Home Confinement vs Halfway House.

Compared to communal living in an RRC, home confinement usually provides substantial privacy. Residents in a federal residential re-entry center (RRC) must share room space with other inmates; and they usually share common areas as well.

However, home confinement may provide more of the same privacy and independence that you would have if you were not under supervision in a halfway house or other RRC. This includes the ability to:

• Wear the clothes you want
• Eat what you want
• Read, watch, or listen to what you want
• Have meals in private (at home)
• Live in a home with other family members
• Sleep in your own bedroom

2. Family Stability

Generally speaking, home confinement offers greater family stability than RRC placement. When sentenced to RRC, you will live away from your family and will be required to return to the facility at the end of each day.

Home confinement allows you to live with your family at all times (except for the time you spend at work or at other approved destinations). This also allows your family members to maintain their roles while you work toward re-entry into the community.

3. Daily Control

Residents in federal residential re-entry centers generally have less daily control than those in home confinement. Many RRCs require residents to follow detailed schedules and curfews, and they may require residents to participate in mandatory drug tests, room searches, and other activities.

Additionally, RRC residents may need to seek approval from a case manager for basic tasks and activities such as:

• Visiting family members and friends
• Making phone calls
• Leaving the facility for errands
• Participating in certain types of religious services

Can a sentencing judge require the BOP to place you directly at home?

1. The BOP’s Authority to Designate Imprisonment Locations

Under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b), the BOP has the authority to designate the place of initial imprisonment for every federal prisoner sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

While your defense attorney can make a placement recommendation to the judge, the judge’s recommendation does not ordinarily bind the BOP. Even if the judge recommends that the BOP place you in a residential re-entry center or at home, the BOP may still decline to do so.

2. Home Confinement is Not the Same as Probation or Supervised Release

If you are not sentenced to prison, your sentence may include a period of home confinement as a condition of probation. If you are sentenced to prison, home confinement can be a form of prerelease custody.

If the sentencing judge imposes home detention as a condition of supervised release, that condition generally applies during supervised release after imprisonment and is administered by the U.S. Probation Office. This is not, however, the same as receiving “direct placement” at home for prison time.

Home confinement for federal defendants typically proceeds in one of two ways:

• Placement in a federal residential re-entry center (RRC) for a period of time, followed by the BOP’s decision to transfer you to home confinement.
• “Direct placement” in home confinement during prerelease custody, without first going to an RRC.

3. Federal Sentencing Guidelines Zone A

Under Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual, the “Sentencing Table” categorizes all federal offenses into four “Zones,” A, B, C, and D. If you fall into Zone A, your sentencing judge may impose probation with community confinement or home detention as a condition of probation.

Community confinement is residence in a community treatment center, halfway house, restitution center, mental health facility, alcohol or drug rehabilitation center, or other community facility. However, the BOP still has final authority over where you will be placed for community confinement.

1. The Duration of Federal Home Confinement

The duration of home confinement varies depending on whether your home confinement will serve as an alternative to the final months of federal prison, not federal detention. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(c)(1), the BOP must, to the extent practicable, ensure that a prisoner spends a portion of the final months of imprisonment-up to 12 months-in prerelease custody under conditions that facilitate reentry; § 3624(c)(2) limits home confinement under that subsection to the shorter of 10 percent of the sentence or six months. This can also include a halfway house placement.

18 U.S.C. § 3624(c)(2) authorizes home confinement as part of prerelease custody. Under § 3624(c)(2), however, home confinement is limited to the shorter of six months or ten percent of the term of imprisonment.

2. The Timing of Federal Home Confinement

The timing of federal home confinement is constrained by the statutory requirements of § 3624(c)(2) as well. If you are eligible for home confinement under this section, the period of home confinement may not exceed the shorter of 10 percent of the term of imprisonment or six months.

Under this provision, the BOP may place eligible prisoners directly in home confinement; they do not necessarily have to be transferred first to a residential re-entry center.

However, under 18 U.S.C. §§ 3624(c)(1) and (c)(2), federal prisoners may qualify for “final-term prerelease custody” and may be considered for direct home placement. In order to qualify for this arrangement, you must meet all of the eligibility requirements for the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) Residential Re-Entry Center (RRC) placement program as well.

