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After a Delay of Years, First Step Act Credits Applied for Prisoner Sentence Reductions

After a Delay of Years, First Step Act Credits Applied for Prisoner Sentence Reductions

by M.C. Millman



Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, president and founder of Tzedek Association and community activist, shared the good news today that thousands serving jail time have finally seen First Step Act credits applied to their sentences, allowing them an earlier release as well as the possibility of discharge to a halfway house or home arrest through their participation in the much-lauded program.


"Today, thousands of people in federal prisons all across the country, as well as in halfway houses and in home confinement, at last, received the credits due to them under the First Step Act," Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, president and founder of Tzedek Association, shares with Rockland Daily. "We would like to thank the head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Director Peters, for her leadership in bringing this to fruition, as well as the Department of Justice. This is one of the final pieces of implementation of this monumental and bipartisan prison reform legislation that we have long been advocating for."


This program encourages inmates to participate in rehabilitation and productive programs and activities. It is only available to those incarcerated for non-violent crimes. The program allows a ten or fifteen-day reduction of a prisoner's sentence for up to a year for every thirty days he agrees to participate in the First Step Act program, as according to the law, a prisoner cannot have his sentence reduced by more than a year. 


Not only are prisoners allowed the opportunity to reduce their sentences the first year, but after that, the program allows them to finish their sentences either in a halfway house (for those who have no home to return to) or under home confinement under the supervision of a halfway house.


Even though the program has not been fully instituted in all prison facilities, as long as the inmate does not refuse to participate, he is automatically credited as if he did participate. 


Although the First Step Act was passed into law during the Trump administration in 2018, many prisoners' credits were on hold due to mistakes in the submitted applications. 


When Rabbi Margaretten finally got to the bottom of what was delaying the credits for thousands of prisoners, he argued that the prisoners had not been told about the issues with their application, nor did they receive any help with the application process. As such, he pushed that they should be allowed the opportunity to correct their submission mistakes and reapply, which was finally allowed. The reapplication due date for corrections was December 31, 2022, with the credit reflected as of today. 


"The  First Step Act program is meant to send inmate home as better, not bitter," Margaretten says. "It allows inmates to use their jail time productively, to get work and an education, and to leave prison facilities as better civilians, better fathers, and better husbands." 


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