Program Statement 5325.09 at a glance
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Program Statement | 5325.09 |
| Subject | Release Preparation Program |
| Effective / current edition date | June 22, 2026 |
| Change notice | None. This is a full reissue, not a change notice. |
| Supersedes / rescinds | Program Statement 5325.07, Release Preparation Program (12/31/2007) |
| Governing statute | 18 U.S.C. § 3624(c) (prerelease custody); 34 U.S.C. § 60541(b) (identification and release assistance) |
| Governing regulation (28 C.F.R.) | Part 571, subpart B — Release Preparation Program, §§ 571.10–571.13 |
| Official PDF | PS 5325.09 (bop.gov) |
Checked against the BOP policy set · 2026-09-06.
The Release Preparation Program, or RPP, is the Bureau of Prisons’ required reentry curriculum: a set of six subject areas every eligible sentenced person is supposed to work through before leaving a federal institution, capped by an all-day event called Community Resource Day. Program Statement 5325.09, issued June 22, 2026, rebuilt the program around a national standardized curriculum, moved enrollment to a window 18 to 24 months before the departure date, and tied the assessment that drives it to the First Step Act needs assessment.
If you want the practical, day-to-day version of what release preparation actually looks like inside — what a Community Resource Day is, who shows up, what documents come home with you — read our companion page, release preparation in federal prison. This page is the policy page: what the Bureau’s own instruction says, word for word, with page cites. If your question is instead about halfway house or home confinement placement and how to challenge a short date, that is a different set of rules, covered at halfway houses and federal prison release.
On this page
The rule itself: the six core curriculum categories, the RPP clock, and the exemption list
Program Statement 5325.09 carries three discrete rule sets that a reader can actually use. The first is the six-category core curriculum, which is not merely policy — it is reproduced in the Program Statement from the binding regulation at 28 C.F.R. § 571.13(b). The second is the set of time frames and numeric limits the 2026 reissue added, which appear only in the Program Statement. The third is the exemption list. All three are reproduced below exactly as they appear in the Bureau’s own text.
The six core curriculum categories
| # | Core curriculum category | Who satisfies it, per PS 5325.09 |
|---|---|---|
| (1) | Health and nutrition. | Approved FSA and other programs on the Bureau’s CRB-RSD intranet site |
| (2) | Employment. | Approved FSA and other programs; a mock job fair can satisfy this category |
| (3) | Personal finance/consumer skills. | Approved FSA and other programs |
| (4) | Information/community resources. | Community Resource Day; curriculum templated by the Community Reentry Affairs Branch |
| (5) | Release requirements and procedures. | Community Resource Day; curriculum templated by the Community Reentry Affairs Branch |
| (6) | Personal growth and development. | Approved FSA and other programs; a reentry simulation can satisfy this category |
Source: PS 5325.09 at pp. 5–6; the six categories are the text of 28 C.F.R. § 571.13(b).
The Program Statement states directly that “[i]f it is determined the inmate does not have a need for a specific core curriculum category, they will not be required to complete corresponding programming” (PS 5325.09 at p. 6). It also states that “RPP programming does not impact or fulfill an inmate’s FSA Needs; the Needs Assessment is used solely to determine enrollment in the National Core Curriculum Development” (PS 5325.09 at p. 6). That second sentence matters: completing RPP classes is not the same thing as reducing an FSA need, and the Bureau says so itself.
