Tag BOP

MORE THAN WHISPERS – You’re Target #1, The FBI’s Coming

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You’re Target #1, The FBI’s Coming

It’s MORE THAN WHISPERS 

You’re Going to  Prison, – There is no way to Dress this up – BUT

If the Rumors and whispers that the FBI is poking around are true…

I’d take that seriously

HELLO AND WELCOME, MY NAME IS MARC BLATSTEIN AND I AM THE PHYSICIAN WHO FOUNDED THE PHYSICIAN PRESENTENCE REPORT SERVICE

AFTER 30+ years IN PRACTICE

MY MORNING WAS interrupted by the feds at 6 am knock at my front door, and a 2nd at 8 am at my medical practice – interrupting my patients and staff, all for a problem that I created.

As I was Guilty, – I Plead to a Felony and was convicted of a federal White-Collar crime, and was sentenced to time in the BOP as a Justice-Impacted Person.

After my release, and several years of hard work, my license was fully restored in 2010.

Around that time;

·        I chose to use my skills in medicine

·        with my understanding of the BOP

·        to assist those of you,

·        who like me,

·        find themselves facing our Criminal Justice System.

 

While I found myself totally UNPREPARED

I Made It My Mission

TO PROVIDE YOU WITH THE RESOURCES

That You Will Need

SO, YOU’LL BE PREPARED- BECAUSE

 

IN PRISON – AS IN LIFE

PREPARATION = SURVIVAL

WHILE YOUR STAY IN PRISON WILL BE TEMPORARY (and a bit UNSETTLING)

 

The Goal Is To Be Productive

FOLLOW YOUR REENTRY PLAN

and

Get Home As Soon As Possible

So let’s get to it!

 

If you’re hearing FBI whispers,

•        Start interviewing attorneys, ask questions, get references,

•        Sentencing Memorandum, ask to read samples written for previous clients, are they boilerplate?

•        Then, be honest with your attorney, and yourself – no surprises.

 

PSI Preparation is crucial – You Are your best and only Advocate

Ask yourself: 

•        Do you have confidence in your defense?

•        Do you need additional team partners who are specialized in,

  • Sentencing Mitigation, Allocution, Personal Narrative, and Reentry Release Planning Advocacy

•        All Before Your Presentence Interview

 

If Not, there are No Redo’s ⇒ this is Your Future ⇒ Speak up now

 

PREPARATION and SELF-ADVOCACY are your CORE VALUES

 

PREPARATION:

•        Attorney Interview, Working together – must be a Joint Defense

  • Decision #1: Trial or Plea

•        PRACTICE: Your Allocution (& Memorandum), for the Sentencing Hearing

  • Your Personal Narrative could take a month+ to write
  • The Memorandum is given by your Attorney

•        Your Presentence Interview (PSI)

  • Know Your Narrative → weave it into your conversation with your PO, for placement into your Presentence Report (PSR), which is now complete.

 

SELF-ADVOCACY:

•        Relies on the skills that made you successful, some being “Self-Motivated”

•        At your Attorneys request, your Personal Narrative was included in Your PSR

•        Reentry Planning

•        Sentence Mitigation Strategies are employed Before Sentencing, and During Incarceration

YOUR PREPARATION

Working Together With Your Attorney At Every Stage

 

1st) Be honest with your attorney, about everything –

•        Plea or Trial – Nobody wants surprises

 

2nd) Your PSI, needs to include everything about you.

•        In addition to all your Biographical Background information

•        Medical, Character References, Education, Legal, Etc.

•        Your attorney has connected with your PO before your Interview to;

  • get a “pulse” on how much they know, to
  • present their case/defense strategy
  • and learn the date the PO must have their final PSR completed

•        RDAP (if applicable), Include it now

•        If is not there, and you need it later to reduce your time, that may be a big lift.

•        Compassionate Release (medical issues, transplant, medications (physician testimony)

•        FSA Programs, your attorney will be able to review or know your PSF, and if any of the applicable programs apply;

•        Autism, Borderline Personality Disorder, Anger Management, etc.

•        Your Personal Narrative needs to be finished before your interview so;

•        That you know it, cold, and discuss it in 1st person with your P.O.

•        It should be able to be, copy-pasted, directly into the P.O., PSR

•        This Is  Your Story: In Written and/or Video Format3rd) Time must be allowed for the development of your Personal Narrative, with assistance

 

4th) The PSR is Now Complete and should Include all the Above, including your Personal Narrative – which Judges want to see.

