Tag Archives: rumors

More Rumors – How Many Can You Identify as True? – Update for October 24, 2023

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

RUMORS II – TAKE OUR INMATE.COM RUMOR QUIZ

In prison, “inmate.com” is an information site of almost mythical status. It’s omniscient, omnipresent, omnivorous, and almost always, always wrong.

Unsurprisingly, there really is an inmate.com, although it bears no resemblance to the ethereal website of legend.

legend231023On November 1, the Guidelines amendments proposed last April will become effective. Under 28 USC § 994(p), amendments proposed by May 1 must become effective by November 1 unless Congress votes otherwise. Congress has not done so, and with the House in turmoil and no apparent Senate interest in stopping the amendments, the amendments will be effective in eight days.

Somehow, in the 35 years we’ve had the Sentencing Guidelines, the date of “November 1” has taken on a mystical, legendary quality. This year’s no different, as my email inbox continues to be stuffed with questions about what may happen ten days from now.

trueorfalse231024Take our true-or-false test to see how current you are on the latest November 1st rumors now being featured on  Inmate.com (the mythical one, not the penpal site):


(1) True or false: On November 1, the meth guidelines will be lowered by doing away with the “ice” enhancement.

FALSE. A district judge in SD Mississippi refused a few months ago to enhance for meth purity. It happens that this Judge is also Chairman of the Sentencing Commission, but nothing has been proposed on meth, let alone passed.

(2) True or false: On November 1, a new law will go into effect making 18 USC 924(c) prisoners eligible for FSA credits.

FALSE. The only way for 924(c) people to get FSA credits would be for Congress to amend the First Step Act. There is no proposal in front of either the House or the Senate to do that.

(3) True or false: On November 1, Congress is going to do away with the crime of conspiracy.

FALSE. Such a proposal, if anyone were daft enough to propose it, would never even make it to a committee hearing.

(4) True or false: On November 1, Biden is going to give all federal prisoners a year off of their sentences because of how miserable it was to be locked up for COVID.

FALSE. No one has even suggested such a thing, let alone seriously proposed it.

(5) True or false: On November 1, the new 65% law is going into effect.

FALSE. There ain’t no 65% law, never has been a 65% law, and probably never will be a 65% law.

(6) True or False:  On November 1, the Time Reduction Fairy will appear to magically commute your sentence to ‘time served.’

FALSE, but no more false than all the other November 1 rumors.

timereductionfairy231003Do you detect a trend here? This year, more happens on the 1st of November than All Saint’s Day… but not much. A couple of Guideline amendments go into effect and become retroactive. That’s good. Another one – compassionate release – will help a lot of people. But nothing will come out of Congress, nothing from the White House, very little from the BOP, and just the predictable annual amendment list from the Sentencing Commission.

And thus it will ever be.

– Thomas L. Root

Do You Believe In The Time Reduction Fairy? – Update for October 3, 2023

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR: “NO”

I had a reader ask me last week to yet again address the inmate rumor that Congress or the Sentencing Commission or the BOP or Time Reduction Fairy was putting together some kind of deal to give federal prisoners time off because of how miserable doing time was during COVID.

Our sponsor this week is Dr. No. He wants to remind people that no, no, no, there is NO plan in Congress, NO bill in Congress, NO idea being knocked around in Congress, and NO drug-addled delusion among legislators that federal inmates will get any time cut because they were serving a sentence during COVID.

timereductionfairy231003I’ve been here before. The 65% law, a year off for COVID, letting nonviolent people all do their time at home… I have taken swings at federal sentencing myths for a long time, it seems, and all for naught.

An across-the-board reduction in sentences could only come from Congress or the Time Reduction Fairy. Congress has no plans to do it. The Sentencing Commission has no proposal to do such a thing. The BOP is incapable of doing it. President Biden has the power to commute sentences, but then he has the power to pardon every federal prisoner with a stroke of his pen. His commutation record makes President Trump look profligate.

That leaves the Time Reduction Fairy. She would have such plans, if she were real.  But sadly, there’s no such thing as the Time Reduction Fairy.

– Thomas L. Root

Beware the Ides… and the Rumors They Bring – Update for March 15, 2022

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

C’MON, PEOPLE…

caesar220315The Old Farmer’s Almanac reports that the full moon doesn’t happen until the end of the week, so I am unsure what accounts for the email box blowing up with rumors straight from inmate.com. Perhaps the Ides of March? They sure didn’t work for Julius Caesar.

Email 1: “Have you heard any talk about the FBOP or DOJ giving an extra 54 days good time for any reason. From what I understand nothing new has been done but inmate.com is spreading rumors and would like to hear from the expert.”

Email 2: “There is a rumor going around that the bop is giving an extra 54 days to all inmates come March 14 and that all inmates are getting a year off their sentence due to the covid pandemic. Is there any truth to this rumor?”

Email 3:  “How true is it that in some institutions they are giving 10 months of your sentence due to covid-19 lockdowns?”

bidenleprechaun220315Answer: Nope, nope, nope… President Biden is more likely to appear at a press conference dressed in a leprechaun suit than the government is to grant extra good time for COVID. First, neither the Dept of Justice nor the Federal Bureau of Prisons has the power to award more good-conduct time. The 54 days a year is set by Congress in 18 USC § 3624(b)(1). The rumor that either agency will do so is dead wrong.

Second, none of the bills getting any consideration by House or Senate committees proposes more blanket good time because of COVID or for any other reason.

Email 4: “What RIGHTS ‘got’ passed IN CONGRESS last night?”

Email 5:  “I heard Congress is supposed to be voting on something in late Spring, sometime in June, do you know if that’s Equal Act/Criminal Justice Reform?”

Congress votes on things all the time. It just passed a $1.5 trillion spending bill last week. But nothing has been passed on criminal justice reform by the entire Congress in its 14 months of existence. The House did pass the EQUAL Act – which would reduce punishments for crack cocaine to equal those for powder cocaine – but that bill’s stalled in the Senate. Right now, nothing is scheduled for floor time in the House or Senate on criminal justice reform (although that does not mean something won’t be in the future).

Time magazine last week ran a mostly complimentary article about Biden’s criminal justice accomplishments. But even it admitted that his efforts have fallen short: “The President said that he would revamp clemency power and use it for non-violent offenders and those incarcerated on drug crimes; Biden has not commuted or pardoned anyone so far. The US Sentencing Commission, which helps govern and address disparities in federal cases, currently has six open seats; Biden has not nominated anyone for the commission. Reducing the prison population was supposed to be another priority in Biden’s administration; there has not been much follow-through on that: The prison population is at around 1.8 million and while there was a period of decarceration at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, that has since stalled.”

The article mentioned Biden’s failure to push the George Floyd Policing Act through the Senate, but did not even note the stalled  EQUAL Act, MORE Act, or First Step Implementation Act – all of the highest-profile reform bills now pending in Congress.

grid160411With the midterm elections coming up this fall – where all of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate is up for re-election – crime is going to be a major issue, and the Democrats are nervous. That usually means that the kinds of issues important to federal prisoners – retroactivity, EQUAL Act, marijuana reform, fixing First Step – are unlikely to be brought to a vote, because incumbents don’t want to take a stand they might have to defend on the hustings.

Finally, Email 5:  “Over 65 yrs old can release immediately, is it true?”

Oh, c’mon, people…

Time, Criminal-Justice Reform Was a Key Part of President Biden’s Campaign. Here’s How He’s Done So Far (March 7, 2022)

Washington Post, In San Francisco and elsewhere, Democrats fight Democrats over where they stand (February 17, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root