Why an Inmate's Release Date on the BOP Locator (including FCI Petersburg Med) Might Change

The BOP Inmate Locator is the official public tool for finding federal inmates - including those at FCI Petersburg Med - incarcerated from 1982 to the present. When you look someone up, you'll see a projected release date. But here's the catch: the BOP warns that date may not be current because sentences are being reviewed and recalculated under the First Step Act, including pending Federal Time Credit changes. That's why a date you saw last month might look different today, even if you haven't heard about anything new happening.

The First Step Act (FSA) changed how the federal system handles risk assessment, programming, and time calculations. Under the FSA, the Attorney General must develop the risk-and-needs assessment system the BOP uses to evaluate recidivism risk, identify needs, and place people in programs designed to address them. The Attorney General also reports to Congress on how this is all being implemented. That ongoing work directly affects how the BOP reviews cases and applies rules - which is why projected release dates for people at FCI Petersburg Med and other BOP facilities can shift over time.

Here's the simple version: Federal Time Credit changes under the First Step Act can trigger a new calculation. When that happens, the release date on the locator updates. Sometimes it moves earlier. Sometimes the change looks confusing if you're comparing screenshots from different weeks.

You may hear the term "PATTERN" when people discuss the First Step Act. PATTERN is the BOP's risk assessment tool - it measures an inmate's recidivism risk and gives them opportunities to lower that score. Why does this matter? Risk-and-needs assessment drives which programs people get connected to, and those programming decisions fall under the same First Step Act framework that triggers ongoing reviews. As assessments update and programming opportunities are applied, the data feeding into release projections can change too.

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• ✓ Check the BOP Inmate Locator periodically, especially if you’re tracking a projected release date.
• ✓ Treat the posted release date as a snapshot that can change when First Step Act (Federal Time Credit) recalculations are applied.
• ✓ If the status shows “Released” or “Not in BOP Custody” with no location listed, that means the person is no longer in BOP custody - but they may still be in another correctional or law-enforcement system, or on parole or supervised release.
• ✓ When you can, confirm updates directly with the inmate or through the facility’s normal communication channels.

Planning around a possible homecoming? Build re-checking into your routine. The BOP specifically tells visitors to check back periodically because the locator updates as recalculations happen. If you see a date shift, don't assume the first number was wrong - it may just mean the BOP's review process has caught up with new First Step Act time-credit updates.