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The department, in a rule being published Thursday in the Federal Register, is spelling out how “time credits” for prisoners will work. The bipartisan law is intended to encourage inmates to participate in programs aimed at reducing recidivism, which could let them out of prison earlier. It also eases mandatory minimum sentences and gives judges more discretion in sentencing.
While the transfers are expected to begin this week, it isn’t clear how many inmates will be released. The department would only say that “thousands” of inmates are being affected.
BIDEN DOJ SAYS FAMILIES SEPARATED AT BORDER DON’T DESERVE COMPENSATION, DESPITE HIS CALL FOR IT
An American flag flies outside the Department of Justice in Washington, March 22, 2019.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
Under the law signed in December 2018, inmates are eligible to earn time credits — 10 days to 15 days of credit for every 30 days they participate in prison programs to reduce recidivism. The programs range from anger management and drug treatment to educational, work and social skills classes.
The announcement of a finalized rule being published comes about two months after the department’s inspector general sounded an alarm that the Bureau of Prisons had not applied the earned time credits to about 60,000 federal inmates who had completed the programs. It also comes a week after an announcement that the director of the prison agency, Michael Carvajal, will resign from his position in the face of mounting criticism over his leadership.
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Months after the bureau conducted the required “risk and needs” assessments under the law, the Justice Department redesigned the assessment tool it was using to change measures that could add a racial bias. Specifically, the assessments were redesigned to exclude looking at the age of an inmate when that person was first arrested and whether the inmate was given the ability to turn himself in at a prison.
But advocates say the PATTERN tool still has flaws and in some cases has led to racial disparities in its assessments. The department’s rule say it will continue to evaluate the tool, is using outside experts and working to “take all steps possible to address and mitigate against racial bias or other disparities.”
