Program Statement 5140.43 at a glance
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Program Statement | 5140.43 |
| Subject | Unescorted Transfers and Voluntary Surrenders |
| Effective / current edition date | April 21, 2015 |
| Change notice | None. This is a full Program Statement, not a change notice. |
| Supersedes / rescinds | Program Statement 5140.37, Unescorted Transfers and Voluntary Surrenders (1/31/2003) |
| Governing statute | 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) (the Bureau designates the place of imprisonment); 18 U.S.C. § 3622 (furlough authority, offenses on or after Nov. 1, 1987); 18 U.S.C. § 4082 (offenses before that date) |
| Governing regulation (28 C.F.R.) | § 522.30 — Purpose and scope. The Program Statement quotes this section verbatim as its opening paragraph. |
| Related BP forms | BP-A0385 (Authorized Unescorted Commitments and Transfers); BP-A0399 (Transfer Order); BP-A0291 (Furlough Application — Approval and Record); BP-A0659 (Medical Summary of Federal Prisoner/Alien in Transit) |
| Official PDF | PS 5140.43 (bop.gov) |
Checked against the BOP policy set · 2026-09-06.
This Program Statement is the Bureau of Prisons’ internal instruction for two things that look different but run on the same machinery: reporting to prison on your own, without a marshal, after a court orders or recommends it, and moving between institutions unescorted on what the Bureau calls a transfer furlough. It tells Bureau staff which documents must reach the receiving facility, how far in advance, and exactly what happens when the person does not show up on the date printed on the paperwork.
Read this page together with self-surrender to federal prison, which walks through what the day itself is actually like — what to bring, what to leave behind, what happens in the first hours — and with our federal prison consulting services, which is where designation, reporting-date and placement problems get worked as a case rather than explained. This page is the policy: the Bureau’s own document, quoted, with page cites.
On this page
The rule itself: the transfer packet, the forms, and the failure-to-report procedure
PS 5140.43 is a short document — six pages — and it contains no eligibility test and no exclusion list. What it does contain is a discrete, checkable rule set: three routes, a fixed advance-notice period, a named set of Bureau forms, and a specific sequence of consequences when someone does not report. Those are reproduced below exactly as the Program Statement states them.
The three routes and what has to move ahead of the person
| Route | Who sends the paperwork, and when | Documents that must be forwarded |
|---|---|---|
| Voluntary surrender (court orders or recommends it) | “U.S. Courts, U.S. Probation, and USMS electronically transfer sentencing documents and information to the Designation and Sentence Computation Center (DSCC), which enters the designation.” Correctional Systems staff then access the material through the e-Designate website. | Designation material via e-Designate; the Judgment in a Criminal Case (J&C), which staff execute on receiving the person, with the original executed J&C returned to the USMS |
| Unescorted transfer to a federal institution or contract facility | “The sending institution’s unit staff forward the following documents to the receiving institution at least 14 days before transfer.” | Original Transfer Order (BP-A0399); BEMR Exit Summary or Medical Summary of Federal Prisoner/Alien in Transit (BP-A0659); copy of Furlough Application − Approval and Record (BP-A0291), “which includes the inmate’s travel schedule”; Authorized Unescorted Commitments and Transfers (BP-A0385) with recent photograph attached, when transferring to a contract facility |
| Unescorted transfer to an RRC or community-based program | “Sending institution unit staff forward the following to the RRC at least 14 days before transfer.” | Authorized Unescorted Commitments and Transfers, with recent photograph attached; copy of Furlough Application − Approval and Record, “which includes the inmate’s travel schedule”; Original Transfer Order; “[r]eceipt of facility rules and regulations and signed subsistence agreement, if applicable” |
Source: PS 5140.43 at pp. 2–4.
Two further instructions attach to the institution-to-institution route. Unit staff “record the preparation and mailing of these documents in the inmate’s Central File and ensure they are at the receiving institution before the inmate’s departure.” And all files — J&C, Inmate Central File, Medical Record — “remain at the sending institution until the receiving institution notifies the sending institution or SENTRY confirms the inmate’s arrival,” at which point they are forwarded “immediately by trackable mail with signature confirmation” (PS 5140.43 at p. 3).
