Female Integrated Treatment (FIT) (Program Statement 5240.01)

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

Field	Value
Program Statement	5240.01
Subject	Female Integrated Treatment (FIT)
Effective / current edition	08-11-2022
Change notices	None. BOP’s published policy list carries 5240.01 with no change notice.
Supersedes	The Program Statement carries no supersession block and no Summary of Changes. It rescinds nothing on its face — PS 5240.01 at pp. 1–2. The eight Program Statements it was built on are listed at p. 12; four of those have since been replaced (see What changed).
Governing statute	The Program Statement cites none. The Bureau’s placement authority is 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b); the drug-treatment component inside FIT runs on 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e).
28 C.F.R. anchor	No regulation governs FIT. Part 551 has no female-offender subpart — subpart E is Inmate Contributions, and the only women-specific subpart is C, Birth Control, Pregnancy, Child Placement, and Abortion, which belongs to the Female Offender Manual. The RDAP component inside FIT is governed by 28 C.F.R. part 550, subpart F. See What binds and what does not, below.
Related BP forms	BP-A0749, Agreement to Participate in a Bureau of Prisons Residential Drug Abuse Program · the Change in RDAP and § 3621(e) Status form (PS 5240.01 at pp. 8–9). Neither is posted publicly on bop.gov; you get both from program staff.
Official PDF	bop.gov/policy/progstat/5240_001.pdf

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

Female Integrated Treatment — everyone on the unit calls it FIT — is the Bureau of Prisons’ residential, women-only treatment program that puts mental-health treatment, trauma treatment, substance-use treatment and vocational training into a single housing unit run as a therapeutic community. Program Statement 5240.01 sets out what the program has to contain, how many hours of face-to-face treatment a participant gets, who staffs it, how someone is referred in, and how someone is removed.

FIT is not RDAP, though RDAP can sit inside it. A woman in FIT who has a verified substance use disorder can complete the Residential Drug Abuse Program as a component of FIT, which is why the FIT paperwork uses RDAP forms — but the two programs have different rules, and the early-release question belongs to Early Release Procedures Under 18 U.S.C. 3621(e) and Psychology Treatment Programs, not here. For the plain-language walkthrough of where women are held and what daily life looks like, start with Women’s Federal Prisons.

The rule itself: the FIT program

Everything in this section is transcribed from the Bureau’s own text at bop.gov/policy/progstat/5240_001.pdf.

What the program is for

From the Purpose and Scope section, PS 5240.01 at p. 1 (transcribed verbatim):

This Program Statement establishes policy, procedures, standards, and guidelines for the delivery of the Female Integrated Treatment (FIT) Program to female inmates.

a. Program Objectives. Expected results of this program are:

– To create a holistic, female-specific community that addresses priority needs for women, including trauma informed care, other types of mental health treatment, substance use treatment, and educational/vocational skills. – To extend support for female inmates with mental illness beyond traditional professional services through creation of a standardized, evidence-based treatment program that is individualized, integrated, and gender-responsive. – To deliver an effective program to enhance recovery and result in reduced criminality and recidivism. – To support effective reentry outcomes specific to the needs of women. – To institute a program that uses a Risk-Need-Responsivity model to match inmate risk to intensity of services provided.

The policy defines its four working terms at p. 2, and the definitions matter because they are the standard staff are told to apply:

Criminogenic Needs. Characteristics, traits, problems, or issues of an individual that directly relate to the individual’s likelihood to re-offend and commit another crime.

Integrated Treatment. Treatment services organized in an integrated fashion, screening for all types of mental illness and substance use disorders and including the development of integrated treatment plans that address all issues.

Gender-responsive. Creating an environment that reflects an understanding of the realities of women’s lives. Gender-responsive approaches are multidimensional and based on theoretical perspectives that acknowledge women’s pathways into the criminal justice system.

Trauma-informed Care. An organizational structure and treatment framework that involves understanding, recognizing, and responding to the effects of all types of trauma.

The core program elements

PS 5240.01 at p. 5 introduces the list: “All FIT Programs use the following core elements.” Elements (1) through (6) follow; element (6), the Modified Therapeutic Community, carries its own lettered sub-elements a through j; and the Program Statement then continues the same numbered list through (11). Transcribed exactly:

#	Core element	What the Program Statement says (verbatim)	Pin-cite
(1)	Assessment	“Treatment Program staff conduct a psychosocial interview with each inmate through an established assessment process that occurs within 30 days of the inmate’s admission to formal programming.”	p. 5
(2)	Individual Treatment/Goal Plan	“The primary intervention is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)…. The treatment plan or goal plan will be completed and documented in the Psychology Data System (PDS) within 30 working days from the inmate’s admission into the program.”	p. 5
(3)	Target Criminogenic Needs	“In addition to mental health symptoms, FIT programs target criminogenic needs, such as antisocial attitudes and beliefs, to reduce the likelihood of misconduct and recidivism.”	pp. 5–6
(4)	Target Vocational Needs	“Each participant will be assessed in regard to her job skills and reentry needs. Training and education to increase reentry success will be recommended.”	p. 6
(5)	Trauma Informed Care	“FIT Programs create an environment and offer services consistent with trauma informed care. That is, staff recognize the high incidence of trauma in the inmate population. They assess for a history of traumatic experiences and their impact on current functioning and include trauma treatment in treatment plans, when appropriate.”	p. 6
(6)	Modified Therapeutic Community (MTC)	“FIT is an integrated, intensive, residential program that follows the unit-based treatment model of a modified therapeutic community…. A modified therapeutic community in a prison setting stresses pro-social values and behaviors by requiring all community participants live by program rules and support community values.”	p. 6

The ten MTC sub-elements, pp. 6–8, are where the day-to-day life of the unit is actually specified:

Sub-element	The rule, in the Program Statement’s own words	Pin-cite
a. Separate Unit	“FIT participants are housed together on a unit, separate from general population inmates. This may be a single building or an entire facility.” And: “The FIT unit must be solely for program participants. Inmates living on the unit must be waiting for admission into the program, participating in the program, program completers, or mental health companions working in the program.”	p. 6
b. Unit Layout	“If allowed by the institution layout, the program staff and unit team will have offices on the treatment unit. Group sessions and meetings, when possible, are conducted on the unit.”	p. 6
c. Treatment in Phases	“Participants are moved to the next phase of treatment only if their individual needs assessment indicates they need further treatment and when they can consistently demonstrate the skills associated with their present phase – never simply because they have spent a standard amount of time in a phase.”	p. 6
d. Community Focus	“All treatment staff will engage in interactions and promote activities that have a therapeutic impact on the treatment community. Non-treatment staff will also promote activities that have a therapeutic impact.”	pp. 6–7
e. Treatment Team	“The treatment team meets weekly and is composed of all FIT staff. The Coordinator or Acting Coordinator is present at every meeting.”	p. 7
f. Community Meetings	“FIT Programs conduct a daily community meeting (excluding non-program days, such as weekends and holidays)…. The meeting is brief, generally 30- 60 minutes…. Inmates in the unit at the time of the meeting are required to attend and participate.” (the spacing in “30- 60” is the Bureau’s own; the PDF prints it that way)	p. 7
g. Program Philosophy	“Each Treatment Program develops a program philosophy that will become a permanent community ritual.”	p. 7
h. Peer Support	“A Mental Health Companion is an inmate who is practicing recovery from criminality, substance use, and/or mental illness…. Mental Health Companions do not provide professional mental health treatment. Rather, they work under the close supervision of psychologists to offer peer support services.”	pp. 7–8
i. Supportive Interventions	“To the extent that participants’ cognitive abilities are diminished by an intellectual disability or the symptoms of mental illness, they are less able to make use of formal verbal therapies. In these cases, verbal therapies are augmented with other therapeutic activities…(e.g., wellness activities, music therapy, therapeutic recreation, supported employment, animal-assisted interventions).”	p. 8
j. Rules and Consequences	“Treatment staff must establish clear, unambiguous rules and consequences for breaking them. Staff must assist participants in understanding the form, Agreement to Participate in a Bureau of Prisons Residential Drug Abuse Program (BP-A0749), and program rules.”	p. 8

