Federal prison population, per BOP accounting of "Total Federal Inmates," drops down to 161,640

Today's check on the federal Bureau of Prisons' updated "Total Federal Inmates" numbers show a continuation of historic declines, though it again appears that the pace of the decline is slowing just a bit.  In a prior post here, I highlighted that, according to BOP's reporting, most weeks through April the federal prison population shrunk around or over 1,000 persons per week.  And through May 2020, as detailed here, the pace of weekly decline increased to an average of around 1,200 fewer reported prisoners in federal facilities.  As we headed into and now though June, the new numbers at this webpage continue to show significant, but slightly reduced, weekly declines: the BOP reported population dropped from 166,647 (as of May 21) to 165,575 (as of May 28) to 164,438 (as of June 4) to 163,441 (as of June 11) to 162,578 (as of June 18) to now a BOP reported total of 161,640.

I continue to suspect that these persistent declines in total inmates is mostly a function of delays in federal case-processing pipelines from COVID shutdowns; I keep expecting that we will, eventually, see some (considerable?) move upward in these numbers.  But with the recent surge in COVID cases in some regions and some talk of renewed shut-downs, perhaps the federal prison-population reverberations of COVID will be continuing on and on.  And maybe, as I have wistfully speculated before, we are still some ways from the bottom here and are still moving toward a much lower "new normal" for the federal prison population.  

A few of many prior related posts:

• 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)
• Federal prison population drops below 170,000 for first time in nearly two decades (from May 2020)
• As federal prison population continues remarkable decline, can anyone predict what might be a new normal? (from May 2020)
• Is the number of federal prisoners about to spike up as BOP moves nearly 7000 new inmates into federal facilities? (from May 2020) 
• Federal inmate population, as reported by BOP, continues steady decline (which continues my wondering about data)(from May 2020)
• "Total Federal Inmates," as reported by BOP, drops below 165,000 (from three weeks ago)
• "Total Federal Inmates," as reported by BOP, drops another 1000 down to 163,441 (from two weeks ago)
• BOP accounting of "Total Federal Inmates" continues to drop, though pace may be slowing (from last week)