Steve Bannon, an advisor to President Donald Trump and his campaign, was sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress after he refused to cooperate with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 Committee. He is scheduled to be released October 29, having served his full 120 day sentence. Since the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has a number of ways to reduce the time in prison, many wonder why Bannon has served his entire sentence at FCI Danbury in Connecticut.
Bannon, was sentenced to a Low Security prison. There are four prison security levels in the BOP; minimum, low, medium and high. While Bannon was not charged with a violent crime and had no past criminal history, he had a pending case in New York state. Bannon was charged in 2022 with defrauding donors who gave money to the nonprofit We Build the Wall group to build a wall at the southern U.S. border. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, which included money laundering, scheming to defraud and conspiracy. That pending charge, with a trial starting in December, required the BOP to place Bannon in at least a Low security prison, which it did.
The BOP also has the ability to give Good Conduct time, up to 54 days per year, off of a sentence that is over a year long. Bannon’s sentence was 4 months, so no Good Conduct Time.
In addition to Good Conduct Time, prisoners can earn First Step Act credits by participating in productive programs while in prison. This can take up to 10 days per month off of the sentence ... so Bannon could have earned 30 credits, or a month off. While Bannon may have participated in some programs to pass his time, he did not receive First Step Act credits because his 4 month sentence did not come with any supervised release after his sentence. As such, Bannon will serve the full 120 days.
Finally, many prisoners, even those who are at the highest security level, are eligible for the Second Chance Act that can place a prisoner in the community, known as prerelease custody, for up to a year. Many prisoners with shorter sentences get little or no time in the community even though they are eligible. However, Bannon’s pending charge again makes problems for him in that he cannot be in community placement while having a pending charge.
There have been a few stories out there on less reliable news outlets that Bannon was being unfairly targeted by the BOP for holding him for his entire sentence ... but the rules to keep him there are decades old.
If Bannon is found guilty on the next case in New York, there is no good news there for him. There is no First Step Act to reduce his sentence and, probably more importantly for Bannon, no presidential pardon if his favorite buddy wins.
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