The federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is still trying to implement the First Step Act (FSA) more than five years after the legislation was signed President Trump. While the calculation of credits to reduce a prison term for federal prisoners has mostly been fixed, a lack of space to put prisoners at halfway houses is causing problems. The result is that potentially thousands of prisoners are staying in institutions longer than necessary awaiting bed-space at halfway houses, reports Forbes. A Kansas case will likely set the trend for forcing the BOP to make changes to comply with FSA. The law allows prisoners, mostly minimum security, to earn credits to reduce their sentence by up to a year by participating in programming or productive activities, and for credits earned beyond the year, prisoners can earn up to 15 days/month toward additional home confinement. Home confinement is managed primarily by halfway house staff, private or non-profit organizations that contract with BOP.
More prisoners are not only getting their sentences reduced but they also have earned credits that should allow them to be transferred to home confinement. Alphonso Woodley was supposed to be transferred to a halfway house in the Orlando, Fla., a place noted for limited halfway house space. Woodley filed a habeas corpus motion alleging his rights were violated because the BOP was holding him in prison when he should have been transferred to home confinement. U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum said BOP admitted that Woodley is eligible for transfer to home confinement but that there was no room for him at the halfway house. Lungstrum said the law included "no such condition concerning bed availability" and said BOP must “ensure there is sufficient prerelease custody capacity to accommodate all eligible prisoners.” Woodley is now on home confinement in the Orlando area finishing his prison term, even though the BOP said before the ruling that there was no room there. Many other prisoners sit in prison because Lungstrum ruled only for Woodley, but Woodley may have paved the way for them to get home sooner.