Trump’s prison reform is the First Step Act, signed on December 21, 2018, and it remains the most significant overhaul of the federal prison system in decades. The law shortened several mandatory minimum sentences, created a credit system that rewards inmates for completing rehabilitation programs, made an earlier crack cocaine sentencing fix retroactive, and set new standards for how the Bureau of Prisons treats people in its custody.1Federal Bureau of Prisons. An Overview of the First Step Act
It Only Reaches Federal Prisons
Every provision applies exclusively to the federal system run by the Bureau of Prisons. State prisons and local jails are untouched. That limit matters, because the federal system held about 154,093 inmates at the end of 2024, less than ten percent of the roughly two million people incarcerated nationwide.2Bureau of Justice Statistics. Federal Prisoner Statistics Collected Under the First Step Act, 20253Federal Bureau of Prisons. Population Statistics Someone serving a state sentence for a state offense gets nothing from this law. State legislatures set their own sentencing rules.
Shorter Mandatory Minimums for Drug and Firearm Cases
The law adjusted several mandatory penalties that critics across the political spectrum had called disproportionate.
Drug Trafficking With Prior Convictions
A drug trafficker with one prior qualifying conviction used to face a 20-year mandatory minimum. That dropped to 15 years. Two or more prior qualifying convictions used to trigger mandatory life; that is now 25 years.1Federal Bureau of Prisons. An Overview of the First Step Act The law also tightened the definition of what counts as a qualifying prior conviction, so fewer defendants trigger the enhanced penalties at all.4U.S. Congress. The First Step Act of 2018 – An Overview
A Broader Safety Valve
Federal law lets judges sentence certain nonviolent drug offenders below the mandatory minimum through a “safety valve.” Before 2018, only defendants with very limited criminal histories qualified. The First Step Act widened eligibility, giving judges more room to impose individualized sentences.5United States Sentencing Commission. Overview of the First Step Act
No More Firearm Charge Stacking
Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), prosecutors used to charge multiple firearm counts in one indictment, and the second count automatically carried a consecutive 25-year mandatory minimum, even for a first-time defendant. The law ended that “stacking” practice. The 25-year enhancement now applies only when the defendant already has a prior, final conviction for a similar firearm offense from a separate case.4U.S. Congress. The First Step Act of 2018 – An Overview For a first-time defendant, that can be the difference between roughly 30 years and 10.
Retroactive Relief for Crack Cocaine Sentences
For decades, federal law punished crack cocaine offenses far more harshly than powder cocaine offenses, though the two are pharmacologically similar. Congress narrowed the disparity with the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, but that fix applied only to people sentenced on or after August 3, 2010. Everyone sentenced before that date stayed locked into the older, harsher terms.
The First Step Act made the 2010 change retroactive. A person sentenced for a crack cocaine offense before August 3, 2010 can petition a federal court for a reduced sentence as though the Fair Sentencing Act had been in place at the original sentencing.1Federal Bureau of Prisons. An Overview of the First Step Act The petition can come from the defendant, the Bureau of Prisons, or the government.6U.S. Sentencing Commission. First Step Act of 2018 Resentencing Provisions Retroactivity Data Report
Good Conduct Time Restored to 54 Days a Year
Federal inmates had long been entitled, on paper, to up to 54 days of good conduct credit per year. In practice, the Bureau of Prisons calculated the credit based on time actually served rather than the sentence imposed by the court, which shaved the real benefit down to about 47 days a year. The Supreme Court upheld that reading in 2010, and inmates had no way around it.7National Archives. Good Conduct Time Credit Under the First Step Act
The First Step Act rewrote the statute to tie good conduct credits to the “sentence imposed,” restoring the full 54 days.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3624 – Release of a Prisoner The extra seven days a year add up to more than two months over a 10-year sentence, and the change was retroactive for all current federal inmates.
Earned Time Credits for Rehabilitation
Separate from good conduct credits, the law created a new “earned time credit” system tied to programming. Eligible inmates earn 10 days of credit for every 30 days of successful participation in approved programs or productive activities. Those rated minimum or low risk who hold that rating over two consecutive assessments earn an additional 5 days, for a total of 15 per 30-day period.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3632 – Development of Risk and Needs Assessment System
These credits do not shorten a sentence on paper. They allow earlier transfer to prerelease custody, such as a halfway house or home confinement. For the inmate, the result is the same: time outside prison walls, reintegrating under supervision.
The Bureau of Prisons decides who qualifies using PATTERN, the Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs. It scores inmates across four risk levels: minimum, low, medium, and high.10Federal Bureau of Prisons. First Step Act – PATTERN Risk Assessment The score considers age, criminal history, education, and institutional behavior. Qualifying programs include vocational training, education, cognitive behavioral therapy, and faith-based courses.
Who Cannot Earn These Credits
Not everyone in federal custody is eligible. The statute lists categories of disqualifying offenses, and the BOP maintains a detailed index of specific crimes that bar participation.1Federal Bureau of Prisons. An Overview of the First Step Act Excluded categories cover violent crimes, terrorism, espionage, human trafficking, sex offenses, repeat felon-in-possession-of-a-firearm convictions, and high-level drug offenses. Inmates subject to a final deportation order cannot apply earned credits toward prerelease custody, even if they complete the programming.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3632 – Development of Risk and Needs Assessment System Whether a specific prior conviction disqualifies someone can be a hard question; a BOP case manager or defense attorney is the right person to ask.
New Standards for How Inmates Are Treated
The law also imposed operational requirements on the Bureau of Prisons.
Housed Closer to Home
The BOP must place inmates in facilities as close to their primary residence as practicable, with a 500 driving-mile target.11U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. Audit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Efforts to Place Inmates Close to Home Overcrowding and security-level constraints mean the BOP does not always meet the standard, but the benchmark is now enforceable.
Pregnant Inmates and Hygiene Products
Federal officers cannot use restraints on pregnant inmates, with narrow exceptions, and shackling during labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery is banned outright. Federal facilities must also provide feminine hygiene products at no cost, in quantities that meet each person’s healthcare needs.1Federal Bureau of Prisons. An Overview of the First Step Act
Compassionate Release Opened to the Courts
A federal inmate seeking compassionate release used to have only one path: the Bureau of Prisons Director. Requests were routinely denied or ignored. The First Step Act lets inmates petition a federal court directly after either exhausting their administrative appeals or waiting 30 days from the date they submitted the request to the warden, whichever comes first.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3582 – Imposition of a Sentence of Imprisonment
A court can reduce a sentence when it finds “extraordinary and compelling reasons,” which typically covers terminal illness, debilitating medical conditions, or advanced age. A separate provision covers inmates who are at least 70 and have served at least 30 years, provided the BOP certifies they pose no danger to the community.13Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5050.50 – Compassionate Release/Reduction in Sentence
How Implementation Has Gone
A statute on the books is not the same as a program in operation. The Bureau of Prisons was slow to build out the programming that earned time credits require, and early complaints centered on delays in calculating credits and moving eligible inmates to prerelease custody. By January 2024, the BOP reported that 17,381 people had been released from halfway houses, home confinement, or secure facilities using credits earned under the law. Another 32,508 inmates still in custody were expected to receive earlier release dates or transfers based on accrued credits.14Federal Bureau of Prisons. First Step Act Annual Report – June 2024
In June 2025, the BOP issued a directive aimed at fully implementing the First Step Act and the Second Chance Act for home confinement placements, telling staff that projected credit accrual and statutory timelines should drive transfer decisions and that limited halfway house capacity should not block otherwise eligible home confinement. Whether that speeds transfers in practice is still an open question.