The Bureau of Prisons released its final rule codifying BOPs procedures regarding the earning and application of time credits under the First Step Act. (available here).  The rule will apply retroactively, and thousands of people will begin transferring out of prisons immediately. DOJ announced“[i]mplementation will occur on a rolling basis, beginning with immediate releases for inmates whose Time Credits earned exceed their days remaining to serve, are less than 12 months from release, and have a Supervised Release term. Some of these transfers have already begun, and many more will take place in the weeks and months ahead as BOP calculates and applies time credits for eligible incarcerated individuals.”  (available here).  

The announcement comes after the DOJ’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. AP News.  The final rule implementing the 2018 law comes a week after an announcement that the director of BOP, Michael Carvajal, will resign from his position in the face of mounting criticism over his leadership.