WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley
(R-Iowa), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.),
chair of the Judiciary Committee, today sent a letter to the Department of
Justice (DOJ) urging the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to fully implement the
Earned Time Credit (ETC) provisions of their bipartisan First Step Act of 2018 (FSA).
The FSA is landmark bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation
designed to make our justice system fairer and our communities safer by
reforming sentencing laws and providing opportunities for those who are
incarcerated to prepare to reenter society successfully. Implementation of ETC
provisions continues to fall short at BOP, nearly four years after the FSA was
signed into law.
“We write regarding continued failures by
the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to adequately implement the Earned Time
Credit (ETC) provisions of the bipartisan First
Step Act of 2018 (FSA),” wrote
Grassley and Durbin. “The FSA enacted critical reforms to promote public
safety and make our criminal justice system fairer. A fair system for awarding
time credits to those who participate in recidivism-reduction programming is
necessary to meet the FSA’s goal of reducing recidivism and making our
communities safer. Unfortunately, almost four years after the FSA was signed
into law, implementation of its ETC provisions continues to fall short…
Although BOP has struggled to develop and implement consistent and fair
policies to this effect, enough time has passed that further delay cannot be
excused.”
In the letter, the senators cite various
examples of BOP failures regarding implementation of the FSA’s ETCs.
- First, according
to recent reports, BOP’s new automated system for calculating ETCs initially
rescinded previously-awarded supervised release time for certain people in
custody.
- Second, BOP has
circulated guidance to its staff that “[e]ligible inmates will continue to earn
[ETCs] toward early release until they have accumulated 365 days or are 18 months from their release date,
whichever happens first. At this point, the release date becomes fixed and all
additional [ETCs] are applied toward [an earlier transfer to a Residential
Reentry Center or home confinement] [emphasis added].” This “18-month rule” is
not supported by the FSA, nor does it further the FSA’s goal of incentivizing
recidivism reduction programming for returning persons.
- Third, the
improvement of the Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs
(PATTERN) risk assessment tool should continue to remain a priority for BOP.
The tool, at the moment, is unable to fully address various unjustified
disparities that have arisen. Finally, advocates report that BOP currently
provides no mechanism to allow people on prerelease custody to earn ETCs. The
FSA does not prohibit earning credits while in prerelease custody, and
continued participation in recidivism reduction programming and productive
activities during prerelease custody may further contribute to an individual’s
success upon release.
The senators also requested answers to a
number of questions regarding DOJ’s efforts to implement ETCs in a timely
three-week manner.
The senators concluded,
“In the past two years, the Justice Department has made important strides that
demonstrate its commitment to successful implementation of the FSA. For the FSA
to realize its full potential, the implementation of ETCs requires dramatic
improvement without further delay. Now is the time to work together to ensure
that the goals of the FSA are fully met. We thank you for your prompt attention
to this matter.”
Full text of the letter is available
HERE.
As then-chairman of the Judiciary
Committee, Grassley helped lead the First Step Act, which President
Trump
signed into law in 2018 in an effort to fix flaws in the federal sentencing system
and improve rehabilitation programs. Grassley has
continued pressing DOJ and BOP to implement the law as Congress intended to
incentivize rehabilitation, including during a Judiciary Committee
oversight hearing in September.
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