Continuing on Blog #5, Part III, “How to Fight for Your Credits”.
Below is a simple worksheet template to assist you in determining maximum credits available to you, and your earliest date for transfer to pre custody release, utilizing all the credits which are available to you. To make it more easily understood, we will use an example based on a 120 month sentence from a judge at the sentencing hearing, immediate detaining into jail, and use ALL available FTC’s including projected credits earned during halfway house/home confinement.
Months
Total Sentence from Sentencing Hearing 120
85% of Total Sentence(Good Time Credit) 102
This is your Remaining Sentence after GTC’s
Next, your first 365 FSA credits will reduce
your sentence as well by 12 months
(a) One Year Sentence Reduction from FTC’s -12
(b) Net Total Sentence – prison and pre custody 90 = 75% of Original Sentence
The following calculates how much of this 90
months is in prison vs. pre custody release
(c) Potential FSA FTC’s for Pre custody release -20
(90 months x 50%)- 25 months
Basically 6 months/year of sentence and
use first 25 months toward(a) one Year reduction
(d) SCA Benefit -6
should be at least 6 months/upto 12 months
(e)In Prison Months Until Pre Custody Transfer 64 or 74 months if projected credits NOT allowed
-50-60% of your original sentence
In summary:
FSA Time Credits
– (a) above-One Year Reduction in Sentence from first 12 months of FTC’searned during first 25 months of sentence served
– (c) above- Potential FSA FTC’s- Total Months in Half Way House or Home Confinement- calculated off 85% of Total Sentence and includes 10 days/month for first 6 months and 15 days/month FTC’s thereafter less the 25 months needed for a 12 month sentence reduction in (a) above. It is highly unlikely you spend significant time in the halfway house due to bed availability.
If Potential FSA FTC’s are not allowed as is today’s practice, you lose 10 months of halfway house/home confinement and add 10 months in prison, so 74 months total. And will never get to use those 10 months of credits earned during pre custody release
SCA Benefit- 6 Months in Home Confinement – could be up to 12 months so very important to self advocate with your counselor
So effectively, on a 10 year sentence, one would serve in prison 64 months , or 5 years and 4 months. Then transferred to precustody of 20 months Halfway house/home confinement and then 6 more months home confinement.
As you can now appreciate, with ALL the credits available to you, the time in prison until transfer to pre custody release should be 50-60 % of your original sentence, depending how active you are in advocating for ALL of them. Apparently there is also a website named FSAcalculator.com that will provide similar information, just provide your surrender date/sentencing date if detained and length of original sentence and they calculate the rest.
In summary this is a pretty straight forward method to calculate your pre custody transfer date and Net Total Sentence.
So far I’ve shared the issues to address atttaining all your credits if necessary, and the calculation method to determine your time in prison or halfway house/home confinement. In 90 days or so, as things continue to evolve here inside the BOP and in the courts, I will update this series with any meaningful updates that I become aware of. If you become aware of any please share below so we can include in the next update. Hope this is helpful!! BJ
