Bureau Of Prisons’ Dilemma On First Step Act Credits

The First Step Act (FSA) was signed into law in December 2018. The law allowed prisoners, mostly minimum and low security offenders, to earn a reduction in their sentence for being productive while incarcerated. That productivity is measured by the prisoners’ participation in meaningful programs and having a job while incarcerated. However, nearly five years after the law was enacted, the complexities of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) ability to comply with the law is still being revealed.

Under the law, the BOP initially measures a prisoner’s risk for both recidivism and violence, this is known as a PATTERN score. To be eligible for the program’s benefit of a reduction in sentence, the prisoner’s PATTERN score must be either minimum or low. Further, if the prisoner is eligible for FSA credits to be applied to reduce their sentence (note: there are 68 crimes that are excluded), he/she can earn 10 days of FSA Earned Time Credits for every 30 days of programming. After the prisoner’s second PATTERN score, usually 6 months after entering prison, they can earn up to 15 days of FSA Earned Time Credits.