Two sentences inside that block are worth pulling out because families ask about them constantly. On safety: the treatment unit “isolates program participants from the negative peer pressure of the larger prison environment. In addition, the treatment unit offers inmates with mental illness an environment where they are less likely to be victimized by other inmates” (p. 6). On disability: staff “are careful to ensure each inmate is encouraged to participate to her full capacity and that appropriate supports are in place to promote full inclusion of inmates with disabilities” (p. 7) — a cross-reference the policy makes again at p. 8, pointing to the Program Statements on mental illness and on inmates with disabilities.

The numbers

These are the figures people come looking for, each transcribed from the passage cited.

What	The rule	Pin-cite
Weekly treatment time	Schedule must allow each participant “to receive at least 15 contact hours (i.e., face to face contact between treatment staff and inmate participants) each week, exclusive of holidays and weekends. Some participants may receive fewer hours based on their needs and stage in treatment.”	p. 5
Treatment-specialist caseload	“treatment specialists will always maintain a caseload of 1:24 participants”	p. 3
Psychologist caseload	“no more than 40 inmates may be assigned to a psychologist as part of program delivery”	p. 3
Clinical supervision of staff	“Supervision is conducted no less than one time per month and must be documented.”	p. 3
Psychosocial interview	“within 30 days of the inmate’s admission to formal programming”	p. 5
Treatment plan in PDS	“within 30 working days from the inmate’s admission into the program”	p. 5
Community meeting	Daily, “generally 30- 60 minutes”	p. 7
Treatment team meeting	“weekly”	p. 7
Notice after a removal decision	“Within two working days after a decision has been made to remove a participant, the FIT Coordinator will…”	pp. 8–9
Progress reviews	“60-day progress review noting progress toward treatment goals. Using the creation date of the Treatment Plan as the anchor date, all of the dates for the 60-day Progress Reviews are determined and set. These dates will not change. Progress Reviews may be entered within 14 days prior to the Progress Review due date.”	p. 11
Treatment summary	“Two weeks prior to the participant’s scheduled FIT completion date, the FIT Coordinator will ensure the FIT Treatment Summary is documented in PDS.”	p. 11
RDAP component inside FIT	“the inmate must participate for a minimum of 500 contact hours (i.e., face to face contact between treatment staff and inmate participants) for a duration of 9 to 12 months.”	p. 10

How a woman gets into FIT — and what the policy does not say

This is the part with the biggest gap between what people expect and what the Program Statement actually contains. Section 4, pp. 4–5, is the whole of it:

The Psychology Services Branch determines eligibility for FIT and works with Designations and Sentence Computation Center (DSCC) to ensure safe and appropriate designations.

Female institutions that do not have FIT must make information available to inmates who may be interested. That information must include, at a minimum, where the program is located, qualifications specific to the mission at each site, and how to request transfer.

Any inmate submitting a written request of intent to refuse the program will not be submitted for transfer.

Read that carefully, because three things follow.

PS 5240.01 states no enumerated eligibility criteria for FIT. There is no list of qualifying diagnoses, no minimum or maximum sentence length, no security-level rule, no offense exclusion, and no scoring instrument. Eligibility is a clinical determination made by the Psychology Services Branch in Central Office. Anyone who tells you there is a published FIT eligibility checklist is describing something other than this Program Statement.

PS 5240.01 does not list the FIT sites. It says only that “FIT Programs are located at institutions selected by the Reentry Services Division and approved by agency Executive Staff” and that “All inmates at a designated FIT unit will have a current FIT assignment in SENTRY” (p. 2). The obligation to tell you where the program is falls on your own institution, not on the published policy. If you are at a women’s facility without FIT, the policy directs staff there to make available the program locations, the site-specific qualifications, and how to request transfer.

A written refusal closes the door on the transfer. The single sentence “Any inmate submitting a written request of intent to refuse the program will not be submitted for transfer” is the only categorical rule in the section. Do not sign a refusal you have not thought through.

The named assessments — and what is missing

The brief version: the Program Statement names no standardized screening instrument. What it names, in order, is a “psychosocial interview” (p. 5), a “comprehensive psychosocial assessment completed with each inmate entering the program” (p. 11), a “Trauma assessment completed by Psychologist, as well as other psychological assessments completed as clinically indicated” (p. 11), and “psychological and/or career testing as necessary” performed by FIT Psychologists (p. 4). The governing framework is the “Risk-Need-Responsivity model to match inmate risk to intensity of services provided” (p. 1). No trauma inventory, no diagnostic tool, and no cut score appears anywhere in the twelve pages. If you are trying to work out why one woman was found appropriate for FIT and another was not, the Program Statement will not tell you, and neither will a records request that only asks for the policy.

Achievement awards, and what a participant has to do to keep them

PS 5240.01 at p. 9 lists the conditions verbatim:

a. Earning Achievement Awards. Participants enrolled in FIT must:

– Be on time for all treatment activities. – Have no unexcused absences. – Not leave treatment activities without approval from the facilitator. – Not eat, drink, or sleep in group. – Complete all assigned activities. – Dress appropriately (e.g. clean institutional clothing, shirts tucked in, shoes tied, no headphones, no jackets, no coats, properly fitting pants, no sunglasses, and no head covering other than approved religious headwear). – Be an active participant in treatment activities. – Put forth positive efforts in accomplishing treatment plan goals. – Comply with education and programming recommendations, and the Financial Responsibility Program (FRP) obligations. – Not receive a sustained incident report.

The awards themselves, p. 10, are seven kinds: a Treatment Phase award (“A participant may earn a treatment phase award to offset time lost from work. The amount of the award is established by PSB”); an FSA achievement award for inmates who select a First Step Act monetary achievement award; a nearer release transfer (“As appropriate, formal consideration may be given for a program completion or nearer release transfer following successful program completion”); local incentives (“preferred living quarters, priority consideration for meal moves, washer/dryer or exercise equipment on unit”); tangible incentives with the Warden’s approval; a token economy, which programs are “strongly encouraged to establish”; and a transition ceremony/ritual. Note that a phase award “may be reduced by the treatment team based upon the inmate’s unsatisfactory participation and progress,” and that the reduction has to be documented in PDS.

