I just returned from the annual U.S. Sentencing Commission seminar in Los Angeles. It is the only forum I am aware of in which the BOP presentation is open to the public. While it is usually a superficial session, this one lacked the technical policy information of past seminars and was more of a public [...]
The big news this week was the announcement to the end of the national emergency for Covid-19 declared by President Biden over thirty-five months ago. The timing was interesting as it comes just over a month after the BOP updated their CARES ACT Home Detention criteria. While there was not much new in the [...]
As chaos and criminality plague the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the highest levels of management, only a politician could come up with the idea of building the fourth federal prison in a remote area in eastern Kentucky. Let us not forget that the federal prison population has decreased by over 60, 000 people [...]
While the title of this article sounds unrealistic, most of it is simply unchallengeable. I have often remarked how the BOP is a quasi-militaristic organization susceptible to rather quick change via the chain of command. While the formal guidance to broaden existing policy application is needed via changes notices, operations memoranda and policy updates, the [...]
DISCLAIMER: Do not waste your time reading this unless you're up to the minute on the federal time credits issue. In September, the IG released a report on BOP policy which emphasized one of my many rants over the past several years regarding the agency’s ineptitude to update policy and issue formal “Change Notices” [...]
The quiet on the Federal Time Credits (FTC) front ended just over a week ago when newly appointed Director Peters appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her appearance she indicated the computer system integration to calculate FTC was finally implemented. This statement was a surprise for even the staff I spoke to inside [...]
Last week, Senator Jon Ossoff entered a major bi-partisan bill to overhaul federal prison oversight after a 10-month long investigation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It seemed like the ending to a perfect storm of prison reform measures beginning with the final implementation of the First Step Act, removal of the former federal prison [...]
The BOP implementation of the FSA has come under criticism from the beginning but there is a great deal of blame to go around aside from the BOP which includes the DOJ, Independent Review Committee and the legislators who are the most culpable. While many things within the beltway are ill conceived, the FSA is [...]
The siren song for the transparency, accountability and oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has reached another fever pitch set off by a bit of transparency and attention during the pandemic. Recently, Senators Jon Ossoff and Michael Braun launched a bi-partisan working focusing on the agency's implosion which compliments the efforts of "The [...]
What a difference a month makes There have been many developments since the BOP issued the final rule regarding the First Step Act, Federal Time Credits (FTC). Shortly after last month’s article, I began getting feedback from across the country about conflicting information from BOP staff and the incarcerated about the awarding of [...]