The forms named in this Program Statement
| Form | Title | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| BP-A0385 | Authorized Unescorted Commitments and Transfers | The identification document the Bureau and the U.S. Marshals Service use for an unescorted move. Carries the report date, the receiving facility’s DOJ mnemonic code, a photograph, and two thumbprint blocks — one taken by the discharging authority, one by the receiving facility. |
| BP-A0399 | Transfer Order | The original travels with the packet to the receiving institution or RRC. |
| BP-A0291 | Furlough Application — Approval and Record | The furlough paperwork that authorizes unescorted travel and “includes the inmate’s travel schedule.” |
| BP-A0659 | Medical Summary of Federal Prisoner/Alien in Transit | Sent with the packet, or a BEMR Exit Summary in its place. |
Source: PS 5140.43 at pp. 2–4 and p. 5.
On the BP-A0385, the Program Statement singles out one field: “REPORT DATE: Date the inmate is scheduled to report. This item is essential and must always be completed. Space is provided for numeric entries; e.g., August 1, 1990, is written 08-01-90” (PS 5140.43 at p. 5). That emphasis is the Bureau’s, and it is the single most consequential entry on the form.
What the Bureau does when someone does not report
This is the part of the Program Statement people most need and least often find. The instructions differ by route.
| Situation | What staff are directed to do |
|---|---|
| A voluntary surrender does not arrive | “Correctional Systems staff at the designated institution notify the USMS from the committing district by telephone when a voluntary surrender fails to arrive.” Notification is “by the end of the workday of the scheduled date of arrival” and is documented in the intake folder with the date and time of contact, the name of the staff member contacted, and the name of the staff member making contact. |
| A request to delay reporting | “Any problem or question arising from the inmate, such as a request for a delay in reporting, must be referred to the USMS from the committing district and documented as noted above.” |
| An unescorted transfer to a federal institution or contract facility does not arrive | “The receiving institution’s Correctional Systems staff or designee at the contract facility notifies the sending Correctional Systems staff of the inmate’s failure to report. The sending institution will: Retain the inmate’s files. Update SENTRY to change release assignment to ‘escape.’ Notify the DSCC of the inmate’s escape. Write an incident report and conduct a disciplinary hearing in absentia. Notify parties as required in the Program Statement Escapes/Deaths Notifications. Notify parties as required in the Program Statement Victim and Witness Notification Program, if applicable.” |
| An unescorted transfer to an RRC or community program does not arrive | “RRC staff or an appropriate official notify the Residential Reentry Manager (RRM) within 24 hours of an inmate’s failure to arrive. The RRM notifies the sending institution who completes the tasks identified in Section 3.b.” |
Source: PS 5140.43 at pp. 4–5.
Note what the third and fourth rows describe: a SENTRY entry of “escape,” an incident report, and a disciplinary hearing held whether or not the person is there. Those are administrative consequences, imposed by the Bureau. They sit alongside — not instead of — the criminal exposure described in the next section.
What voluntary surrender policy means for you
If you are the person inside: two dates and one piece of paper
Two dates and one piece of paper decide almost everything about an unescorted move. The date is the REPORT DATE on the BP-A0385 or the travel schedule attached to the furlough application; the paper is the packet that has to reach the receiving facility fourteen days out. Before an institution-to-institution transfer or an RRC transfer, ask your unit team — in writing, on a cop-out (BP-A0148) — to confirm that the transfer packet has been sent and that the travel schedule attached to the furlough application matches what you have been told verbally. The Program Statement directs staff to record the preparation and mailing in your Central File; asking them to confirm that entry exists is a reasonable request and it creates a paper record if the transfer later goes wrong.
If something happens that will make you late — a canceled bus, a missed connection, a medical emergency — understand who has authority. For a voluntary surrender, the Program Statement routes every reporting problem to the U.S. Marshals Service in the committing district, not to the prison. For an unescorted transfer already underway, the sending institution is the office that will act. The worst available option is to say nothing and arrive late, because the administrative machinery described above starts running at the end of the scheduled workday.