The numbers: enrollment, frequency, capacity and deadlines
| What | The number in the Program Statement | Pin cite |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment window | Inmates will be enrolled in the RPP between 18 and 24 months prior to their institution departure date to the community | PS 5325.09 at p. 8 |
| What “departure date” means | The earliest of the conditional release, conditional placement, or projected release dates | PS 5325.09 at p. 8 |
| Community Resource Day frequency | Offered at least once per quarter | PS 5325.09 at p. 8 |
| Community Resource Day class size | Limited to a maximum of 60 participants; exceptions at the discretion of the Warden | PS 5325.09 at p. 8 |
| Review of unfinished core curriculum | Individuals with outstanding core curriculum needs and within 24 months of their community departure date are reviewed and enrolled | PS 5325.09 at p. 6 |
| RPP Committee escalation review | Cases with less than 12 months remaining before entering the community that have not completed categories (1), (2), (3) and (6) | PS 5325.09 at p. 5 |
| Entry of the completion assignment | Within 14 calendar days of program completion | PS 5325.09 at p. 8 |
| RPP Committee meetings | At least monthly; minutes maintained for two years | PS 5325.09 at pp. 3, 5 |
| Targeted SHU reentry programming | For those in the Special Housing Unit who cannot be moved to a less restrictive setting within 180 days of release | PS 5325.09 at p. 8 |
| Release plan to U.S. Probation | At least 90 days prior to a direct release date, or at the time of an RRC referral | PS 5325.09 at p. 11 |
| Employment notification to U.S. Probation | Ordinarily at least six weeks prior to release | PS 5325.09 at p. 11 |
| Return of identity documents | Two weeks prior to release, Unit Management provides all original documentation to Correctional Systems | PS 5325.09 at p. 10 |
Source: PS 5325.09 at pp. 3–11. The six-week probation notification is also in the regulation at 28 C.F.R. § 571.13(e); every other figure in this table appears only in the Program Statement.
To get credit for completing the RPP
The Program Statement sets out four completion requirements. To receive credit for program completion, a person must (1) complete the pre-assessment; (2) satisfy all required core curriculum needs, or be designated as “No Need”; (3) participate in Community Resource Day; and (4) submit the post-program assessment and evaluation upon completion (PS 5325.09 at p. 8). The pre-program assessment is not a separate test — it is “the FSA Needs Assessment completed upon an inmate’s arrival at their designated facility” (PS 5325.09 at p. 7).
Who is ordinarily exempt
The Program Statement provides that all designated inmates must participate, and that exemptions are granted by the chairperson, with cause, in consultation with Unit Management. It then lists the categories that “[o]rdinarily” qualify:
- are initially designated with less than 12 months remaining on their sentence
- have returned to custody with less than 12 months remaining on their sentence and have previously completed the program
- are severely medically disabled
- have a diagnosed mental illness
- are serving a life sentence
- are serving a death sentence
- have a final order of deportation
Separately, “[t]hose in pretrial or holdover status, or those temporarily committed for study and observation, are not ordinarily eligible and are therefore exempt from the RPP” (PS 5325.09 at p. 9). Pretrial detainees, holdovers and detainees “may request resources through Unit Management, and the RPP Committee may provide educational materials or accommodations based on institutional availability” (PS 5325.09 at p. 2).
Source: PS 5325.09 at pp. 2, 9.
Read the word “ordinarily” carefully. It appears twice, and it is the Bureau’s own signal that these are default categories, not automatic entitlements or automatic bars. Whether any exemption applies to a particular sentence is a determination for staff in the first instance, not something a page like this one can tell you.
What the Release Preparation Program means for you
If you are the person inside: your job under this policy
Your practical job under this policy is small and specific, and the Program Statement spells it out at p. 8: “Inmates are responsible for requesting enrollment in approved classes that satisfy core curriculum categories one (1), two (2), three (3), and six (6). To satisfy core curriculum categories four (4) and five (5), inmates must participate in Community Resource Day.” Nobody is going to sign you up for the category one, two, three and six classes; you request them. Ask your Unit Team, at your next program review, which of the six categories you are currently coded as needing and which the system shows as satisfied — that coding is entered at initial classification and updated at each program review (PS 5325.09 at p. 9).
Three more things worth doing in writing. First, if Community Resource Day has not been offered in your quarter, say so in an Inmate Request to Staff and name the quarter. Second, if you want to attend a second Community Resource Day before you leave, the policy expressly allows the request — approval “will be at the discretion of the RPPC based upon ability to accommodate additional participants” (PS 5325.09 at p. 7). Third, start the identification paperwork early. Staff are directed to help you obtain a social security card, driver’s license or other official photo identification, and a birth certificate, and that direction comes from a statute, not just from policy — 34 U.S.C. § 60541(b)(1) provides that “[t]he Director shall assist prisoners in obtaining identification prior to release.”
