First Step Act Summary: Common Questions Answered
First Step Act Summary
What is the First Step Act?
The First Step Act (FSA) is a law, signed on December 21, 2018, with provisions that impact Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmates and their families. The law:
- gives judges greater latitude in imposing mandatory minimum sentences,
- allows inmates to earn increased good conduct time,
- increases BOP recidivism reduction programming to address inmate's needs,
- offers earned time credits for completion of recidivism reduction programs and/or productive activities, and
- expands opportunities for inmate placement into residential reentry centers or home confinement.
Do military or state offenders benefit from any of the provisions of the FSA?
The Risk and Needs Assessment system will be used to assign all inmates to a recidivism risk category and their needs will be assessed, however, military code and state offenders will not be eligible to earn time credits as the law applies to U.S. (federal) code offenders only. Additionally, the Second Chance Act Home Confinement Pilot Program and the changes to 18 U.S.C. § 3582 related to the compassionate release program only apply to U.S. (federal) code offenders.
However, the BOP will consider military or state offenders for pre-release custody in accordance with existing BOP release preparation policies.
General BOP policies which address management of the inmate population, such as prohibitions against restraining pregnant offenders, the provision of sanitary products to female offenders, providing assistance for release preparation in obtaining identification, and increased privileges for inmate participation in programs and productive activities will be applied to all persons in BOP custody, including military and state offenders.
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