Tag federal defendant

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

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

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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

Entering The BOP – Verifying The Availability of Your Medications

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Verifying Medication  Availability

Will Go A Long Way To Easing Your Client’s Fears

    • They assume that they will still get medical care on the inside.
    • The assumption may also be that they will also get the same medications that they got on the outside,
    • This will likely be a False assumption.

 

Medication availability (~ 3500 different drugs), falls into 3 categories.

1st) On Formulary -Available:

      • These medications are available for BOP healthcare providers for inmate use.

2nd) Non-Formulary -These require a lengthy Preauthorization Process

      • These medications while they are stocked, are not available and require a lengthy Pre-authorization.
      • As the BOP Formulary is available online, and should your medication fall into this category, this discussion should take place long before the Presentence Interview for obvious reasons.

3rd) Similar equivalents – Not On Formulary (Not Available)

      • Here similar or equivalent substitutions are used. It is before this point, and long before the PSI, after consulting with the current treating physician of record, that defense needs to make appropriate decisions regarding this medical problem.
      • Albeit, addressing it before the PSR is complete, with the backing of the US Attorney, and finally the court.
        1. Examples of medication confusion for Cholesterol Control:
          • PCSK9 Inhibitors vs. Statins. Statins are a popular treatment that has been available since the 1980s. PCSK9 inhibitors, on the other hand, are a new type of cholesterol drug. They were approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2015.

Generics

    • These are the drug of choice for the BOP as they are cheaper than brand-name medications.
    • It may be beneficial to inform your client ahead of time that, while they’ll be taking a generic medication
      • since there are many manufacturers who each produce similar generic drugs
      • these same drugs, while may differ in color, size, and shape;
      • they should be the same
    • Nobody likes surprises, especially if they are entering prison for the first time.

                                                              Generic Lipitor Good Rx

 

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.

Photo Credit: https://pixabay.com

Healthy Steps for Older Adults 2022

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FSA - First step act

FSA, Productive Activities (PA)
Healthy Steps for Older Adults 2022

Program Description Healthy Steps for Older Adults is an evidence-based falls prevention program designed to raise participants’ knowledge and awareness of steps to take to reduce falls and improve health and well-being. The goal of the program is to prevent falls, promote health, and ensure that
older adults remain as independent as possible for as long as possible.
Hours 3
Location(s) All institutions
Needs Addressed Medical/Recreation/Leisure/Fitness
Program Delivery Contractors
Health Services
Recreation
Unit Team
Volunteers

AARP Foundation Finances 50+ (2022)

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FSA - First step act

AARP Foundation Finances 50+ (2022)

Program Description

This program provides financial education and counseling for vulnerable households, particularly adults age 50+.

Older adults face unique challenges in financial planning and weak job prospects. This program will assist the older adult in financial goal setting that translates into positive financial behaviors.
Hours 1.5
Location(s) All BOP Locations
Needs Addressed Finance/Poverty

Pregnant In Federal Prison

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PPRS - PPRSUS - Physician Presentence Report Service

A significant percentage of women entering prison are of the age where they’re sexually active, are either at risk for pregnancy, or are already pregnant.

Federal – While onsite nurseries are not available, they do have limited offsite programs

  1. MINT: Mothers and Infants Together (MINT) Program (GAO, Page 79)
  2. RPP: Residential Parenting Program (RPP) (GAO, Page 82).
  3. A reason to be very proactive:

Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Management of Its Female Inmate Population, Evaluations and Inspections Division 18-05 (Washington, DC: September 2018).

 

I) Fort Worth, Texas (Mothers and Infants Nurturing Together (MINT) Program, Tx.);

No alt text provided for this image

CONTACT: The “Little House”, houses the MINT women and their babies.

Volunteers of America Texas, 2710 Avenue J., Fort Worth, Texas 76105, 817) 535-0853

BOP (PS 5200.02, CN-1):

  • If RRC placement is medically appropriate and documents this on the Medical/ Psychological Pre-Release Evaluation (BP-A0351), which is forwarded to Unit Management.
  • Direct court commitments have a secondary designation noted on the Inmate Load and Security Designation form (BP-A0337).

From the GAO-21-147, Pregnant Women in DOJ Custody, Page 79

  • They also have a Residential Reentry Center for men.
  • They work to reduce recidivism and the stigma for children born to incarcerated parents, by enhancing the bond between the mother and infant, while teaching the women how to care for their infants and be better citizens.
No alt text provided for this image
  • Women have a weekly check-in with a nurse and are taken outside of the facility for prenatal care.
  • The program holds up to six women at one time.
  • They usually have approximately two or three participants at any given time,
  • And approximately 10 participants annually.
  • The women typically stay 3 months postpartum and BOP officials noted that women may request an additional 6-month extension (PS 5200.02, CN-1, page 16).
  • When interviewed by GAO staff, the women stated that they received regular medical care, including any special care that was needed, and any special accommodations that they requested.
  • The mother is then returned to an institution to complete her sentence, if necessary.

II) The Greenbrier ‘MINT’ Program, WV.

CONTACT: Operates under The Baltimore Residential Reentry Office, Baltimore Maryland, Appalachian Mountains in Pocahontas County, Hillsboro, WV. Facility Director: Starlena Robertson, Case Manager’s Susan Lane or Mary Eggert, (304) 653-4882 or (304) 653-4570, mint3vz@frontiernet.net

BOP (PS 5200.02, CN-1):

  • If RRC placement is medically appropriate and documents this on the Medical/ Psychological Pre-Release Evaluation (BP-A0351), which is forwarded to Unit Management.
  • Direct court commitments have a secondary designation noted on the Inmate Load and Security Designation form (BP-A0337).
No alt text provided for this image
  • Here they promote maternal bonding and parenting skills in a home-like environment.
  • There is no medical care provided onsite.
  • Mental health providers offer onsite services twice weekly and women are taken outside of the facility for prenatal care.
  • The program has ten staff and can hold up to 20 women at one time.
  • The program has approximately 10 participants at any given time and approximately 20 annually.
  • The women typically stay 3 months postpartum and BOP officials noted that women may request an additional 6-month extension (PS 5200.02, CN-1, page 16).
  • Interviewed by GAO staff, the women stated that they received regular medical care, including any special care that was needed, and any special accommodations that they requested.
  • One woman stated that she appreciated the welcome basket she received upon arriving at the Hillsboro MINT program of donated items such as toiletries for the woman, as well as infant clothing and accessories.
  • The mother is then returned to an institution to complete her sentence, if necessary.

III) Residential Parenting Program (RPP), Washington State Department of Corrections

CONTACT: Sonja Alley, Correctional Unit Supervisor, Washington Corrections Center for Women, Washington State Department of Corrections (253) 858-4200 X 8274, sonja.alley@doc.wa.gov

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BOP (PS 5200.02, CN-1):

  • Unit Team completes the BP-A0210, Institutional Referral for CCC Placement, and submits it to the Seattle Residential Reentry Manager.
  • Furloughs are only accepted Tuesdays through Thursdays at RPP. Release residence can be to any state.
  • The Designation and Sentence Computation Center (DSCC) may also refer initial designations to the Seattle Residential Reentry Manager, with a copy to the Female Offender Branch Administrator.

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