BOP Changes First Step Act Credit Rules: Transit Time May Now Count

This is one of the most important First Step Act developments for federal prisoners and families in 2026.

For years, many prisoners were told that FSA credits did not begin until arrival at the designated BOP institution. That meant the time after sentencing but before arrival at the BOP facility was often treated as dead time for First Step Act purposes. A person could be sentenced, in federal custody, waiting for designation or transportation, working in a jail, taking classes, participating in programming, tutoring others, or doing productive activities — and still be told those days did not count.

The new BOP rule changes that framework.

What Did the BOP Change?

The BOP revised 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(a). The old rule included language tying the start of FSA credit earning to arrival or voluntary surrender at the designated BOP facility. The new version is much simpler:

“An eligible inmate begins earning FSA Time Credits after the inmate’s term of imprisonment commences.”

That change is powerful because federal sentence commencement is governed by 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a). A federal sentence generally begins when the defendant is received in custody awaiting transportation to the official detention facility where the sentence will be served, or when the defendant voluntarily arrives to begin serving the sentence.

Why This Rule Change Happened

The BOP said it made the change to conform its regulation to the best reading of the First Step Act and recent case-law trends. The Federal Register notice specifically cites decisions including Miles v. Bowers, Sharma v. Peters, Davidovic v. Warden, Heath v. Knight, and Anderson v. FPC Yankton, where courts questioned or rejected the old BOP interpretation.

The key issue was simple: the old BOP rule added a restriction that was not clearly in the statute. Courts increasingly concluded that the BOP could not delay FSA credit earning merely because a sentenced prisoner had not yet arrived at the final designated BOP facility.

This Does Not Mean Credits Are Automatic

The rule change is important, but families should not misunderstand it.

The BOP made clear that the change does not mean every eligible inmate automatically earns FSA credits immediately after sentencing. To earn credits, the inmate must still successfully complete Evidence-Based Recidivism Reduction programming or Productive Activities assigned based on assessed needs.

That means the prisoner still needs proof.

Examples of potentially important post-sentencing activity may include:

• Jail work assignments;
• Kitchen, laundry, sanitation, orderly, or trustee work;
• Education classes;
• GED work;
• Drug education or recovery programming;
• Religious programming;
• Financial literacy classes;
• Parenting programs;
• Reentry programming;
• Teaching, tutoring, or mentoring others;
• Tablet-based or paper-based programming, if documented;
• Any other structured productive activity that can be tied to FSA requirements.

How Much Time Could This Change Add?

BOP’s own analysis found that newly committed inmates with sentences starting from 2023 through 2025 spent an average of 66.06 days between sentencing and arrival at the designated BOP facility. The BOP estimated that this average period could result in 23.81 days of Time Credits for eligible inmates.

That may not sound dramatic, but in federal prison, 24 days can decide whether someone leaves this month or next month. It can affect halfway house, home confinement, supervised release transfer, and family planning.

Who Benefits Most From the New Rule?

The new rule may matter most for prisoners who had a long delay after sentencing before BOP arrival.

What About People Who Self-Surrendered?

The new rule still matters for self-surrender cases, but usually in a different way.

If a defendant is sentenced and allowed to self-surrender later, the person’s sentence generally does not commence on the sentencing date merely because the judgment has been entered. The BOP rule and 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a) distinguish between someone received in custody awaiting transportation and someone who voluntarily arrives to begin serving the sentence.

For a self-surrender defendant, FSA earning generally begins when the person voluntarily arrives at the official detention facility to begin serving the sentence, assuming the person is eligible and completes qualifying programming or productive activities.

What About People in Pretrial Detention Before Sentencing?

This rule does not mean every day in pretrial detention counts for FSA credits. The BOP explained that a federal sentence cannot begin before it is imposed. That means pre-sentencing detention may count as prior custody credit under 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b), but it is not the same thing as earning First Step Act Time Credits.

