Navigating the federal criminal justice system’s policies, procedures, and practices can feel insurmountable. From pre-trial through post-sentencing and on to pre-release, a web of “program statements” and institutional practices guide the Federal Bureau of Prisons in making decisions relating to confinement and release. This guide is designed to help ease some of those challenges. Each section highlights obstacles confinement poses and offers resources and strategies to overcome these barriers. Prepared by the NACDL Corrections and Public Defense Committees. [Released March 2021]

Why the Federal Bureau of Prisons Must Stop Monitoring Confidential Legal Emails

This report by NACDL and the Samuelson Clinic makes the case for Congress to act immediately to protect the attorney-client privilege in emails sent between attorneys' offices and people in BOP custody. It also calls for the BOP to stop its practice of requiring incarcerated clients to “voluntarily” agree that their email will be monitored and that attorney-client privilege will not apply to legal emails, just as the government is required to in other contexts. [Released December 2020]

Coalition letter to members of Congress from NACDL and other concerned organizations regarding the need to ensure privileged communication between attorneys and clients in BOP custody, as addressed in the Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act (H.R. 546, 2021).

Comments submitted to the Federal Bureau of Prisons with FAMM and the Justice Action Network regarding a proposed rule on earned time credits authorized by the FIRST Step Act of 2018 (S. 756).

Memo prepared for the webinar "Everything You Wanted To Know About Federal Compassionate Release (But Didn’t Know To Ask)."

Coalition letter to Attorney General William Barr regarding building on the Department of Justice's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in federal facilities, and the potential to lead states to do the same.

Coalition letter to Attorney General William Barr regarding proposed measures the Bureau of Prisons can take to reduce prison populations and improve hygiene conditions for inmates in federal and state facilities, in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons general counsel regarding proposed sentencing reductions for medical reasons.

Letter to the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding proposed sentencing reductions.

Inmates often say that 99 percent of lawyers don’t know the first thing about the Bureau of Prisons and the 1 percent who do are all doing time themselves. Understanding these practice tips will decrease the 99 percent number.

Brief for Amici Curiae Center on the Administration of Criminal Law, FAMM, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, in Support of Appellant and Reversal

Argument: The governing statute, properly construed, does not authorize BOP to refuse to file a sentencing reduction motion for reasons that Congress expressly assigned to a Court for consideration. BOP has routinely refused to recommend the filing of sentence reduction motions for plainly qualified candidates, with results that are not only unlawful but also tragic. District courts have jurisdiction and authority to require BOP to comply with the statutory scheme and file sentence reduction motions for qualified candidates, so that sentencing judges can decide whether, when and to what extent a sentence should be reduced for “extraordinary and compelling reasons.”