Interventions and removal

The Program Statement builds in a warning sequence before removal. PS 5240.01 at p. 8:

Circumstances for an Intervention. Ordinarily, staff will provide the participant with treatment interventions prior to removal. In response to disruptive behavior or unsatisfactory progress, treatment staff will:

– Meet with the participant to discuss her behavior or lack of progress. – Assign the treatment intervention(s) chosen to reduce or eliminate the behavior, or to improve progress. – Warn the participant of the consequences of failure to alter her behavior. – Properly document in PDS the meeting and treatment intervention(s) assigned. – Properly document in PDS changes to the participant’s treatment plan and ensure that both staff and the participant acknowledge the amended treatment plan. – When appropriate, require the participant to discuss her targeted behavior with the community.

If interventions do not work, “the treatment team will meet to decide if the participant will be removed from the program,” and within two working days of that decision the FIT Coordinator will verbally notify the participant, notify her and appropriate staff in writing of the reason, complete the Change in RDAP and § 3621(e) Status form for anyone in the RDAP component, update SENTRY, and document the removal in PDS (pp. 8–9). Two exceptions run the other way: “A participant may not ordinarily be removed immediately by the FIT Coordinator without a treatment intervention unless the participant has committed a prohibited act that jeopardizes the institution and other inmates, (e.g., violence or threats of violence, escape, attempted escape),” and “A participant may also be removed from the program without a formal intervention if the participant is determined to have violated confidentiality” (p. 9).

The people who hold these decisions are named at pp. 3–4. The FIT Coordinator “is responsible for removing inmates from the unit due to disruptive or unsatisfactory progress in treatment.” The Chief Psychologist supervises the FIT Coordinator. All “referrals into and removals from the program will be overseen by” the Psychology Services Branch in Central Office (p. 2).

Applied Insight — Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, Managing Director: The written removal notice is the single most important document in a FIT file, and it is the one people most often fail to keep. Ask for it the day you are told, in writing, on a BP-A0148, and ask separately for the PDS entries documenting the treatment interventions that preceded it — the meeting, the assigned intervention, the warning, and the amended treatment plan you were supposed to acknowledge. The policy directs staff to create all four (p. 8). If any are missing, that gap is the argument, and it is far easier to establish in week one than after a transfer.

Completion, documentation and the form set

Successful completion, p. 10, is three things: “Satisfactory attendance and participation in all FIT activities,” “Satisfactory progression through all recommended phases of treatment,” and “Satisfactory progress towards treatment goals.” What happens next, p. 11: “Inmates who successfully complete FIT may have the opportunity to continue residing on the Unit and participating in the Modified Therapeutic Community, they may progress to becoming a Peer Companion, or they may be referred for transfer to another facility.”

The required documentation, p. 11, is the closest thing this policy has to a form set:

– An Agreement to Participate in a Bureau of Prisons Residential Drug Abuse Program (BP-A0749) form, signed by the inmate before the first treatment session. – A comprehensive psychosocial assessment completed with each inmate entering the program to assist in the development of an individualized treatment plan. – Trauma assessment completed by Psychologist, as well as other psychological assessments completed as clinically indicated. – An individualized treatment plan or goal plan for each participant, documenting the targeted problem areas, treatment goals, and treatment activities in PDS. – A participant’s attendance in group in PDS. – Treatment contact notes based on clinical issues, as appropriate. – 60-day progress review noting progress toward treatment goals…. – FIT Program treatment assignments in SENTRY. – Two weeks prior to the participant’s scheduled FIT completion date, the FIT Coordinator will ensure the FIT Treatment Summary is documented in PDS.

Note what that list means in practice: the entire FIT record lives in the Psychology Data System, not in the Inmate Central File. PDS entries are psychology records, and they are not produced the way a central-file document is. Counsel who need them should plan on a Privacy Act request rather than a unit-team ask.

What binds and what does not in PS 5240.01

A Program Statement is the Bureau’s internal instruction to its own staff. It is not a regulation, and the Supreme Court has said as much: in Reno v. Koray, 515 U.S. 50 (1995), the Court described a BOP Program Statement as “an internal agency guideline” that is “akin to an ‘interpretive rule’ that ‘do[es] not require notice and comment,'” though still entitled to some deference where it is a permissible construction of the statute. That is why this page says the Program Statement “directs staff” rather than “requires.”

For FIT the distinction is unusually stark, because there is no FIT regulation at all. We checked 28 C.F.R. part 551 — the part BOP uses for miscellaneous inmate-management rules — subpart by subpart. Its thirteen subparts are A Grooming, B Marriages of Inmates, C Birth Control, Pregnancy, Child Placement, and Abortion, D Inmate Organizations, E Inmate Contributions, F Volunteer Community Service Projects, G Administering of Polygraph Test, H Inmate Manuscripts, I Non-Discrimination Toward Inmates, J Pretrial Inmates, K–L [Reserved], M Victim and/or Witness Notification, and N Smoking/No Smoking Areas. Subpart C is the only women-specific subpart, and it belongs to the Female Offender Manual, not to FIT. There is no gender-responsive-treatment rule in title 28.

What is regulation, and does bind, sits in three places around FIT rather than inside it:

Regulation or statute	What it does, and how it touches FIT
28 C.F.R. § 551.90	“Bureau staff shall not discriminate against inmates on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, disability, or political belief. This includes the making of administrative decisions and providing access to work, housing and programs.” This is the only binding non-discrimination rule in the BOP’s own regulations, and it reaches program access.
28 C.F.R. § 550.53	The RDAP regulation. It sets three components — a unit-based component that “must last at least six months,” follow-up services, and Community Treatment Services — and three admission criteria: a verifiable substance use disorder, a signed agreement acknowledging program responsibility, and the ability to complete all three components.
18 U.S.C. § 3621(b)	The Bureau “shall designate the place of the prisoner’s imprisonment,” considering bed availability, security designation, “the prisoner’s programmatic needs,” medical and mental health needs, faith-based requests, and the court’s recommendation, and place her “as close as practicable to the prisoner’s primary residence, and to the extent practicable, in a facility within 500 driving miles of that residence.” The same subsection ends: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a designation of a place of imprisonment under this subsection is not reviewable by any court.”

That last sentence is the one to sit with. Getting into FIT usually means getting transferred to a FIT institution, and a transfer is a designation decision. Congress has told the courts to stay out of it. The route is administrative, through the DSCC at Grand Prairie and the Psychology Services Branch, not judicial.

The same is true of the early-release question hanging over the RDAP component. In Lopez v. Davis, 531 U.S. 230 (2001), the Supreme Court held that when a prisoner completes drug treatment, “the Bureau thus has the authority, but not the duty, both to alter the prisoner’s conditions of confinement and to reduce his term of imprisonment,” and that the Bureau may categorically exclude classes of prisoners from early-release consideration by rule. Completing a program does not, by itself, produce a release date. Anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing.

Where the First Step Act actually fits

This is worth stating carefully, because it is the point most often overstated on this topic.

