Second Chance Act—Do you want the maximum amount of halfway house time or home detention?

The Second Chance Act states that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) shall ensure that a prisoner serving a term of imprisonment spends a portion of the final months of that term (not to exceed 12 months) in a community correctional facility (halfway house) or appropriate conditions that will afford the prisoner a reasonable opportunity to adjust and prepare for the reentry of that prisoner to the community.

The Second Chance Act clarifies the statute governing federal halfway house placement prior to release, and ensures consideration of longer placements. It does not require the BOP to place inmates in halfway houses earlier or for longer periods of time. The bill simply requires the BOP to ensure that, to the extent practicable, an inmate is considered for halfway house placement for up to 12 months, not just up to a maximum of six months or 10% of his time served, whichever is less, as set forth in the previous law.

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In addition, the Second Chance Act allows the BOP discretion to place a prisoner in home confinement instead of in a halfway house. See the “Revised Guidance for Residential Reentry Center (RRC) Placements”, June 24, 2010 Memorandum. Thereby, a prisoner who receives additional halfway house time through the Second Chance Act may actually serve part of the additional time in home detention instead of in a halfway house. 

Recently, due to halfway house overcrowding, bureaucratic red tape, and general apathy, indifference, and confusion by the individual BOP prisons on what criteria should be used in evaluating inmates for additional halfway house time, the Central Office sent out a directive. On June 24, 2010 a Memorandum from the Assistant Director of Correctional Programs was sent to all Wardens and Executive Staff of all prisons titled “Revised Guidance for Residential Reentry Center (RRC) Placements”, in other words, what you need to do to get the maximum amount of halfway house and/or home detention.

Initial SCA (Second Chance Act) Program©

            We provide to you, through research, documentation, communication with you, your family if applicable, the court, DSCC, and other appropriate entities, and our SCA Questionnaire ©, documentation to support eligibility and application for additional halfway house time/home confinement via the Second Chance Act. We do this by following the very guidelines that are in the June 24, 2010 Memorandum. We tell you what you need to do, what not to do, and how to increase your chances of maximum halfway house/home confinement via the Second Chance Act. Then we put together an Initial SCA (Second Chance Act) Package © and send it to all the various BOP staff members that make that decision on your additional halfway house time/home confinement. Unless you are proactive in this process and can provide the supporting documentation and make a strong case you will not receive it. This is what we do. We are experts at preparing and positioning clients for the Second Chance Act and have the resources, knowledge, and skills to help you prepare and position yourself for eligibility and acceptance.

Enhanced SCA (Second Chance Act) Program©

The BOP has been relying more and more on one specific factor of the Second Chance Act when considering additional halfway house time/home confinement for inmates. That factor is "any statement by the Court that imposed the sentence." We have developed an additional program whereby we communicate with the sentencing judge through both letter and telephone communication and present a true and realistic picture of the inmate's situation, circumstances, and rehabilitation. We then ask the judge to write a recommendation for not only additional halfway house time/home detention for the inmate, but also a specific number of months of additional halfway house or home detention, the maximum amount. We are having very good results with this program and procuring judicial recommendations from the judges. We then send this letter as well as a letter from the inmate with our package to the inmate's facility. The judge also sends his recommendation directly to the facility. This is a three pronged attack as the facility (Warden, Unit Team members) receive our recommendation, a recommendation from the sentencing judge, and a contrite, remorseful, repentant personal letter from the inmate. This program is called the Enhanced SCA Program ©.

Contact Us

Please contact us by telephone, email, or fax. The information in this website only represents a small part of our services, knowledge, and capabilities. Contact us now for your free confidential consultation. We are always interested in hearing from prospective clients and will be glad to answer any and all questions. All communications are strictly confidential.

Telephone: (954) 522-2254
Fax: (954) 206-0999
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 7055
Seminole, Florida 33775
Email: info@jailtimeconsulting.com