Bureau of Prisons Under Pressure To Cut
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is currently facing significant pressure to operate within its $8.3 billion budget, which remains unchanged from the previous year due to a continuing resolution. As a result, the BOP is grappling with the challenge of managing its resources amid understaffing and deteriorating facilities. In light of these constraints, the BOP has decided to limit the prerelease custody period for inmates under the Second Chance Act to a maximum of 60 days, significantly reducing the time eligible inmates can spend in halfway houses or home confinement.
While the BOP may be able to find places to cut its budget, it must do so in an environment where it is understaffed, overworked and in crumbling buildings. Now the BOP is facing the reality that no new money is coming its way and one of the casualties of this strategy is to cut halfway house placement of inmates. The BOP gave internal guidance to all of its 120 prisons that the Second Chance Act prerelease custody is to be capped at 60 days, a blow to those inmates who are eligible for up to a year of prerelease custody. The BOP’s statement read:
“In response to ongoing budget constraints, all individuals releasing to the community under Second Chance Act (SCA) authority after April 21, 2025, will have their dates adjusted and reduced to a maximum of 60 days. However, First Step Act placements will continue as planned.
Individuals who have completed the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) will have their transfer date reduced to allow for a 125-day placement in the Residential Reentry Center (RRC).”
Second Chance Act Explained
The Second Chance Act, enacted during President George W. Bush’s administration and later expanded by the First Step Act, allowed inmates to transition into the community for up to a year. Previously, inmates could serve ten percent of their sentence in home confinement, with an additional six months in a halfway house. This approach has been essential in facilitating the reintegration of inmates into society, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when the BOP utilized halfway houses to house vulnerable inmates, resulting in a successful completion rate.
Halfway houses played a pivotal role in the BOP’s fight against COVID-19. Under the CARES Act, the BOP was allowed to send inmates with underlying health conditions to home confinement for a part of their sentence, some having many years remaining. The program was a success with over 99% of inmates completing their sentence at home without incident. President Biden later commuted the remaining sentences of those on home confinement under the CARES Act just before he left office.
However, recent reports indicate that capacity issues at halfway houses are being cited as a reason for the reduction in prerelease time, a claim disputed by community leaders like Phillip Nunes, Executive Director of the Eastern Ohio Correction Center and President of the International Community Justice Association. Nunes asserts that halfway houses currently have capacity and could expand without needing new contracts with the BOP. This is similar to what former Acting Director Hugh Hurwitz stated in a piece in the Atlanta Journal. He emphasizes that the proposed 60-day limit is insufficient for inmates, particularly those who have spent decades in prison, to secure housing and employment.
What Are Halfway Houses
The reliance on halfway houses has been crucial, especially considering that over 90% of federal prisoners will eventually return to society. These facilities serve as vital transitional spaces, allowing inmates to adjust to life outside of prison. Despite the BOP’s increased dependence on halfway houses over the last five years, it has not taken steps to expand their capacity.
Over 90% of all federal prisoners eventually will be released to society after successfully serving their sentences, halfway houses allow the prisoner to prove their desire to be a better person and allow time for adjustment back into the free world. With the passage of both the Second Chance Act and First Step Act, the BOP became more reliant on halfway houses but has failed to expand that capacity over the past 5 years.
Halfway Houses Speak Out
Nunes said that his members were caught off guard. “We have had a great relationship with the BOP over the years,” Nunes said, “as our members have worked through problems with the BOP falling behind on its payments to halfway houses.” Nunes told me that it was not uncommon for the BOP to be 120-180 days late on paying halfway house contractors, where the majority of money paid under the contract goes toward staffing. The BOP acknowledged some issues associated with late payments because of a new account payables software. ”It has been difficult to run these halfway houses, many of which are non-profits, without a line of credit if you’re doing work with the BOP,” Nunes said, “you can’t staff your organization properly when the funds are so stretched out.”
That the BOP is limiting halfway house placement is something that confuses Nunes as he says that halfway houses cost less than housing someone at a BOP facility and even less for those on home confinement. “Pam Bondi [Attorney General] said at her confirmation hearing that she wanted to expand the use of halfway houses,” Nunes said, “and this move is not only counter to her comments but I’m not sure how it actually saves any money.”
Nunes also said there is still some confusion over the BOP announcement in that he does not know if those who are currently in halfway houses but have more than the 2 months remaining in prerelease custody will be returned to prison. “Last week,” Nunes said, “our members were looking at ways to expand capacity so they may have hired people. Today, they may be letting them go.”
Outrage By Non-Profit Stakeholders
Many advocates of criminal justice reform were also caught off guard by the announcement. “This is deeply troubling,” said Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, President of Tzedek Association, “Drastically reducing halfway house placements flies in the face of both logic and clear data demonstrating a significant reduction in recidivism for those who participate in this program.”
The president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Shaneva D. McReynolds, released a statement, “At first blush, the rationale for this policy decision does not hold water. Prisons come with a menu of fixed costs that do not apply to halfway houses and certainly do not apply to home confinement. At a time of dangerous understaffing, it cannot be that holding people in prison rather than a halfway house or home confinement will save money for the Bureau of Prisons. We will closely follow this change”
BOP Could Make Other Hard Choices
I have been receiving letters and emails from BOP staff, inmates and family members of inmates about the shortages being experienced by federal prisons across the country. This announcement of cutting time at halfway houses is the first time the BOP mentioned that it had ongoing budget issues, though it comes as no surprise. There are also billions needed to shore up staffing and fix over $3 billion in infrastructure. It is difficult to see how the BOP’s decision to limit halfway houses is going to end up saving any money. In fact, both the First Step Act and the Second Chance Act, both heavily reliant on halfway house placement, were passed by Congress overwhelmingly on an assumption that they would save money on the costs of incarceration. The BOP even held town halls last year stating that it was going to increase halfway house placements by combining the benefits of both laws. Now, less than 6 months later, the BOP is reducing the impact of the programs.
The BOP has a number of ongoing projects that cost substantial money to implement but they are not requirements of the law like First Step Act and Second Chance Act. Accenture, a strategic consulting firm tasked with helping the BOP attract workers, is under a multi-million contract for marketing and attracting new BOP workers. While critical, it is not a requirement of law to fund such a program. IBM is updating the central repository of all inmate information on a system called Sentry. Again, a worthwhile program but not something mandated by a law.
One BOP case manager who reached out to me wishing to not be identified, told me, “This is extremely frustrating for case managers, as we are left telling all these inmates that their halfway house date has changed. Imagine all the inmates that will be kept incarcerated for no valid reason other than the BOP’s failure to plan.”