The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has issued a press release about an internal memorandum to all wardens in the BOP stating, “To be clear, FSA [First Step Act] and SCA [Second Chance Act] authorities are cumulative and shall be applied in sequence to maximize prerelease custody, including home confinement (HC). Residential Reentry Center (RRC) bed availability/capacity shall not be a barrier to HC when an individual is statutorily eligible and appropriate for such placement.”
This directive given in the memorandum represents a bold departure from earlier efforts by the BOP to restrict prerelease custody and it is the first time that the BOP has recognized the word “shall” in the context of placing eligible inmates into halfway house and home confinement. Previously, the BOP has stated that any move to prerelease custody was based on availability of halfway house space.
The BOP’s press release concerning the changes stated the following key points (bold print was emphasized by BOP):
FSA Earned Time Credits and SCA eligibility will be treated as cumulative and stackable, allowing qualified individuals to serve meaningful portions of their sentences in home confinement when appropriate.
Conditional Placement Dates—based on projected credit accrual and statutory timelines—will drive timely referrals, not bureaucratic inertia.
Stable housing and community reintegration readiness, not past employment, will guide placement decisions.
RRC bed capacity limitations will not be a barrier to Home Confinement when an individual is statutorily eligible and appropriate for such placement.