The First Step Act does not contain a trauma-informed or gender-responsive programming mandate. We read the three statutes people cite for that proposition. 18 U.S.C. § 3632, which creates the risk and needs assessment system, does not use the words “women,” “trauma,” “gender-responsive,” “mental health” or “substance abuse” anywhere in the section. Neither does 34 U.S.C. § 60541, the Federal Prisoner Reentry Initiative. What § 3632 does say is that the System shall be used to “determine the type and amount of evidence-based recidivism reduction programming that is appropriate for each prisoner and assign each prisoner to such programming accordingly, and based on the prisoner’s specific criminogenic needs” (§ 3632(a)(3)), and that the Bureau shall “tailor the programs to the specific criminogenic needs of each prisoner” (§ 3632(b)(2)). That is a needs-matching mandate, not a women’s-programming mandate — and it is the honest hook for a FIT argument.

The gender-specific federal mandates that do exist are elsewhere, and PS 5240.01 cites none of them:

Statute	What it requires
18 U.S.C. § 4051 (added Pub. L. 117–103, div. W, tit. X, § 1001(b), Mar. 15, 2022)	Trauma Screening. “The Director shall provide training, including cultural competency training, to each correctional officer and each employee of the Bureau of Prisons who regularly interacts with prisoners, including each instructor and health care professional, to enable those correctional officers and employees to— (1) identify a prisoner who may have a mental or physical health need relating to trauma the prisoner has experienced; and (2) refer a prisoner described in paragraph (1) to the proper health care professional for diagnosis and treatment.” The same section directs family-focused intake assessment, voluntary parenting classes for primary caretaker parents, geographic placement near children, and family needs training.
18 U.S.C. § 4322 (First Step Act § 301)	Restraints are prohibited from confirmation of pregnancy through the end of postpartum recovery, subject to narrow flight-risk and medical exceptions, and even then “only the least restrictive restraints necessary” may be used and never around the ankles, legs or waist, behind the back, in 4-point restraints, or attaching one prisoner to another.
Pub. L. 117–103, div. W, tit. X, § 1003 (note to 18 U.S.C. § 4001)	A biennial National Institute of Justice report, in consultation with the Bureau of Justice Statistics and “the Bureau of Prisons (including the Women and Special Population Branch),” on the status of women in federal incarceration — including “the availability of trauma treatment at each facility (including number of beds, and number of trained staff).”

On time credits, we will not guess and neither should anyone else. Whether a particular FIT group or activity counts as an approved Evidence-Based Recidivism Reduction program or Productive Activity is decided by the FSA Approved Programs Guide and by PS 5410.01, not by PS 5240.01 — which mentions the Guide only once, in passing, at p. 4. The statutory earning rates are fixed by 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4): “A prisoner shall earn 10 days of time credits for every 30 days of successful participation in evidence-based recidivism reduction programming or productive activities,” and 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, shall earn an additional 5 days of time credits for every 30 days of successful participation.” Eligibility, the offense exclusions, and how credits are applied are separate questions again. Our explainers are First Step Act Time Credits, First Step Act Assessments, Programming, and Incentives, and the PATTERN risk score. No one — not us, not a unit team, not a consultant — can tell you a credit total in advance.

What the FIT program means for you

If you are the woman in the program, or trying to get into it

Two documents decide most of what happens to you. The first is the treatment plan — the policy directs that it be built with you (“In collaboration with the participant, treatment staff develop individual treatment plans or goal plans,” p. 5) and completed in PDS within 30 working days of admission. Ask to see it, ask what your targeted problem areas and treatment goals actually say, and remember that when it is amended after a treatment intervention “both staff and the participant acknowledge the amended treatment plan” (p. 8). The second is the 60-day progress review, which runs on fixed dates anchored to the treatment plan’s creation date and that “will not change” (p. 11). If a review is missing, that is a documentable fact.

Phase movement is not time served. The policy says participants advance “only if their individual needs assessment indicates they need further treatment and when they can consistently demonstrate the skills associated with their present phase – never simply because they have spent a standard amount of time in a phase” (p. 6). If you are told you are being held in a phase, the question to ask in writing is which specific skills you have not yet demonstrated, because that is the standard the policy sets.

If you are at a women’s facility without FIT, the policy puts the burden on your institution to give you the program locations, the site-specific qualifications, and how to request transfer (p. 5). Ask for that information on an Inmate Request to Staff — form BP-A0148, the “cop-out” — addressed to Psychology Services, and keep the copy. See Request to Staff, Inmate.

If you are the family member: the geography problem

Understand the geography problem first. There are far fewer women’s facilities than men’s, FIT sits at only some of them, and the Program Statement does not publish the list. A transfer into FIT can move your loved one hundreds of miles, and 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) makes that designation unreviewable in court even though the same subsection tells the Bureau to place her within 500 driving miles of her primary residence where practicable. The facilities that hold women are a short list: FMC Carswell in Fort Worth, the only administrative-security federal medical center for women; the low-security institutions FCI Aliceville, FCI Waseca and FCI Estill; the camps FPC Alderson and FPC Bryan; the secure female facility at FCI Hazelton; and the mixed institutions FCI Danbury, FCI Tallahassee and FMC Lexington. Our overview is Women’s Federal Prisons.

Expect the program to be quiet from the outside. FIT records live in the Psychology Data System, staff will not discuss clinical content with you, and confidentiality is enforced hard enough that “A participant may also be removed from the program without a formal intervention if the participant is determined to have violated confidentiality” (p. 9). What you can usefully do is keep a dated log of what you are told and when, and — if a parenting or family issue is in play — know that 18 U.S.C. § 4051 directs the Bureau to assess family-focused programming needs at intake and to provide voluntary parenting classes to primary caretaker parents. Start with What Families Should Know About Federal Prison and, for the reentry side, Federal Prison Reentry Programs for Women.

If you are counsel: the FIT program

At sentencing, this is a recommendation problem. 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) lists “the prisoner’s programmatic needs” and “the prisoner’s mental and medical health needs” among the factors the Bureau considers, and it lists “recommendations of the sentencing court.” A judicial recommendation costs nothing and is one of the few levers that exists before the Bureau takes custody. Build the record for it in the presentence report: documented trauma history, documented mental-health diagnosis, documented substance use disorder. The Bureau’s screening runs off the PSR, and a PSR that is silent on those things produces a designation packet that is silent on them too.

Post-designation, the levers are narrow but real. Referrals into and removals from FIT “will be overseen by” the Psychology Services Branch in Central Office (p. 2) — that is a Central Office decision, not a warden’s, which changes who a persuasive letter should be addressed to. And set expectations honestly: PS 5240.01 is policy, not regulation; a departure from it is not a cause of action; and under Lopez v. Davis the Bureau has authority but not duty on early release. Where the underlying problem is designation, sentence computation or medical care, that belongs in a consult — see Federal Prison Consulting Services or contact us.

What changed with Program Statement 5240.01

PS 5240.01 carries no supersession block and no Summary of Changes. It rescinds nothing on its face, and it has not been reissued or amended since 11 August 2022 — BOP’s mass reissue of 23 program statements on 22 June 2026 did not reach it.

