Inmates released by First Step Act

Criminal justice overhaul passed last year allows more nonviolent offenders to qualify for reduced sentences.

WASHINGTON — More than 3,100 federal inmates were being released Friday by the Bureau of Prisons as part of a criminal justice overhaul signed into law last year.

The First Step Act gives judges more discretion in sentencing, eases mandatory minimum sentences and encourages inmates to participate in programs aimed at reducing recidivism. The Trump administration has promoted the overhaul as a bipartisan effort to address concerns that too many Americans were imprisoned for nonviolent crimes as a result of the war on drugs.

The inmates were walking out of federal prisons and halfway houses across the country. The releases are part of an increase for “good conduct time” under the law. More than 1,600 other inmates have qualified for reduced sentences under a separate provision of the law that allows some prisoners locked up for crack cocaine charges to ask for sentencing reduction.

The Bureau of Prisons declined to provide specific details about the inmates being released, citing privacy concerns. Nearly 900 were to be turned over to other law enforcement agencies because of detainers filed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local authorities, according to Hugh Hurwitz, acting director of the Bureau of Prisons.

The Justice Department is diverting about $75 million from within the Bureau of Prisons’ budget, which was used for care, programming and administrative tasks, in order to put in place the First Step Act. Federal officials say they are working with Congress to ensure additional funding for the coming years.