About jackatie

I've been helping people incarcerated in Feeral Prison for the past 30 years. I retired from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in 2011, after a 23 year career in case management related capacities. I was fortunate enough to work in the trenches of the system directly with diverse populations including Minimum, Low, Medium, High, Administrative and Witness Security cases. I held assignments in the Philadelphia Regional Office and the New York City Community Corrections Office. I participated in national policy writing workgroups and audited facilities throughout the Northeast United States as institution resources staff with the D.C. Central Office Program Review Division. I received dozens of awards during my tenure, three of which involved national recognition. Prior to my Federal Service, I worked in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a Probation/Parole Officer and served our country for 8 years as a Military Policeman in the Army. Upon my retirement, I founded My Federal Prison Consultant, LLC and provide consulting services to law firms and offenders throughout the United States. I am passionate about Federal prison Reform and serve on the Corrections Committees for the American Bar Association and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. I have testified on Capital Hill on prison reform and I am the sub-chair of an ABA Committee on federal correctional issues. I am the Director of Programs and Case management Services for the non-profit organization FedCURE, and Executive Director of Out4Good developing the “Correcting Corrections in America” initiative. I teach Criminal Justice at Marywood University as a Lecturer. My latest venture is a Collaboration with Walt Pavlo under the "Prisonology" Brand. We are excited to have assembled a collation of people who have served time along side people who have worked in the trenches of the system. We have trained Federal Defenders, CJA Panel and even Federal Judges throughout the country on federal prison issues. I have been quoted in Forbes.com , Bloomberg News and CNBC and have appeared on television and radio. I hold a BA in Sociology/Anthropology and a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice. You can be assured that no one has a better pulse on the policy, culture and nuances of the Federal Prison System.

A Deeper Dive into Federal Prison oversight!

Last week, Senator Jon Ossoff entered a major bi-partisan bill to overhaul federal prison oversight after a 10-month long investigation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It seemed like the ending to a perfect storm of prison reform measures beginning with the final implementation of the First Step Act, removal of the former federal prison [...]

By |2022-10-12T19:05:41-04:00October 12th, 2022|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, First Step Act|Comments Off on A Deeper Dive into Federal Prison oversight!

The Never Ending Saga of The First Step Act, Federal Time Credits and some miscellaneous rants………

I have written a monthly blog for the Sentencing Partners Newsletter for the past two years and thought I'd start to post them to my blog. Below are the past few articles including some hot off the press info I just received from inside. Enjoy.......  Federal Time Credits-Down Memory Lane A few months back, I [...]

By |2022-09-09T09:28:36-04:00September 9th, 2022|Uncategorized|Comments Off on The Never Ending Saga of The First Step Act, Federal Time Credits and some miscellaneous rants………

More First Step Act Nonsense

The BOP implementation of the FSA has come under criticism from the beginning but there is a great deal of blame to go around aside from the BOP which includes the DOJ, Independent Review Committee and the legislators who are the most culpable. While many things within the beltway are ill conceived, the FSA is [...]

By |2022-06-02T10:20:31-04:00June 2nd, 2022|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform|Comments Off on More First Step Act Nonsense

Seven Steps to Humanity and the Holy Grail

The siren song for the transparency, accountability and oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has reached another fever pitch set off by a bit of transparency and attention during the pandemic.  Recently, Senators Jon Ossoff and Michael Braun launched a bi-partisan working focusing on the agency's implosion which compliments the efforts of "The [...]

By |2022-03-01T09:45:17-04:00March 1st, 2022|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform|Comments Off on Seven Steps to Humanity and the Holy Grail

The Algorithm Blues

What a difference a month makes      There have been many developments since the BOP issued the final rule regarding the First Step Act, Federal Time Credits (FTC). Shortly after last month’s article, I began getting feedback from across the country about conflicting information from BOP staff and the incarcerated about the awarding of [...]

By |2022-02-01T08:53:47-04:00February 1st, 2022|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform|Comments Off on The Algorithm Blues

FSA/FTC (My humble opinion & sarcasm from analysis of the final rule)

I had a chance to dissect the Rule released yesterday and a have a few comments about what caught my eye from a BOP correctional treatment perspective. While the final rule is a lot broader in application and liberal as far as the actual awards of FTC, let us not be dancing on the tables [...]

By |2022-02-01T09:50:01-04:00January 14th, 2022|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform|Comments Off on FSA/FTC (My humble opinion & sarcasm from analysis of the final rule)

Federal Good Time Credits ( SH#@s Getting Real)

Federal Time Credits (FTC) Questions I have for the DOJ/BOP: Are people only being awarded for completing an evidenced based recidivism reduction program (EBRRP) IF a “need” was identified and keyed into that area on the computerized assessment? Are people awarded the FTC if their crime of conviction is NOT on the list of the [...]

By |2022-01-27T23:57:55-04:00January 13th, 2022|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform|Comments Off on Federal Good Time Credits ( SH#@s Getting Real)

THE FTC/FSA SAGA IS COMING TO A HEAD

I wanted to get this out in the metaverse because it is either profound or a profound snafu by the BOP. As everyone waited for the Federal Time Credits (FTC) Rules (see attached) to be published in less than two weeks, BOP facilities began putting talking points on the unit bulletin boards which is a [...]

By |2022-01-24T14:25:48-04:00January 5th, 2022|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform|Comments Off on THE FTC/FSA SAGA IS COMING TO A HEAD

It’s only the low hanging fruit!

This is going to be a short, spontaneous rant with the catalyst being the newly announced DOJ- AG interpretation regarding the CARES ACT! Surprise, surprise; PEOPLE are not coming back to prison. For the few of you who follow my rants, I am on record in the early part of Covid clearly indicating the CARES [...]

By |2021-12-22T11:59:39-04:00December 22nd, 2021|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform|Comments Off on It’s only the low hanging fruit!

Go Figure! (It’s about time BOP corruption and incompetence is addressed externally)

My rants are usually triggered from media stories written as if the subject matter is some profound eureka moment  on an issue BOP insiders have lamented for decades. Enter the AP story from November 14, “ Workers at federal prisons are committing some of the crimes”. Workers at federal prisons are committing some of the [...]

By |2021-11-16T18:28:17-04:00November 16th, 2021|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform|Comments Off on Go Figure! (It’s about time BOP corruption and incompetence is addressed externally)
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