The BOP has recently announced that it is expanding home confinement and its intention to fully implement the First Step Act (FSA) of 2018. Just this week, the BOP released information on a new initiative: the FSA Task Force. Read more about this new initiative below. If you or a loved one are looking to consult with an attorney on a federal criminal case, contact us today at 303-948-1489.

Evergreen Attorneys have offices in North Texas and Colorado and we serve as federal criminal defense attorneys across the western half of the United States.

BOP Announces Creation of “FSA Task Force”

For years now, BOP staff and federal inmates have been in a state of confusion over how the First Step Act of 2018 affects an individual’s sentence, especially when it comes to how and when Earned Time Credits are applied to an individual’s sentence.

Inmates have complained that their paperwork for home confinement under the FSA has not been processed by staff despite the recent directive to maximize home confinement. In turn, BOP staff have complained about the current systems in place that have proven unreliable.

On July 14, 2025, BOP Director William K. Marshall, III announced the creation of the FSA Task Force–a dedicated task force at the Designation and Sentence Computation Center (DSCC) to assist the Bureau’s Residential Reentry Management (RRM) offices by manually identifying and correcting halfway house and home confinement dates.

What is the FSA Task Force?

According to the Bureau of Prisons, the FSA Task Force will be based at the DSCC in Texas, where inmates’ sentencing computations take place. The Task Force will be responsible for:

• Identifying individuals currently in RRCs who are eligible for home confinement.
• Manually calculating home confinement placement dates which “stacks” both the FSA and Second Chance Act.
• Relaying those dates to RRM offices in order to speed up the transition process and free RRC bed space.
• Reviewing eligible incarcerated individuals in institutions for additional community placement opportunities.

The Senior Deputy Assistant Director at the DSCC has stated of the FSA Task Force:

We know staff and inmates are frustrated and confused with the complexities of FSA time credit calculations, and we hear them loud and clear. Under Director Marshall’s guidance, we are making improvements aimed at simplifying FSA. The Director has made it clear that home confinement use should be maximized. While the time credit application program is being updated to calculate conditional home confinement placement dates, we are going to jump on this issue NOW with a specialized team at the DSCC. We are confident this will result in more individuals on home confinement for longer periods of time. This will benefit both staff and inmates.

– Rick Stover, Senior Deputy Assistant Director at DSCC

What Happens Next?

The announcement does not give a specific time frame for the creation and implementation of this task force, nor does it indicate how long it will be before federal inmates start seeing results.

What we do know is that the creation of this task force is in line with the BOP Director’s recent directives on home confinement and implementation of the FSA. Hopefully, we will start to see results soon and more people can return to a normal life and their loving families.

Contact Evergreen Attorneys for Help with Your Case

There are still a lot of unknowns with how the BOP will be implementing its new procedures under the First Step Act. The federal criminal defense attorney team at Evergreen Attorneys are committed to bringing timely news to incarcerated individuals and their families. At Evergreen Attorneys we help with 2255 motions, compassionate release cases, direct appeals, and federal sentencing matters.

If you or a loved one are seeking assistance with your federal case, contact the lawyers at Evergreen Attorneys today. We can be reached using a contact form on our website or at (303) 948-1489.