Federal Sentence Reduction (RDAP Program)

In 2015, The Obama administration proposed early release of 6,000 federal inmates. The nationwide release started in November, 2015. Before President Obama’s criminal justice reforms, one avenue for an early release for federal inmates was the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). The RDAP program was initiated in 1989.

RDAP is available only to nonviolent federal offenders with documentation showing substance abuse in the 12 month period before arrest for their current imprisonment. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has indicated almost 50% of federal inmates have moderate-to-severe substance abuse addictions.

Federal inmates who are eligible can receive up to an 18-month reduction of their sentence(12 months of prison time and six additional months reduction served in a halfway house or home confinement) depending on their remaining balance of their prison time.

To be admitted into the RDAP program, the inmate has to submit documentation of a drug or alcohol addiction during the 12 months before entering federal prison. If such records were not included in the Presentence Investigation Report, the inmate can have difficulty updating the Presentence Report. The inmate can overcome this roadblock by obtaining an assessment and report from a mental health professional documenting the presence of alcohol / and or drug abuse in the 12 months prior to indictment or arrest.

To benefit from the RDAP program sentence reduction, an inmate needs a professional who has experience with the RDAP eligibility criteria, the program’s rules, and the knowledge how to manage RDAP’s roadblocks.

Sponsors:

IRVING SCHATTNER, LCSW–As a clinical social worker in private practice, he has successfully worked with substance abusing offenders, prison consultants and attorneys in conducting assessments, counseling and diagnostic report writing, to gain admission into the Federal Bureau of Prison’s (BOP) Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). For more information, call 561-404-1482 or click–Counseling Center for Growth and Recovery.

Attorney RAEMI EAGLE-GLENN– Attorney Raemi is a member of the Federal Bar association and licensed to practice in federal courts. She is a member of the Northern and Middle Districts of Florida and appears as a guest in federal courts nationwide. An experienced attorney with federal sentence reduction. Raemi is a volunteer for Clemency Project 2014 and prepares petitions for the Office of the Pardon Attorney on behalf of federal inmates. For more information, call 904-337-9503 or click-Eagle-Glenn Law.