 

5th) Time is spent practicing for your sentencing hearing with your attorney regarding,

1.     If the Judge is aggregable, due to your allocution, and departs below the guidelines

2.     If RDAP is applicable now  is when your attorney can ask for it to be put into the order, and if the judge agrees, then

3.     Politely, also request for 1 specific BOP prison, based on that RDAP program – using this as an example (camp eligible < 10 years), to also be put into the order.

  • Further, should the BOP not be able to do so,
    1. The BOP could notify the court in writing
    2. Why they couldn’t make this placement?

SELF-ADVOCACY

Allocution – Your Personal Narrative

Listen To What Federal Judges Have To Say

THE FEDERAL LAWYER • September/October 2019, VIEWS FROM THE BENCH, Own the Mistake and Demonstrate Sincere Remorse

Judge Richard G. Kopf of the District of Nebraska,

Judge Jon D. Levy of the District of Maine in Portland,

Judge Patti Sarris of the District of Massachusetts

Judge Cynthia A. Bashant;

Judge Morrison C. England Jr;…one of the biggest mistakes defense lawyers can make is not having their client answer the question…

Judge Lawrence C. O’Neill,

Judge James K. Bredar—says he comes out on the bench with a sentence already in mind. “Allocution, however, changes this when I see the defendant has insight into the harm he has done.”

 

NACDL, The Champion • March 2011, Heartstrings or Heartburn:  A Federal Judge’s Musings On Defendants’ Right and Rite of Allocution,

Judge Mark Bennett; A Good Allocution Can Be Beneficial

 

What Federal Judges Want To Hear:

We’re interested in a defendant who has the capability of introspection and who has come to grips with the impact of his offense on others…

 

“No punishment will be enough. If I could go back and change everything, I would.”

 

I am persuaded that the defendant is sincere and demonstrates insight into the crime.

   

Allocution is very important, “I like to have a conversation with the defendant,”…

  

I want him to apologize to the victim and his or her family, particularly if they are in the courtroom.

   

“Allocution, however, changes this when I see the defendant has insight into the harm he has done,” when I see the defendant has insight into the harm he has done”

   

“I am looking for remorse and insight as to why he did what he did and what he is doing to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

  

“It’s very important that lawyers prepare a client for allocution, even if they have gone to trial, and do the job that they are retained to do.”

 

Start paying restitution, even $25/mo, and don’t show up at court in a $900/ month luxury car.

Consultations are on me.

Thank you! Marc
240.888.7778
Physician Presentence Report Service

No matter where you are in The Process, there are things we can do

* No Physician,  Attorney, or Consultant can promise any outcomes.

You’re the FBI Target

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You’re the FBI Target

5 Areas You Must Advocate For Yourself

 

PREPARATION = SURVIVAL

If You Suspect You’re The Target of a Federal Investigation | Before The Presentence Interview (PSI) | After The PSI – But Before The Sentencing Hearing | After Sentencing or You’re Already Incarcerated | There Are Still Things We Can Do

For a No Obligation Free Consult Call Dr.Blatstein at: 240.888.7778, or by email. Dr. Blatstein answers and personally returns all of his calls.

1st Start interviewing Attorneys

  • Ask for References
  • Ask to see “several Sentencing Memorandums”,
    • If they ask Why, or that is Confidential, politely respond with either.
    • I am sure that you have several “happy” clients that would be willing to speak for a minute or two

… I asked surgeons for references before I had my hip replacement

or

Regarding the Memorandums,

  • the attorney can “just” redact (black out) the person’s personal info.
  • (Here we want to see if they individually take the time to write each one separately, or are they Boilerplate?

 

2nd You and your attorney have a quick decision

  • YOU HAVE TO BE HONEST WITH THEM –
  • ABOUT EVERYTHING (again, here too I was not, Another Lesson Learned)
  • NEXT: Trial (98% of Federal Cases Loose), or Plea

 

3rd If you win at Trial: CONGRATS!!

 

4th You now only have 90 days to prepare for your Presentence Interview

  • (Unless you have extenuating circumstances, but eventually)
  • You and your attorney will be in Proactive mode

YOU

  • Collecting copies of your medical records – Everything
  • Hospital, laboratory, radiology, physician, surgical, prescription, and medical devices

Other: copies

  • You get the picture: educational, military, character, community service, work references, original birth certificates, social security cards, licenses, etc.

