HALFWAY HOUSE CAPACITY - LEAVING INMATES IN PRISON BEYOND THEIR 'ETC' EARLY RELEASE DATE

HALFWAY HOUSE CAPACITY - LEAVING INMATES IN PRISON BEYOND THEIR 'ETC' EARLY RELEASE DATE

2024, Despite the First Step Act, some federal inmates remain in prison for extra months
June 1, 2024, By Erik Ortiz
2022, Thousands of federal inmates still await early release under Trump-era First Step Act.
July 3, 2022, By Erik Ortiz

Background, 18 U.S. Code § 3624 - Release of a prisoner. A prisoner must be released by the Bureau of Prisons on the date of the expiration of the prisoner’s term of imprisonment, with credit for time served as provided in subsection (b).

(b) Credit Toward Service of Sentence for Satisfactory Behavior.— Someone serving more than one year - other than life may receive up to 54 days of GTC off their sentence. One caveat is if the person has made satisfactory progress toward earning a high school diploma or an equivalent degree, but (4) Exemptions exist.

During the final months of that term (not to exceed 12 months), the person can be placed into a halfway House or Community Correction Facilities (CCF).

(2)Home confinement authority.—Prisoners with lower risk levels and lower needs can be placed in home confinement for the maximum duration allowed. Additionally, individuals can be placed in home confinement for 10 percent of their time imprisoned or six months, whichever is less.

L.I.S.A. Sreedhar Potarazu, who successfully sued the BOP in 2022 over its repeated miscalculations of FSA credits, brought to light nine cases to NBC in which inmates were incarcerated for two to eight months beyond their "last date inside." This term denotes when an inmate should be eligible for transfer to prerelease custody based on the FSA credits earned, which exceed the 365 days that the BOP is allowed to subtract from their sentence.

In nine cases examined by Potarazu and shared with NBC News, inmates were kept incarcerated between two and eight months beyond their “last date inside.” This indicates when an inmate is eligible for transfer to prerelease custody based on accumulated time credits from participating in rehabilitation, work programs, and substance abuse counseling.

"One person unjustly detained is one too many," Potarazu emphasized. He also highlighted that taxpayers should take an interest because they bear the financial burden, regardless of whether they have a personal connection to someone in prison.

The BOP RRC Contact Directory shows 140+ locations, which can house ~10K persons. The number of individuals in Halfway Houses or Home Confinement (supervised by halfway houses) is uncertain. Shockingly, the BOP confessed to NBC that it does not maintain any records.

Writing in Forbes last week, Walter Pavlo. It has been argued that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) could choose to bypass halfway houses for many prisoners and place them directly in home confinement. Many inmates have reported that due to limitations in halfway house capacity, they are unable to use credits for home confinement and end up staying in prison longer than necessary.

This issue affects tens of thousands of prisoners, especially those who are minimum or low-security inmates. The BOP has the authority to transfer these inmates to the community, but it is up to BOP Director Colette Peters to implement this change. This is within her power, something she has often spoken about.

Ames Grawert, a senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice, said, "Implementing any law poses significant challenges, especially when dealing with a complex system like the Bureau of Prisons, which has numerous issues," Grawert emphasized. "This doesn't imply that mistakes were made in drafting the bill; rather, it highlights the considerable difficulty in effectively bringing it to fruition."



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Marc, Dr. Blatstein

I was in a half way house for 1 month from the time I came they had 3 free bed and two weeks in they had 5 until I left but no space was my manager excuse to keep me in one extra month so the issue has many layers

Love & Care a.k.a Life’s Transition 2 have housing and programming in the State of Indiana. It appears to be hard to receive certification to operate and run transitional housing and programming. We have been trying for several months to receive certification so we can accept women.

I was held 10 months past my outdate and was told I could not get that time off my Supervised Release time. Which would have gotten me off paper's sooner with no to help they violated my rights on that principle alone.

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Jason Wilt

Construction Manager l

4mo

I waited almost 7 months for a halfway house after being eligible for release. These halfway houses let people on the streets or in county jail go first.

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