Is It Good For Inmates?
Following the story of the BOP terminating the master agreement with the council of Prison Locals 33, the union that represents BOP correctional officers and staff within federal prisons across the country, we wanted to clear up what this means.
The agreement was terminated upon executive order by President Trump. So, why does this matter to those at home with loved ones in federal prison?
Billy Marshall, in numerous ways, has made his directives explicit and clear: inmates in federal prison who are First Step Act (FSA) and Second Chance Act (SCA) eligible must be given the maximum benefit possible by giving sentence reduction and community confinement benefits “stacked,” providing inmates have been following the rules.
Doing so would result in several thousand inmates being released from federal prison on their statutory maximum home confinement eligibility date.
Since 2022, when inmates started seeing early release under the First Step Act, all those inmates have been participating in this programming to earn the benefits.
However, the union was a huge obstacle to any big change in the BOP procedures, as big changes had to be signed off by the union before being implemented.
What does this mean for the prison system and the inmates who are there today?
Well, we all know that Billy Marshall, Josh Smith, and Rick Stover have been visiting federal prisons across the country and promising change. Change is, in fact, coming to some federal prisons, but not all. Now, they expect more prisons to fall in line with their agenda of reform, since they don’t have to wait for bureaucratic conversations and tug-of-war with the union.
All things considered, this should be a very welcome change to those who have a family member in prison, and to those currently incarcerated. This should hopefully bring about the positive changes we’ve been looking for, and reduce rogue attitudes from case managers across the country.