2.5.09 -- BOP releases memo on elderly offender home detention pilot program
The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) issued an operations memorandum providing guidance to BOP staff for administering the "Elderly Offender Home Detention Pilot Program," authorized by The Second Chance Act of 2007.
The Second Chance Act directs the BOP to conduct a pilot program to determine the effectiveness of removing certain elderly individuals from prison and placing them on home detention until the expiration of their prison terms. The pilot program is authorized to run from October 1,2008, through September 30,2010. The Act defines terms and establishes criteria for determining a prisoner's eligibility to participate in the pilot program. Click here to download the BOP memo (in pdf format).
1.1.09 -- BOP issues new regulations on halfway houses
The Second Chance Act (SCA), signed into law by President George W. Bush on April 9, 2008, increased the maximum amount of time a federal prisoner can be guaranteed consideration for placement in a halfway house from six months to 12 months. The SCA required the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to issue new regulations to implement the halfway house rule within 90 days of April 9.
On October 21, 2008, the BOP issued an “interim rule with request for comments.” The BOP explained that the 90-day Second Chance Act timeframes prevented it from following the usual process of publishing a proposed regulation and seeking comment. Instead, they published the interim rule with request for comments, which went into effect immediately. The BOP announced that it will “consider and discuss comments received during the comment period in our final rule document.”
However, the BOP’s new rule document provides few clues on how it will implement the new halfway house provisions in the Second Chance Act. The SCA changed the amount of time a prisoner is entitled to be considered for pre-release placement in community confinement and eliminated the so-called “10 percent rule.” The new BOP rule simply restates the Second Chance Act’s requirement that the BOP give individualized consideration to each prisoner when deciding how much halfway house time to award. This “individualized consideration” will include considering the five factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b), as well as ensuring that the time granted to each prisoner is long enough “to provide the greatest likelihood of successful reintegration into the community.” On April 14, 2008, a guidance memo issued by the BOP stated that, except in unusual cases, six months would be long enough to ensure that a prisoner could successfully reenter the community.
FAMM and NACDL submitted comments to the BOP, urging that the BOP ensure individualized consideration of 12 month pre-release stays. Our comments and others are below.
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