First Step Act of 2018 – Time Credits: Procedures for Implementation of 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)

By Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., and Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA

Program Statement 5410.01 at a glance

Field	Value
Program Statement	5410.01 CN-2
Subject	First Step Act of 2018 – Time Credits: Procedures for Implementation of 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)
Effective / current edition date	Change Notice 2, dated March 10, 2023. The base Program Statement inside the same PDF is dated November 18, 2022; Change Notice 1 is dated February 6, 2023. All three were approved by Director Colette S. Peters.
Change notice	Two. CN-1 (2/6/2023) amended Sections 5, 6, 8 and 10 and the References block; CN-2 (3/10/2023) amended Section 10, Application of FTCs.
Supersedes / rescinds	The PDF contains no “Directives Rescinded” block. This is the Bureau’s first standing Program Statement on FSA Time Credits.
Governing statute	18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4) (earning); 18 U.S.C. § 3624(g) (application)
Governing regulation (28 C.F.R.)	Part 523, subpart E — § 523.40 purpose, § 523.41 definitions, § 523.42 earning, § 523.43 loss, § 523.44 application. All effective 19 January 2022.
Related BP forms	BP-A0148 Inmate Request to Staff; BP-A0628 Notification of RRC Placement Date; BP-A1156 Restoration of Federal Time Credits (PS 5410.01 at p. 23)
Official PDF	PS 5410.01 CN-2, First Step Act of 2018 – Time Credits

Checked against the BOP policy set · 2026-09-06.

First Step Act Time Credits are days a federal prisoner earns by participating in Bureau-recommended programming, which can be applied toward halfway house or home confinement and, up to a 12-month limit, toward early transfer to supervised release. This Program Statement is the Bureau’s operating instruction for earning, tracking, losing, restoring and applying them — but the binding authority is the statute at § 3632(d)(4) and the regulation at 28 C.F.R. part 523, subpart E.

This page explains how the credit system works. If the question is whether a particular person’s credits are being earned, applied or wrongly withheld — and what to do about it — that belongs on First Step Act time credits: consulting and advocacy, which covers case-specific review, FTC worksheets and the routes for challenging a determination.

The rule itself: how FSA Time Credits are earned, lost and applied

The Program Statement is built by quoting the regulation and then adding the Bureau’s implementing instructions underneath it. The PDF’s own convention says so on every page footer: “Federal Regulations from 28 CFR: this type. Implementing instructions: this type.” Everything in the regulation tables below has been checked against the current text of the regulation and matches it word for word.

The earning rate — 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(c)

This is the number people come for.

Rule	Verbatim text
Base rate	“For every thirty-day period that an eligible inmate has successfully participated in EBRR Programs or PAs recommended based on the inmate’s risk and needs assessment, that inmate will earn ten days of FSA Time Credits.” § 523.42(c)(1)
Additional rate	“For every thirty-day period that an eligible inmate has successfully participated in EBRR Programs or PAs recommended based on the inmate’s risk and needs assessment, that inmate will earn an additional five days of FSA Time Credits if the inmate: (i) Is determined by the Bureau to be at a minimum or low risk for recidivating; and (ii) Has maintained a consistent minimum or low risk of recidivism over the most recent two consecutive risk and needs assessments conducted by the Bureau.” § 523.42(c)(2)
When earning begins	“An eligible inmate begins earning FSA Time Credits after the inmate’s term of imprisonment commences (the date the inmate arrives or voluntarily surrenders at the designated Bureau facility where the sentence will be served).” § 523.42(a)
Before 12/21/2018	“An inmate cannot earn FSA Time Credits for programming or activities in which he or she participated before December 21, 2018, the date of enactment of the First Step Act of 2018.” § 523.42(b)(1)
12/21/2018 – 1/14/2020	“An eligible inmate … may earn FSA Time Credits for programming and activities in which he or she participated from December 21, 2018, until January 14, 2020.” § 523.42(b)(2)
On/after 1/15/2020	“An eligible inmate … may earn FSA Time Credit if he or she is successfully participating in EBRR programs or PAs that the Bureau has recommended based on the inmate’s individualized risk and needs assessment on or after January 15, 2020.” § 523.42(b)(3)

Source: 28 C.F.R. § 523.42 (effective 19 January 2022), reproduced at PS 5410.01 at pp. 13–14.

