Front-End Loader – Update for October 28, 2025

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

BOP ANNOUNCES IT WILL FRONT-LOAD FSA TIME CREDITS

The government shutdown is entering Day 28 with no end in sight. But not everything at the Bureau of Prisons has ground to a halt. Last week, the agency announced a technical change in how it calculates the end of a prisoner’s sentence that could have a major, beneficial effect on inmates.

The date of a prisoner’s release is significant to the BOP for everything from placement in an appropriate facility to eligibility for programs to the date a prisoner goes to a halfway house or home confinement under 18 USC § 3624(c) (the Second Chance Act). The BOP has always calculated what it calls the “statutory” sentence by assuming that the prisoner will earn every day of good-conduct time (54 days a year) possible under 18 USC § 3624(b).

Of course, prisoners do not always earn every day of good time. They lose it for rule infractions (something that may be epidemic with the number of cellphones in the system, where being caught with one is a high-severity prohibited act).

The fact that inmates may lose good-conduct time during their sentences has never deterred the BOP from its practice of assuming that a prisoner will earn 100% of possible good time. Nothing wrong with that: it’s a rational policy that makes release planning possible. But until now, the BOP has steadfastly refused to make the same reasonable assumption that a prisoner will earn all of the First Step Act credits (FTCs) available to him.

Last week, BOP bowed to common sense, announcing that it will now anchor its inmate management decisions to a new metric called the FSA Conditional Placement Date (FCPD), essentially front-loading FTCs in the same way it front-loads good conduct time.

Up to now, the BOP has only used a Projected Placement Date that reflected the credits earned up to the date of the PPD’s calculation, while not assuming that the prisoner would earn any FTCs after that date. The new FCPD date will assume that an inmate will continue earning FTCs every month, just like good conduct time, and will thus represent the projected point when an inmate — based on earned time credits — should be eligible for placement in halfway house or home confinement, or released. The BOP will now direct staff to use the FCPD date as the foundation for decisions about security/custody classification and facility placement.

“It’s a small technical change on paper but a major cultural shift in practice,” Walter Pavlo wrote last week in Forbes. “By using this date to guide decisions, the Bureau is effectively saying that the earned time credits aren’t just theoretical—they are the organizing principle for how and when people move through the system.”

Use of FCPDs should lead to faster inmate placement at lower custody levels and placement in programs such as the residential drug abuse program.  Pavlo said that one BOP insider estimated that over 1,500 people would be eligible to move from low-security facilities, which are near capacity, to minimum-security camps that have ample space. Additionally, reliance on FCPDs will alleviate last-minute transfers to halfway house or home confinement, which cause delays in paperwork and inmate housing arrangements. As Pavlo put it, “By focusing on the Conditional Placement Date months in advance, everyone gains time to prepare.

The FCPD change should ensure that FTCs have real meaning, connecting prisoner success to the date on an inmate’s worksheet for prerelease planning. “This change reflects our continued commitment to managing the inmate population in a way that is both fair and consistent with the law,” said Rick Stover, Special Assistant to the Director. “By using Conditional Placement Dates, we are improving operational efficiency, supporting our staff, and honoring the intent of the First Step Act.”

Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, President of the prison-reform advocate Tzedek Association, called the development a “truly monumental” moment for prison reform. “This reform will change thousands of lives—allowing men and women who have worked hard to better themselves to move into lower-security settings and reconnect with their families much earlier.” 

BOP, A Win for Staff and Prison Reform (October 21, 2025)

Forbes, Bureau Of Prisons Makes Changes To First Step Act Calc (October 21, 2025)

Belaaz, Major Bureau of Prisons Reform After Years of Advocacy by Tzedek, ‘Monumental Step’ (October 21, 2025)

~ Thomas L. Root