 

Your Attorney: Preparing their strategy for The Presentence Interview, then

ASAP they will contact The Probation Officer

  • To learn when their Final Dictation Date Is for Your PRESENTENCE REPORT
    • Why: because they want to get a feel for what they know – and
    • begin to get their “message on the record, “… AKA Bonding
  • To Set Up YOUR INTERVIEW

BE PREPARED because the P.O. will write your PRESENTENCE REPORT based on your INTERVIEW

  • YOU NEED TO KNOW – YOUR NARRATIVE COLD

 

Your PRESENTENCE REPORT IMPACTS

  1. Release Date
  2. Security Level Requirements
  3. Medical and Mental Healthcare Needs
  4. Psychology Programs – Limited Availability
  5. FSA Programming, and Criminogenic Needs, Risk Assessment ⇒ ETC towards early release

 

MEANWHILE, for the last 3 months you have been writing, and rewriting your story – YOUR PERSONAL NARRATIVE

Why?

5th YOUR PERSONAL NARRATIVE

This is your chance to speak directly to the Judge – and where he gets to know you

Done right it can lower your sentence, but no guarantees –

 

Still not convinced – Listen to what these five Judges Say:

A Federal Judge’s Musings on Defendants’ Right and Rite of Allocution,

NACDL, The Champion, March 2011

Judge Mark Bennett, My basic principles of allocution include:

(1) be sincere.

(2) discuss what “taking full responsibility” means;

(3) acknowledge that there are victims (e.g., even when the PSR indicates “no identifiable victim,” as it does in most drug cases);

(4) an understanding of how the crime affected the victims;

(5) express genuine remorse;

(6) a plan to use prison or probation time in a productive manner;

(7) a discussion of why the defendant wants to change his or her criminal behavior; and, perhaps most importantly,

  • a true desire to learn a specific trade and a request to go to a specific Bureau of Prisons institution that offers that trade can sometimes be beneficial.

(8) information that helps humanize the defendant and the defendant’s role in the crime.

 

THE FEDERAL LAWYER • September/October 2019

VIEWS FROM THE BENCH, Own the Mistake – Demonstrate Sincere Remorse

Judge Richard G. Kopf of the District of Nebraska,

One of the best allocutions I have ever heard was:

“Judge, I want to atone for what I did to the victims and my family. I deserve some prison time. I hurt the victims, I hurt my family and I’ve hurt myself. When I get out, I am ready to take the following steps.”

 

Judge Jon D. Levy of the District of Maine in Portland, “Allocution matters,”

“I will never hold poor communication skills against a defendant. What’s important is whether I am persuaded that the defendant is sincere and demonstrates insight about the crime…”

 

Judge Cynthia A. Bashant of the Southern District of California

“I want him to apologize to the victim and his or her family, particularly if they are in the courtroom. Just like a parent with a child who has done wrong, I am looking for ‘insight’ from the defendant,”

 

Judge Marcia S. Krieger of the District of Colorado in Denver, has “seen allocutions where a defendant has shown that he is sincere and thoughtful about what he is saying.”

It is very important for the lawyer to prepare his client for allocution if allocution is to be made

It is essential for Judge Krieger that a defendant “publicly admit his shame,” which shows her that he has internalized his crime

If You Suspect You’re The Target of a Federal Investigation | Before The Presentence Interview (PSI) | After The PSI – But Before The Sentencing Hearing | After Sentencing or You’re Already Incarcerated | There Are Still Things We Can Do

For a No Obligation Free Consult Call Dr.Blatstein at: 240.888.7778, or by email. Dr. Blatstein answers and personally returns all of his calls.

First Step Act – Revised 2022

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FSA - First step act

Reduction in Recidivism

Requires the Attorney General to develop a risk and needs assessment system

  • The BOP assesses the recidivism risk and criminogenic needs of all federal prisoners
  • Place them in recidivism-reducing programs
  • Including productive activities to address their needs and reduce this risk.
  •  Under the act, the system provides guidance on the:
    • type,
    • amount, and
    • the intensity of recidivism reduction programming and
    • productive activities to which each prisoner is assigned, including
    • information on which programs prisoners should participate in based on their criminogenic needs.
    • on how to group, to the extent practicable,
      • prisoners with similar risk levels together in recidivism reduction programming and
      • housing assignments.
  • The Act also amends 18 U.S.C. § 4042(a), requiring the BOP to assist inmates in:
    • applying for federal and state benefits and
    • obtain identification, including a
      • social security card,
      • driver’s license or
      • other official photo identification, and
      • birth certificate.
  • The First Step Act also expands the Second Chance Act to deliver recidivism reduction programming.

