The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on Monday declined to confirm to The Tennessee Star that Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist for the Trump administration, was evaluated for possible reductions in his prison sentence in accordance with the First Step Act of 2018.
Bannon, who is now serving a four-month prison sentence after he was convicted in 2022 for his refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena by the House January 6 committee, stated on Friday to The National Pulse, “The Harris Bureau of Prisons is illegally holding me past my legal release date–trying to eliminate one of President Trump’s strongest advocates–these criminals reek of desperation,” and called Vice President Kamala Harris the “Mass Incarceration Queen” for the White House’s failure to implement the Trump-era First Step Act (FSA).
The Star reported Monday that the criminal justice reform allows prisoners to receive up to 54 good time credits per year, as well as up to 15 days of good time credits per 30-day period spent in a prison recidivism program, potentially dramatically reducing the amount of time a prisoner is incarcerated in prison, as the good time credits can be used to either directly lower a sentence or allow a prisoner to complete their sentence at a halfway house or under home confinement.
Despite this suggesting Bannon could have reduced his sentence by between 18 and 75 days under the FSA, a source familiar with the situation told The Star that Bannon remains scheduled for release on October 29, when the former Trump adviser will have completed virtually his entire sentence.
The executive assistant at the Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) in Danbury, Connecticut, where Bannon is held, told The Star on Monday that the BOP “does not comment on the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual,” citing “privacy, safety, and security reasons.”
Nonetheless, the executive assistant told The Star, “All individuals in our custody are reviewed under the First Step Act (FSA) for eligibility and scoring,” while declining to offer specifics about Bannon.
When The Star asked whether this means Bannon was evaluated and found ineligible for sentence reduction under the 2018 criminal justice reform, FCI Danbury declined to disclose specific information and referred The Star to a frequently asked questions page on the BOP website.
Though the executive assistant told The Star all prisoners are screened under the FSA, guidance to streamline implementation of the law was issued by the Biden-Harris administration earlier this month, when Forbes reported the administration’s implementation of the criminal justice reform, “has been plagued with computer problems to calculate the credits, inconsistent interpretation of the First Step Act and poor communication to the line staff at prisons who are tasked with implementing the programs.”
In his Friday statement to The National Pulse, Bannon said the Biden-Harris administration’s failure to effectively implement the FSA will cost Harris with black and Hispanic voters, paving the road for former President Donald Trump to return to the White House.
“Harris will lose this election on her inability to get black and Hispanic men to vote for her in Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Las Vegas,” said Bannon. “The four years she did nothing for family reunification of American citizen prisoners while genuflecting to illegal alien criminals is coming back to bite her.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Steve Bannon” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
I look forward to his return. Just in time to help DRAIN THE SWAMP. ITS A HUGE MONSTER OF A CESS POOL.
These miscreants will pay when Trump gets back in office.