The strongest new issue is the post-sentencing, pre-arrival period — after the sentence has been imposed and the person is in custody awaiting transportation to the BOP facility.

The Foreign-Sentence and Treaty-Transfer Change

The second major change involves people serving terms of imprisonment imposed in foreign countries who are transferred to BOP custody under prisoner-transfer treaties.

The BOP revised 28 C.F.R. § 523.44(a)(3) to clarify that FSA Time Credits may be applied for inmates serving a term imposed in a foreign country if the U.S. Parole Commission has determined an equivalent U.S. Code sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 4106A.

This is important for U.S. citizens or nationals convicted and sentenced abroad who are transferred back to the United States to serve the sentence in BOP custody. BOP said this change codifies its current practice and allows qualifying treaty-transfer inmates to access FSA programming and reentry-related benefits.

What Families Should Do Now

If your loved one is in federal custody, was recently sentenced, or spent time waiting for BOP designation after sentencing, families should begin organizing records now.

How to Challenge Missing FSA Credits

If the BOP does not count the post-sentencing, pre-arrival period, the prisoner may need to raise the issue through the unit team and the Administrative Remedy Program.

A careful approach may include:

1. Request the FSA time-credit worksheet. Confirm what has been counted and what has not.
2. Calculate the sentencing-to-arrival period. Identify the exact number of days between sentence commencement and BOP arrival.
3. Document qualifying activities. Gather work records, program proof, certificates, rosters, and staff verification.
4. Ask the unit team for review. Request that the records be updated under the revised rule.
5. Use BP-8 through BP-11 if necessary. Administrative remedies may be required before court review.
6. Consider § 2241 habeas review if exhaustion fails. Some FSA credit disputes may be litigated in the district of confinement after exhaustion.

Related resource: BOP Administrative Remedy Process: BP-8 Through BP-11 Explained.

Why This Rule Could Change Release Dates

FSA credits may be applied toward prerelease custody, including Residential Reentry Center placement or home confinement, and in some cases toward early transfer to supervised release. If the BOP previously ignored the time between sentencing and arrival at the designated facility, a corrected calculation may move the prisoner’s date forward.

The rule may affect:

• BOP projected release dates;
• FSA Conditional Placement Dates;
• Residential Reentry Center dates;
• Home confinement eligibility dates;
• Early supervised release transfer dates;
• Administrative remedy timelines;
• Family release planning;
• Sentence-computation reviews.

Common Mistakes Families Should Avoid

• Assuming the BOP locator release date is correct;
• Assuming the BOP will automatically recalculate old transit periods;
• Confusing pretrial jail credit with FSA credits;
• Failing to document work or programs completed after sentencing;
• Waiting until the last months of the sentence to check the FSA worksheet;
• Assuming every inmate is eligible for FSA credits;
• Ignoring disqualifying offenses;
• Missing administrative remedy deadlines;
• Not checking whether FSA credits are earned but not applied;
• Assuming self-surrender time before arrival counts the same as post-sentencing custody.

How Prison Law Firm May Be Able to Help

Prison Law Firm may be able to help federal prisoners, families, and attorneys review whether the new First Step Act rule affects a release date, halfway house date, home confinement date, or supervised release transfer date.

That may include review of:

• Sentencing date and sentence commencement;
• Time spent in county jail, federal detention, USMS custody, holdover, or transit after sentencing;
• FSA eligibility;
• Disqualifying offenses;
• FSA time-credit worksheets;
• Program and work records;
• Good Conduct Time and sentence computation;
• Home confinement and RRC timing;
• Administrative remedies;
• Potential § 2241 habeas issues;
• Treaty-transfer FSA credit questions.

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. First Step Act credits, sentence commencement, post-sentencing custody credit, jail credit, Good Conduct Time, halfway house, home confinement, supervised release transfer, treaty-transfer issues, administrative remedies, and habeas review depend on individual facts, BOP records, the judgment, the PSR, program documentation, risk level, discipline history, current law, and agency decisions.