First Step Act

The First Step Act is a 2018 federal law that changed how the Bureau of Prisons calculates release dates and expanded programs meant to prepare people in federal custody for reentry, primarily by creating a system of earned time credits for participation in approved programming and by correcting how good conduct time is calculated. President Trump signed the bill, formally titled the "Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act," into law on December 21, 2018.

The law touches several distinct parts of the federal system rather than one single change. It rewrote the good conduct time formula in 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b), created a new earned time credit system under 18 U.S.C. § 3632, expanded eligibility for compassionate release, required a new risk and needs assessment tool for every person entering federal custody, and directed the Bureau to expand access to programming such as drug treatment and vocational training.

Overview

The First Step Act followed years of bipartisan negotiation over federal sentencing and prison policy. It passed the Senate 87-12 and the House 358-36, an unusually wide margin for criminal justice legislation, and it built on smaller sentencing bills that had stalled in prior Congresses. Two threads run through the statute. One is sentencing reform, including reduced mandatory minimums for certain drug offenses and retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. The other, and the part most federal prisoners and their families interact with day to day, is prison reform: how time is calculated, what programming is available, and how someone moves toward release.

Good Conduct Time Fix (§ 3624(b))

Before the First Step Act, the Bureau of Prisons calculated good conduct time against time actually served rather than the sentence a judge imposed, which produced roughly 47 effective days of credit per year instead of the 54 days the statute had authorized since 1987. Section 102(b) of the First Step Act rewrote the calculation to run against the imposed sentence, restoring the full 54 days per year for most people. The Bureau applied the fix retroactively and released 3,163 people on July 19, 2019, the day the recalculated dates took effect. A fuller account of this calculation lives on Recalculation of Earned and Good Time Credits.

Earned Time Credits (§ 3632)

Section 101 of the Act created a second, separate credit system layered on top of good conduct time. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4), an eligible person earns 10 days of credit for every 30 days of successful participation in an evidence-based recidivism reduction program or a productive activity. A person assessed at minimum or low risk of recidivism on two consecutive assessments earns credit at the higher rate of 15 days for every 30 days. Unlike good conduct time, these credits do not shorten the sentence itself. Up to twelve months of accumulated credit can move a person earlier into prerelease custody, meaning a halfway house or home confinement under the framework at Residential Reentry Centers (RRC), and credit beyond that cap, or credit earned by someone not yet cleared for prerelease placement, applies toward the term of supervised release that follows.

Programs that count toward earned time credit range from Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) to vocational training, adult education toward a GED, and work assignments including jobs run through UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries). Not every activity qualifies, and the specific menu of approved programs varies by facility.

PATTERN and Risk Classification

The First Step Act required the Department of Justice to develop and periodically validate a risk and needs assessment tool applied to nearly everyone entering federal custody. The Bureau adopted PATTERN, the Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs, to sort people into minimum, low, medium, or high risk categories. That score, covered in more detail at PATTERN Risk Assessment, determines both a person's earned time credit rate and, at higher risk levels, whether accumulated credit can be applied toward prerelease custody at all.

Eligibility and Exclusions

Earned time credits are not available to everyone. The statute lists disqualifying convictions at 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(D), covering a specific set of serious violent offenses, sex offenses, certain terrorism offenses, and other named felonies. A person convicted of a listed offense cannot earn First Step Act time credits at all for that conviction, though they remain eligible for good conduct time under § 3624(b) and can still participate in programming for its own sake. A separate restriction applies to people with a final order of removal, who generally cannot apply earned credits toward earlier release into the community.

Compassionate Release and Other Provisions

The First Step Act also changed who can bring a motion for a sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). Before 2018, only the Bureau of Prisons could file a compassionate release motion on a person's behalf. The Act added a second path: a defendant may now file the motion directly with the sentencing court after exhausting the Bureau's administrative process or after 30 days pass without a warden's response, whichever comes first. The full mechanics of that process are covered at Compassionate Release. Other titles of the Act expanded elderly home detention pilot eligibility, restricted the use of restraints on pregnant prisoners, and required the Bureau to place people, where practicable, within 500 driving miles of their primary residence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the First Step Act?

The First Step Act is a federal law signed December 21, 2018, that reformed parts of federal sentencing and prison policy. Inside federal prisons, its biggest effects are a corrected good conduct time calculation restoring the full 54 days per year, and a new earned time credit system under 18 U.S.C. § 3632 that rewards program participation with earlier prerelease custody or credit toward supervised release.

Q: How many days can you earn under the First Step Act?

Ten days of credit for every 30 days of successful participation in approved programming, or 15 days for every 30 days if the person is assessed at minimum or low risk of recidivism on two consecutive PATTERN assessments.

Q: Who is not eligible for First Step Act time credits?

People convicted of offenses listed at 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(D), including specified serious violent crimes, sex offenses, and terrorism offenses, cannot earn First Step Act time credits, though they can still earn ordinary good conduct time. A final order of removal also generally blocks applying earned credits toward earlier release.

Q: Does the First Step Act shorten a federal sentence?

Good conduct time under § 3624(b), which the Act recalculated, does shorten the sentence itself. Earned time credits under § 3632 work differently: they do not reduce the sentence but instead move eligible people earlier into prerelease custody such as a halfway house or home confinement, or count toward supervised release.

Q: What is PATTERN and how does it relate to the First Step Act?

PATTERN, the Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs, is the risk and needs assessment the First Step Act required the Bureau of Prisons to use. It scores nearly every federal inmate as minimum, low, medium, or high risk, and that score affects both the earned-credit rate and whether accumulated credits can be applied toward prerelease custody.

Q: Did the First Step Act change compassionate release?

Yes. Before 2018, only the Bureau of Prisons could bring a compassionate release motion under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). The First Step Act let defendants file the motion directly with the court after exhausting the Bureau's internal process or waiting 30 days for a warden's response.