CFR Subpart A

CFR Subpart A
in effect

28 C.F.R. § 541.1 Purpose.

This subpart describes the Federal Bureau of Prisons' (Bureau) inmate discipline program. This program helps ensure the safety, security, and orderly operation of correctional facilities, and the protection of the public, by allowing Bureau staff to impose sanctions on inmates who commit prohibited acts. Sanctions will not be imposed in a capricious or retaliatory manner. The Bureau's inmate discipline program is authorized by 18 U.S.C. 4042(a)(3).

28 C.F.R. § 541.2 Application.

This program applies to sentenced and unsentenced inmates in Bureau custody. It also applies to sentenced and unsentenced inmates designated to any prison, institution, or facility in which persons are held in custody by direction of, or under an agreement with, the Bureau of Prisons.

28 C.F.R. § 541.3 Prohibited acts and available sanctions.

(a) Prohibited acts. The list of prohibited acts are divided into four separate categories based on severity: Greatest; High; Moderate; and Low. We describe the prohibited acts in Table 1—Prohibited Acts and Available Sanctions. Aiding, attempting, abetting, or making plans to commit any of the prohibited acts is treated the same as committing the act itself. (b) Available sanctions. The list of available sanctions for committing prohibited acts is listed in Table 1—Prohibited Acts and Available Sanctions. If you commit repetitive prohibited acts, we can impose increased sanctions, as listed in Table 2—Additional Available Sanctions for Repeated Prohibited Acts Within the Same Severity Level.

28 C.F.R. § 541.4 Loss of good conduct sentence credit as a mandatory sanction.

(a) You will lose good conduct sentence credit as a mandatory disciplinary sanction if you are in one of the following two groups: (1) VCCLEA-violent inmates. The date of your U.S. Code offense was on or after September 13, 1994, but before April 26, 1996, and you committed a “crime of violence” as defined by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (VCCLEA); or (2) PLRA inmates and DC Code offenders. The date of your U.S. Code offense was on or after April 26, 1996, and, therefore, under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), or the date of your District of Columbia (DC) Code offense was on or after August 5, 2000. (b) If you are an inmate in one of the above groups and commit a prohibited act, you will lose good conduct sentence credit as a mandatory disciplinary sanction. The amount of good conduct sentence credit you will lose depends on the severity level of the prohibited act(s) committed, as follows: (1) Greatest Severity Level Offenses. You will lose at least 41 days, or 75% of available credit if less than 54 days are available for the prorated period, for each act committed. (2) High Severity Level Offenses. You will lose at least 27 days, or 50% of available credit if less than 54 days are available for the prorated period, for each act committed. (3) Moderate Severity Level Offenses. You will lose at least 14 days, or 25% of available credit if less than 54 days are available for the prorated period, after committing two or more Moderate severity acts during the current year of your good conduct sentence credit availability. (4) Low Severity Level Offenses. You will lose at least 7 days, or 12.5% of available credit if less than 54 days are available for the prorated period, after committing three or more Low severity acts during the current year of your good conduct sentence credit availability.

28 C.F.R. § 541.5 Discipline process.

(a) Incident report. The discipline process starts when staff witness or reasonably believe that you committed a prohibited act. A staff member will issue you an incident report describing the incident and the prohibited act(s) you are charged with committing. You will ordinarily receive the incident report within 24 hours of staff becoming aware of your involvement in the incident. (b) Investigation. After you receive an incident report, a Bureau staff member will investigate it. (1) Information: The investigator will specifically inform you: (A) of the charge(s) against you; and (B) that you may remain silent at all stages of the discipline process, but that your silence may be used to draw an adverse inference against you at any stage of the process. Your silence alone, however, cannot be the basis for finding you committed the prohibited act(s). (2) Statement: When the investigator asks for your statement, you may give an explanation of the incident, request any witnesses be interviewed, or request that other evidence be obtained and reviewed. However, the staff investigation of the incident report may be suspended before requesting your statement if it is being investigated for possible criminal prosecution. (3) Informally resolving the incident report. The incident report may be informally resolved at any stage of the disciplinary process, except for prohibited acts in the Greatest and High severity levels, or as otherwise required by law or these regulations. If the incident report is informally resolved, it will be removed from your records.