Understand the downside the policy attaches to refusal. “An inmate who refuses to participate in the RPP is considered to lack the responsibility necessary for community program participation and will not ordinarily participate in an RRC” — a Residential Reentry Center, or halfway house. The Program Statement immediately adds that such a person “should not be automatically excluded from consideration for RRC referral,” and that refusal “may result in punitive sanctions outlined in the Program Statement Inmate Discipline Program” (PS 5325.09 at pp. 10–11).
If you are a family member: assembling identity documents
The single most useful thing you can do is help assemble identity documents on the outside. The Bureau’s process runs through Correctional Systems, which validates eligibility and orders a release identification card, and through Unit Management, which stores the social security card, photo identification and birth certificate in Section 3 of the Inmate Central File until two weeks before release (PS 5325.09 at p. 10). A certified copy of a birth certificate ordered from a state vital records office, or a replacement social security card application, moves faster when a relative on the outside is doing the legwork.
Ask two concrete questions on your next call. Ask what the departure date is that the RPP clock runs from — the earliest of conditional release, conditional placement, or projected release — because that date, not the full-term date, is what triggers the 18-to-24-month enrollment window. And ask whether the release plan has gone to the United States Probation Officer, because for a direct release the Program Statement points to a 90-day deadline that lives in a different policy, Unit Management and Inmate Program Review (PS 5325.09 at p. 11). Release plans that reach probation late are one of the most common reasons a home address is still unverified in the final weeks.
If you are counsel: release preparation
Two features of this reissue are worth knowing before you write anything. First, the regulation and the Program Statement are not coextensive. 28 C.F.R. §§ 571.10–571.13 — the only four sections in subpart B — contain the six categories, the RPP Committee, the furlough authority, the identification duty and the probation-assistance provision. They contain none of the 2026 numbers: not the 18-to-24-month window, not the quarterly Community Resource Day, not the 60-participant cap, not the 14-day entry deadline. Those are agency policy. A client’s argument that the Bureau failed to follow its own Program Statement is a different, and weaker, argument than one that the Bureau failed to follow the regulation.
Second, the RPP now sits inside the First Step Act architecture. The pre-program assessment is the FSA Needs Assessment; approved FSA programs are what satisfy four of the six categories; and the Program Statement says flatly that RPP programming “does not impact or fulfill an inmate’s FSA Needs” (PS 5325.09 at pp. 6–7). That distinction is the one to keep straight when a client conflates RPP completion with earning First Step Act time credits — they are separate tracks that share an assessment instrument. Where the real dispute is an RRC or home confinement date rather than the curriculum, the operative authorities are 18 U.S.C. § 3624(c) and 28 C.F.R. § 570.21, not this Program Statement.
What changed from PS 5325.07 to 5325.09
Program Statement 5325.09 rescinded Program Statement 5325.07, Release Preparation Program, dated December 31, 2007 (PS 5325.09 at p. 1). An eighteen-year-old policy was replaced outright, and the Bureau’s own Summary of Changes is unusually detailed. The changes it lists are: a standardized curriculum developed by the Community Reentry Affairs Branch, Reentry Services Division; establishment of the RPP with a Community Resource Day offered quarterly; use of the First Step Act Needs Assessments to determine which of core curriculum categories one, two, three and six a population needs; a mandate that FSA and other approved programs fulfill those four categories; the change of the enrollment window to between 18 and 24 months prior to institution departure; consolidation of inmate management system keying assignments; a directive that the Warden designate appropriate staff as coordinator where no Release Preparation Program Coordinator or Assistant exists; clarification of coordinator and assistant duties; discontinuation of the Unit Release Preparation Program; updated Institution Supplement requirements; incorporation of the requirements of 34 U.S.C. § 60541(b) as revised by the First Step Act of 2018 regarding identification and release assistance; the renaming of Community Corrections references to Residential Reentry Management; and new release identification responsibilities and procedures (PS 5325.09 at pp. 1–2).
Four of those deserve emphasis because they change what a person inside actually experiences. The Unit Release Preparation Program is gone — release preparation is now an institution-wide program run by a committee, not a unit-level one. The Institution Supplement requirement is now “None” (PS 5325.09 at p. 2), so there is no longer a local supplement to read alongside the national policy. The enrollment trigger moved from a shorter pre-release window to 18 to 24 months out, which is a substantially earlier start. And Community Resource Day is now the mandatory vehicle for two of the six categories, with a hard participant cap.