Incentives for Success

  • The Act amended 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b), so that federal inmate can earn:
    • up to 54 days of good time credit for every year of their imposed sentence
    • rather than, for every year of their sentence served.
    • For example, if you’re sentenced to 10 years, and your maximum good time credit = 540 days.
    • These good-time credits go towards pre-release custody.
    • Ineligible for good-time credit are generally categorized as:
      • violent, or involve
      • terrorism,
      • espionage,
      • human trafficking,
      • sex and sexual exploitation; additionally
      • excluded offenses are a repeat felon in possession of a firearm, or
      • high-level drug offenses
      • For a complete list, see disqualifying offenses

Confinement

  • 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) requires the BOP to house inmates in facilities within 500 driving miles of their primary residence.
  • The BOP variety of factors goes into placement, including:
    • bed space availability,
    • security designation,
    • programmatic needs,
    • mental and medical health needs,
    • any request made by the inmate related to faith-based needs,
    • recommendations of the sentencing court, and
    • other security concerns.
  • The FSA reauthorizes and modifies a pilot program that allows the BOP to place certain elderly and terminally ill prisoners in home confinement to serve the remainder of their sentences.

Correctional Reforms

  • Criminal justice-related provisions, including;
    • prohibition on the use of restraints on pregnant inmates in the custody of BOP and the U.S. Marshals Service.
    • requirement for the BOP to provide tampons and sanitary napkins for free
    • The FSA requires BOP to give training to correctional officers and other BOP employees:
      • on how to interact and de-escalate encounters with people who are diagnosed with mental illness or other cognitive deficits.
      • Also included is a prohibition against the use of solitary confinement for juvenile delinquents in federal custody.

Sentencing Reforms

  • Changes to Mandatory Minimums for Certain Drug Offenders for some drug traffickers with prior drug convictions
    • the threshold for prior convictions that count toward triggering higher mandatory minimums for repeat offenders,
      • is reduced from the 20-year to a 15-year mandatory minimum,
    • The life-in-prison mandatory minimum (where there are two or more prior qualifying convictions),
      • to a 25-year mandatory minimum.
  • Retroactivity of the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA)
    •  Those who received longer sentences for crack cocaine than if sentenced for possession of powder cocaine can submit a petition in federal court to have their sentences reduced.
  • Expanding the Safety Valve

FEMALE PATTERN RISK SCORING

MALE PATTERN RISK SCORING

Violent Offense Codes for PATTERN Risk Assessment *

Cut points used when calculating an inmate’s Risk of Recidivism

Ambridge Man Pleads Guilty to Possessing Fentanyl 12/2020

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Possessing Fentanyl – DOJ

In early December 2020, Michael Gamble was paid a surprise visit by law enforcement. At the conclusion of their search, they found at least 90 G of Fentanyl along with a loaded handgun with an attached extended magazine. None of this looks good, and easily crosses an Offense Level of 34 (with its approximate base number of 28 or greater). Michael Gamble, age 37, pleaded guilty to one count before United States District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand and is scheduled sentencing for Feb. 9, 2023.

The DOJ has a case, and while everyone deserves legal representation, in the federal system 98% plea as opposed to going to trial, but I get ahead of myself.

How over the years did a medication initially develop in 1959 by Dr. Paul Janssen as an intravenous surgical anesthetic, wind up on our streets? Recalling my days as a surgical resident in the mid-1980s, this was on no one’s radar, except anesthesia. Interest came initially from large animal veterinarians, which morphed into skin patches for humans in the early 2000s to treat chronic pain. This was followed with user-friendly delivery options; a lollipop, tablet, and nasal spray.

Carfentanyl, a fentanyl analog is approximately 10,000 times more potent than morphine, 100 times more than fentanyl, and 50 times more than heroin. It is to be used as a general anesthetic for very large animals.

Fentanyl (Carfentanyl) analogs, including fentanyl-laced heroin, come in many flavors, with street names such as white heroin, Perc-O-Pops, Chiclets, Apache, China Girl, White China, Dance Fever, Jackpot, Murder 8, TNT, Tango and Cash, Friend, Goodfella, and Redrum (murder spelled backward). The sheer variety and combinations make toxicology testing and accurate death reporting extremely challenging.

Having a cogent defense, that includes sentence mitigation through presentence interview preparation is key. Should you have a question, contact us.

Thomas Court Denies Women The Right To Choose…

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Justice Thomas on Dobbs

Credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

The Thomas Court – Denying Women The ‘Freedom To Choose’ Their Medical Reproductive Healthcare

Justice Thomas’s Message, Next: contraception, same-sex marriage…

Inside the Court’s ruling, Justice Thomas wrote that

  • “in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents.”
  • “Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous,’ we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents.”  Just food for thought…

The More Restrictive States

Louisiana.

Louisiana is an example of extreme regulations, which defines “a viable in vitro fertilized human ovum” as a “juridical person which shall not be intentionally destroyed,” along with at least five states, that have introduced bills establishing fetal personhood. Now,

  • the ’embryo’ may be considered an individual, and if a couple is undergoing IVF, your criminal liability implications have suddenly exploded.
  • Why, because all of the embryos will have to be used.

