Messages from the President

Fix the auto calculator RESOLVED

We are happy to report that the BOP has implemented this important and necessary action. Thank you to everyone who helped us in this endeavor.

Auto Calc is keeping individuals in prison longer than their release date.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is tasked with housing inmates until their release date, and on that date, they are required to release the inmate. That’s a given. There can be no mis-interpretation of that statement. It is a Federal statute, and the BOP is required to follow the law just as society as a whole is required to follow the laws of the nation.

When the First Step Act was enacted, it allowed inmates to earn Federal Time Credits for participating in Evidence Based Recidivism Reduction programming and Productive Activities. Pretty simple. The BOP created an “Auto” calculator that crunches the numbers and determines how many Programming Days should be divided into 30 calendar days and then calculates the total number of “Earned” Federal Time Credits an inmate has earned. The only problem, there is nothing “Auto” about the auto-calculator.

With the First Step Act, an inmate can earn a maximum of 365 days off their sentence if they meet all the right criteria. The BOP is presently awarding only 10 days per 30 calendar days of FTCs based on their interpretation of the law for the first 6 months and then bumps that number to 15 FTCs per 30 calendar programming days thereafter. While I have been at odds with the BOPs interpretation, I have come to accept it as an actuality. In Stewart vs. Snider, I believe the BOP got the calculations correct in awarding 15 days per 30 calendar programming days from the get go. The inmate received 15 days for every 30 calendar programming days vs 10 FTC’s.

Regardless of the number, the problem with the auto-calculator is that it is only run once per month. That in itself should draw up red flags. According to Susan Giddings PhD and Bruce Cameron MS, as stated in their recently released attempt of explaining the BOPs interpretation of the First Step Acts FTC’s in “Unlocking Federal Time Credits, A Guide For Lawyers, Inmates and Families”, this is due to the size and complexity of the auto calculator program and the complexities in determining some very basic and simple math. I have been scratching my head on that comment from the day I read the book and am still doing so. It should be noted that Susan Giddings, prior to her recent retirement was the Chief of Unit Management of the Correctional Programs Branch, and as a function of the Unit Management Section Chief, was responsible for overseeing the Correctional Systems. On the back cover of the book, she is purported to be the “foremost authority on Federal Time Credits”.

Prior to my arrest and incarceration, in my other life, I created and wrote software programs for engineering companies that relied on extremely intense calculations, assessments and modelings and finite analysis’s. The programs were extremely complex, large and usually relied on some very large databases and even more demanding coding. After my incarceration I created the first Federal Time Credit Calculator that is hard coded and extremely accurate. The FSA Time Credit Analysis program accounts for Leap Year, partial month incarcerations, is extremely accurate on Good Conduct Time and can project ALL Federal Time Credits an inmate can earn right up to their FSA Release Date. That said, it is basically a simple calculator that can determine the number of FSA Programming Days, divide those days into 30 calendar programming days and then take the first 180 days, assign those days with 10 FTC days per 30 days and then take the balance and convert them into 15 FTC days per 30 days. It actually takes into account the “Carry-Over” days both authors discuss in their book.

Carry Over days are becoming an issue with Federal Time Credits being “auto-calculated” with the BOPs only running the calculator once per month. A Carry Over Day is simply the number of days in excess of 30 programming days but less than another 30 days. Inmates earn FTCs on every 30 programming days only. So, assume an inmate arrives at a designated location (another contentious issue being hammered out with the courts) on July 15, 2024. The auto-calculator is run on the last weekend of the month, therefore, that inmate would have zero (0) Federal Time Credits on the last weekend of the month for the month of July. After the whole month of August, the auto-calculator would run on the weekend of August 31, 2024. The inmate would have a total of 48 Programming Days in which he/she would be credited with 10 total Federal Time Credits being earned and 18 Carry Over Days that are basically stored for another day.

Because the auto-calculator is only run once per month, the inmate could be held in custody beyond his Federal First Step Act release date. According to the United States Sentencing Commissions Quarterly Report 2023, the average sentence length issued in the time span 2018 - 2023 was approximately 54 months. It takes approximately 26 to 27 months for an individual to max out on First Step Act FTCs under the current BOP policy. For those individuals, they should have the ability to max out on FSA FTCs towards an early release to Supervised Release (365-Days) without having to worry about Carry Over Days. But for those individuals with shorter term sentences, the individual could be detained beyond his release date simply because of the fact that the auto-calculator is only run once per month.

Taking the example above, a surrender date of July 15, 2024, the individual could earn a maximum of 135 days of Federal Time Credits towards a reduction in his sentence to Supervised Release. His “Projected FSA Release Date” would be June 10, 2025. However, the individual would have to wait until the last weekend of the month of June to receive the 135 days FTCs because of the decision to run the auto-calculator only once per month and not daily. On May 31, 2026, the auto-calculator would show that the individual has 120 FSA FTCs earned. The PRD based on the auto-calculator numbers would have a PRD of June 25, 2025 and that he/she would have 21 Carry Over days. However, just 9 days later, the individual will have another 30 programming days banked, bringing the 21 Carry Over days PLUS the 9 programming calendar days together to a total of eleven (11) 30 day units to be calculated and thus bring the Projected Release Date to June 10, 2025. Yet, because the individual will have to wait for the auto-calculator to run on the last weekend of the month of June 2025, that individual is incarcerated beyond his/her release date, effectively being detained approximately 20 days beyond the release date.

Fixing the auto-calculator is a pretty straightforward necessity. Converting the auto-calculator into a daily run program that updates release dates automatically, notifies Case Managers, Unit Team Managers, Wardens, Halfway House staff members as well as the individual incarcerated should be mandated by Congress. The amount of money tax payers are losing because of the ineptness of those individuals behind the creation of the auto-calculator program has no doubt cost the United States in excess of millions of dollars already.

Fixing The Auto-Calculator Is A Must!

Carey

unlock the reports

BOP can save money and time allowing access to reports to those incarcerated.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has the ability to make life a whole lot easier for Case Managers and other Unit Team members by opening up the three major reports that inmates ask for and allowing them access to the reports on TruLincs.

Currently an inmate has limited access to his/her Sentence Computation Data Sheet, PATTERN Assessment and the First Step Act Federal Time Credit report only through a Team Meeting or via a request utilizing the Request To Staff/Request For Resolution process, and if that fails, then the Administrative Remedy process.

In all instances, the process is time consuming for Case Managers, Unit Team members and others. The time spent processing the requests could be better spent doing Case Management duties and helping inmates with real issues. In most instances, it would reduce traffic during Open Houses.

Allowing inmates access to these most requested reports will not only save valuable time for Unit Team staff members, it will also save money. Inmates will have access to the real time data at any time simply by utilizing TruLincs and clicking on one of the three options they need. They should not have to wait weeks or months for this information.

The information within these reports is not subject to Need To Know policies within the BOP. The information is not privileged, secret nor is there information within the reports that would subject staff members or inmates to privacy issues.

Share The Information.

Carey