The Program Statement adds one sentence of implementation that explains why the number on an FTC worksheet is what it is: “The calculation of FTCs is fully automated and based on the number of 30-day periods in earning status. Additionally, the eligibility to earn FTCs is distinct from the ability to apply/use FTCs” (PS 5410.01 at p. 14). That distinction — earning versus applying — is the single most common source of confusion on this topic.

Who is eligible to earn — 28 C.F.R. § 523.41(d)

Rule	Verbatim text
Eligible	“Any inmate sentenced to a term of imprisonment pursuant to a conviction for a Federal criminal offense, or any person in the custody of the Bureau, is eligible to earn FSA Time Credits, subject to the exception described in paragraph (d)(2) of this section.” § 523.41(d)(1)
Exception	“If the inmate is serving a term of imprisonment for an offense specified in 18 U.S.C. 3632(d)(4)(D), the inmate is not eligible to earn FSA Time Credits.” § 523.41(d)(2)

Source: 28 C.F.R. § 523.41, reproduced at PS 5410.01 at p. 10.

Neither the regulation nor the Program Statement reprints the exclusion list. It lives in the statute, at 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(D), which opens: “A prisoner is ineligible to receive time credits under this paragraph if the prisoner is serving a sentence for a conviction under any of the following provisions of law,” and then runs through dozens of enumerated offenses — destruction of aircraft (§ 32), drive-by shootings (§ 36), arson (§ 81), assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon (§ 111(b)), certain domestic-assault offenses under § 113(a), female genital mutilation (§ 116), biological and chemical weapons chapters, and many more, including certain fentanyl-related offenses under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1) and § 960(b) where the sentencing court makes specified findings. Whether a particular judgment falls inside that list is a fact question about the statute of conviction, and it is the Bureau’s determination in the first instance. Read the list itself; do not rely on a summary of it, and do not assume that an offense that “sounds violent” is on it or that one that does not is off it.

The Program Statement adds four categories of its own on the implementing side: “Federal inmates in state custody are not eligible to earn FTCs. Additionally, state boarders, treaty transfers inmates, and military inmates sentenced pursuant to the Uniform Code of Military Justice who are serving their sentence in Bureau custody are not eligible to earn FTCs.” It also states that inmates sentenced under the D.C. Code “cannot earn FTCs unless or until the DC Council defines eligibility” (PS 5410.01 at p. 10).

When earning stops — the limitations list

This list is the Program Statement’s own, not the regulation’s, and it is where most lost credit actually goes.

Despite being eligible, an inmate cannot earn FTCs in circumstances that “may include, but are not limited to, the following”:

• “Placement in Disciplinary Segregation status”
• “Designation status outside the institution (e.g., an outside medical trip or escorted trip, in-transit or at an in-transit facility, a furlough for the full day, etc.)”
• “Placement in the custody of another jurisdiction (e.g., on state or federal writ, transfer to state custody for service of sentence, transfer to another federal agency, etc.)”
• “Placement in mental health/psychiatric holds”
• “Detention as a material witness or for civil contempt”
• “Placement in civil commitment”
• “‘Opting out’ (choosing not to participate in the EBRR programs or PAs that the Bureau has recommended based on the inmate’s individualized risk and needs assessment)”

Source: PS 5410.01 at p. 15.

Two Program Statement rules sharpen the edges of that list. On restrictive housing: “Inmates in Disciplinary Segregation status will not be considered to be ‘successfully participating.’ Inmates in restrictive housing for Administrative Detention shall obtain FTCs if they otherwise remain in earning status under the policy” (PS 5410.01 at p. 8). And on required programs: “If an inmate refuses to participate in required programs (e.g., Inmate Financial Responsibility (FRP), Drug Education, etc.), the inmate will not earn FTC” (PS 5410.01 at p. 15).

