and (a)(2)), kidnapping (chapter 55), carjacking (§ 2119), arson (§ 844(f)(3), (h), or (i)), or terrorism (chapter 113B).

You can also read the House list in our guide to H.R. 5682.

2026 note: The final list is different and has 68 items. The Senate added offenses, including gun charges under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) and some heroin and fentanyl offenses. The House bill's listing for armed career criminals (18 U.S.C. § 924(e)) does not appear in the final law. The current list is at 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(D). Always check the current statute, not the 2018 bill.

Download the 2018 guide

You can download or print our original 2018 guide here: First Step Act Guide (H.R. 5682).

For how the law works today, read our First Step Act FAQ.

Facing a federal sentence? Book a consultation to talk it through with Brandon Sample.