Journal Entry: Shane Andrew Smith-02/16/2024

Journal Entry

Challenges faced while incarcerated:

As most justice-impacted people know, especially those who have been affected within the last five years, when the First Step Act has been implemented, the Bureau of Prisons has lagged behind in compliance of the law. They are, in fact, not following the statutes as they were amended per the FSA. This included providing 54 days of Good Conduct Time for each year of your sentence (except for the final year’s credit) upfront. They continue to use the anniversary date of incarceration for each 54 days awarded which is contrary to the FSA’s amendment of the statute. In addition, they have not hired the appropriate amount of personnel to ensure everyone is able to “program every day while during their entire term” and they do not award the proper amount of Federal Time Credits in accordance with the amended statutes. Despite following the administrative remedy process per the program statement and having relief requests, along with copies of the actual laws that were changed along with federal rules that accompany them, and providing evidence where the BOP is not following the law (yeah, not so shocking to anyone who follows the dismal performance of the people who are supposed to uphold justice!), the BOP has denied all requests for correcting my computation forms and dates with the credits I have legally earned. It’s more than a challenge, it’s a travesty and an injustice. But I remain resilient and despite not being able to afford an attorney, I have studied all these laws along with the criminal procedure and am taking my fight to the court. One of the best quotes I have ever heard was this…“You cannot defeat a man (or woman) who will not quit!”. Fight on!