The stakes are not only administrative. Under 18 U.S.C. § 4082(a), “[t]he willful failure of a prisoner to remain within the extended limits of his confinement, or to return within the time prescribed to an institution or facility designated by the Attorney General, shall be deemed an escape from the custody of the Attorney General punishable as provided in chapter 35 of this title.” The escape statute in that chapter, 18 U.S.C. § 751(a), reaches escape “from the custody of the Attorney General or his authorized representative, or from any institution or facility in which he is confined by direction of the Attorney General,” and where the custody is “by virtue of an arrest on a charge of felony, or conviction of any offense,” carries a fine “or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”
If you are a family member: the reporting date is real
The reporting date is real and the paperwork behind it is real. If your loved one has been ordered to self-surrender, the designation comes from the Designation and Sentence Computation Center in Grand Prairie, Texas — not from the prison and not from the judge’s chambers — and the sentencing documents reach DSCC electronically from the court, probation, and the marshals. If the facility is wrong, too far, or medically unsuitable, that is a designation question, and it is worked through counsel and through the security designation and custody classification process, not by arguing at the front gate on reporting day.
There is one scenario in this Program Statement people rarely anticipate: someone surrenders to the wrong facility. The instruction is that “[i]f an inmate surrenders to a facility which is not the designated institution, the DSCC is contacted to obtain commitment documentation,” and staff “identify the inmate with this documentation, assume custody, and coordinate movement to the designated institution” (PS 5140.43 at p. 3). If factors are present that would keep staff from assuming custody, the Regional Correctional Programs Administrator is contacted for guidance. Turning up at the wrong prison is a problem the Bureau has a procedure for — but it is not a solution to a designation you dislike.
Do not drive your loved one to a facility that is not the one on the paperwork on the theory that it is closer. And keep a copy of everything: the judgment, the reporting instructions, and the marshals’ contact information for the committing district.
If you are counsel: voluntary surrender
Three practical points. First, the sentencing court’s recommendation matters at the front end and only at the front end: 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) directs the Bureau to consider “any statement by the court that imposed the sentence … recommending a type of penal or correctional facility as appropriate,” but the designation decision is the Bureau’s. An order or recommendation for voluntary surrender is the trigger described in 28 C.F.R. § 522.30: “When the court orders or recommends an unescorted commitment to a Bureau of Prisons institution, the Bureau of Prisons authorizes the commitment and designates the institution for service of sentence.”
Second, the commencement date. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a), a sentence “commences on the date the defendant is received in custody awaiting transportation to, or arrives voluntarily to commence service of sentence at, the official detention facility at which the sentence is to be served.” For a self-surrender client that is the moment of arrival at the designated institution — which is why the report date on the BP-A0385 and the arrival entry in SENTRY are records worth preserving if a computation dispute later develops. Those questions run through the Sentence Computation Manual.
Third, the delay request. The Program Statement does not give the warden authority to move a self-surrender date; it routes the request to the U.S. Marshals Service in the committing district. Where a genuine medical or family emergency intervenes, the practical path is a motion to the sentencing court and contact with the USMS in the committing district — not a request to the receiving institution. Chapter 35 exposure under § 751 is the reason to treat a missed date as urgent rather than administrative.
What changed from PS 5140.37 to 5140.43
PS 5140.43 rescinded Program Statement 5140.37, Unescorted Transfers and Voluntary Surrenders (1/31/2003), and the Bureau’s own Summary of Changes lists exactly two substantive edits (PS 5140.43 at p. 2):
- It “[e]liminates the requirement for unescorted transfer packets to be forwarded via certified mail.”
- It “[e]liminates the preparation of the Authorized Unescorted Commitments and Transfers card for inmates transferring between Bureau institutions.”
That second bullet is worth reading against the transfer-packet table above. After 2015, the BP-A0385 is required for transfers to a contract facility and for RRC transfers, but the Bureau no longer prepares one for a routine move between two Bureau institutions. Anyone working from the 2003 edition — or from a summary written before April 2015 — will get that wrong.
There is one further currency point, and it is the kind of thing only a page like this carries. The 2015 Program Statement’s reference list is out of date on its face. Its REFERENCES page (PS 5140.43 at p. 6) cites P5100.08 as the September 12, 2006 edition; the Bureau’s current security designation and custody classification policy is a much later edition. It cites P7300.09 Community Corrections Manual as the January 12, 1998 edition, and P5553.07 Escapes/Deaths Notifications as February 10, 2006. A Program Statement’s cross-references are not re-dated when the referenced policy is reissued, so read every cross-reference as naming a subject, not an edition. The Program Statement itself has not been reissued since April 21, 2015 and remains in the Bureau’s in-force policy set.
