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From prison cell to federal reform: A fix for the First Step Act

I went to federal prison for contempt of Congress. My detractors say I acted above the law. My supporters say I’m the poster child for a weaponized justice system.    I won’t relitigate that here.  What matters is what I found behind bars: a systemic failure in the Bureau of Prisons’ implementation of the First Step Act, the 2018 bipartisan criminal justice reform law championed and signed by President Trump. The First Step Act was designed to confront an epidemic of over-sentencing, particularly for non-violent and first-time offenders. Its purpose was straightforward: to move eligible inmates out of prison earlier and into structured pre-release custody so they could work, pay taxes, secure housing, and reconnect with their families while still under supervision. The mechanism is a system of earned-time credits. Inmates who complete approved programs and maintain good behavior accumulate credits that accelerate their transfer to pre-release custody — typically first to halfway houses, then to monitored home confinement.  In my Miami prison, I quickly learned the First Step Act was not being properly administered — not even close. The bureau’s time-credit calculation system was misapplying the law. Instead of using the forward-looking “forecasting” methodology required by statute, it relied on a narrow “earn-as-you-go” approach that only credited time already served. That distinction mattered. By failing to project earned-time credits inmates were........

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