The Tennessee Star on Monday obtained a letter sent by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to attorneys representing Steve Bannon, wherein the federal agency acknowledged it is holding the former White House chief strategist in violation of the First Step Act (FSA) of 2018, as Bannon accrued 10 days of good time credit toward an early release:
To date, Mr. Bannon has earned 10 First Step Act (“FSA”) time credits. These credits would typically be applied toward early transfer to supervision pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 3624 (g) (3). However, Mr. Bannon does not have a term of supervision following his term of imprisonment. Thus, his 10 FSA time credits can only be applied toward prerelease custody placement in a Residential Reentry Center or on home confinement.”
According to attorney R. Trent McCotter, who represents Bannon, “Those credits mean that Mr. Bannon could have been released to home confinement two days ago on October 19, 2024 (i.e., 10 days before the end of his sentence) – yet the BOP declined to do so, citing its view that there is ‘insufficient time’ remaining on Mr. Bannon’s sentence ‘to process’ the referral to home confinement.”
Bannon’s attorneys filed the letter as part of an effort to secure an earlier release but it was sent to Bannon’s lawyers by the Acting Warden at the Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) in Danbury, Connecticut, where Bannon is serving a four-month sentence after he was convicted in 2022 for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena from the House select committee that investigated January 6.
Acting Warden Darek Puzio said that “Mr. Bannon has earned 10 First Step Act (“FSA”) time credits,” which the warden additionally acknowledged “would typically be applied toward early transfer to supervision,” but noted that Bannon was not sentenced to any form of supervised release.
According to Puzio, this means Bannon can only use his credits, which the BOP typically calls good time credits, to secure a transfer to home confinement for the remainder of his sentence. However, the federal official claimed there is insufficient time left in Bannon’s sentence to arrange this and that the BOP department responsible for such arrangements “will not accept placements under 30 days.”
While confirming FCI Danbury and the BOP are willfully ignoring the good time credit accrued by Bannon, the warden nonetheless acknowledged the former Trump adviser “will be released on his full-term release date of October 29, 2024.”
In a legal filing containing the letter, Bannon’s attorneys argued that Puzio’s admission means the court should order Bannon “released immediately.”
This acknowledgment by Puzio and the BOP follows last week’s statement by Bannon that the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) was illegally holding him through its abandonment of the landmark civil justice reform signed into law by former President Donald Trump.
“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,” said Bannon in a statement last week to The National Pulse.
While BOP officials told The Star on Monday that all prisoners are evaluated in accordance with the FSA, the Biden-Harris administration issued guidance earlier this month, when Forbes reported that Democratic’ administration’s implementation of the civil 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.”
Bannon argued the administration’s failure to implement the Trump-era criminal justice reform will cost Vice President Kamala Harris among black and Hispanic voters on Election Day.
“Harris will lose this election on her inability to get black and Hispanic men to vote for her,” said Bannon, after declaring Harris, “has done nothing to implement President Trump’s heroic First Step Act, in fact welcoming hundreds of thousands of hardened illegal migrant criminals while allowing US citizens eligible for early release to rot in prison.”
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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.