What has changed is everything around it. Four of the eight Program Statements FIT is built on, listed at PS 5240.01 at p. 12, no longer exist in the form cited:

Reference as printed at p. 12	Status on BOP’s published policy list today
P5220.01 First Step Act Program Incentives (07/14/2021)	Rescinded. PS 5405.01, First Step Act Assessments, Programming, and Incentives (5/7/2026), states at p. 1 that it “rescinds the Program Statements First Step Act Program Incentives and First Step Act Needs Assessment.” The FSA achievement award described at PS 5240.01 p. 10 now runs on PS 5405.01.
P5322.13 Inmate Classification and Program Review (5/16/2014)	Gone. Classification and program review are now PS 5321.09, Unit Management and Inmate Program Review (CN-1, 2/27/2025).
P5331.02 Early Release Procedures under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e) (9/27/2017)	Reissued as 5331.02 CN-3, 5/7/2026.
P5310.16 Treatment and Care of Inmates with Mental Illness (5/1/2014)	Reissued as 5310.16 CN-1, 2/18/2025.
P5100.08 Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification (9/4/2019)	Reissued as 5100.08 CN-3, 5/6/2026.
P5310.17 Psychology Services Manual (8/25/2016) · P5330.11 Psychology Treatment Programs (4/25/2016) · P5200.06 Management of Inmates With Disabilities (11/22/2019)	Unchanged; still the current editions.

Two statutory developments also postdate or sit outside the Program Statement’s citations. 18 U.S.C. § 4051, enacted 15 March 2022 — five months before PS 5240.01 issued — created the Bureau’s trauma-screening training obligation, its family-focused intake assessment obligation, and its parenting-class obligation for primary caretaker parents. PS 5240.01 does not cite it. And the biennial report on women in federal incarceration required by the same public law, which must include “the availability of trauma treatment at each facility (including number of beds, and number of trained staff),” is now the only published federal accounting of where trauma treatment capacity actually sits.

Where people get stuck getting into FIT

Four problems recur. Each has a route, and the route matters more than the complaint.

“There’s no FIT where I am, and nobody will tell me where it is.” This is the most common FIT problem and the easiest to move, because the policy puts the obligation squarely on the institution: a women’s facility without FIT “must make information available to inmates who may be interested,” and that information “must include, at a minimum, where the program is located, qualifications specific to the mission at each site, and how to request transfer” (p. 5). Put that sentence in a BP-A0148 addressed to Psychology Services and to your Unit Manager, name the date, and ask for all three items. If nothing comes back, the formal ladder is the Administrative Remedy Program: BP-9 to the Warden, BP-10 to the Regional Director, BP-11 to the Office of National Inmate Appeals, under 28 C.F.R. part 542, subpart B. The deadline is short — 28 C.F.R. § 542.14(a) sets “20 calendar days following the date on which the basis for the Request occurred,” subject to an extension “[w]here the inmate demonstrates a valid reason for delay.” BOP publishes BP-A0148 but does not publish the BP-9, BP-10 or BP-11 forms; you get those from your unit team. See Administrative Remedy Program and Prison Grievances.

Removed from the program, and the RDAP consequence follows. Removal from FIT is not just removal from a unit. For a participant in the RDAP component it triggers the Change in RDAP and § 3621(e) Status form (p. 9), which is what moves the early-release picture. The route is to get the written removal notice and the PDS documentation of the interventions that were supposed to precede it, then run the administrative remedy on the specific gap — a missing warning, a missing amended treatment plan, an immediate removal where no prohibited act of the kind the policy names occurred. Do not frame it as a disagreement with a clinical judgment; frame it as a documented procedural step that did not happen. Background: Psychology Treatment Programs, Early Release Procedures Under 18 U.S.C. 3621(e), and RDAP.

An incident report costs the phase award. The award conditions at p. 9 include “Not receive a sustained incident report,” and a phase award “may be reduced by the treatment team based upon the inmate’s unsatisfactory participation and progress.” That makes a disciplinary charge a treatment problem as well as a disciplinary one, and it makes the disciplinary defense the first move rather than an afterthought. See Inmate Discipline Program and our practical page on prison disciplinary infractions.

A disability or a serious medical condition is getting in the way of participating. The Program Statement anticipates this twice — supportive interventions for diminished cognitive ability at p. 8, and full inclusion of inmates with disabilities in community meetings at p. 7 — and both times points at other policies rather than solving it here. The accommodation request is its own procedure, on its own form, with its own appeal route. Start with Management of Inmates with Disabilities (PS 5200.06), and for the medical side Patient Care and Treatment and Care of Inmates With Mental Illness.

If court is ever a possibility, exhaustion matters. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), no action may be brought about prison conditions until available administrative remedies are exhausted. “Exhaustion” means completing every level of the internal ladder, on time, before filing. Property loss and injury claims run on a different track entirely, under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Related BOP policy on women’s treatment programs

The paired information page: Women’s Federal Prisons covers where women are held, what the facilities are like, and what daily life looks like; this page covers the rule. Both link back to each other.

Policies that meet FIT directly: the Female Offender Manual (PS 5200.09), which carries the binding women-specific regulations in 28 C.F.R. part 551 subpart C. Psychology Treatment Programs (PS 5330.11) for RDAP, the Skills Program and the rest of the psychology treatment catalog — RDAP is a separate program that can sit inside FIT, and its rules are there, not here. Early Release Procedures Under 18 U.S.C. 3621(e) for the early-release question. Treatment and Care of Inmates With Mental Illness (PS 5310.16) for the Mental Health Companion role and the care-level system. Management of Inmates with Disabilities (PS 5200.06) for the accommodation route the FIT policy points to twice.

Getting in and getting out: Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification (PS 5100.08) and the DSCC at Grand Prairie for how designation and transfer actually work. Unit Management and Inmate Program Review (PS 5321.09) for the program review that runs alongside treatment. First Step Act Assessments, Programming, and Incentives (PS 5405.01) and First Step Act Time Credits (PS 5410.01) for the credit machinery. Release Preparation Program (PS 5325.09) for the reentry bookend.

Safety, records and routes: PREA and Sexual Abuse Prevention (PS 5333.01), which matters more in a women’s facility than almost anywhere else. Inmate Central File, Privacy Folder, and Parole Mini-Files (PS 5800.17) and FOIA and Privacy Act Requests for getting the records. Request to Staff, Inmate and Administrative Remedy Program for the ladder. Further reading on our site: Mental Health Programs For Inmates, Residential Drug Abuse Program, and Management of Aging Offenders (PS 5241.01).

Frequently Asked Questions About Female Integrated Treatment

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Program Statement 5240.01 — full text

What follows is the Bureau’s own text, reproduced in full from its published PDF. Nothing is shortened or paraphrased. The official version is posted by the Bureau here: PS 5240.01 (PDF).

U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons

PROGRAM STATEMENT

OPI: RSD/PSB NUMBER: 5240.01 DATE: August 11, 2022

Female Integrated Treatment (FIT)

/s/ Approved: Colette S. Peters Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons

1. PURPOSE AND SCOPE

This Program Statement establishes policy, procedures, standards, and guidelines for the delivery of the Female Integrated Treatment (FIT) Program to female inmates.

a. Program Objectives. Expected results of this program are:

• To create a holistic, female-specific community that addresses priority needs for women, including trauma informed care, other types of mental health treatment, substance use treatment, and educational/vocational skills.
• To extend support for female inmates with mental illness beyond traditional professional services through creation of a standardized, evidence-based treatment program that is individualized, integrated, and gender-responsive.
• To deliver an effective program to enhance recovery and result in reduced criminality and recidivism.
• To support effective reentry outcomes specific to the needs of women.
• To institute a program that uses a Risk-Need-Responsivity model to match inmate risk to intensity of services provided.

b. Institution Supplement. None required. Should local facilities make any changes outside

changes required in national policy or establish any additional local procedures to implement national policy, the local Union may invoke to negotiate procedures or appropriate arrangements.