Finally, the statutory frame it rests on has two halves that people conflate. The Program Statement is explicit: “Title 18 U.S.C. § 4082 applies to inmates whose offense(s) occurred before November 1, 1987. For inmates whose offense(s) occurred on or after November 1, 1987, the statutory authority for furloughs is Title 18 U.S.C. § 3622, which was added by the Comprehensive Crime Control Act (CCCA)” (PS 5140.43 at p. 1). Section 4082’s furlough and commitment provisions were struck by the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 effective November 1, 1987; what survives in the current text is the escape rule at § 4082(a) and the community-treatment-center information-sharing provisions.
Where people get stuck when the transfer packet does not arrive
The transfer packet did not arrive, and the transfer is now stalled
The 14-day rule is a staff instruction, not an entitlement you can enforce, and a packet that goes out late is a common cause of a transfer or RRC date slipping. The route is the same as for any other institutional-operations failure: start with a written Inmate Request to Staff (BP-A0148) to the unit team and Correctional Systems, asking specifically whether the documents listed in Section 2.b or 2.c were forwarded and when. If informal resolution does not fix it, the Administrative Remedy Program is the formal path — a BP-9 is due within 20 calendar days following the date on which the basis for the Request occurred, a BP-10 to the Regional Director within 20 calendar days of the date the Warden signed the response, and a BP-11 to the General Counsel within 30 calendar days of the Regional Director’s signature. If you get no answer inside the response deadlines in 28 C.F.R. § 542.18, “the inmate may consider the absence of a response to be a denial at that level” and move to the next one.
The RRC says one arrival date, SENTRY says another
The Program Statement puts the tracking duty on named people: the Supervisory Correctional Systems Specialist (or designee) at the sending institution “monitors SENTRY to confirm the inmate’s arrival at the RRC or community-based program,” and Residential Reentry Management staff “admit the inmate to the receiving facility in SENTRY on the day of arrival (or the next workday if arrival is after normal business hours)” (PS 5140.43 at p. 4). When those two records disagree, the discrepancy can ripple into release-date calculations and into halfway house placement records. Ask, in writing, for the SENTRY admission entry date, and get it corrected at the RRM level before it hardens into a computation problem.
A missed reporting date has already become an “escape” entry
Once SENTRY has been updated to show “escape,” an incident report is written and, under the Program Statement, a disciplinary hearing is conducted in absentia. That hearing is governed by the Inmate Discipline Program, and escape is a 100-series (Greatest severity) prohibited act. A finding entered in absentia can be revisited — the discipline policy provides for rehearing after a return to custody — but the sanctions imposed in the interim are real, and any parallel criminal exposure under § 751 belongs with counsel immediately, not after the administrative process runs. This is a consult situation, not a grievance situation.
The designation itself is the problem
If the objection is where the Bureau designated, not how the paperwork moved, this Program Statement is the wrong tool. Designation runs on 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) — bed availability, security designation, programmatic needs, medical and mental health needs, faith-based requests, the sentencing court’s recommendation, and the Bureau’s security concerns, with the statutory instruction to place a person “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.” Whether a particular request will succeed is a judgment the Bureau makes in the first instance. That is designation advocacy, and it belongs in our federal prison consulting services.
Related BOP policy on transfers and self-surrender
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Self-surrender to federal prison | The day itself — what to bring, what happens on arrival, what to expect in the first week |
| Federal prison consulting services | Designation advocacy, placement and reporting-date problems worked as a matter |
| Furloughs (PS 5280.09) | The furlough policy that supplies the eligibility screen for a transfer furlough |
| Escorted trips (PS 5538.08) | The escorted alternative when an unescorted move is not authorized |
| Security designation and custody classification (PS 5100.08) | How the Bureau scores custody level and chooses a facility |
| Halfway house placement procedures (PS 7310.04) | RRC referral and placement, the destination of most unescorted RRC transfers |
| Receiving and discharge (PS 5800.19) | Intake and release processing at the institution |
| Sentence computation manual (PS 5880.28) | When a sentence commences and how the Bureau computes it |
| Inmate discipline program (PS 5270.09) | The incident report and DHO process, including hearings held in absentia |
| Administrative remedy program (PS 1330.18) | BP-8 through BP-11 and the deadlines that govern each step |
Frequently Asked Questions About Voluntary Surrender
What is a voluntary surrender in the federal system?