IVF – Fertility Treatments

IVF and in some cases, even genetic screening, is seeing extreme statements from extreme states;

Will patients have to use all the embryos they develop,

  • a) which forces an individual or couple to expand their family before they can afford to do so, or
  • b) forgo the opportunity to have children, or
  • c) suggests that the couple limit the number of embryos to one or two, and hope that they are chromosomally balanced and will result in a live birth, but if not…
  • d) putting them through IVF stimulation over and over again, associated with the financial, emotional, psychological, and physical implications.

For states that take abortion bans to the extreme, and specify that,

Life begins at fertilization,

  • a) each excess embryo would have the same rights as an embryo,
  • b) all the embryos would then have to be implanted (by law), and
  • c) which could lead to financial hardships for an unprepared family to have multiple children all at once, high-risk pregnancy, multiple babies, risking the life of the mother and/or the children,
  • d) or regarding the fear of prosecution, the couple would decide not to have any children or
  • e) they would elect to move to another state.
  • Added to all this; are threats of violence that extremists have targeted at our behavior and beliefs, while representatives have kept quiet, and made this acceptable behavior.

Pregnancy Loss or Miscarriage.

Pregnancy Loss (NIH) | Miscarriage (Cleveland Clinic).

  • Some miscarriages require immediate medical interventions to prevent life-threatening infections or tubal rupture. Every year between 10% and 20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriages, mostly because the fetus is not developing normally, according to the Mayo Clinic.
  • Post Dobb’s, providers may now fear that the ‘state’ may view their treatment – as if they are providing abortion services, even if they have the necessary training and clinical skills, albeit the services may be similar.
  • If there is a malpractice (or negligence) claim where the provider was handicapped by the laws of their state, how then will this be reflected in their malpractice and liability carriers’ representation(s) going forward?

But it is in those most restrictive states, that women of color (and not those of means) could see even higher maternal mortality rates, increased child poverty, and face a greater risk of prosecution for seeking illegal abortions.

Religion

Religious freedom in America should mean that we all have a right to our religious beliefs. But it should not give us the right to use religion and beliefs to discriminate against others who do not share them—especially when doing so risks lives.

Attorneys – You Can Hear The Dam Breaking

Bloomberg Law – “There is so much confusion”

‘Aiding and Abetting’

Abortion bans before six weeks in some states can depend on enforcement through lawsuits filed by private citizens. Possible targets: abortion providers and anyone who aids and abets an abortion – after an assumed heartbeat is detected – which is a “flutter (or the beginning of our pacemaker),” and not a heartbeat.

Hospitals, Healthcare Systems, Telehealth providers, Pharmacists, Nurses, and Providers are all looking for answers (and to date, getting few). I am sure that most of you are getting calls (if not, you will), as confusion reigns, from Coast to Coast.

Regulations

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act obligates all Medicare-participating hospitals with emergency departments to furnish all medical conditions that pose serious jeopardy to health, bodily severe impairment, or serious organ damage. This duty extends to emergency care for pregnancy or pregnancy loss.

Medical Societies Speak Out

The American Psychiatric Association

By dismantling nearly 50 years of legal precedent, the Court has jeopardized millions of American women’s physical and mental health and undermined the physician-patient relationship’s privacy.

This move will disproportionately impact our most vulnerable populations, such as communities of color, people living in rural areas, and those with low incomes who may have to travel long distances to receive abortions.

Today’s ruling will put many pregnant women and their families into life-threatening and/or traumatic situations.

American Society and Association, of Clinical Oncology

Unfortunately, with the implementation of Dobbs, doctors have been handicapped in this critical patient-doctor decision-making process. Still, ASCO will work to help our members navigate this new situation and preserve their patients’ access to the highest quality care by providing evidence-based clinical guidance, including fertility preservation, and by advocating for access to all the components of high-quality care.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)

“We are treating this as a disaster response,” Verma said. “We are in an emergency, and this is a disaster.” Its impact on situations will include miscarriage and in vitro fertilization. The practice of medicine will be reshaped, the group said, or even contradicted by “by-laws not founded in science or based on evidence.” She wondered, “Are surgeons going to be afraid to intervene when a pregnant patient ruptures their appendix because they might inadvertently end the pregnancy?”

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)

Today’s ruling means that in many places in the United States, this evidence-based care will be difficult or impossible to access, threatening the health and safety of our patients and jeopardizing the patient-physician relationship.

