Federal Home Confinement: How BOP House Arrest Works

Federal home confinement lets a person finish the last part of a prison sentence at home instead of in a prison or halfway house. Under the usual rule, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) can place someone on home confinement for the last 10% of the prison term or the last six months, whichever is shorter (18 U.S.C. § 3624(c)(2)). First Step Act time credits can move some people home sooner.

Many people call this "house arrest." It is not a release. A person on home confinement is still serving the prison sentence and is still in BOP custody, just at home.

This guide explains the law, the rules at home, and how to ask for the most time. It covers federal prisoners only.

Is home confinement the same as house arrest?

Not exactly. In the federal system, home confinement means BOP prerelease custody: the last part of a prison sentence served at home, usually limited to the shorter of 10% of the prison term or six months (18 U.S.C. § 3624(c)(2)). Home detention is different. A judge orders it as a condition of probation or supervised release, and the probation office supervises it. Both are often called "house arrest." Pretrial or state house arrest is something else again, and this guide does not cover it.

The two federal kinds come from different places:

• BOP home confinement. This is part of the prison sentence. The BOP decides who gets it and for how long. It is a type of "prerelease custody," which means the last stretch of a prison term served in the community under BOP supervision. This guide is about this kind.
• Home detention ordered by a judge. A federal judge can order a person to stay home during nonworking hours as a condition of probation (18 U.S.C. § 3563(b)(19)) or of supervised release (18 U.S.C. § 3583(d)). That is a court order, and the probation office supervises it. The BOP is not involved.

The basic rule: 10% of the sentence or six months

Section 3624(c)(2) lets the BOP place a prisoner on home confinement for "the shorter of 10 percent of the term of imprisonment of that prisoner or 6 months." For long sentences, the cap is six months. For shorter sentences, it is 10%. A BOP regulation repeats the same limit (28 C.F.R. § 570.21(b)).

Home confinement is the last part of a larger window. The BOP can place a person in prerelease custody for up to the final 12 months of the sentence (18 U.S.C. § 3624(c)(1)). Many people spend the early part of that window in a halfway house, which the BOP calls a Residential Reentry Center (RRC), and then move home. Others go straight home. Our guide to federal halfway houses explains the RRC side.

"To the extent practicable" for lower-risk people

The First Step Act of 2018 added this sentence to § 3624(c)(2): the BOP "shall, to the extent practicable, place prisoners with lower risk levels and lower needs on home confinement for the maximum amount of time permitted under this paragraph."

That is a strong instruction, but it is not a guarantee. "To the extent practicable" means as far as the BOP finds it workable. In an April 4, 2019 operations memo, the BOP read "lower risk levels and lower needs" to mean people with a lower risk of reoffending whose reentry needs can be met without a halfway house. It told staff to refer eligible people for the maximum time. You can read the memo here: BOP home confinement memo (April 2019).

What the BOP's own policy says

The BOP's main policy is Program Statement 7320.01, Home Confinement (Sept. 6, 1995, last changed by Change Notice 2 on Dec. 15, 2017). A program statement is the BOP's written policy for its staff. Key points:

• Everyone referred to community corrections is eligible to be considered for home confinement.
• The BOP official who manages community placements for the area, now called the Residential Reentry Manager (RRM), approves home confinement. The policy still uses the older title, Community Corrections Manager.
• Before approving, the RRM needs written confirmation of the release plan: the home address, that the adults living there agree to the plan, and any job. A job is "desirable but not required."
• A person with no public safety factors, good conduct, a stable home, and little need for halfway house services can be placed directly on home confinement from prison.
• People on home confinement pay their own medical and dental costs.
• Since a 2016 change, people on home confinement do not pay subsistence, the 25% share of income charged in a halfway house.

The BOP's May 24, 2013 guidance memo also says home confinement is the preferred option for low-need, low-risk people. Its basic criteria are a suitable home (usually within about 100 miles of the RRC), no recent major discipline, medical needs that can be met in the community, and no job requirement. Read it here: BOP guidance memo (May 2013).

First Step Act time credits can mean more time at home

The First Step Act created earned time credits. An eligible person earns 10 days of credit for every 30 days of successful participation in approved programs or productive activities, and 15 days if the person has a minimum or low risk score that has not gone up over two assessments in a row (18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(A)). People convicted of certain listed offenses cannot earn them (18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(D)).

The law says these credits "shall be applied toward time in prerelease custody or supervised release" (18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(C)). In practice:

• Up to 365 days of credit can be used to start supervised release early (18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(3)).
• Remaining credits go toward prerelease custody, meaning a halfway house or home confinement.
• The normal limits do not apply to prerelease custody earned this way. The 12-month and 10%-or-six-month limits "shall not apply" (18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(10)).

