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According to the U.S. Department of Justice, over 10,000 people are released from incarceration every week, thanks to the prisoner release process in the United States. This tedious process is part of the country’s aim to rehabilitate prisoners and give them a chance to rejoin society.
However, many may not be familiar with the prisoner release process. You may be surprised at how many people are involved in releasing one prisoner.
This article reveals the engine that drives the prisoner release process. It also lists the requirements prison authorities must meet before releasing a prisoner.
Also important, this article provides a glimpse of what happens on the exact day when an inmate finally leaves prison and into society.
If you need more information on the release date of a loved one from prison, visit LookUpInmate.org. Our website provides access to over 7,000 prison facilities in the United States.
You can get much-needed information like release dates and prison policies observed for visitation.
What Is the Release Process for Federal Prison?
Some may think that prison releases, especially from federal penitentiaries, are like they are in the movies.
You’ll often see an inmate who completed his term led out of their cell, walked across the hall, given back his confiscated items, and escorted out the prison’s front gate.
However, releasing prisoners is more complicated in real life than how it is depicted on the big screen.
Prison release is a multi-step process that involves more than one agency in the U.S. criminal justice system.
Prison releases are a complex process that varies for federal prisons, which is different from state prisons and jails. Furthermore, each state prison has slight variations in its prison release process.
What Steps Are in the Release Process for Federal Prison?
Federal prisons are places of incarceration for people awaiting trial for a federal law violation and people convicted of a federal crime. The agency that manages federal prisons in the U.S. is the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
On the other hand, state prisons are managed by the Department of Corrections of each state, while the local law enforcement agencies and the municipality oversees U.S. jails.
Let’s say you’re an inmate in a federal prison near your release date. You’ll undergo the following prison release process before you reenter society.
1. Release preparation: The BOP starts the prison release process as early as 18 months before the exact release date. Prison authorities won’t just push you out of the gate once you’ve completed your prison sentence.
The BOP will prepare a release plan so that your reentry into society goes as smoothly as possible. This preparation phase will usually focus on ensuring you can find work after leaving the facility.
2. Transfer to pre-release custody: The federal prison authorities will transfer you to pre-release custody when nearing the release date.
A person in pre-release custody is detained in a few types of places. The area can be in a community corrections center, halfway house, or in-home confinement.
3. Placed under supervised release: There are instances where a prisoner nearing release is placed under a supervised release program. This type of release program is an option that gives inmates restricted freedom.
Statistics show that approximately 75% of criminal cases get supervised release.
4. The prisoner is fully released: A prisoner is released after completing the specified prison time by the court. At this moment, you won’t have to report back to any officer of the criminal justice system. You are now a free individual ready to face the world.
Will You Get Any Money or Other Items When You Are Released?
When released from prison, you can receive a few items from the federal prison as instructed by law.
According to the 18 U.S. Code § 3624, or the code for releasing a prisoner, the government, through the Bureau of Prisons, will provide the following items upon an inmate’s release:
- Suitable clothing approved by prison authorities
- Amount of money, not more than $500 or according to the decision of the prison director
- Transportation to the prisoner’s bona fide residence or any location in the United States as approved by the prison director
How Will You Get Home After Release?
As stated in the 18 U.S. Code § 3624, the prison’s director is legally obligated to provide transportation to a prisoner upon release. The prison facility can transport an ex-inmate to their home or any place in the United States upon approval of the director.
Can You Take Your Things From Prison With You When You Are Released?
In most states, items are confiscated from you upon arrest and are placed in storage for safekeeping. Usually, the police keep these items in their possession until your release.
So, if you’re released from prison after fully serving your sentence, the prison or jail will return the confiscated items they can legally return.
Incarcerated Individual Discharge
The release process is not the same in state or federal prisons and jails. However, in all cases, correctional facilities must receive verification from a governing authority when a prisoner is released. In the case of jails, the order comes directly from the court.