New England Journal of Medicine

The Supreme Court’s fig-leaf justification behind these restrictions was that induced abortion was a dangerous procedure that required tighter regulation to protect the health of persons seeking that care. Facts belie this disingenuous rhetoric.1,2. In view of these predictable consequences, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine strongly condemn the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision

AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges)

These laws and policies that restrict or otherwise interfere with the patient-physician relationship put patients at risk by limiting access to quality, evidence-based care.

Probation Officers | Federal | The PSR

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Probation Officers Representing The Court:

They Conduct The Presentence Interview,

This is critical – as from it they prepare

Your Presentence Report (PSR),

Which acts as your “referral” to

The Federal Bureau of Prisons for everything

><

For a No Obligation Free Consult Call Dr.Blatstein at: 240.888.7778, or through email at: info@PPRSUS.com. Dr. Blatstein answers and personally returns all of his calls.

Probation receives and evaluates pre-sentence investigation requests.

Their Process:

  • 1st they interview you, and then
    • Identify and pursue leads to obtain evidence.
    • Gather and document evidence by interviewing involved parties, obtaining statements, reviewing and analyzing records and files, etc.
    • Gather criminal history, police reports, victim impact statements, criminal complaints, and information and review them prior to the interview with the offender.
    • Conduct offender criminal history checks, warrant inquiries, and driver’s license abstract checks.
    • Compile and maintain history and case records.
    • Inform offenders of their rights, responsibilities, and purposes of the pre-sentence investigation process.
    • Interview offenders are required by the courts to have a pre-sentence investigation completed.
    • Utilize PSI interview guide and the Criminogenic Domains of Criminal History, Education/Employment, Financial, Family/Marital, Accommodation, Leisure/Recreation, Companions, Alcohol/Drug, Emotional/Personal, and Attitude/Orientation.
    • Complete various extensive assessment tools to gauge offender risk and needs.
    • Collect PSI fees.
    • Coordinate investigations with other law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies, and other relevant entities.
    • Confirm information gathered during the interview.
    • Communicate with the appropriate Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation staff, other state agencies, related organizations, other entities, volunteers, and the public to provide information, referral services, technical advice, and consultation regarding PSI.
    • Communicate with Courts, attorneys, law enforcement, and other agencies involved in a court-ordered pre-sentence investigation.
    • Document interview and investigation.
  • Identify and Inform crime victims of their rights.
    • Assist the victim advocates in coordinating victim requests for offender information; victim issues such as recovery from injury, financial losses, or victim mediation; preparation of victim impact statements and reports; communicate offender progress and victim assistance to various local, state, and federal officials, and to treatment staff.

Prepare The Presentence Report and

Recommend administrative, legal, and/or sentencing action.

  • Present evidence to prosecutors, legal staff, or courts.
  • Prepare and present testimony as required for legal proceedings or administrative hearings.
  • Report offender compliance with the presentence investigation to courts.
  • Summarize information gathered during the investigation and interview into the pre-sentence format.

Make sentencing recommendations

  • based on sentencing guidelines and a thorough analysis of:
  • Ensure the report is distributed according to Applicable Code standards.
  • Monitor programs for compliance with state and federal laws compliance.
  • Gather, compile, and maintain statistics for required and requested reports.
  • Investigate and confirm the information on offender release plans or interstate compact investigations.
  • Maintain working knowledge of the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (DOCR) programs and community-based programs that are available for offenders.

Note: The duties of probation officers listed above are not intended to be all-inclusive.

Federal Sentencing and Placement – The Process

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98% of federal defendants plea

Federal Sentencing

1st: Federal Defendants indicted, >93% likely will receive a federal sentence to a BOP facility

 

2nd: The defendant’s first appearance in court
  • ~93+%, can result in either a plea or verdict of guilty to a federal sentence
  • Between the Defendant’s 1stand, 2nd court appearance; a resume or CV of the defendant’s background is developed: called the Presentence Report (PSR).
  • The PSR is where the Defense Team Can make a Placement Request, while documenting the defendant’s medical, criminal, work & education histories, etc.
3rd: The defendant’s second court appearance is for the Sentencing Hearing
  • The details of sentencing are not taught in most law schools
  • Judges determine the length of time the defendant is imprisoned
  • Judges can also make a placement request to the BOP
4th: The BOP determines placement
  • Some of the factors that affect placement (BOP Policy Statement P5100.08 (Chapter 4 Pages 5-13 and Chapter 5 Pages 12-13):
    • Judges recommendations
    • Public Safety Factor (PSF) Variables
      • Accepting Responsibility
      • Age
      • Criminal History
      • Education Level
      • Legal Release Residence
    • Management Variables; Pre-determined Security levels
      • Disruptive Group-confirmed member
      • Greatest Offense Severity #
      • Greatest Severity Offense
      • Prison Disturbance
      • Serious escape
      • Serious Telephone Abuse
      • Sex Offender
      • The threat to Government Officials
    • Medical CARE LEVELS I-IV Structure
    • Mental Healthcare CARE LEVELS I-IV Structure
    • Psychology Treatment Programs
    • Medication Availability

      • On Formulary, or available
      • Non-Formulary requires a lengthy preapproval process
      • Or Just Not Available, where a similar substitute may be implemented

For Groups: My PowerPoint Presentation

Mental Healthcare In The BOP – Is This Your Client?

