JASON93 / LEGAL TECHSearch the reference
ModuleCurrent through August 26, 2026View as Markdown

Legal review · Links checked : all 8 sources available · Scope & methodology

Archive reference note: parts of this topic refer to earlier research records, now listed under open research questions.

18 U.S.C. § 3632 — First Step Act Time Credits

Verification boundary

This module verifies the current nationwide earning and application structure for First Step Act time credits (FTCs). It does not calculate a particular prisoner's credits, resolve an aggregated-sentence dispute, validate a PATTERN score, decide an offense under § 3632(d)(4)(D), or establish exhaustion, habeas jurisdiction, venue, or relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241.

The legacy-control instruction calls for verification of a legacy “Maxwell” reference. Exhaustive repository and legacy-corpus searches found that name only in the instruction itself, not in any legal-content file. No Maxwell case identity, citation, proposition, or holding is therefore asserted here.

System development and reassessment

CLM-FTC-001 · claim record

Section 3632(a) required the Attorney General, in consultation with the Independent Review Committee, to develop and publicly release the risk-and-needs assessment system no later than 210 days after enactment. 18 U.S.C. § 3632(a)

CLM-FTC-002 · claim record

The system must reassess each prisoner's recidivism risk periodically using indicators of progress and regression that are dynamic and reasonably expected to change in prison. 18 U.S.C. § 3632(a)(4)

CLM-FTC-003 · claim record

The Department of Justice published the initial risk-and-needs assessment system, PATTERN, on July 19, 2019; DOJ contemporaneously and subsequently identified that publication as meeting the statutory deadline. DOJ release (July 19, 2019); NIJ Director's implementation remarks

The later January 2022 time-credit regulation is not evidence that the separate 210-day system-development and publication deadline was missed.

Earning credits

CLM-FTC-004 · claim record

Except for a prisoner made ineligible by § 3632(d)(4)(D), successful participation earns ten days of FTCs for every thirty days of qualifying evidence-based recidivism-reduction programming or productive activities. 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(A)(i); 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(c)(1)

CLM-FTC-005 · claim record

A prisoner at minimum or low recidivism risk earns an additional five days for every thirty days of successful participation when the statutory two-assessment condition is met; the regulation expresses that condition as maintaining a consistent minimum or low risk over the two most recent consecutive assessments. 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(A)(ii); 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(c)(2)

CLM-FTC-006 · claim record

The statute bars credit for a program successfully completed before December 21, 2018 and for a program completed during official detention before the prisoner's sentence commences under § 3585(a). 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(B)

CLM-FTC-007 · claim record

The regulation allows an otherwise eligible inmate to earn for programming and activities from December 21, 2018 through January 14, 2020; beginning January 15, 2020, earning requires successful participation in programs or activities recommended from the individualized risk-and-needs assessment. 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(b)

CLM-FTC-008 · claim record

Since September 30, 2026, 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(a) provides that an eligible inmate begins earning FSA Time Credits after the term of imprisonment commences. The amendment removed the earlier clause that tied commencement to arrival or voluntary surrender at the designated Bureau facility, which courts had held conflicts with the First Step Act. A sentence commences under 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a) when the defendant is received in custody awaiting transportation to, or arrives voluntarily at, the official detention facility. Earning still requires successful participation in assigned programs or productive activities. 91 FR 55740 (Aug. 31, 2026); Miles v. Bowers, No. 25-1291 (1st Cir. Apr. 27, 2026); 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a) 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(a)

Eligibility to earn

CLM-FTC-009 · claim record

Section 3632(d)(4)(D) makes a prisoner ineligible to earn FTCs when the prisoner is serving a sentence for a conviction under an enumerated provision; the current exact statutory list—not a category label or a fixed estimate of the number of offenses—controls the federal offense screen. 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(D); 28 C.F.R. § 523.41(d)

An individualized screen requires the judgment, conviction statutes, sentence structure, and current governing authority. This module does not resolve how an aggregated term containing eligible and ineligible counts is treated.