48-Hour Window
In a jail setting, there’s a 48-hour window where the last leg of the prisoner release process happens. Within two days, the jail authorities process and document your release.
The 48-hour window starts at midnight of the day the correctional facility receives the court order for your release.
48-Hour Exception
It’s standard policy to release a prisoner after 48 hours of receiving the court order. However, if you got arrested and posted bail, you don’t need to wait 48 hours before you’re released. In most jails, the bail or bond release process takes only three hours.
Prior to Release
The prisoner undergoes another round of screening and checks before the actual release. The prison staff reviews everything, including the person’s medical health, the inmate’s properties, and the cashier’s office balance.
What Is One Released From Jail Called?
Prisoners tend to gain many names after being released from jail. Examples of these names are the following:
- Ex-convict
- Ex-felon
- Ex-inmate
- Ex-offender
- Ex-prisoner
You may also use terms like “person released from prison” or “previously incarcerated individual.”
What Are the Four Types of Release?
There are many types of releases, and each is called differently.
- Parole: This is a release granted by the parole board to inmates who reached parole eligibility. The inmate under this type of prison release must report regularly to a parole officer.
Furthermore, the parolee remains under parole supervision throughout the amount of time ordered by the judge.
- Probation: This is a release granted by the court during sentencing as an alternative to actual jail time. The person is released back into the community under strict supervision of a probation officer.
- Determinate release: In Tennessee, the Department of Corrections provides a type of probation called “determinate release.”
Tennessee law states that a felony convict with a prison term of one to two years is eligible for determinate release after serving at least 30% of their sentence.
In other states, more types of probation provide prison release to convicted individuals like the following:
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- Informal or unsupervised probation
- Formal or supervised probation
- Community control (involves the use of ankle monitors to check the whereabouts of a probationer)
- Shock probation (involves sending the convicted to jail, usually for 30 days, and then placed on formal probation)
- Crime-specific probation (involves requirements that are specific to the offender’s crime)
- Community corrections: When the court convicts a person of a nonviolent crime, the judge may order the defendant to go into community corrections.
The prisoner is released back into the community under specific guidelines that the defendant must strictly follow, like doing community service.
Do Prisoners Know Their Release Date?
An inmate’s release date is public information that one can get from the state’s Department of Corrections website or through LookUpInmate.org. These websites provide information about the estimated date when a prisoner is bound for release.
However, the actual date of release may be subject to change. Prisoners can be reviewed for parole eligibility or their sentence commuted. In these cases, the prisoner will only know the end of one’s prison sentence once the prison facility receives the order for an inmate’s release.
Day of Facility Release
In some prisons, the prisoner is released by 11:59 PM on the day of release and if the weather permits. The prison staff will read to the inmate any of the following:
- Order of release
- Conditions of probation
- Conditions of parole
Staff Responsibilities
A prison release involves more than one individual. It’s not just the warden or prison security that needs to process the release of someone set for release.
Records Staff
A state prison’s record staff is responsible for alerting all concerned departments of a prisoner’s impending release. This alert will prompt the agencies to speed up the process involving the prisoner, like resolving grievances and complaints or undergoing medical screenings.
Afterward, the records staff will prepare copies of the information to restore a person’s civil rights and prepare Internal Revenue Service Form 8850. The 8850 form is a pre-screening notice and a certification request for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit.
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a government incentive (tax credit) to employers who will accept American job seekers who consistently face “barriers to employment,” like having been incarcerated.
Business Office
The business office of a prison ensures that money credited to the prisoner’s offender pay account will be provided to the inmate.
Suppose the funds in the prisoner’s account are less than $25.00. In that case, money will be added to reach the amount mentioned unless the prisoner has a detainer.
Any funds not posted in the offender pay account before release will be forwarded to the prisoner within five business days after posting.
Also, the business office staff arranges the bus needed to transport the prisoner to the intended address.