It is reporting to a federal prison on your own, on a date the Bureau sets, instead of being taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service at sentencing. PS 5140.43 says so in its own words: “In this Program Statement, unescorted commitments are referred to as ‘voluntary surrenders'” (PS 5140.43 at p. 1). The authority comes from the court’s order or recommendation for an unescorted commitment, which 28 C.F.R. § 522.30 then routes to the Bureau to authorize and designate.
Who actually decides where I report?
The Designation and Sentence Computation Center in Grand Prairie, Texas. Under PS 5140.43, the courts, U.S. Probation and the marshals transmit the sentencing documents to DSCC electronically, “which enters the designation,” and Correctional Systems staff then pull the material through the e-Designate website (PS 5140.43 at p. 2). The judge can recommend a facility, and 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) directs the Bureau to consider that recommendation, but the designation decision itself belongs to the Bureau.
How far in advance does the paperwork have to be sent for an unescorted transfer?
At least 14 days. For a transfer to another federal institution or a contract facility, and for a transfer to an RRC or community-based program, PS 5140.43 directs the sending institution’s unit staff to forward the required documents “at least 14 days before transfer” (PS 5140.43 at pp. 3–4). Unit staff are also directed to record the preparation and mailing in the Central File and to make sure the documents are at the receiving facility before departure.
What happens if someone does not report on time?
The Bureau treats it as an escape and the criminal statutes may apply. For a voluntary surrender that fails to arrive, staff notify the U.S. Marshals Service in the committing district by the end of the scheduled workday. For an unescorted transfer, the sending institution updates SENTRY to change the release assignment to “escape,” notifies the DSCC, writes an incident report and conducts a disciplinary hearing in absentia (PS 5140.43 at pp. 4–5). Separately, 18 U.S.C. § 4082(a) deems a willful failure to return within the prescribed time an escape from the custody of the Attorney General, punishable under 18 U.S.C. § 751.
Can a reporting date be moved?
Not by the prison. PS 5140.43 directs that “[a]ny problem or question arising from the inmate, such as a request for a delay in reporting, must be referred to the USMS from the committing district” and documented (PS 5140.43 at p. 4). In practice a genuine emergency is addressed to the sentencing court and to the marshals in the committing district. Whether relief is granted is entirely up to those offices.
What is a “transfer furlough,” and how is it different from a regular furlough?
A transfer furlough is the mechanism that lets someone travel unescorted from one institution to another, or to a halfway house, while still serving the sentence — not a visit home. 28 C.F.R. § 522.30 describes the Bureau authorizing “furlough transfers of inmates between Bureau of Prisons institutions or to nonfederal institutions in appropriate circumstances in accordance with 18 U.S.C. 3622 or 4082, and within the guidelines of the Bureau of Prisons policy on furloughs, which allows inmates to travel unescorted and to report voluntarily to an assigned institution.” The eligibility screen lives in the furlough policy, not here. Whether a particular person meets it is a determination for the Bureau in the first instance.
Does the sentence start when I walk through the door?
Yes, for someone reporting voluntarily. 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a) provides that a sentence “commences on the date the defendant is received in custody awaiting transportation to, or arrives voluntarily to commence service of sentence at, the official detention facility at which the sentence is to be served.” That is why the report date on the BP-A0385 and the arrival entry in SENTRY are worth documenting.
What if I show up at the wrong federal prison?
There is a procedure for it. PS 5140.43 instructs that if someone “surrenders to a facility which is not the designated institution, the DSCC is contacted to obtain commitment documentation,” staff “identify the inmate with this documentation, assume custody, and coordinate movement to the designated institution,” and where factors would keep staff from assuming custody, the Regional Correctional Programs Administrator is contacted for guidance (PS 5140.43 at p. 3). It is a problem with a solution, not a strategy.
Applied Insight — Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, Managing Director: The single most useful thing anyone can do before an unescorted move is create a written record that the packet went out. A cop-out asking Correctional Systems to confirm that the Transfer Order, the medical summary and the furlough application with the travel schedule were forwarded — and when — costs nothing, is routine, and is the document that matters six weeks later when a halfway house date has slipped and nobody can say where the delay started. We build placement and computation files out of exactly these small, dated, unglamorous pieces of paper.
This page is general information about Bureau of Prisons policy, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Legal representation is provided by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq. To discuss a designation, reporting-date or placement problem, call (843) 620-1100.
Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026