Less Barnett prison time possible

First Step Act provides ‘good conduct’ credit for inmates

Richard “Bigo” Barnett of Gravette — one of the better-known faces of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot — could get out of prison in 3½ years.

According to the federal Bureau of Prisons website, Barnett, 63, has a scheduled release date of Feb. 12, 2027.

That would be one year shy of the 4½ years to which he was sentenced.

The projected release date is sort of a best-case scenario.

Barnett received credit for almost four months served in 2021 in the District of Columbia jail, and the projected release date also reflects the maximum of “good conduct” credit he can receive under the First Step Act of 2018.

“The Act amended 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b) so that federal inmates can earn up to 54 days of good time credit for every year of their imposed sentence rather than for every year of their sentence served,” according to https://www.bop.gov/inmates/fsa/overview.jsp.

“A ‘projected’ release date is just that,” Benjamin O’Cone, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons, wrote in an email. “It can be adjusted when warranted. The projected release date is subject to change during the inmate’s period of incarceration.”

Other factors could shorten an inmate’s sentence, according to O’Cone.

They may be released up to 12 months early if they complete the BOP’s Residential Drug Abuse Program, and they may be released early via court orders such as a compassionate release (because of old age and medical conditions) or clemency, he wrote.

Barnett is famous for posing for photos with his foot on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite

during the Capitol riot.

In January, a federal court jury in the District of Columbia found Barnett guilty on all eight charges filed against him — four felonies and four misdemeanors.

Barnett faced enhanced charges for taking a dangerous weapon — a stun gun — into the Capitol during the riot.

The jury also found Barnett guilty of interfering with a police officer who was trying to perform his duties during a civil disorder.

Barnett was sentenced in May. He self surrendered Aug. 1 to begin serving his term at a low-security federal prison in Oakdale, La.

Barnett has appealed his conviction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Arkansas’ other felony Jan. 6 defendant, Peter Francis Stager of Conway, also could benefit from the First Step Act.

Stager, 44, used a flagpole, with an American flag attached, to beat a police officer who was face down on the Capitol steps.

Stager pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon.

Stager was sentenced to 52 months in prison and given credit for the 31 months he has served in the D.C. jail.

Because the “good conduct” calculation is based on the sentence imposed, Stager could be out of prison as early as Sept. 24, 2024, which is his projected release date on the Bureau of Prison’s website.

Stager began serving his sentence at a federal prison in Philadelphia earlier this month.