Medical Department
If needed, the medical department will provide a 30-day supply of medications to the prisoner set for release. The medical staff will also provide a copy of the prisoner’s medical records within 30 days after release if requested at least 60 days before the release date.
Personal Property Staff
The personal property staff will receive all the state-issued property given to a prisoner, like an inmate’s clothing. Also, the property staff may provide the prisoner with clothing if they have nothing to wear when discharged.
How Do Inmates Feel After Being Released?
A prison release can be an exciting and, at the same time, frightening experience for an inmate. Some prisoners have been so accustomed to the rigid prison life that some can’t quickly cope with freedom.
Some prisoners may have better experiences because their loved ones and family members are ready to greet them. However, some don’t even have friends or acquaintances to return to after release.
So, reentry experience is subjective, and each prisoner experiences life differently after release.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the different ways for an inmate to be released from prison?
According to the information provided in this article, an inmate can be released from prison in four ways: parole, probation, determinate release, and community service.
2. What happens before an inmate is released in any of those ways?
The four different types of release result in the eventual reentry of an inmate into society. Inmates released on parole and probation will report regularly to a probation or parole agent. The court will supervise inmates in determinate release and community corrections.
However, suppose a prisoner completes their prison sentence. In that case, they’re released and are no longer required to report to any law enforcement officer.
3. How long does conditional release last?
How long a person remains under conditional release depends on many factors, primarily the judge’s order. However, on average, a conditional release lasts nine months.
4. What is the difference between parole and conditional release?
The main difference between parole and conditional release is that a prisoner must serve a considerable amount of time in prison to be eligible for parole. The conditional release doesn’t have that requirement. Eligibility for conditional release is often good behavior.
5. What does conditional release from jail mean?
Conditional release means a person can return to the community and live under the court’s supervision after having accumulated enough “good time credits.”
Good time credits are earned through good behavior during imprisonment. Any wrongdoings or crimes committed by a person under conditional release may result in incarceration.
6. What is the purpose of conditional release?
The chance of receiving conditional release through good behavior promotes orderliness inside prisons. It also gives a reason for inmates to stay away from trouble while incarcerated.
7. Do inmates receive money when they are released?
Yes, the prison will release the remaining money in the prisoner’s account. Also, there are instances where bus fares are given to inmates so that they can travel to their homes after release.
Here are some examples of things that prison staff will give to a prisoner upon release:
- Alabama and Louisiana give $10 to $20 to ex-inmates.
- California gives $200 and clothing, aside from the facility-provided transportation.
- Ohio gives suitable clothing, three sets of socks and underwear, and gate money from $25 to $75 to prisoners upon release.
- Texas gives prisoners $100 upon release, including all necessary documentation and a bus ticket.
8. Do inmates receive anything that shows they have completed their sentence?
Upon release from prison, all inmates receive a discharge certificate, crucial proof to regain the rights lost due to incarceration. A prisoner can also get forms needed for work and other documentation provided by the prison authority.
The prison system of any country helps maintain public safety and ensure the offender undergoes correction programs to reduce recidivism or the tendency of a convict to return to doing crimes after release.
References
- Prisoners and Prisoner Re-Entry
https://www.justice.gov/archive/fbci/progmenu_reentry.html - Federal Inmates
https://www.bop.gov/inmates/ - Supervised Release (Parole): An Overview of Federal Law
https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RL31653.pdf - 18 U.S. Code § 3624 – Release of a prisoner
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/3624 - Types of Release
https://www.tn.gov/correction/cs/types-of-release.html - Facility Release of Inmates
https://vadoc.virginia.gov/inmates-and-probationers/incoming-inmates/facility-release/ - Work Opportunity Tax Credit
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/wotc - Conditional Release and Good Time
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/conditional-release-and-good-time - Frequent Questions Inmate Releases
https://doc.sd.gov/about/faq/releases.aspx - Recidivism
https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/corrections/recidivism