Federal prison population continues historic drop with BOP now reporting 166,647 total federal inmates

Another Thursday brings another new check on the federal Bureau of Prisons' updated general population numbers (though BOP took longer than usual to get the updated numbers posted today).  In prior posts here and here, I highlighted that, according to BOP's reporting of the numbers, throughout the month of April the federal prison population was shrinking about 1,000 persons per week.  We are now three weeks into May, and the new numbers at this webpage continue to show weekly declines this month checking in around 1,200 on average: the population dropped from 170,435 (as of April 30) to 169,080 (as of May 7, 2020) to 167,803 (as of May 14, 2020) to now a BOP reported total of 166,647.

As I have detailed before, a reduced inflow of prisoners — due, I presume, to many sentencings and reportings to prisons being delayed — is likely playing the largest role in the significant population declines in recent months.  But compassionate release and other outflows are also likely a part of the story as well, and I continue to wonder what the new normal for the federal prison population might look like in the wake of the remarkable disruptions caused by the coronoavirus. 

A few of many prior related posts:

• Noticing the continued decline of the federal prison population (for now) ... and a story embedded with intricacies (from Jan 2018)
• Federal prison population, thanks in part to the FIRST STEP Act, hits lowest level in over 15 years (from July 2019)
• Federal prison population, due seemingly to COVID responses, hits another modern low (which is still very high) (from April 2020)
• According to BOP reporting, federal prison population now shrinking about 1,000 persons per week (from April 2020)
• Are federal judges approaching prison sentencing differently now that they see BOP ugliness up close? (from May 2020)
• Federal prison population drops below 170,000 for first time in nearly two decades (from two weeks ago)
• As federal prison population continues remarkable decline, can anyone predict what might be a new normal? (last week)