2. DEFINITIONS

Criminogenic Needs. Characteristics, traits, problems, or issues of an individual that directly relate to the individual’s likelihood to re-offend and commit another crime.

Integrated Treatment. Treatment services organized in an integrated fashion, screening for all types of mental illness and substance use disorders and including the development of integrated treatment plans that address all issues.

Gender-responsive. Creating an environment that reflects an understanding of the realities of women’s lives. Gender-responsive approaches are multidimensional and based on theoretical perspectives that acknowledge women’s pathways into the criminal justice system.

Trauma-informed Care. An organizational structure and treatment framework that involves understanding, recognizing, and responding to the effects of all types of trauma.

3. AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES

The FIT Program is a joint program of the Women and Special Populations (WASP) and Psychology Services Branches. These offices meet at least quarterly to discuss operational issues and any modifications needed based on the evolving treatment literature.

FIT Programs are located at institutions selected by the Reentry Services Division and approved by agency Executive Staff. All inmates at a designated FIT unit will have a current FIT assignment in SENTRY.

a. Central Office

(1) The Reentry Service Division, Women and Special Populations (WASP) Branch is the agency’s primary resource on classification, management, and practices for females.

(2) The Reentry Services Division, Psychology Services Branch (PSB) provides clinical oversight and consultation regarding institution treatment and care of female inmates in FIT programs. In addition, all referrals into and removals from the program will be overseen by this Branch.

b. Institutions

The FIT Program is staffed with the following personnel:

• FIT Coordinator
• Drug Abuse Program Coordinator (DAPC)
• FIT Psychologists
• FIT Treatment Specialists
• Vocational Instructor.

Staffing requirements are based on population size. Both WASP and PSB will advise the Warden as to minimum staffing levels to assure that treatment of inmates is continually delivered as required for the success of the program.

With regard to treatment delivery, treatment specialists will always maintain a caseload of 1:24 participants, and no more than 40 inmates may be assigned to a psychologist as part of program delivery. Any inmate living on the FIT unit who is not actively participating in treatment must be waiting for admission into the program or must have completed the program.

Each institution with a FIT program receives an additional vocational instructor at the time of program implementation to provide technical training addressing the career and reentry needs of participants.

In addition, all staff working at facilities or units providing FIT play a role in this program and may provide ancillary program services with the approval of the FIT Coordinator. Staff with specific roles related to the FIT Program are listed below:

(1) Warden. Each Warden is responsible for the appropriate management of inmates with mental illness in his/her institution. He/she will work with the FIT Coordinator to ensure that all staff are educated about the program and staff roles within the program. The Warden will ensure sufficient programming space is made available to the FIT Program and facilitate coordination between FIT Program staff and other involved departments (e.g., Unit Team, Education, Recreation, etc.).

(2) Chief Psychologist. The Chief Psychologist will supervise the FIT Coordinator. She/he will monitor program benchmarks, program culture, and program effectiveness. The Chief Psychologist will communicate the mission of the FIT Program to other department heads and work with the Warden in support of staffing for the program.

(3) FIT Coordinator. The FIT Coordinator oversees all program activities. He/she will assist the Warden to recruit and fill staff positions and approve any local materials related to the program in consultation with the Psychology Services Branch. The FIT Coordinator is responsible for clinical supervision of all FIT psychology treatment staff. Supervision is conducted no less than one time per month and must be documented. Clinical supervision

focuses on the development of the staff member as an interpersonally effective clinician. Supervision includes instruction, supervisor modeling, direct observation, intervention by supervisor in actual processes, and feedback. On occasion, clinical supervision may be offered in a group setting, such as a treatment team meeting. The FIT Coordinator is responsible for removing inmates from the unit due to disruptive or unsatisfactory progress in treatment. The FIT Coordinator is responsible for training staff on the mission of the program.

(4) Drug Abuse Program Coordinator (DAPC). The DAPC oversees the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) component of FIT, including making the determination for inmate qualification to RDAP by confirming or denying a diagnosis based on offender self-report and appropriate collateral documentation. The DAPC provides clinical supervision to the FIT Treatment Specialists.

(5) FIT Psychologists. FIT Psychologists provide both group and individual treatment for substance use disorders, trauma, and mental illness. They function as the primary providers of routine and crisis mental health services for inmates in FIT housing during regular work hours. FIT Psychologists conduct psychological and/or career testing as necessary.

(6) FIT Treatment Specialists. FIT Treatment Specialists provide both group and individual services related to the program. These services may include, but are not limited to, attending community meetings, conducting psychosocial interviews, managing a caseload, organizing and guiding independent inmate and community activities, and completing required documentation.

(7) Special Populations Coordinator. The Special Populations Coordinator provides gender-responsive programs and offers individualized release planning at the request of the FIT Coordinator. These individuals may provide group services from the First Step Act Approved Programs Guide, located on the agency intranet, at the request of the FIT Coordinator; they do not deliver core FIT group services delivered by FIT Treatment Specialists.

Correctional Services. Correctional Officers assigned to the unit are provided training by the FIT Program Coordinator prior to the start of the quarter. The training includes information on gender responsive principles, trauma informed care, mental illness, substance use disorders, modified therapeutic communities, program expectations, and program goals. Such knowledge and training can ensure that in supervising inmates, Correctional Services staff also enhance the success of the program by encouraging and promoting inmate change.

4. DESIGNATIONS

The Psychology Services Branch determines eligibility for FIT and works with Designations

and Sentence Computation Center (DSCC) to ensure safe and appropriate designations.

Female institutions that do not have FIT must make information available to inmates who may be interested. That information must include, at a minimum, where the program is located, qualifications specific to the mission at each site, and how to request transfer.

Any inmate submitting a written request of intent to refuse the program will not be submitted for transfer.

5. RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT PROGRAM

In consultation with the Psychology Services Branch, the FIT Coordinator develops a schedule of treatment groups and clinical activities for the treatment programs that allows each participant to receive at least 15 contact hours (i.e., face to face contact between treatment staff and inmate participants) each week, exclusive of holidays and weekends. Some participants may receive fewer hours based on their needs and stage in treatment.

Core Program Elements for FIT. Correctional Treatment Programs with successful outcomes apply specific core elements. These elements are implemented in various ways, depending on the environment (e.g., physical layout), institution culture (e.g., administrative support, allowable achievement awards), and program targets and characteristics. Sound security practices are strictly adhered to when performing treatment functions. All FIT Programs use the following core elements:

(1) Assessment. Treatment Program staff conduct a psychosocial interview with each inmate through an established assessment process that occurs within 30 days of the inmate’s admission to formal programming. (2) Individual Treatment/Goal Plan. In collaboration with the participant, treatment staff develop individual treatment plans or goal plans for each participant based on the psychosocial interview and available information. The primary intervention is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT is an evidence-based treatment that is supported by the BOP; it helps people to change the way they think in order to change their feelings and behaviors. Program activities will use CBT interventions and include the content of program journals and protocols. All program journals, protocols, and supplemental clinical resources must be approved by the FIT Coordinator and the Psychology Services Branch. The treatment plan or goal plan will be completed and documented in the Psychology Data System (PDS) within 30 working days from the inmate’s admission into the program. (3) Target Criminogenic Needs. In addition to mental health symptoms, FIT programs target criminogenic needs, such as antisocial attitudes and beliefs, to reduce the likelihood of misconduct and recidivism.