CLM-FTC-010 · claim record

A final removal order is an application bar, not one of § 3632(d)(4)(D)'s earning exclusions: the regulation's earning rule excludes the enumerated-offense category, while § 3632(d)(4)(E) and § 523.44(a)(2) prohibit applying FTCs for a prisoner subject to a final order of removal. 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(D)–(E); 28 C.F.R. §§ 523.41(d), 523.44(a)(2)

Application is a separate gate

CLM-FTC-011 · claim record

Section 3632(d)(4)(C) directs that earned FTCs be applied toward prerelease custody or supervised release and requires transfer of prisoners who are eligible under § 3624(g); earning a credit and qualifying to apply it are therefore separate determinations. 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(C); 18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)

CLM-FTC-012 · claim record

Before application, the prisoner must have credits equal to the remainder of the imposed term, must have demonstrated risk reduction or maintained minimum or low risk during imprisonment, and must have had the remainder of the term computed under applicable law. 18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(1)(A)–(C); 28 C.F.R. § 523.44(b)

CLM-FTC-013 · claim record

For prerelease custody, § 3624(g) and § 523.44(c) additionally require minimum or low risk in the last two assessments, unless the warden approves the statutory petition after making the required danger, good-faith-effort, and recidivism findings. 18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(1)(D)(i); 28 C.F.R. § 523.44(c)

CLM-FTC-014 · claim record

For early transfer to supervised release, the prisoner must satisfy the general application criteria, have minimum or low risk at the last assessment, and have a court-imposed supervised-release term; FTCs cannot advance that transfer by more than twelve months. 18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(1)(D)(ii); 28 C.F.R. § 523.44(d)

Loss, review, and agency implementation

CLM-FTC-015 · claim record

An inmate may lose earned FTCs for violating program or activity requirements under Part 541 procedures, may seek review through the Bureau's Part 542 Administrative Remedy Program, and may receive case-specific restoration after clear conduct for two consecutive risk-and-needs assessments. 28 C.F.R. § 523.43

CLM-FTC-016 · claim record

BOP Program Statement 5410.01, Change Notice 2, dated March 10, 2023, is official agency implementation policy for § 3632(d)(4); it does not displace the statute or regulation. BOP Program Statement 5410.01 CN-2

Individual audit checklist

  1. Obtain the judgment, conviction statutes, presentence report where lawfully available, and Bureau FTC worksheet.
  2. Separate eligibility to earn, actual successful-participation days, the ten- versus fifteen-day rate, loss or restoration, and eligibility to apply.
  3. Check the precise current text of § 3632(d)(4)(D); do not rely on an offense label or an estimated number of categories.
  4. Identify any final removal order, detainer, non-U.S.-Code sentence issue, PATTERN assessments, and warden-petition record.
  5. Compare the worksheet against §§ 523.41–523.44 and the current Program Statement.
  6. Preserve all administrative-remedy submissions, receipts, rejections, extensions, and responses before researching a § 2241 claim.

Decision path

flowchart TD
    A["FTC question"] --> B{"Serving a § 3632(d)(4)(D) offense?"}
    B -->|"Yes"| C["Ineligible to earn under the federal statutory screen"]
    B -->|"No"| D["Measure qualifying successful participation"]
    D --> E["Award 10 days per 30-day period"]
    E --> F{"Minimum/low and two-assessment condition?"}
    F -->|"Yes"| G["Add 5 days per 30-day period"]
    F -->|"No"| H["No additional 5-day rate"]
    G --> I{"Credits equal remaining term and § 3624(g) gates met?"}
    H --> I
    I -->|"No"| J["Credits earned but not yet applicable"]
    I -->|"Yes"| K{"Final removal order or other application bar?"}
    K -->|"Yes"| L["Do not apply under current bar"]
    K -->|"No"| M["Apply to eligible prerelease custody or supervised release"]

Matters not yet verified in this module

  • Particular offense eligibility and aggregated or concurrent sentence treatment.
  • The validity of a particular PATTERN or needs assessment and program assignment.
  • Day-level Bureau computation, waitlist treatment, interruptions, detainers, D.C. Code sentences, and combinations with RDAP.
  • Administrative-remedy deadlines and exceptions, § 2241 exhaustion, proper respondent, venue, certificate-of-appealability rules, and available relief.
  • Any case supposedly named “Maxwell”; no such legal-content reference exists in the inventoried legacy corpus.

Those matters remain open in data/coverage_matrix.yaml; this bounded correction does not validate the legacy § 3632 file as a whole.

Claim-level source records

CLM-FTC-001 · verified_current

Section 3632(a) required the Attorney General, in consultation with the Independent Review Committee, to develop and publicly release the risk-and-needs assessment system no later than 210 days after enactment.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
system_development
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
This claim states the statutory development deadline, not an individualized implementation remedy.
researcher notes
Direct paraphrase of § 3632(a).