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FSA - First step act

Serious Mental Illness In The BOP 

The BOP provides Medical and Mental Healthcare (MH), through their 4 CARE LEVELS.

The BOP’s Psychology Data System (Page 2) Is Filled Out For All MH Levels.

The Designation and Sentence Computation Center places inmates into Care Levels 1 and 2

CARE LEVEL 1 MH

  • No Significant Need.
  • No history of serious functional impairment due to mental illness
  • No need for regular mental health visits
  • No hospitalization in the last 5 years
  • Defendant on their own has sought help
  • Controlled with 2 psychotropic meds (Not MH I if taking antipsychotic)
  1. Psychotropic medications:
    • anti-anxiety agents
    • mood stabilizers
    • stimulants
  2. Antipsychotic medicines, 
    • delusions (false, fixed beliefs) or
    • hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that are not really there).
    • schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or
    • very severe depression (also known as “psychotic depression”).
  • Clinical visits q 6 mo

CARE LEVEL 2 MH

  • He/she has a mental illness requiring:
  • Routine Ongoing Outpatient visits
    • Medication controlled,
    • Medical visits q 1-6 months
    • Group Therapy, interventions every other week
  • Crisis Oriented, BRIEF MH Care, g., placement on suicide watch
  • Psychiatric Hospitalizations within the last 5 yrs
  • On Antipsychotic or 2 psychotropic meds

CARE LEVEL III & IV designation is made by the BOP’s Office of Medical Designations and Transportation

 CARE LEVEL 3 MH

  • Not In-patient
  • Enhanced Outpatient (Requires outpatient contacts with a prescribing doc > than monthly [at least weekly]); or
  • Housed in A Residential Treatment Program.
  • 2+ Psychiatric Hospitalizations within the last 3 yrs
  • 3+ anti-psychotic meds [Or > 5 meds for multiple Dx]

If you have a client with an MH CARE LEVEL of III, and a Medical CARE LEVEL of II,
The MH placement takes precedence.

Care Level 4 MH

  • Inpatient
    • gravely disabled and
    • cannot function in the general population, as in CARE3-MH
    • medical care 24/7/365
  • Tx plan reviewed every 90 days

Federal Prison Placement Preparation

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The Presentence Report

1st. Prepare For Your Presentence Interview

Properly prepared, will allow the probation Office to draft an accurate

Presentence Report – which will control your future

Incorporate these federal prison placement data points:

Medical and Mental Healthcare needs to be implemented through

  • Psychological Treatment Programs while available, have limited access and several may be security level specific.

The First Step Act Includes;

I) Brave Program A first-timer young male offender 32 years of age or younger, facing a sentence of 60 months or more

II) Challenge Program A male inmate facing a high-security penitentiary with a current diagnosis of either: Mood, Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Delusion, and/or Substance-induced Psychotic Disorders

III) Mental Health Step Down A male or female who lacks the skills to function in a general population prison setting and is willing to work with Psychiatry Services

IV) Resolve A male or female with a current diagnosis of a mental illness related to physical, mental, and/or intimate domestic violence or traumatic PTSD

V) Skills A significant functional impairment due to intellectual disabilities, neurological and/or remarkable social skills deficits such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) to mention just a few.

VI) Stages  A male inmate with a serious mental illness and a primary diagnostic of Borderline Personality Disorder, along with a history of unfavorable institutional adjustment.

VIIa) Sex Offender Non-Residential Single Sex Crime or first-time Internet Sex Offense

VIIb) Sex Offender Residential Multiple sex crimes.

VIIc) Butner’s Commitment and Treatment Program for Sexually Dangerous Persons, Page 12, Is considered for sexually dangerous persons with the possibility of criminal recidivism

VIII) Female Integrated Treatment Is a female with substance abuse (RDAP Eligibility Possible), trauma-related disorders, and other mental illnesses. (FIT) Program

Medication availability falls into 3 tiers:

  1. On the BOP Formulary (available).
  2. Non-Formulary; these require a lengthy preauthorization process.
  3. Last: these are just not available. While similar medications are substituted, how is their efficacy verified?

