Yet another account of yet more challenges implementing the First Step Act

This NBC News piece, headlined "Despite First Step Act, some federal inmates remain in prison extra months," provides another window into another set of challenges in implementing some of the release provision of the First Step Act.  Here are excerpts:

The Trump-era First Step Act has allowed thousands of nonviolent federal offenders to leave prison sooner, but advocates say they have reviewed numerous instances of inmates remaining behind bars longer than they should be — raising questions about ongoing implementation failures....

Walter Pavlo, president of the consulting firm Prisonology LLC, whose experts include former federal Bureau of Prisons case managers, wardens and sentence computation professionals, said he regularly sees cases of inmates who have remained in prison past the dates they should have been moved, with an underlying issue appearing to be a lack of capacity at halfway houses.

Across the country, the BOP says it contracts with about 160 halfway house locations offering more than 10,000 beds, although it’s unclear how often they are at maximum capacity and whether they can offer additional space. More than 8,200 inmates are in halfway houses, the agency says.

In response to whether the BOP tracks how many inmates may be incarcerated longer because of delays in transferring them, the agency said Thursday that such information is not collected.  “Every effort is made to review and adjust available resources within the community so individuals may utilize” time credits, the BOP said.  The agency added that it “makes every effort to place individuals who qualify for release under the First Step Act,” but that “some areas, specifically populated urban areas, are experiencing capacity concerns.”...

As the law has been implemented over the years, concerns have grown about whether time credits are being properly added up and applied as case managers log the information.  In 2022, as the BOP fine-tuned the time credits program, a new computer app was launched to automatically calculate those credits, although it initially suffered a technical glitch.  The BOP said Thursday that “credits are being calculated as required under the First Step Act.”

Pavlo said the issue now has moved beyond the calculation of the time credits to the agency’s responsibility to secure inmates a place outside of prison or in home confinement as part of their prerelease custody.

A few of many prior related posts:

• Highlighting continuing struggles with implementing the FIRST STEP Act's earned time credits
• Another account of continuing struggles with FIRST STEP Act implementation 
• Another ugly report on the ugly implementation of the FIRST STEP Act
• Highlighting the continuing challenges of calculating FIRST STEP Act earned time credits
• Detailing yet another challenging detail of earned time credits under the FIRST STEP Act