Authorities: 18 U.S.C. § 3632

CLM-FTC-002 · verified_current

The system must reassess each prisoner's recidivism risk periodically using indicators of progress and regression that are dynamic and reasonably expected to change in prison.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
risk_reassessment
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
A particular assessment or scoring method is not validated.
researcher notes
Direct paraphrase of § 3632(a)(4).

Authorities: 18 U.S.C. § 3632

CLM-FTC-003 · verified_historical

The Department of Justice published the initial risk-and-needs assessment system, PATTERN, on July 19, 2019; DOJ contemporaneously and subsequently identified that publication as meeting the statutory deadline.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
agency_implementation_history
classification
historical
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
Later implementation and individual assessments are distinct questions.
researcher notes
Corrects the legacy conflation of PATTERN publication with the 2022 FTC regulation.

Authorities: U.S. Department of Justice PATTERN publication record (July 19, 2019)

CLM-FTC-004 · verified_current

Except for a prisoner made ineligible by § 3632(d)(4)(D), successful participation earns ten days of FTCs for every thirty days of qualifying evidence-based recidivism-reduction programming or productive activities.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
time_credit_earning
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
Individual participation and eligible-day calculations require Bureau records.
researcher notes
Statute and current regulation agree on the baseline rate.

Authorities: 18 U.S.C. § 3632; 28 C.F.R. §§ 523.40–523.44

CLM-FTC-005 · verified_current

A prisoner at minimum or low recidivism risk earns an additional five days for every thirty days of successful participation when the statutory two-assessment condition is met; the regulation expresses that condition as maintaining a consistent minimum or low risk over the two most recent consecutive assessments.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
time_credit_earning_rate
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
Individual PATTERN classifications and assessment dates require the record.
researcher notes
Preserves the wording distinction between the statute and regulation.

Authorities: 18 U.S.C. § 3632; 28 C.F.R. §§ 523.40–523.44

CLM-FTC-006 · verified_current

The statute bars credit for a program successfully completed before December 21, 2018 and for a program completed during official detention before the prisoner's sentence commences under § 3585(a).

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
time_credit_availability
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
The regulation separately controls its administrative earning start and historical transition.
researcher notes
Direct paraphrase of both clauses of § 3632(d)(4)(B).

Authorities: 18 U.S.C. § 3632

CLM-FTC-007 · verified_current

The regulation allows an otherwise eligible inmate to earn for programming and activities from December 21, 2018 through January 14, 2020; beginning January 15, 2020, earning requires successful participation in programs or activities recommended from the individualized risk-and-needs assessment.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
time_credit_historical_transition
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
Actual historical awards depend on Bureau records and exclusions.
researcher notes
Direct paraphrase of § 523.42(b).

Authorities: 28 C.F.R. §§ 523.40–523.44

CLM-FTC-008 · verified_current

Since September 30, 2026, 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(a) provides that an eligible inmate begins earning FSA Time Credits after the term of imprisonment commences. The amendment removed the earlier clause that tied commencement to arrival or voluntary surrender at the designated Bureau facility, which courts had held conflicts with the First Step Act. A sentence commences under 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a) when the defendant is received in custody awaiting transportation to, or arrives voluntarily at, the official detention facility. Earning still requires successful participation in assigned programs or productive activities. [91 FR 55740 (Aug. 31, 2026)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-08-31/pdf/2026-17752.pdf); [Miles v. Bowers, No. 25-1291 (1st Cir. Apr. 27, 2026)](https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10848657/miles-v-bowers/); [18 U.S.C. § 3585(a)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title18/pdf/USCODE-2024-title18-partII-chap227-subchapD-sec3585.pdf)

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
time_credit_earning_start
classification
binding
last verified
2026-10-15
known limitations
Historical transition periods and individual designation facts must be checked separately.
researcher notes
Direct paraphrase of § 523.42(a). Re-reviewed 2026-10-15 against the sources listed in maintenance/legal-review-2026-10-15.md; wording approved by the owner.

