The federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is still trying to implement the First Step Act (FSA) over five years after the legislation was signed into law by then-President Trump. While the calculation of FSA credits to reduce a prison term for federal prisoners has mostly been fixed, a lack of space to put the prisoners at halfway houses is now causing problems. The result is that many, potentially thousands, of prisoners are staying in institutions longer than necessary awaiting bed-space at halfway houses.
A case in the federal District of Kansas will likely set the trend for forcing the BOP to make changes to comply with FSA. FSA has two key components; 1) it 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 2) for those credits earned beyond the year, prisoners can earn up to 15 days/month toward additional home confinement. That home confinement is managed primarily by halfway house staff, private or non-profit organizations who contract with the BOP that are supposed to help with the transition from prison to the community.
Since the FSA law went into effect, most of the prisoners receiving credits were for the 365 days that reduced the sentence. Now, as time passes, more and 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, some for over a year. The BOP has known this problem would eventually present itself and with each passing day it is getting worse.