Comments to the Bureau of Prisons Office of General Counsel regarding a proposed rule to apply good-time credits earned under First Step Act provisions to individuals in BOP custody with convictions under the D.C. Code.

Coalition letter to Governor Greg Abbott, of Texas, regarding his executive order (GA-13) refusing to allow release of inmates from state detention facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FIRST STEP Act directly impacts accused and sentenced prisoners in myriad ways. Defense attorney Todd Bussert discusses Bureau of Prisons-related aspects of the law, including changes to the time credit calculus, avenues by which prisoners can earn both earlier pre-release transfers and placement on supervised release, and avenues to petition courts for reductions in sentence for extraordinary and compelling reasons. Bussert points out that implementation of some of the Act’s provisions may be delayed.

Brief of Amici Curiae Public Defender Service and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Appellant.

Argument: First, the D.C. COVID-19 Emergency Act authorized compassionate release for "extraordinary and compelling" reasons not specifically enumerated in the statute, including a prisoner's heightened vulnerability to COVID-19. Second, courts must consider all relevant evidence in assessing the defendant's vulnerability to COVID-19, regardless of whether the defendant's particular medical conditions have been identified by the CDC as clear risk factors for severe illness from COVID-19. Third, good time credit counts toward the percentage of the sentence served under the statute. Fourth, rulings on compassionate release motions are subject to ordinary appellate review for abuse of discretion.

“Good time credit” results in real time being deducted from an inmate’s sentence and is gained by maintaining good behavior during incarceration. See 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b). All incarcerated individuals, other than those serving life sentences, are eligible for good time credit.

Coalition letter to Senate and Senate Judiciary leadership regarding a technical fix to the Elderly Home Detention Pilot Program of the First Step Act addressed in the proposed H.R. 4018 (2019), already passed the House, especially given the current health concerns of COVID-19 expected for this population.

U.S. Sentencing Commission Overview of the First Step Act.

A time table by the Federal Defender Program of Chicago that illustrates the length of a sentence in days, months, and years served in a penitentiary. 

Brief of Amicus Curiae the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Petitioner (on petition for a writ of certiorari).

Argument: There is a circuit split over whether an inmate may proceed under § 1983 where he expressly waives any challenge to the loss of good-time credits in order solely to advance claims arising from the other sanctions. The Court should resolve the split and decide the issue in a manner contrary to the Seventh Circuit’s substantive holding because (i) the current circuit split has significant, intolerable practical ramifications for prisoners and the lower courts and (ii) the Seventh Circuit’s decision conflicts with this Court’s Heck jurisprudence and with the Court’s precedents obligating respect for statutory text.

Amicus curiae brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Association of Federal Defenders, the Federal and Public Community Defenders in the United States, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Law Deans and Faculty in support of petitioners.

Argument: The text of 18 U.S.C. § 3624(B)(1) unambiguously requires that good time credits (GTCs) to be awarded for each year of the sentence imposed, not the time served; if the statute is ambiguous, the rule of lenity requires that the statute be construed in petitioners’ favor and precludes deference to the Bureau of Prisons’ interpretation. Moreover, correctly calculating the GTCs will conserve federal resources and reduce prison overcrowding.