Disappointed in LA

I just returned from the annual U.S. Sentencing Commission seminar in Los Angeles. It is the only forum I am aware of in which the BOP presentation is open to the public. While it is usually a superficial session, this one lacked the technical policy information of past seminars and was more of a public [...]

By |2023-09-08T07:30:36-04:00September 8th, 2023|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, First Step Act|Comments Off on Disappointed in LA

ALL GOOD THINGS COMES TO AN END

  The big news this week was the announcement to the end of the national emergency for Covid-19 declared by President Biden over thirty-five months ago. The timing was interesting as it comes just over a month after the BOP updated their CARES ACT Home Detention criteria. While there was not much new in the [...]

By |2023-02-02T13:44:26-04:00February 2nd, 2023|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, First Step Act|Comments Off on ALL GOOD THINGS COMES TO AN END

The Definition of Insanity!

  As chaos and criminality plague the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the highest levels of management, only a politician could come up with the idea of building the fourth federal prison in a remote area in eastern Kentucky. Let us not forget that the federal prison population has decreased by over 60, 000 people [...]

By |2022-12-29T09:08:39-04:00December 29th, 2022|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, First Step Act|Comments Off on The Definition of Insanity!

A FEW EASY STEPS TO REFORM THE BOP OVERNIGHT

While the title of this article sounds unrealistic, most of it is simply unchallengeable. I have often remarked how the BOP is a quasi-militaristic organization susceptible to rather quick change via the chain of command. While the formal guidance to broaden existing policy application is needed via changes notices, operations memoranda and policy updates, the [...]

By |2022-11-01T11:07:27-04:00November 1st, 2022|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, First Step Act|Comments Off on A FEW EASY STEPS TO REFORM THE BOP OVERNIGHT

A Brief Micro-FTC Issue

DISCLAIMER: Do not waste your time reading this unless you're up to the minute on the federal time credits issue.   In September, the IG released a report on BOP policy which emphasized one of my many rants over the past several years regarding the agency’s ineptitude to update policy and issue formal “Change Notices” [...]

By |2022-10-26T12:26:08-04:00October 26th, 2022|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, First Step Act|Comments Off on A Brief Micro-FTC Issue

FIRST STEP ACT- FTC CONFUSION INSIDE THE FENCES

  The quiet on the Federal Time Credits (FTC) front ended just over a week ago when newly appointed Director Peters appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her appearance she indicated the computer system integration to calculate FTC was finally implemented. This statement was a surprise for even the staff I spoke to inside [...]

By |2022-10-14T14:52:45-04:00October 14th, 2022|Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, First Step Act, Uncategorized|Comments Off on FIRST STEP ACT- FTC CONFUSION INSIDE THE FENCES

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!

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
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