First Step Act

The First Step Act of 2018 directed the federal Bureau of Prisons to:

• Create and test systems to assess’ AICs’ risk of recidivism (the tool since developed is called PATTERN) and program needs (now using an assessment platform called SPARC-13).
• Identify, implement and evaluate evidence-based recidivism-reduction (EBRR) programs and productive activities, the completion of which qualify eligible individuals for up to a year of pre-release halfway house placement or home confinement. To bee eligible, individuals must have a federal charge that is not on the exclusion list. This “explainer” summarizes how the credits are calculated.

In a recent video on the FSA, a BOP spokesperson discussed how to “activate” eligibility:  Think of FSA eligibility as a switch. An AIC is either in opt-in status or not. BOP  employees assess you for 13 types of programming needs using SPARC-13 (Standardized Prisoner Assessment for Reduction in Criminality). Assessments of seven of the 13 factors do not involve the AIC’s participation. These relate to mental health, physical health, recreation, leisure, fitness, finances, poverty, substance use, education and work. The other six assessments do require his or her participation. These include anger, hostility, antisocial, peers, cognition, family, parenting, trauma and dyslexia. The anger, hostility, antisocial, peers, cognition and family/parenting assessments are typically completed online, via the electronic bulletin board system or Trulincs, and consist of two surveys. AICs must fully complete both surveys; skipping over just one question results in an incomplete result. If an AIC fails to complete any of the six assessments that require their participation, they are placed in ‘refused’ status and FSA ‘switch’ is turned off until they are done.” (We have heard from many individuals who were not aware of one of the online surveys and thus were marked “refused” without their knowledge.) 

To turn on the FSA switch, AICs must also be in compliance with the Financial Responsibility Program or FRP. 

• Offer other benefits for AICs, including:
  • Issuance of an ID before release that allows commercial, interstate travel home.
  • Transfer to the facility closest to their release community that matches their security classification. (Note, however, that the BOP has a lot of discretion. For example,  placement of a management variable and or public safety factor often prohibits this benefit.)
  • Expansion of rehabilitation programs for substance addiction, particularly medication-assisted treatment.
  • The ability of AICs to appeal to the courts for compassionate release when the request is denied by the warden. (Wardens rarely grant CR petitions. In fiscal year 2020, for example, only 4% were approved by wardens.)

A summary of what the BOP is doing to fully implement the FSA is in this 2024 report. (Caution: Read our August 2024 blog post about confusion within the BOP.)

Additional resources

• Factors considered in PATTERN scoring, and the sources of data for each.
• A 2023 review of PATTERN performance.
• A little-known aspect of the FSA is its encouragement of community-prison partnerships (either paid or unpaid) to offer mentorship, educational opportunities, etc. to incarcerated persons. This 2022 memo, which PERA obtained through a FOIA request, outlines the guidance to facilities for selection of partnerships, and lists those that existed at the time, by facility. There are two types of volunteers, Level 1 and 2, with the latter given more latitude in terms of movement, etc. A second FOIA document, from 2023, lists numbers of Level 1 and 2 volunteers by facility. 
• Backgrounder and worksheet on the calculation of earned-time credits.
• DOJ memo outlining an FSA pilot that released elderly and terminally ill individuals in custody into early home confinement.