Category: First Step Act
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First Step Act Introduced The PATTERN Score PATTERN in the Federal Bureau of Prisons stands for the Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Esimated Risks and Needs. It’s used when referring to an inmate’s PATTERN score, which is meant to calculate someone’s risk of recidivism. Recidivism, of course, is the likelihood that an inmate will return to…
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First Step Act Applies To Everyone, But Not All Benefits Can Be Earned There’s a very nuanced point that we need to stress, which some case managers don’t fully understand: everyone in federal prison is eligible for the First Step Act. What we mean is this: The First Step Act covers a wide range of…
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Federal Prison Tips Live First Step Act Workshop Thank you for joining Federal Prison Tips for our Federal Prison Tips Live Free First Step Act Workshop. The First Step Act was the first piece of bipartisan prison reform passed by Congress in over 2 decades when it was signed into law during President Trump’s first…
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Timing RDAP With First Step Act In Mind RDAP is the Residential Drug Abuse Prevention Program that’s offered at several federal prisons across the country. If you’re eligible, completion of the RDAP program can give you a sentence reduction of one year. However, if you have a relatively short sentence, a situation can arise when…
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One of the biggest reasons we hear of inmates not receiving their First Step Act Credit is because of something called FRP refusal. FRP stands for the Financial Responsibility Program. This is the program through which the Bureau of Prisons takes funds out of inmate’s commissary accounts, also known as their trust fund account, to…
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BOP Math Isn’t Mathing This spring new Federal Prison Director (BOP) William K Marshall III “Billy” made a huge splash. In fact, even to this day his new executive team; himself, Deputy Director Josh Smith and Assistant Deputy Director Rick Stover have breathed new life into an embattled agency. Since Marshall’s tenure began they’ve implemented…
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A Detainer Is Not A Final Order Of Removal Are you the loved one of an undocumented inmate in federal prison? In a few different videos on federal prison tips TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, you may have heard us talking about Jesus Sanchez Ledezma. Jesus was an inmate at the federal prison in Yazoo, Mississippi.…
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How Do Fentanyl Charges And First Step Act Interact? Can an inmate in federal prison with a fentanyl charge get benefits under the First Step Act (FSA)? There seems to be some confusion. There are some fentanyl charges that actually are eligible. If your judgement & commitment(J&C) says 841(a), you’re eligible. If it says 841(b)(1)(B)…
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What Are The 68 Disqualifying Offenses? 18 USC § 3632(d)(4)(D) outlines the specific offenses that make an inmate ineligible to earn First Step Act (FSA) time credits. If any of the offenses listed below are among your charges, you will not see any sentence reductions from the First Step Act. Offense Code Offense Description Section…
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We get this question a lot: aren’t inmates who’ve earned less than 365 day of First Step Act (FSA) credit supposed to learn up to 12 months of Second Chance Act (SCA) community confinement as well? The answer is yes, 100%. This was verified by the director of the BOP in his press release to…
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When It Comes To The BOP, There’s No Immediate Gratification What many inmates and inmate’s families need to understand is that immediate gratification doesn’t exist when it comes to issues regarding federal prison. For instance, the purported changes in applying FSA and SCA benefits. One week ago, Rick Stover called Federal Prison Tips founder Kyle…
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Getting Free Sooner With The First Step Act One of the most common questions we get in our Facebook, Tiktok, and Instagram comments is about using First Step Act (FSA) credits towards supervised release. Here’s the breakdown: you can use your first year’s worth of accumulated credits towards beginning supervised release, or to the door.…
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No Surprise: Case Managers Are Creating Confusion The technical and legal fact is that yes, undocumented inmates should receive benefits from the First Step Act and Second Chance Act, and can be placed in community confinement like a Halfway House. Assuming, of course, that the undocumented inmate’s offense allows qualification. However, case managers in the…
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924(c)s And FSA: What About Revocation Of Supervised Release? If you’re a regular consumer of Federal Prison Tips content, you probably already know the answer: Nope. If you’re on a violation or revocation of supervised release and the original charge was a 924(c), you cannot get First Step Act credit. The BOP is not to…
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By Benjamin McConley 18321-014 FCI Coleman Low When President Donald Trump signed the First Step Act into law, he didn’t just push through a piece of legislation, he cracked open the doors of a broken justice system. He gave America’s forgotten men and women a voice, a pathway, and for the first time in a…
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So, What’s the Deal? Can the First Step Act, or FSA, get an inmate in federal prison under a mandatory minimum? Yes. For instance, if you got a mandatory minimum on a drug conspiracy for 10 years without a firearm or a leadership role, you would be fully FSA eligible. You will also benefit from…
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We’re All Fed Up With Prison Admins Ignoring Directives & Law Of all institutions to be ignorant of the law, and to have public servants act insubordinately to their superiors, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) should be the last on that list. Deputy Director Josh Smith has made it clear that those who continue to…
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If Your Loved One Is Being Held Past Their Conditional Release Date, Their Are Options Over a week ago, new guidance was issued to inmates in federal prison, prison staff, and the public at large on BOP.gov. BOP director Billy Marshall issued guidance that cleared the air around a massive question: First Step Act and…
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The Rules Have Been Made Clear Billy Marshall, the new director of the federal prison system, has put the hammer down on unit teams across the country. For context: on May 28, 2025, Marshall issued guidance saying that the BOP would now honor the conditional release dates for both the FSA, then the SCA. Later…
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BOP Listed Out Dates Change. What’s The Deal? We got this comment, or rather, question, on our TikTok comments earlier this week. It’s common knowledge to those who’ve had the Federal Prison system affect their life or family member’s life, but worth reiterating to those who are new to the system. The First Step Act…