It’s safe to say the thing on most people’s minds who are in federal prison is release and re-entry. A question we get a lot is, “How long does the release process take”. Typically this stems from probation visits to the home. Most folks want to know how long it will be from the probation visit until their inmate’s release. The answer is, however long they want.

We’ve seen the release process from home visit to release take a month and in some cases six months. During Covid-19 there were several inmates who had home visits from probation and never went home during the Covid crisis and CARES Act.

We address the halfway house issue in another post, but once the inmate has signed the “halfway house packet” they typically get a date back within 4-8 weeks. That date is pretty much in stone, but in some instances it does change.

The date on bop.gov changes monthly for inmates earning First Step Credit, until they’ve earned a full year off of their sentence. (If they have a term of supervised release after their in prison sentence).

The other thing that differs from facility to facility and inmate to inmate, is the amount of time it takes to go from halfway house to home confinement. The home confinement date is NOT a guarantee. In some cases, if the inmate has a solid support structure and home to go to, they can be released on ankle monitor or GPS app, from the halfway house to home confinement in a number of days or weeks, but in other cases it can take months. Unfortunately, we’ve even seen instances where inmates with a solid plan and support system, ride out until the end at the halfway house.

I wish that there was a better answer… There’s not!

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