(4) Target Vocational Needs. Each participant will be assessed in regard to her job skills and reentry needs. Training and education to increase reentry success will be recommended. (5) Trauma Informed Care. FIT Programs create an environment and offer services consistent with trauma informed care. That is, staff recognize the high incidence of trauma in the inmate population. They assess for a history of traumatic experiences and their impact on current functioning and include trauma treatment in treatment plans, when appropriate. Program staff work to create an atmosphere of safety and support in treatment interactions and on residential units, if applicable. (6) Modified Therapeutic Community (MTC). FIT is an integrated, intensive, residential program that follows the unit-based treatment model of a modified therapeutic community. This model has been proven effective in reducing inmate recidivism. A modified therapeutic community in a prison setting stresses pro-social values and behaviors by requiring all community participants live by program rules and support community values. In addition to the core elements listed above, core elements in operating a Residential MTC program call for:

a. Separate Unit. FIT participants are housed together on a unit, separate from general

population inmates. This may be a single building or an entire facility. Living together in a unit allows all inmates to work together to create a community that supports prosocial attitudes and behaviors. The treatment unit isolates program participants from the negative peer pressure of the larger prison environment. In addition, the treatment unit offers inmates with mental illness an environment where they are less likely to be victimized by other inmates.

The FIT unit must be solely for program participants. Inmates living on the unit must be waiting for admission into the program, participating in the program, program completers, or mental health companions working in the program. This group forms the MTC.

b. Unit Layout. If allowed by the institution layout, the program staff and unit team will

have offices on the treatment unit. Group sessions and meetings, when possible, are conducted on the unit. It is expected the physical environment of the treatment unit reflects and supports the program concepts and goals. For example, the walls of the treatment unit should display signs, posters, paintings, etc., that reinforce key concepts, such as the Program Philosophy and Attitudes of Change.

c. Treatment in Phases. Treatment occurs in phases, based on the individual needs of the

participant. Participants are moved to the next phase of treatment only if their individual needs assessment indicates they need further treatment and when they can consistently demonstrate the skills associated with their present phase – never simply because they have spent a standard amount of time in a phase. This structure allows staff and participants to monitor and acknowledge treatment progress.

d. Community Focus. All treatment staff will engage in interactions and promote activities

that have a therapeutic impact on the treatment community. Non-treatment staff will also

promote activities that have a therapeutic impact. Examples include modeling healthy relationships and boundaries, promoting positive peer pressure and peer feedback, participants assisting one another in meeting their goals, changing negative attitudes to positive ones through activities such as attitude checks, conducting daily community meetings, etc.

e. Treatment Team. The treatment team meets weekly and is composed of all FIT staff.

The Coordinator or Acting Coordinator is present at every meeting. All treatment team members are knowledgeable about the treatment progress of all participants. This promotes effective treatment and staff safety. All treatment staff are involved in discussing progress and commitment to the program of individual participants during treatment team meetings and seek input from non-treatment staff to inform their discussions. It is recommended members of Unit Team join treatment team meetings when possible.

f. Community Meetings. FIT Programs conduct a daily community meeting (excluding

non-program days, such as weekends and holidays). All treatment staff attend daily community meetings. Inmates in the unit at the time of the meeting are required to attend and participate. If space is available, the community meeting is held on the unit; otherwise, an appropriate meeting space is identified.

The time of the community meeting is determined by the Treatment Coordinator, who considers the setting, schedule, and needs of the institution. The meeting is brief, generally 30- 60 minutes, and supervised by the assigned Treatment Specialists. The community meeting strives to motivate the participants to adopt a positive attitude. It also strengthens the awareness they are in the change process together, as a community. To ensure program structure, meetings typically are held at the same time each day.

The general purpose of a community meeting is to discuss the activities of the day. Ordinarily, the agenda includes program philosophy, community business, the attitude of the day, the word of the day, reporting the news, sports and weather, and positive and negative community issues. The required meeting agenda is available on the agency intranet. Staff assign agenda items to participants to present during the meeting. Staff are careful to ensure each inmate is encouraged to participate to her full capacity and that appropriate supports are in place to promote full inclusion of inmates with disabilities.

g. Program Philosophy. Each Treatment Program develops a program philosophy that

will become a permanent community ritual.

h. Peer Support. Peer support is a core component of the MTC model and a guiding principle

of mental health recovery. FIT Programs incorporate peer support into their structure in a variety of informal (mentoring between phases, feedback between inmates, peer tutoring) and formal ways (Mental Health Companions). A Mental Health Companion is an inmate who is practicing recovery from criminality, substance use, and/or mental illness. Through

personal experience, treatment, training, and ongoing supervision, this person has gained skills to assist other inmates with mental illness and/or substance use disorders through modeling, listening, encouraging, and supporting, as described in the Program Statement Treatment and Care of Inmates with Mental Illness.

Mental Health Companions do not provide professional mental health treatment. Rather, they work under the close supervision of psychologists to offer peer support services, which are intended to increase social connectedness, hopefulness, and engagement in mental health treatment among inmates with mental illness.

i. Supportive Interventions. To the extent that participants’ cognitive abilities are

diminished by an intellectual disability or the symptoms of mental illness, they are less able to make use of formal verbal therapies. In these cases, verbal therapies are augmented with other therapeutic activities that support social connection, increase behavioral activation, or motivate further investment in treatment (e.g., wellness activities, music therapy, therapeutic recreation, supported employment, animal-assisted interventions). For additional information, please see Program Statements Treatment and Care of Inmates with Mental Illness and Inmates with Disabilities.

j. Rules and Consequences. Treatment staff must establish clear, unambiguous rules and

consequences for breaking them. Staff must assist participants in understanding the form, Agreement to Participate in a Bureau of Prisons Residential Drug Abuse Program (BP – A0749), and program rules.

Circumstances for an Intervention. Ordinarily, staff will provide the participant with treatment interventions prior to removal. In response to disruptive behavior or unsatisfactory progress, treatment staff will:

• Meet with the participant to discuss her behavior or lack of progress.
• Assign the treatment intervention(s) chosen to reduce or eliminate the behavior, or to improve progress.
• Warn the participant of the consequences of failure to alter her behavior.
• Properly document in PDS the meeting and treatment intervention(s) assigned.
• Properly document in PDS changes to the participant’s treatment plan and ensure that both staff and the participant acknowledge the amended treatment plan.
• When appropriate, require the participant to discuss her targeted behavior with the community.