On waitlists, CN-2’s parent text is favorable and worth knowing: “An inmate will remain in FTC earning status while on any waitlist for EBRR Programs or PAs recommended based on the inmate’s needs assessment, not to exceed two assessment periods, as long as the inmate has not refused or declined to participate” (PS 5410.01 at p. 8). But a later refusal is retroactive: credits “earned since the oldest waitlist associated with the need area, without intervening participation, will be rescinded to reflect the inmate’s refusal.”

Losing and restoring credits — 28 C.F.R. § 523.43

Rule	Verbatim text
Loss	“An inmate may lose earned FSA Time Credits for violation of the requirements or rules of an EBRR Program or PA. The procedures for loss of FSA Time Credits are described in 28 CFR part 541.” § 523.43(a)
Appeal	“Inmates may seek review of the loss of earned FSA Time Credits through the Bureau’s Administrative Remedy Program (28 CFR part 542).” § 523.43(b)
Restoration	“An inmate who has lost FSA Time Credits under this subpart may have part or all of the FSA Time Credits restored to him or her, on a case-by-case basis, after clear conduct (behavior clear of inmate disciplinary infractions under 28 CFR part 541) for two consecutive risk and needs assessments conducted by the Bureau.” § 523.43(c)

Source: 28 C.F.R. § 523.43, reproduced at PS 5410.01 at pp. 16–17.

The Program Statement adds three procedural facts that are not in the regulation and that decide most restoration requests: only earned credits can be lost and “future time credits cannot be impacted”; “[l]oss of FTCs cannot be entered as a suspended sanction”; and restoration is requested at a regularly scheduled Program Review, on Form BP-A1156, Restoration of Federal Time Credits, submitted by the Unit Manager through the Discipline Hearing Officer to the Warden, with authority that “may not be delegated lower than the Associate Warden level.” If restoration is denied, “the inmate will be advised that they may reapply for FTC restoration six months from the date of denial, if clear conduct is maintained” (PS 5410.01 at pp. 16–17).

Applying credits — 28 C.F.R. § 523.44

Earning is not applying. Three gates stand between an earned credit and a changed date.

Gate	Verbatim text
Consideration (all applications)	“the Bureau may apply FSA Time Credits toward prerelease custody or early transfer to supervised release under 18 U.S.C. 3624(g) only if an eligible inmate has: (1) Earned FSA Time Credits in an amount that is equal to the remainder of the inmate’s imposed term of imprisonment; (2) Shown through the periodic risk reassessments a demonstrated recidivism risk reduction or maintained a minimum or low recidivism risk, during the term of imprisonment; and (3) Had the remainder of his or her imposed term of imprisonment computed under applicable law.” § 523.44(b)
Prerelease custody	The Bureau may apply credits toward prerelease custody “only when an eligible inmate has, in addition to satisfying the criteria in paragraph (b): (1) Maintained a minimum or low recidivism risk through his or her last two risk and needs assessments; or (2) Had a petition to be transferred to prerelease custody or supervised release approved by the Warden, after the Warden’s determination that: (i) The prisoner would not be a danger to society…; (ii) The prisoner has made a good faith effort to lower their recidivism risk…; and (iii) The prisoner is unlikely to recidivate.” § 523.44(c)
Early transfer to supervised release	The Bureau may apply credits toward early transfer “only when an eligible inmate has, in addition to satisfying the criteria in paragraphs (b) and (c): (1) … maintained a minimum or low recidivism risk through his or her last risk and needs assessment; (2) … has a term of supervised release after imprisonment included as part of his or her sentence as imposed by the sentencing court; and (3) The application of FSA Time Credits would result in transfer to supervised release no earlier than 12 months before the date that transfer to supervised release would otherwise have occurred.” § 523.44(d)
Final removal order	“Subject to a final order of removal under immigration laws as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(17) (see 18 U.S.C. 3632(d)(4)(E)), the Bureau may not apply FSA Time Credits toward prerelease custody or early transfer to supervised release.” § 523.44(a)(2)
Non-U.S. Code sentences	Inmates “[s]erving a term of imprisonment pursuant to a conviction for an offense under laws other than the U.S. Code … the Bureau may not apply FSA Time Credits toward prerelease custody or early transfer to supervised release,” except as authorized by the D.C. Code for D.C. Code offenses. § 523.44(a)(3)