3. Eligibility for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Residential Re-Entry Center (RRC) Placement Program

If you are being placed in a Residential Re-Entry Center (RRC) or halfway house, your eligibility will be determined by the BOP according to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b). The factors it considers include:

• The nature of your offense
• Your personal history and characteristics
• Your need for medical treatment
• Your need for vocational training and substance abuse treatment
• Any other pertinent factors that the BOP considers necessary to ensure safe and humane custody in compliance with federal law

At Spodek Law Group the strategy on a case starts the same day the client calls.

What evidence and BOP steps can support direct placement instead of an RRC?

1. How Referrals and Placements Work at the BOP

To better understand how the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) processes home confinement and residential re-entry center (RRC) placements, it’s important to start with the basic procedures. BOP facilities rely on a process that includes both “unit teams” and “Residential Reentry Management” (RRM) offices in each region.

The process for both residential and home confinement placements begins with a program-review meeting of your unit team. If your unit team recommends an RRC placement, it will generally forward an RRC referral to the local RRM office, which is then forwarded to the corresponding facilities.

2. What the BOP Guidance Says About Referrals and Placements

The BOP’s guidance on referrals, placement, and probation/parole for federal prisoners generally calls for the Residential Reentry Management (RRM) office to process all RRC placements. Once the Warden approves the unit team’s recommendation, the referral packet is forwarded to the local RRM office.

According to BOP guidance, the RRM office will “determine if the request is appropriate” and then “identify a facility.” The guidance continues, “Approximately 17-19 months prior to an inmate's release, an RRC referral recommendation is made by the unit team (which, at a minimum, consists of the inmate's unit manager, case manager, and counselor) at a scheduled program review meeting.”

So, if you are looking to be placed directly at home, your efforts should begin before your unit team meets with your case manager to review your program. You will want to prepare any relevant information or arguments that demonstrate you qualify for direct placement in advance.

The information you are considering providing to your case manager should include a description of your residence in the community, and you should be prepared to provide evidence of your residence (if your case manager requests it), as well as evidence of other factors that support home confinement over placement in a residential re-entry center.

What can you do when BOP denies home confinement or an RRC referral fails?

1. What Happens If You Get Denied a Home Confinement or RRC Placement?

Even if the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is willing to place you in a federal residential re-entry center (RRC) or at home, your referral may get rejected. RRC contractors may not be able to accept your referral because they lack the space or resources.

Additionally, residential re-entry centers are not guaranteed to be available in the region where you want to be placed. With each new contract, the availability of residential re-entry centers changes, and you should make sure to inquire about the most recent contract information from your case manager.

2. What Means of Supervision will You Face Under Home Confinement?

Generally speaking, home confinement is a substantial alternative to incarceration. However, it’s still a form of federal confinement, and there are strict rules you must follow. As you prepare for federal re-entry in the community, your case manager will go over the rules you need to follow, including electronic monitoring rules and curfew information.

The Bureau of Prisons also requires the individuals to meet with their assigned supervisor as often as they deem necessary. You may also be subject to drug testing, and you could lose your home confinement placement for a failure to comply with any other BOP policies or requirements.

3. What Options Do You Have If Your BOP Referral Fails?

If your BOP referral fails, you have the right to pursue all pertinent remedies. Depending on the specific circumstances at hand, the Remedies may include:

• Filing complaints through the BOP Administrative Remedy Program. Incarcerated individuals and those subject to other forms of confinement within the BOP’s jurisdiction have access to the Administrative Remedy Program. When seeking an administrative remedy, you generally proceed through informal resolution (BP-8), followed by BP-9, BP-10, and BP-11, subject to applicable exceptions and deadlines.
• Filing an appeal in the federal courts system.
• Pursuing all other remedies allowed by federal law.

Get Advice on Your Situation

If you want someone to look at the specifics of your case, Spodek Law Group handles federal criminal defense nationwide from New York and Los Angeles. The firm has been practicing since 1976 and its motto is simple: we owe loyalty to only you. Call 888 348 8028.