PLACEMENT — TWO PRERELEASE LAWS

First Step Act vs. Second Chance Act

Two federal laws send people to halfway houses and home confinement before their sentence ends, and families constantly confuse them. The Second Chance Act is the older, capped route. The First Step Act adds earned, uncapped prerelease time. The real power comes from 'stacking' the two — and current BOP policy says they should be combined.

LAST REVIEWED: July 5, 2026 · FEDERAL SYSTEM ONLY · EDUCATIONAL — NOT LEGAL ADVICE

TIME LEDGER — CASE FILE SUMMARY STACK THEM

Second Chance Act	Up to 12 months prerelease custody, 18 U.S.C. §3624(c)
First Step Act	Earned, uncapped prerelease custody via time credits, §3624(g)
Second Chance home confinement	Historically the lesser of 6 months or 10% of the sentence
Stacking	Current BOP policy: FSA and SCA are cumulative and applied in sequence
The bottleneck	Halfway house bed capacity
Cost	$0

Two laws, one goal, different rules

Both statutes exist to move people out of institutions and into the community for the final phase of a sentence — prerelease custody, meaning a halfway house (residential reentry center) or home confinement. The Second Chance Act, signed in 2007, was the original mechanism. The First Step Act, signed in 2018, added a new earned-credit route on top. They coexist, and understanding both is the key to reading a release timeline.

The confusion is understandable, because both can put someone in the same halfway house for the same purpose. But they run on different rules, have different caps, and are earned differently — and those differences determine how much community time a person actually gets.

The Second Chance Act — the capped baseline

Under 18 U.S.C. §3624(c), the Second Chance Act authorizes up to twelve months of prerelease custody in the last portion of a sentence, of which home confinement has historically been limited to the lesser of six months or ten percent of the term imposed. It is available broadly, including to many people who cannot earn First Step Act credits, which makes it the baseline route for higher-risk or FSA-excluded individuals.

The Second Chance Act's time is not "earned" through programming; it is a placement the BOP makes based on reentry needs and its own assessment. Its ceiling — twelve months, with the home-confinement sublimit — is the cap that the First Step Act later built beyond.

The First Step Act — earned and uncapped

The First Step Act added prerelease custody funded by earned time credits under §3624(g). Here the logic is different: a person earns credits through programming, and beyond the 365-day ceiling that applies to the release date itself, credits apply to prerelease custody with no statutory cap. A long-sentence programmer can therefore accumulate far more than a year of community time.

This is the First Step Act's great expansion: it uncoupled prerelease custody from the Second Chance Act's fixed ceiling and tied it instead to the person's own programming. But it is limited to those eligible to earn credits, which is why the two laws serve overlapping but distinct populations.

Stacking — combining the two

The most valuable move is "stacking": applying First Step Act and Second Chance Act authorities together, in sequence, to maximize community time. The BOP has confirmed it stacks the two — a person can use earned FSA prerelease time and Second Chance Act time, layering them to reach the community sooner than either alone would allow.

Current BOP policy is explicit that these authorities are cumulative and "shall" be applied to maximize prerelease custody, including home confinement, and that halfway house bed availability shall not be a barrier to home confinement placement. For families, this means the right question is not "First Step Act or Second Chance Act?" but "how do both combine for this person?"

The 2025 policy whiplash

Anyone researching this should know the recent history is turbulent. In spring 2025 the BOP issued a directive sharply limiting halfway house placement — capping it near 60 days for most people — which upended families' plans. Within months, that restriction was rescinded in favor of the current directive emphasizing stacking and maximizing prerelease custody.

The statutory frameworks are stable, but implementation shifts, and halfway house capacity remains a real-world bottleneck. Reporting has documented people earning enough credits for significant community time but staying in institutions because beds were unavailable. Families should verify the current posture rather than rely on an older article, and should push, in writing, when a person eligible for placement is being held back.

Reading a person's prerelease timeline

To map a person's community time, work through both laws. First, is the person eligible to earn First Step Act credits, and how much prerelease time has that produced? Second, what does the Second Chance Act add on top, up to its ceiling? Third, how do they stack in sequence? The conditional placement date projects when prerelease custody should begin.

Where the computation seems to shortchange the person — credits earned but not translating into community time, or stacking not applied — the administrative remedy program is the tool. Our halfway house guide and home confinement guide cover how placement decisions are made in practice.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between the First Step Act and the Second Chance Act?

The Second Chance Act (18 U.S.C. §3624(c)) authorizes up to 12 months of prerelease custody, with home confinement historically capped at the lesser of 6 months or 10% of the sentence. The First Step Act (§3624(g)) adds earned prerelease time via time credits, uncapped beyond the 365-day release-date ceiling. Both move people to halfway houses or home confinement.

What is 'stacking' First Step Act and Second Chance Act time?

Stacking means applying both authorities together, in sequence, to maximize community time — using earned First Step Act prerelease credits plus Second Chance Act time. The BOP confirms it stacks the two, and current policy directs that they be treated as cumulative to maximize prerelease custody, including home confinement.

Can you get both First Step Act and Second Chance Act prerelease time?

Yes. They are cumulative and applied in sequence. A person eligible to earn First Step Act credits can combine that uncapped prerelease time with Second Chance Act time, reaching the community sooner than either alone. The right question is how both combine for a given person, not which one applies.

Why might someone earn credits but still stay in prison?

Halfway house bed capacity is a real bottleneck. Reporting has documented people who earned enough credits for significant community time but stayed in institutions because beds were unavailable. Current BOP policy says bed availability shall not bar home confinement, so pushing in writing when someone is held back can matter.

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