Source: 28 C.F.R. § 523.44, reproduced at PS 5410.01 at pp. 17–21.

The automatic 365-day application list

The Program Statement sets out, in its own voice, the criteria under which the Bureau applies credits to early release without an application. This bullet list is the most operationally useful thing in the document:

“For inmates who meet the following criteria, up to 365 days of earned FTCs will be automatically applied to early release:

• Has a term of supervised release to follow the term of incarceration
• Has a low or minimum PATTERN risk level
• Has maintained a low or minimum PATTERN risk level for at least two consecutive assessments conducted during regularly scheduled Program Reviews
• Has no detainers or pending charges, to include unresolved immigration status and
• Is not the subject of a final order of removal under immigration laws, and
• Has not opted out or refused to participate in any required program, and therefore, is in earning status.”

Source: PS 5410.01 at p. 21.

CN-2 also added the detainer rule that stops more applications than any other single sentence in the policy: “While inmates with unresolved pending charges and/or detainers may earn FTCs, if otherwise eligible, they will be unable to apply them to prerelease custody or release to supervision unless the charges and/or detainers are resolved. An inmate with an unresolved immigration status will be treated as if he/she has unresolved pending charges with regard to the application of FTCs” (PS 5410.01 at pp. 3, 18).

What First Step Act time credits mean for you

If you are the person inside: ask for your FTC worksheet

Ask for your FSA Time Credit Assessment (FTC Worksheet). CN-1 added a rule that makes this easy to request: the worksheets “will be automatically uploaded to the Inmate Central File during each auto-calculation” and “[i]nmates will be provided a copy of the most recent FTC Worksheet during regularly scheduled program reviews” (PS 5410.01 at p. 3). If you have not been given one, that is a request to make in writing on a BP-A0148.

Then check four things on it. Earning status — are you in it, and if not, which of the seven limitation categories is the Bureau applying? Rate — 10 days per 30-day period, or 15? The extra five requires minimum or low risk maintained across the most recent two consecutive assessments. Program recommendations — the credits attach to programs the Bureau recommended based on your assessment, not to programs you chose; if you are completing things that were never recommended, you may be working hard for nothing. Detainers — an unresolved detainer or pending charge will let you earn and stop you from applying.

Do not read a projected date as a promise. The Program Statement says the projection assumes you stay in earning status and that it “is subject to change during the inmate’s incarceration.”

If you are a family member: two facts about earning and applying

Two structural facts will save you months of confusion.

First, earning and applying are different. Someone can be earning credits at the full rate and still not be moving toward the door, because application requires the credits to equal the remainder of the imposed term, a risk-level condition, and — for prerelease custody — either two consecutive minimum/low assessments or a Warden-approved petition.

Second, PATTERN risk level does most of the work. It sets the extra five days, it gates prerelease application, and the Program Statement is explicit that “Medium and High PATTERN risk inmates may earn FTC, but will not receive an estimated FSA PRD” (PS 5410.01 at p. 20). If the number is not moving, the risk score is usually why. How that score is built and what actually lowers it is on PATTERN risk score and First Step Act assessments, programming and incentives.