To use credits for prerelease custody, the person must have earned credits equal to the rest of the term, and must either have a minimum or low risk score on the last two assessments or have a petition approved by the warden (18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(1); 28 C.F.R. § 523.44). The BOP's policy is Program Statement 5410.01, First Step Act of 2018 – Time Credits (Nov. 18, 2022, Change Notice 2 dated Mar. 10, 2023). It says a person with unresolved pending charges or detainers, including unresolved immigration status, can earn credits but cannot apply them until those are resolved.

For more on credits, see our First Step Act summary and our post on early release under the First Step Act.

Federal home confinement rules and location monitoring

Home confinement is supervised either by a halfway house under contract with the BOP or by U.S. Probation's location monitoring program. Program Statement 7320.01 and its attachments set the basic rules:

• You must stay at home except for work and other approved activities.
• There is a 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew unless the RRM approves an exception.
• Drug and alcohol testing applies.
• Staff check in by phone, in person, or through electronic monitoring.
• Leaving the approved place without permission can be treated as an escape. Federal law says a willful failure to stay within the limits of confinement "shall be deemed an escape" (18 U.S.C. § 4082(a)).

For people sent home using First Step Act credits, the statute is more specific. They must be under 24-hour electronic monitoring and must stay home except for approved activities (18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(2)(A)). The approved activities listed in the law are:

• work, job seeking, or an apprenticeship
• recidivism-reduction programs or productive activities
• community service
• crime victim restoration
• medical treatment
• religious activities
• family events that support reentry, such as a funeral, a wedding, or visiting a seriously ill family member

The BOP should loosen conditions over time for people who follow the rules, "to the extent practicable" (18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(4)). If someone breaks a condition, the BOP can add conditions or send the person back to prison. For a violation that is not just technical, such as a new crime, the BOP must revoke home confinement (18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(5)).

The Elderly Offender Home Detention program

A separate law lets the BOP send some older and terminally ill prisoners home to finish their sentences (34 U.S.C. § 60541(g)). To qualify as an "eligible elderly offender," a person must, among other things:

• be at least 60 years old
• have served two-thirds of the prison term
• not be serving a life sentence
• not be convicted, now or in the past, of a crime of violence, a sex offense, or certain terrorism and espionage offenses
• never have escaped or tried to escape from a BOP institution
• be found by the BOP to pose no substantial risk to the public, with home detention saving the government money

Current status. The statute says the program "shall be carried out during fiscal years 2019 through 2023," and it authorized funding for those same years (34 U.S.C. § 60541(g)(3), (h)). Fiscal year 2023 ended on September 30, 2023. As of October 2026, we have not found any law extending it. Ask the unit team in writing whether the BOP is still accepting requests under § 60541(g) before relying on it.

For terminally ill prisoners, the BOP's 2019 memo said staff would first consider compassionate release, which is a court-ordered sentence reduction, and would look at the home detention program only if that did not fit. See our guide to sentence reductions under § 3582. Our older post on the 2019 Elderly Offender memo explains how that program was set up.

CARES Act home confinement today

The CARES Act no longer allows new home confinement placements. Its extra authority applied only during the "covered emergency period," which ended 30 days after the COVID-19 national emergency ended. Congress ended that emergency on April 10, 2023 (Pub. L. 118-3), so the period ended on May 10, 2023 (88 Fed. Reg. 19830).

• New placements follow the normal limit in § 3624(c)(2), the shorter of 10% of the term or six months, plus any prerelease custody earned with First Step Act time credits, which that limit does not bind (18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(10)).
• People already placed under the CARES Act can stay. A rule effective May 4, 2023 added 28 C.F.R. § 0.96(u), which lets the BOP Director allow a person placed on home confinement under the CARES Act to stay there for the rest of the sentence, as long as the person follows all conditions of supervision.
• A violation can lead the BOP to return the person to prison or to use "progressive discipline," which may include moving the person to a halfway house instead. The rule covers only people placed under the CARES Act.

History: CARES Act home confinement (2020–2023)

During COVID-19, section 12003(b)(2) of the CARES Act (Pub. L. 116-136) let the BOP Director, once the Attorney General found that emergency conditions were materially affecting the BOP, place people on home confinement for longer than § 3624(c)(2) normally allows. The Attorney General issued memos on March 26, 2020 and April 3, 2020 telling the BOP to prioritize home confinement and to use the expanded authority. According to the Justice Department, the BOP placed 52,561 people on home confinement under the CARES Act and other authorities between March 26, 2020 and January 23, 2023 (88 Fed. Reg. 19830, 19831).

A January 15, 2021 opinion of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel said people on CARES Act home confinement would have to go back to prison when the emergency ended. A December 21, 2021 opinion reached the opposite conclusion, and the 2023 rule above adopted it. In April 2023, the BOP's Director announced that people placed under the CARES Act would stay home for the rest of their sentences if they follow the rules (BOP announcement). Our 2020 post on the CARES Act and our 2021 post on clemency for people on CARES Act home confinement were written during this period.

How to ask for home confinement

The decision starts with the unit team: the case manager, the counselor and the unit manager. They usually review prerelease placement about 17 to 19 months before the projected release date, at a regular program review (BOP, Residential Reentry Management Centers). After the warden approves, the referral goes to the RRM office for the area where the person will live.