There is also a divergence worth naming plainly. The four regulations in 28 C.F.R. part 571, subpart B carry a 2016 effective date and were not amended when this Program Statement issued in June 2026. So the binding rule still speaks of the “Community Corrections Center (CCC)” in § 571.13(e), while the Program Statement notes at p. 11 that “‘CCC’ in blue text is referring to an RRC.” The regulation is the older text; the Program Statement is the Bureau’s current gloss on it. Where the two are read together, the regulation controls.
Where people get stuck waiting for Community Resource Day
Community Resource Day never seems to happen
This is the most common complaint, and the policy now gives it a number to measure against: quarterly, with a yearly calendar of dates submitted to the Chairperson before the start of each fiscal year (PS 5325.09 at pp. 7–8). Start with a written Inmate Request to Staff — form BP-A0148, the “cop-out” — addressed to the Release Preparation Program Coordinator, asking for the institution’s approved quarterly calendar and your enrollment status. If informal resolution does not produce an answer, the formal route is the Administrative Remedy Program: informal resolution, then a BP-9 to the Warden within 20 calendar days of the date the basis for the request occurred, then a BP-10 to the Regional Director within 20 calendar days of the Warden’s signed response, then a BP-11 to the General Counsel within 30 calendar days of the Regional Director’s response. If no response arrives within the time allowed, you may treat the silence as a denial at that level and appeal up.
Identification documents do not arrive
The Program Statement contains a specific fallback that most people do not know exists. “If for any reason the inmate does not receive their release documents, the facility will be required to forward the documents via certified mail to the inmate’s RRC or the release address on file,” and Correctional Systems and Unit Management “will make a copy of, secure, and maintain the certified mail tracking receipt in both the Inmate’s Central File and J&C file” (PS 5325.09 at p. 10). If documents are missing after release, the certified mail tracking receipt is a record that should exist, and it is the thing to ask for. The underlying duty here is statutory, at 34 U.S.C. § 60541(b), which is a stronger footing than a Program Statement alone.
Being coded as an RPP refusal
A refusal code has consequences well past the curriculum: the policy links it to not “ordinarily” participating in a Residential Reentry Center (PS 5325.09 at pp. 10–11). Refusals sometimes get entered after a missed callout, a SHU placement, a hospital trip or a writ — circumstances that are not a refusal at all. Because the coding is entered by Unit Management and reviewed at program reviews, the place to correct it is the program review record, and then the administrative remedy process if the record is not corrected. Ask for the Program Review Report reflecting the entry, which 28 C.F.R. § 524.11(c) requires be signed and provided to you.
Being in the SHU as the release date approaches
Section 11 of the Program Statement is the provision to invoke. Those who remain in the Special Housing Unit and cannot be moved to a less restrictive setting within 180 days of release “will be provided targeted reentry programming,” and the RPP Committee is directed to review the roster of people departing to the community from SHU and coordinate with Unit Management on their status and release plans (PS 5325.09 at p. 8). The listed options include one-on-one or virtual meetings with community resources and a Warden-approved phone call to the U.S. Probation Officer or the halfway house. This is a case where the ask should be specific and written, naming section 11.
Related BOP policy on release preparation
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Release preparation in federal prison | The paired page: how release preparation actually works day to day |
| Halfway houses and federal prison release | RRC placement, short dates, and how placement decisions are challenged |
| Home confinement | Home detention as prerelease custody |
| Halfway house placement procedures (PS 7310.04) | The Bureau’s RRC referral and utilization policy |
| Unit team and program review (PS 5321.09) | Where RPP coding is entered and reviewed |
| First Step Act time credits (PS 5410.01) | The separate credit-earning track that shares the needs assessment |
| First Step Act assessments, programming and incentives (PS 5405.01) | What counts as an approved FSA program |
| Progress reports (PS 5803.08) | Where RPP participation or exemption is recorded |
| Furloughs (PS 5280.09) | Release preparation furloughs under § 571.13(c) |
| Administrative Remedy Program (PS 1330.18) | The BP-9 / BP-10 / BP-11 route |
Frequently Asked Questions About the Release Preparation Program
When does the Bureau enroll someone in the Release Preparation Program?