If you are counsel: First Step Act time credits

The Program Statement’s medium/high PATTERN screen under § 523.44(c)(2) is the provision most worth reading closely, because it is the Bureau’s own list of the discretionary factors that will be weighed. It states that “[o]rdinarily, inmates considered inappropriate for early transfer … under section (c)(2) include, but are not limited to, inmates who” have a high or medium PATTERN level; have a current or prior offense listed in the Categorization of Offenses Program Statement under “Offenses categorized as crimes of violence” or the Director’s-discretion section; have an unwaived Public Safety Factor; have a history of community-supervision non-compliance; or “have been found to have committed 100 OR 200 level prohibited acts during the current term of incarceration, or the prohibited acts of using drugs or alcohol, drug possession, possession of drug paraphernalia, or introduction of drugs into Bureau institutions within the last three years” (PS 5410.01 at p. 19). It then sets out what a good-faith showing looks like: clear conduct for at least three years, completion of at least one residential EBRR program addressing an identified need within the past five years, and compliance with the policy’s participation requirements (p. 20).

Note also a divergence between the statute and the regulation that is worth preserving in any filing. Section 3632(d)(4)(A)(ii) conditions the additional five days on a prisoner “determined by the Bureau of Prisons to be at a minimum or low risk for recidivating, who, over 2 consecutive assessments, has not increased their risk of recidivism.” The regulation, § 523.42(c)(2)(ii), instead requires that the inmate “has maintained a consistent minimum or low risk of recidivism over the most recent two consecutive risk and needs assessments.” Those are not the same test, and the difference matters for a prisoner who moved from low to minimum, or whose level changed without increasing risk.

Finally, the review path is stated in the regulation itself: loss of credits is reviewed “through the Bureau’s Administrative Remedy Program (28 CFR part 542),” § 523.43(b), and the Program Statement adds a separate appeals clause at Section 10. Exhaustion first; § 2241 in the district of confinement after.

What changed across the PS 5410.01 change notices

The base policy. PS 5410.01 was issued November 18, 2022, roughly ten months after the implementing regulations at 28 C.F.R. part 523, subpart E took effect on 19 January 2022. The PDF contains no “Directives Rescinded” block — this is the Bureau’s first standing Program Statement on the subject, replacing a period of interim guidance rather than a prior numbered statement.

Change Notice 1, February 6, 2023, made four amendments, each of which resolved a live dispute:

• Section 5 (Risk and Need Assessment). Added that an inmate who fails to complete a recommended EBRR or PA is coded as a fail or withdraw and “will not be considered to have opted out, and therefore, in non-earning status.” Added that reassessment happens at each regularly scheduled Program Review, that inmates in prerelease custody not subject to regular program review “will not receive reassessments,” and that for those in prerelease placement “reassessments will be completed automatically on a monthly basis.”
• Section 6 (How to Earn FTCs). Defined “the most recent two consecutive risk assessments,” for inmates in prerelease custody, as “the final two risk assessments conducted while the inmate was at a BOP institution, prior to the application of FTCs.”
• Section 8 (Tracking and Earning). Added the automatic upload of FTC Worksheets to the Inmate Central File and the requirement that inmates be given a copy at program reviews.
• Section 10 (Application of FTCs). Added the detainer and unresolved-immigration-status rule quoted above.

Change Notice 2, March 10, 2023, amended Section 10 only, and it is the most consequential edit in the document. It struck language that would have made prerelease application conditional on being “‘opted in’ at the time of the referral and … in minimum or low risk status through their last two assessment periods,” and added: “However, in all cases, earned time credits will be applied to prerelease custody (RRC and/or HC) as required by the First Step Act. The First Step Act requires that, if an individual meets the criteria outlined in (c)(1), the credits must be applied when the amount of time credits earned is equivalent to remainder of the prisoner’s imposed term of imprisonment” (PS 5410.01 at p. 1). It also confirmed that RRC and home-confinement placement is based on credits other than those already applied to early transfer to supervised release.

