Judicial Recommendations — the five (5) you need!

Once there is a finding of guilt, either via admission by the defendant or by a jury verdict, the defendant, in consultation with his/her attorney must decide what federal prison facility and programs they will attempt to secure at sentencing. One important criteria used by the RDAP staff in considering eligibility for the RDAP program is a judicial recommendation. The defendant and his attorney should be aware that this judicial recommendation must be for the 500-Hour Residential Drug Abuse Program and not for the 20-Hour Drug Education Course, 40-Hour Drug Education Course or the Non-Residential Drug Abuse Program. Remember the 20-Hour or 40-Hour Drug Education Course is required of all inmates with any history of drug or alcohol use.

A Federal District Court Judge has the ability to make a request or recommendation for a specific federal prison or a specialized federal prison program for a defendant he is about to or has sentenced. This is called a judicial recommendation. Judicial recommendations are requests by a Federal District Court Judge to the Bureau of Prisons for placement of a defendant in a specific federal prison or participation in a specialized federal prison program that the judge feels would be of benefit to the defendant. The Bureau of Prisons is not bound to follow judicial recommendations but in most cases will attempt to follow them. When a Federal District Court Judge imposes a sentence on a defendant, he must provide a document called a Judgment in a Criminal Case, a.k.a., Judgment. The Judgment in a Criminal Case is the official court document which is signed by the Judge. The Judgment contains the offense(s) for which the court imposed its sentence, which ordinarily contains a financial, confinement, and supervision obligation. It also contains any judicial recommendations made by the judge as well as the Statement of Reasons. The Statement of Reasons (SOR) is an attachment to the Judgment which indicates the reason for the court’s final sentence and other sentencing related issues. It is required in every felony case where the sentencing range exceeds 24 months, or whenever there is a departure from the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines range, either upward or downward.

Although judicial recommendations do not guarantee a Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) program or designation, they are helpful. It is much better to have a judicial recommendation for a designation, program, or service than not to have one. Jail Time Consulting provides up to five important judicial recommendations with supporting documentation for your attorney to request of the Court in your behalf. Without a judicial recommendation with supporting documentation, your fate on these five important issues is in the hands of the BOP. This is one aspect of your case that you do want to have input in and not let the BOP decide for you. The recommendations that we provide are instrumental to the sentence reduction programs you want, the designation to the most appropriate and safest facility for you, any restitution, fines, or court ordered obligations you may have, and the important aspect of being able to self-surrender rather than be remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service at sentencing.

Jail Time Consulting is an expert in solving federal prison placement issues and securing judicial recommendations for our clients. We lay the proper foundation and groundwork well in advance of the sentencing deadline and position our clients for proper federal prison designation and federal prison program placement. Jail Time Consulting provides these needed recommendations with supporting documentation to your attorney and we are highly successful in securing these recommendations for our clients. This means you also get the programs, both sentence reduction and other important considerations that you need.