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FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS

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AN OVERVIEW OF THE FIRST STEP ACT

Learn how the First Step Act affects BOP inmates and their families.

On December 21, 2018, President Trump signed into law the First Step Act (FSA)
of 2018 (P.L. 115- 391). The act was the culmination of a bi-partisan effort to
improve criminal justice outcomes, as well as to reduce the size of the federal
prison population while also creating mechanisms to maintain public safety.

This page provides a general overview of how the law affects BOP inmates and
their families. For an expanded and detailed overview, please refer to the
following document: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45558


REDUCTION IN RECIDIVISM

The First Step Act requires the Attorney General to develop a risk and needs
assessment system to be used by BOP to assess the recidivism risk and
criminogenic needs of all federal prisoners and to place prisoners in recidivism
reducing programs and productive activities to address their needs and reduce
this risk. Under the act, the system provides guidance on the type, amount, and
intensity of recidivism reduction programming and productive activities to which
each prisoner is assigned, including information on which programs prisoners
should participate in based on their criminogenic needs. The system also
provides guidance on how to group, to the extent practicable, prisoners with
similar risk levels together in recidivism reduction programming and housing
assignments.

The Act also amends 18 U.S.C. § 4042(a) to require BOP to assist inmates in
applying for federal and state benefits and obtain identification, including a
social security card, driver's license or other official photo identification,
and birth certificate.

The First Step Act also expands the Second Chance Act. Per the FSA, BOP
developed guidance for wardens of prisons and community-based facilities to
enter into recidivism-reducing partnerships with nonprofit and other private
organizations, including faith-based and community-based organizations to
deliver recidivism reduction programming.


INCENTIVES FOR SUCCESS

The Act amended 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b) so that federal inmates can earn up to 54
days of good time credit for every year of their imposed sentence rather than
for every year of their sentenced served. For example, this change means that an
offender sentenced to 10 years in prison and who earns the maximum good time
credits each year will earn 540 days of credit.

Eligible inmates can earn time credits towards pre-release custody. Offenses
that make inmates ineligible to earn time credits are generally categorized as
violent, or involve terrorism, espionage, human trafficking, sex and sexual
exploitation; additionally excluded offenses are a repeat felon in possession of
firearm, or high-level drug offenses. For more details, refer to the complete
list of disqualifying offenses. These ineligible inmates can earn other
benefits, as prescribed by BOP, for successfully completing recidivism reduction
programming.

Federal regulations regarding time credits are final and are published in the
Federal Register.


CONFINEMENT

The Act amends 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) to require BOP to house inmates in facilities
as close to their primary residence as possible, and to the extent practicable,
within 500 driving miles. BOP makes designation decisions based on a variety of
factors, including bedspace availability, the inmate's security designation, the
inmate's programmatic needs, the inmate's mental and medical health needs, any
request made by the inmate related to faith-based needs, recommendations of the
sentencing court, and other security concerns. BOP is also required, subject to
these considerations and an inmate's preference for staying at his/her current
facility or being transferred, to transfer an inmate to a facility closer to
his/her primary residence even if the inmate is currently housed at a facility
within 500 driving miles.

The FSA reauthorizes and modifies a pilot program that allows BOP to place
certain elderly and terminally ill prisoners on home confinement to serve the
remainder of their sentences.

Additionally, inmates who successfully complete recidivism reduction programming
and productive activities can earn time credits that will qualify them for
placement in prerelease custody (i.e., home confinement or a Residential Reentry
Center).


CORRECTIONAL REFORMS

The First Step Act (FSA) includes a series of other criminal justice-related
provisions. These provisions include a prohibition on the use of restraints on
pregnant inmates in the custody of BOP and the U.S. Marshals Service. It also
includes a requirement for the BOP to provide tampons and sanitary napkins that
meet industry standards to prisoners for free and in a quantity that meets the
healthcare needs of each prisoner. (Note that BOP policy previously addressed
these requirements.)

The FSA requires BOP to provide training to correctional officers and other BOP
employees (including those who contract with BOP to house inmates) on how to
de-escalate encounters between an officer or employee of BOP and a civilian or
an inmate, and how to identify and appropriately respond to incidents that
involve people with mental illness or other cognitive deficits. BOP staff
training now incorporates these requirements.

Also included is a prohibition against the use of solitary confinement for
juvenile delinquents in federal custody. (BOP does not house juveniles in its
facilities but its contracts comply with this aspect of the FSA.)


SENTENCING REFORMS

Changes to Mandatory Minimums for Certain Drug Offenders
The FSA makes changes to the penalties for some federal offenses. The FSA
modifies mandatory minimum sentences for some drug traffickers with prior drug
convictions by increasing the threshold for prior convictions that count toward
triggering higher mandatory minimums for repeat offenders, reducing the 20-year
mandatory minimum (applicable where the offender has one prior qualifying
conviction) to a 15-year mandatory minimum, and reducing a life-in-prison
mandatory minimum (applicable where the offender has two or more prior
qualifying convictions) to a 25-year mandatory minimum.

Retroactivity of the Fair Sentencing Act
The FSA made the provisions of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-220)
retroactive so that currently incarcerated offenders who received longer
sentences for possession of crack cocaine than they would have received if
sentenced for possession of the same amount of powder cocaine before the
enactment of the Fair Sentencing Act can submit a petition in federal court to
have their sentences reduced.

Expanding the Safety Valve
The FSA also expands the safety valve provision, which allows courts to sentence
low-level, nonviolent drug offenders with minor criminal histories to less than
the required mandatory minimum for an offense.

For sentencing reform examples please refer to the guide published by the U.S.
Sentencing Commission's Office of Education and Sentencing Practice .


OVERSIGHT

The Act requires the submission of several reports to review the BOP's
implementation of the law and assess the effects of the new risk and needs
assessment system.

In carrying out the requirement of the FSA, the Attorney General consults with
an Independent Review Committee (IRC). The Hudson Institute is the nonpartisan
and nonprofit organization to host the IRC. Some of the duties the IRC performs,
in assisting the Attorney General, include:

 * Conducting a review of the existing prisoner risk and needs assessment
   systems in operation on the date of enactment of this Act;
 * Developing recommendations regarding evidence-based recidivism reduction
   programs and productive activities;
 * Conducting research and data analysis on: evidence-based recidivism reduction
   programs relating to the use of prisoner risk and needs assessment tools;
 * Advising on the most effective and efficient uses of such programs; and which
   evidence-based recidivism reduction programs are the most effective at
   reducing recidivism, and the type, amount, and intensity of programming that
   most effectively reduces the risk of recidivism;
 * and reviewing and validating the risk and needs assessment system.

Two years after the enactment of the First Step Act, and each year thereafter
for the next five years, DOJ will submit reports to Congress on various aspects
of the FSA including a report on effective medication assisted treatment of
opioid and heroin abuse, and plans on how to implement those treatment methods.

Within two years of BOP implementing the system, and every two years thereafter,
the Government Accountability Office will audit how the new risk and needs
assessment system is being used at BOP facilities.

< First Step Act Main Page


ABOUT US

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INMATES

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LOCATIONS

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CAREERS

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BUSINESS

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