What has not changed. The regulations at §§ 523.40–523.44 have not been amended since they took effect on 19 January 2022, and the Program Statement has had no Change Notice since March 2023. The Program Statement’s own reference block still cites “5220.01 First Step Act Program Incentives” and “5400.01 First Step Act Needs Assessment” — both of which have since been rescinded and folded into PS 5405.01, issued 7 May 2026. Its cross-reference to a “Program Statement Inmate Classification and Program Review” corresponds to the current PS 5321.09, Unit Management and Inmate Program Review.

Where people get stuck when credits are earned but not applied

“I’m in earning status but nothing is being applied”

This is the design, not a malfunction. Under § 523.44(b), credits are applied only when they equal “the remainder of the inmate’s imposed term of imprisonment,” alongside a risk-reduction showing and a computed remainder. Before that point credits accumulate without moving anything. Ask for the FTC Worksheet, confirm the earned total and the projected total, and confirm whether the Bureau has computed a conditional FSA Projected Release Date at all — the Program Statement says medium and high PATTERN inmates will not receive one.

A detainer or unresolved immigration status is blocking application

Under CN-2, inmates with unresolved detainers or pending charges “may earn FTCs … [but] will be unable to apply them to prerelease custody or release to supervision unless the charges and/or detainers are resolved,” and unresolved immigration status is treated the same way (PS 5410.01 at p. 18). A final order of removal is a harder bar: § 523.44(a)(2) says the Bureau “may not apply” credits at all. The productive work here is on the detainer itself, not on the credit — see detainers and the Interstate Agreement on Detainers. This is a consult, not a form: whether a detainer can be resolved is a legal question in another forum.

An incident report cost me credits

Loss runs through the disciplinary process under 28 C.F.R. part 541, and the sanctions table at § 541.3 authorizes forfeiture of up to 41 days of earned FSA Time Credits for each Greatest severity prohibited act and up to 7 or 14 days for repeat Low severity acts. Two routes exist and they are different. To challenge the finding, appeal the Discipline Hearing Officer decision — and note that a DHO appeal “shall be submitted initially to the Regional Director,” not to the Warden, under 28 C.F.R. § 542.14. To seek restoration of credits after the fact, the route is BP-A1156 at a Program Review after clear conduct across two consecutive assessments, with reapplication permitted six months after a denial. See Inmate Discipline Program.

“I’ve been on a waitlist for a year”

The policy is on your side here, up to a point: an inmate “will remain in FTC earning status while on any waitlist … not to exceed two assessment periods,” and exceptions to that two-period limit “can be granted by the Regional Director upon request from the Warden” (PS 5410.01 at p. 8). Get the waitlist documented in writing at the Program Review, and if you are approaching two assessment periods, ask the Unit Team in writing whether the Warden will request a Regional Director exception. If that produces nothing, informal resolution, then a BP-9 within 20 calendar days (28 C.F.R. § 542.14), BP-10 within 20 calendar days of the Warden’s signed response and BP-11 within 30 calendar days of the Regional Director’s (28 C.F.R. § 542.15). Under § 542.18, silence past the response deadline “may [be considered] a denial at that level.”

Related BOP policy on First Step Act time credits

Page	What it covers
First Step Act time credits: consulting and advocacy	Case-specific review of FTC worksheets, earning status and application disputes
PATTERN risk score	How the score is built and what actually moves it
First Step Act assessments, programming and incentives (PS 5405.01)	The assessment and programming side, and the non-credit incentives
Good conduct time (PS 5884.03)	The separate 54-day credit for rule compliance
Sentence Computation Manual (PS 5880.28)	How the underlying sentence and release date are computed
Halfway house placement procedures (PS 7310.04)	Where applied credits actually land
Home confinement (PS 7320.01)	The other prerelease destination
Inmate Discipline Program (PS 5270.09)	Where credits are forfeited
Unit team and program review (PS 5321.09)	The meeting where assessments and recommendations are made
Categorization of Offenses (PS 5162.06)	The offense lists the PS invokes for discretionary screening
RDAP early release (PS 5331.02)	The § 3621(e) year, which this policy addresses combining with FTCs

Frequently Asked Questions About the FSA Time Credits Policy

Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026