Authorities: 28 C.F.R. §§ 523.40–523.44; First Step Act Time Credits—Revisions, 91 Fed. Reg. 55740 (Aug. 31, 2026); Miles v. Bowers, No. 25-1291 (1st Cir. Apr. 27, 2026); 18 U.S.C. § 3585

CLM-FTC-009 · verified_current

Section 3632(d)(4)(D) makes a prisoner ineligible to earn FTCs when the prisoner is serving a sentence for a conviction under an enumerated provision; the current exact statutory list—not a category label or a fixed estimate of the number of offenses—controls the federal offense screen.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
time_credit_eligibility
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
Aggregated sentences, prior-conviction provisions, and a particular judgment require separate analysis.
researcher notes
Corrects the legacy's unverified fixed range of offense categories.

Authorities: 18 U.S.C. § 3632; 28 C.F.R. §§ 523.40–523.44

CLM-FTC-010 · verified_current

A final removal order is an application bar, not one of § 3632(d)(4)(D)'s earning exclusions: the regulation's earning rule excludes the enumerated-offense category, while § 3632(d)(4)(E) and § 523.44(a)(2) prohibit applying FTCs for a prisoner subject to a final order of removal.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
time_credit_application_bar
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
A particular immigration order and its finality are factual and legal questions outside this module.
researcher notes
Derived from the distinct statutory and regulatory earning and application provisions.

Authorities: 18 U.S.C. § 3632; 28 C.F.R. §§ 523.40–523.44

CLM-FTC-011 · verified_current

Section 3632(d)(4)(C) directs that earned FTCs be applied toward prerelease custody or supervised release and requires transfer of prisoners who are eligible under § 3624(g); earning a credit and qualifying to apply it are therefore separate determinations.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
time_credit_application
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
The claim does not decide whether an individual satisfies § 3624(g).
researcher notes
Direct statutory cross-reference and structural distinction.

Authorities: 18 U.S.C. § 3632; 18 U.S.C. § 3624

CLM-FTC-012 · verified_current

Before application, the prisoner must have credits equal to the remainder of the imposed term, must have demonstrated risk reduction or maintained minimum or low risk during imprisonment, and must have had the remainder of the term computed under applicable law.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
time_credit_application
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
Individual balances, risk history, and remainder computations require Bureau records.
researcher notes
Nationwide general application gate.

Authorities: 18 U.S.C. § 3624; 28 C.F.R. §§ 523.40–523.44

CLM-FTC-013 · verified_current

For prerelease custody, § 3624(g) and § 523.44(c) additionally require minimum or low risk in the last two assessments, unless the warden approves the statutory petition after making the required danger, good-faith-effort, and recidivism findings.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
prerelease_custody_application
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
A warden's findings and reviewability require the individual record and further authority.
researcher notes
Prerelease-specific alternative gate.

Authorities: 18 U.S.C. § 3624; 28 C.F.R. §§ 523.40–523.44

CLM-FTC-014 · verified_current

For early transfer to supervised release, the prisoner must satisfy the general application criteria, have minimum or low risk at the last assessment, and have a court-imposed supervised-release term; FTCs cannot advance that transfer by more than twelve months.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
supervised_release_transfer
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
The sentencing judgment and Bureau calculation must be checked.
researcher notes
Supervised-release-specific application gate and cap.

Authorities: 18 U.S.C. § 3624; 28 C.F.R. §§ 523.40–523.44

CLM-FTC-015 · verified_current

An inmate may lose earned FTCs for violating program or activity requirements under Part 541 procedures, may seek review through the Bureau's Part 542 Administrative Remedy Program, and may receive case-specific restoration after clear conduct for two consecutive risk-and-needs assessments.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
time_credit_loss_and_review
classification
binding
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
Part 541 procedure, Part 542 deadlines, and individual restoration decisions are not mapped here.
researcher notes
Structural rule only; no exhaustion conclusion.

Authorities: 28 C.F.R. §§ 523.40–523.44

CLM-FTC-016 · verified_current

BOP Program Statement 5410.01, Change Notice 2, dated March 10, 2023, is official agency implementation policy for § 3632(d)(4); it does not displace the statute or regulation.

jurisdiction
federal_nationwide
procedural posture
agency_policy
classification
persuasive
last verified
2026-08-24
known limitations
Nonbinding agency policy; individualized calculations and policy-law conflicts require separate review.
researcher notes
Official BOP policy identity and hierarchy.

Authorities: BOP Program Statement 5410.01 CN-2 (Mar. 10, 2023)

Linked authorities