Steps that help:

1. Ask early and in writing. Raise home confinement at the program review before the referral is made. A short written request (an "Inmate Request to Staff," often called a cop-out) creates a record. Keep a copy.
2. Ask for the maximum time. Point to the last sentence of § 3624(c)(2), which tells the BOP to give lower-risk, lower-need people the most home confinement time it can.
3. Have a solid release plan. Give the unit team the home address, the names of the adults who live there and agree to the plan, and any job offer. A home with a working phone and people who support the plan makes approval easier.
4. Check the time credit math. Ask for the latest First Step Act time credit calculation and risk score, and ask how credits will be applied to prerelease custody.
5. Ask about medical needs early. If the person has health problems, the unit team will want to know how care will be paid for at home.

Family members cannot file BOP requests or complaints for the person, but they can help gather the documents for the release plan.

What to do if the BOP refuses

Use the administrative remedy process. This is the BOP's formal complaint system (28 C.F.R. § 542.10 and following). Under the BOP's Program Statement 1330.18, Administrative Remedy Program (Jan. 6, 2014):

• First, try to resolve it informally with staff. People already in a halfway house do not have to do this step.
• Then file a formal request with the warden (form BP-9) within 20 calendar days of the decision you are challenging.
• Appeal to the Regional Director (BP-10) within 20 calendar days of the warden's response, and then to the General Counsel (BP-11) within 30 calendar days of the regional response.
• The warden has 20 days to answer, the Regional Director 30 days, and the General Counsel 40 days, with possible extensions. If no answer comes in time, you may treat it as a denial and appeal.

Start early. These steps can take months, and release dates do not wait.

Go to court if needed. A claim that the BOP is carrying out the sentence unlawfully, such as refusing to apply First Step Act credits the law requires, is usually brought in a habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. It is filed in the district where the person is held, naming the warden. Courts usually expect the administrative remedy process to be finished first. See our post on where to file a § 2241 petition.

Courts give the BOP wide room on placement. The law says a decision about where a person serves the sentence is "not reviewable by any court" (18 U.S.C. § 3621(b)). A court is more likely to step in when the BOP did not follow the law, such as miscalculating credits, than when it simply chose a shorter placement.

Common questions

How long can you be on federal home confinement?

Under the usual rule, the last 10% of the prison term or six months, whichever is shorter (18 U.S.C. § 3624(c)(2)). People who earn First Step Act time credits can spend more time on home confinement, because the normal time limits do not apply to prerelease custody earned with credits (18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(10)).

What is home confinement for federal inmates?

It is the last part of a federal prison sentence served at home under BOP supervision, as a form of prerelease custody. The usual limit is the shorter of 10% of the prison term or six months (18 U.S.C. § 3624(c)(2)), and First Step Act time credits can add more (§ 3624(g)(10)). The person must stay home except for work and other approved activities.

Is home confinement considered incarceration?

Yes, in the sense that matters most: a person on BOP home confinement is still serving the prison sentence and is still in BOP custody. Leaving home without permission can be treated as an escape (18 U.S.C. § 4082(a)). Supervised release starts only after the prison term ends.

Who is eligible for home confinement?

Everyone the BOP refers to community corrections is eligible to be considered, and the BOP decides case by case (Program Statement 7320.01). The law tells the BOP to give lower-risk, lower-needs people the most home confinement time it can "to the extent practicable" (18 U.S.C. § 3624(c)(2)). Using First Step Act credits for home confinement has its own eligibility rules, including the person's risk level (§ 3624(g)(1)).

Can you work on home confinement?

Yes. Work is one of the main approved reasons to leave home, and for people placed with First Step Act credits the law lists a job, job seeking and apprenticeships first (18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(2)(A)). A job is not required to get home confinement; the BOP's policy calls it "desirable but not required" (Program Statement 7320.01).

Can you get off home confinement early?

Not in the usual sense, because home confinement is part of the prison term and ends on the release date the BOP computes. That date can come sooner through good conduct time (18 U.S.C. § 3624(b)), through First Step Act credits that start supervised release up to 12 months early (§ 3624(g)(3)), or through a court order such as compassionate release. See our guide to early release from federal prison.

Can you go straight from prison to home confinement?

Yes, in some cases. The BOP's policy allows direct placement on home confinement for people with no public safety factors, good conduct, a stable home, and little need for halfway house services (Program Statement 7320.01).

Can people on CARES Act home confinement be sent back to prison?

Generally only for breaking the rules. A 2023 rule lets the BOP keep people placed under the CARES Act on home confinement for the rest of their sentences as long as they follow all conditions (28 C.F.R. § 0.96(u)). For a violation, the BOP can return the person to prison or move the person to a halfway house.

Have a question about home confinement for yourself or someone you love? Book a consultation and tell us what happened. We’ll listen, tell you whether we can help, and explain what comes next.