Program Statement 5325.09 directs that “[i]nmates will be enrolled in the RPP between 18 and 24 months prior to their institution departure date to the community” (PS 5325.09 at p. 8). The Program Statement defines the departure date as the earliest of the conditional release, conditional placement, or projected release dates — not the full-term date. Whether enrollment actually happens on schedule at a given institution is a separate question from what the policy directs.
What are the six RPP core curriculum categories?
They are (1) health and nutrition; (2) employment; (3) personal finance/consumer skills; (4) information/community resources; (5) release requirements and procedures; and (6) personal growth and development. That list is not merely policy — it is the text of the binding regulation at 28 C.F.R. § 571.13(b), and the Program Statement reproduces it at p. 5.
How often is Community Resource Day held, and how many people can attend?
The Program Statement directs that Community Resource Day “will be offered at least once per quarter, with class sizes limited to a maximum of 60 participants,” and adds that “[e]xceptions may be made to this restriction at the discretion of the Warden” (PS 5325.09 at p. 8). The Release Preparation Program Coordinator submits a yearly calendar with the quarterly dates before the start of each fiscal year.
Does completing the RPP earn First Step Act time credits?
No. The Program Statement says directly that “RPP programming does not impact or fulfill an inmate’s FSA Needs; the Needs Assessment is used solely to determine enrollment in the National Core Curriculum Development” (PS 5325.09 at p. 6). Approved First Step Act programs can satisfy four of the six RPP categories, so a single class may count on both tracks — but RPP completion itself is not a credit-earning event.
What happens if someone refuses to participate?
The Program Statement provides that a person who refuses “is considered to lack the responsibility necessary for community program participation and will not ordinarily participate in an RRC,” while adding that such a person “should not be automatically excluded from consideration for RRC referral.” It also states that refusal “may result in punitive sanctions outlined in the Program Statement Inmate Discipline Program” (PS 5325.09 at pp. 10–11). A refusal code entered by mistake is worth correcting promptly, because it follows the file.
Who is exempt from the Release Preparation Program?
The Program Statement lists seven categories that “[o]rdinarily” qualify for exemption, including an initial designation with less than 12 months remaining, severe medical disability, a diagnosed mental illness, a life sentence, a death sentence, and a final order of deportation, plus a return to custody with under 12 months left where the program was previously completed (PS 5325.09 at p. 9). People in pretrial or holdover status and those committed for study and observation are separately treated as not ordinarily eligible. Exemptions are granted with cause by the chairperson, in consultation with Unit Management, so the categories describe the default rather than an automatic result.
Is the Bureau required to help obtain a birth certificate and social security card?
Yes, and the requirement is statutory rather than merely policy. 34 U.S.C. § 60541(b)(1) provides that “[t]he Director shall assist prisoners in obtaining identification prior to release … including a social security card, driver’s license or other official photo identification, and a birth certificate.” The regulation says the same at 28 C.F.R. § 571.13(d), and PS 5325.09 at p. 10 sets out how the documents are stored, released two weeks before departure, and mailed certified if they do not reach the person.
What is a release preparation furlough?
28 C.F.R. § 571.13(c) provides that “[t]o assist in the release process, the Warden may, in accordance with the Bureau of Prisons’ rule on furloughs, grant an inmate a furlough for release preparation purposes.” The word is “may” — it is discretionary, and the underlying statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3622, is permissive as well. The rules and the application route are on our furloughs policy page.
Applied Insight — Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, Managing Director: When we look at a release preparation problem, the first thing we ask for is the Program Review Report, not the RPP roster. The coding that determines whether someone is enrolled, exempt, or recorded as a refusal is entered by Unit Management at initial classification and revisited at every program review, and the report is the document the person is entitled to receive and sign. A well-built request starts from what the report actually says, names the specific section of PS 5325.09 at issue, and asks for one identifiable thing — the quarterly calendar, the enrollment entry, the corrected code — rather than for a general reconsideration.
This page is general information about federal Bureau of Prisons policy, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship; whether any of these provisions applies to a particular sentence is a question for the Bureau in the first instance and, where it matters, for counsel who has read the file. Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. is a nationwide federal criminal defense and post-conviction practice with offices in Columbia and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, reachable at (843) 620-1100.
Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026