Security Requirements

  1. Offense Level vs Criminal History Calculation
  2. Criminal History Calculation
    • +3 points for each prior sentence > 1 Year + 1 Month.
    • +2 points for each prior sentence > 60 days, not counted above.
    • +1 point for each prior sentence, <= 60 days not counted above; for up to a maximum of 4 points in this category.
    • +2 points for each revocation that has a new charge or occurs under federal supervision.
    • + 1 point for each prior sentence resulting from a conviction of a crime of violence that did not receive any points as noted above because the sentence was treated as a single sentence, up to a total of 3 points for this subsection.

The BOP and Prison Security Level Placement

The Presentence Report – A Medical, Medication, and Security Requirement Referral

PPRSUS.com

As found in my LinkedIn 2/29/2020 post

Presentence Interview Preparation – Gets Your “Message On The Record”

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Getting The Presentence Interview (PSI) Right

Gets Your “Message On The Record”

The Presentence Interview, and its preparation, long before the interview takes place is likely the pivotal time when the defense team can make a difference in their client’s future. Properly prepared for the presentence interview can at best provide a pathway for the defense to get “their” message on the record.

Abstract

Imprisonment is a frightening experience for your client and their family. Counsel and the defendant’s family together can assuage some of these fears by addressing healthcare and the specialty programs available in Federal Prison before the defendant is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) through being properly prepared for their presentence interview,

The Presentence Interview

The Presentence Interview:

  • is done by the Probation Officer (the court’s representative).
  • Following their investigation where they verify your background history,
  • the Probation Officer will take what she/he learned from the presentence interview and draft the official Presentence Report (PSR) along with,
  • making sentencing and placement recommendations to the judge.

 

The Presentence Report (PSR) Importance

The Presentence Report (PSR) also plays a critical role in the Sentencing Guidelines and statutory sentencing considerations, meaning,

  • The judge at sentencing will use it to determine how long you will be incarcerated,
  • The BOP will use it to 1st: place or designate you to a specific facility while matching you according to any needs you may have based on: 
    • security level,
    • prison placement,
    • programming,
    • pre-release, and even
    • medical care.
    • The inmate’s federal prison life depends on that PSR.
  • Should you qualify for Supervised Release,
    • Probation will then get a copy before meeting you in order to get an idea as to whom they are going to supervise over the next several years. 
  • Last, The Presentence Report (PSR) is considered:
    • gospel fact about the defendant.
    • This is because it is often considered the “Inmates Bible”.
    • So you see: It Truly Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving...

One cannot overstate the importance of The Presentence Interview to be properly prepared for – as it impacts The Presentence Report (PSR).

Asking to change the PSR later asks a court to,

  • change positions that it has already adopted as accurate.
  • Even if this can be done – a big if –
  • the amendment process can take years and
  • many billable hours to complete.

Should there be a medical or mental healthcare issue,

  • the PSR drafting process is the time to get it right.
  • An inaccurate PSR can mean a lack of consideration at sentencing and
  • inappropriate or absent care after imprisonment.

For example, if kidney dialysis is necessary,

Everything is important, from osteoarthritis and degenerative joint diseases to food allergies and medically necessary diets.

Activities of Daily Living (ADL)

  • Everything needs to be documented, including:
  • how any maladies would limit “activities of daily living” (“ADL”).
    • Patient-inmates are considered ‘independent’ if they can accomplish their Activities of Daily Living (ADL) – things like dressing, bathing, and eating – on their own.

Medications

Medications must also be identified to estimate which prescription drugs the BOP will make available. It is critical to identify whether given medications are available,

  1. On- Formulary, or
  2. Non-Formulary medication.
    • Understand that the BOP will discourage the use of non-formulary medications
    • They require that they need special approval.
    • More likely, BOP physicians will just switch the inmate’s treatment medications to those that have similar equivalents.
    • Do you know which medications are either available and on-formulary or non-formulary?
    • These issues should be addressed with the court before incarceration because,
      • after incarceration, the court has no real oversight.
      • Letters from the client’s personal physicians should provide documentation about their prescription selection, and
        • reasons why “similar” medicines are not appropriate for individual inmates.
  3. Last, What do you do if you learn that your client’s medication are not available?
    • There are options, but you need:
      • Time
      • The cooperation of the current treating physician

Medical Care

  1. Today the BOP uses a complicated method to convert a person’s medical diagnoses and treatments into a CARE LEVEL Classification. 
    • Classifications range from CARE LEVEL I for the healthiest inmate-patient, to
    • CARE LEVEL IV for gravely ailing inmate-patients who need ‘in-patient’ care. 
  1. Each facility then is identified by both a Security Level and this
  2. CARE LEVEL structure and inmates are then placed accordingly.

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