Circumstances for Removal. In the event repeated treatment interventions are required in response to inappropriate behaviors or unsatisfactory progress, the treatment team will meet to decide if the participant will be removed from the program. Within two working days after a decision has been made to remove a participant, the FIT

Coordinator will:

• Verbally notify the participant of her status.
• Notify the participant and appropriate staff in writing of the reason for removal; for inmates participating in the RDAP component of FIT, complete the Change in RDAP and § 3621(e) Status form.
• Update the pertinent SENTRY assignments.
• Ensure proper documentation of the removal has been entered into PDS. A participant may not ordinarily be removed immediately by the FIT Coordinator without a treatment intervention unless the participant has committed a prohibited act that jeopardizes the institution and other inmates, (e.g., violence or threats of violence, escape, attempted escape).

A participant may also be removed from the program without a formal intervention if the participant is determined to have violated confidentiality. FIT Coordinators are encouraged to consult with Central Office, Subject Matter Experts in the Psychology Services Branch, for procedural guidance.

(7) Achievement Awards. FIT programs offer achievement awards for inmates who participate in them. Achievement awards are offered to participants who demonstrate behaviors that reflect a commitment to treatment, conformity with program norms, progress on treatment plan goals, and behaviors that are expected in the general society.

a. Earning Achievement Awards. Participants enrolled in FIT must:

• Be on time for all treatment activities.
• Have no unexcused absences.
• Not leave treatment activities without approval from the facilitator.
• Not eat, drink, or sleep in group.
• Complete all assigned activities.
• Dress appropriately (e.g. clean institutional clothing, shirts tucked in, shoes tied, no headphones, no jackets, no coats, properly fitting pants, no sunglasses, and no head covering other than approved religious headwear).
• Be an active participant in treatment activities.
• Put forth positive efforts in accomplishing treatment plan goals.
• Comply with education and programming recommendations, and the Financial Responsibility Program (FRP) obligations.
• Not receive a sustained incident report.

b. Specific Achievement Awards

• Treatment Phase awards. A participant may earn a treatment phase award to offset time lost from work. The amount of the award is established by PSB and provided on Sallyport. A treatment phase award may be reduced by the treatment team based upon the inmate’s unsatisfactory participation and progress. Reductions in phase awards must be documented in PDS.
• FSA achievement award. Inmates who select an FSA monetary achievement award as described in First Step Act Program Incentives Program Statement, will receive a financial award, as referenced on the Bureau’s intranet site, upon completion of the FIT Program. This is in addition to Treatment Phase awards.
• Nearer release transfer. As appropriate, formal consideration may be given for a program completion or nearer release transfer following successful program completion.
• Local incentives. Institutions may offer incentives such as preferred living quarters, priority consideration for meal moves, washer/dryer or exercise equipment on unit, etc.
• Tangible incentives. With the Warden’s approval, tangible incentives may be given (e.g., books, t-shirts, notebooks, pencil pouches, mugs with program logo, food, and hygiene items that are not sold in commissary).
• Token economy. FIT Programs are strongly encouraged to establish token economies in which participants are able to earn tangible incentives based on their participation.
• Transition ceremony/ritual. For the completion of FIT, institutions may offer a structured transition ceremony for the inmates.

(8) Substance Use Disorder Treatment. Some FIT participants may be diagnosed with a verified substance use disorder and need substance use treatment as described in Program Statement Psychology Treatment Programs. Consequently, they may be eligible for early release as described in Program Statement Early Release Procedures under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e). To successfully complete the RDAP and be eligible for early release, inmates must complete each of the following components:

a. Unit-Based Component. Inmates must complete a course of activities provided by

treatment specialists and the FIT Psychologist in the FIT treatment unit. To ensure the Bureau provides evidence-based treatment in its drug treatment programs, the inmate must participate for a minimum of 500 contact hours (i.e., face to face contact between treatment staff and inmate participants) for a duration of 9 to 12 months.

b. Follow-Up Services. If time allows between completion of the unit-based component of

the substance use treatment and transfer to a community -based program, inmates must participate in the follow -up services to the unit -based component of the substance use treatment.

c. Community Treatment Services (CTS) Component. Inmates who have completed

the unit-based program and (when appropriate) the follow-up treatment and are transferred to community confinement must successfully complete community-based drug treatment in a community-based program in order to successfully complete RDAP.

(9) Program Outcomes. How an inmate leaves FIT is based on the inmate’s behavior. Successful completion of the FIT program includes:

• Satisfactory attendance and participation in all FIT activities.
• Satisfactory progression through all recommended phases of treatment.
• Satisfactory progress towards treatment goals.

(10) Program Documentation. Required documentation for the FIT Program includes:

• An Agreement to Participate in a Bureau of Prisons Residential Drug Abuse Program (BP-A0749) form, signed by the inmate before the first treatment session.
• A comprehensive psychosocial assessment completed with each inmate entering the program to assist in the development of an individualized treatment plan.
• Trauma assessment completed by Psychologist, as well as other psychological assessments completed as clinically indicated.
• An individualized treatment plan or goal plan for each participant, documenting the targeted problem areas, treatment goals, and treatment activities in PDS.
• A participant’s attendance in group in PDS.
• Treatment contact notes based on clinical issues, as appropriate.
• 60-day progress review noting progress toward treatment goals. Using the creation date of the Treatment Plan as the anchor date, all of the dates for the 60-day Progress Reviews are determined and set. These dates will not change. Progress Reviews may be entered within 14 days prior to the Progress Review due date.
• FIT Program treatment assignments in SENTRY.
• Two weeks prior to the participant’s scheduled FIT completion date, the FIT Coordinator will ensure the FIT Treatment Summary is documented in PDS. The FIT Coordinator should review the Treatment Summary for accuracy and completeness.

(11) Inmates who successfully complete FIT may have the opportunity to continue residing on the Unit and participating in the Modified Therapeutic Community, they may progress to becoming a Peer Companion, or they may be referred for transfer to another facility.

REFERENCES

P5310.16 Treatment and Care of Inmates with Mental Illness (5/1/2014)

P5331.02 Early Release Procedures under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e) (9/27/2017) P5100.08 Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification (9/4/2019)

ACA Standards

• American Correctional Association Standards for Adult Correctional Institutions, 5th Edition: 5-ACI-5E-01, 5-ACI-5E-02, 5-ACI-5E-03, 5-ACI-5E-04, 5-ACI-5E-05, 5-ACI-5E-06, 5-ACI-5E-07, 5-ACI-5E-08, 5-ACI-5E-12, 5-ACI-5E-13, 5-ACI-5E-14, 5-ACI-5E-15, 5-ACI- 5F-01, 5-ACI-5F-02, 5-ACI-5F-03, 5-ACI-6A-42, 5-ACI-7B-03, 5-ACI-7B-04, 5-ACI-7B-10, 5-

ACI-7B-13

• American Correctional Association Performance Based Standards for Adult Local Detention Facilities, 4th Edition: 4-ALDF-4C-28, 4-ALDF-5A-01, 4-ALDF-5A-02, 4-ALDF-5A-03, 4-

ALDF-5A-04, 4-ALDF-5A-05, 4-ALDF-5A-08, 4-ALDF-5A-09, 4-ALDF-6B-05, 4-ALDF-6B-

08

• American Correctional Association Standards for Administration of Correctional Agencies, 2nd Edition: 2-C0-1D-01, 2-CO-5B-01

Records Retention Requirements and retention guidance for records and information applicable to this program are available in the Records and Information Disposition Schedule (RIDS) on the agency intranet.

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