28 C.F.R. § 541.6 Mentally ill inmates.

If it appears you are mentally ill at any stage of the discipline process, you will be examined by mental health staff. (a) Competency to Participate in Disciplinary Proceedings. If evidence indicates that you cannot understand the nature of the disciplinary proceedings, or cannot help in your own defense, disciplinary proceedings may be postponed until you are competent to participate. The Unit Disciplinary Committee or Discipline Hearing Officer will make this decision based on evidence, including evidence presented by mental health staff. (b) Responsibility for Conduct. You will not be disciplined for conduct committed when, as the result of a severe mental disease or defect, you were unable to appreciate the nature and quality, or wrongfulness of the act. The UDC or DHO will make this decision based on evidence, including evidence presented by mental health staff.

28 C.F.R. § 541.7 Unit Discipline Committee (UDC) review of the incident report.

A Unit Discipline Committee (UDC) will review the incident report once the staff investigation is complete. The UDC's review involves the following: (a) Available dispositions. The UDC will make one of the following decisions after reviewing the incident report: (1) You committed the prohibited act(s) charged, and/or a similar prohibited act(s) as described in the incident report; (2) You did not commit the prohibited act(s) charged; or (3) The incident report will be referred to the Discipline Hearing Officer (DHO) for further review, based on the seriousness of the prohibited act(s) charged. (4) If you are charged with a Greatest or High severity prohibited act, or are an inmate covered by § 541.4, the UDC will automatically refer the incident report to the DHO for further review. (b) UDC members. The UDC ordinarily consists of two or more staff. UDC members will not be victims, witnesses, investigators, or otherwise significantly involved in the incident. (c) Timing. The UDC will ordinarily review the incident report within five work days after it is issued, not counting the day it was issued, weekends, and holidays. UDC review of the incident report may also be suspended if it is being investigated for possible criminal prosecution. (d) Inmate appearance. You are permitted to appear before the UDC during its review of the incident report, except during UDC deliberations or when your presence would jeopardize institution security, at the UDC's discretion. Also: (1) You may appear either in person or electronically (for example, by video or telephone conferencing) at the UDC's discretion. (2) You may waive your appearance before the UDC. If you waive your appearance, the UDC will review the incident report in your absence. (3) If you escape or are otherwise absent from custody, the UDC will conduct a review in your absence at the institution where you were last confined. (e) Evidence. You are entitled to make a statement and present documentary evidence to the UDC on your own behalf. The UDC will consider all evidence presented during its review. The UDC's decision will be based on at least some facts and, if there is conflicting evidence, on the greater weight of the evidence. (f) Sanctions. If you committed a prohibited act or prohibited acts, the UDC can impose any of the available sanctions in Tables 1 and 2 of § 541.3, except loss of good conduct time credit, FSA Time Credits, disciplinary segregation, or monetary fines. (g) Referral to the DHO. If the UDC refers the incident report to the DHO for further review, the UDC will advise you of your rights at the upcoming DHO hearing, as detailed in § 541.8. (h) Written report. You will receive a written copy of the UDC's decision following its review of the incident report. (i) Appeals. You may appeal the UDC's action(s) through the Administrative Remedy Program, 28 CFR part 542, subpart B.

28 C.F.R. § 541.8 Discipline Hearing Officer (DHO) hearing.

The Discipline Hearing Officer (DHO) will only conduct a hearing on the incident report if referred by the UDC. The DHO's hearing involves the following: (a) Available dispositions. The DHO will make one of the following decisions after a hearing on the incident report: (1) You committed the prohibited act(s) charged, and/or a similar prohibited act(s) as described in the incident report; (2) You did not commit the prohibited act(s) charged; or (3) The incident report will be referred back for further investigation, review, and disposition. (b) Discipline Hearing Officer. The DHO will be an impartial decision maker who was not a victim, witness, investigator, or otherwise significantly involved in the incident. (c) Timing. You will receive written notice of the charge(s) against you at least 24 hours before the DHO's hearing. You may waive this requirement, in which case the DHO's hearing can be conducted sooner. (d) Staff Representative. You are entitled to have a staff representative during the DHO hearing process as follows: (1) How to get a staff representative. You may request the staff representative of your choice, so long as that person was not a victim, witness, investigator, or otherwise significantly involved in the incident. If your request(s) cannot be fulfilled, and you still want a staff representative, the Warden will appoint one. The Warden will also appoint a staff representative if it appears you are unable to adequately represent yourself before the DHO, for example, if you are illiterate or have difficulty understanding the charges against you. (2) How the staff representative will help you. Prior to the DHO's hearing, the staff representative will be available to help you understand the incident report charges and potential consequences. The staff representative may also assist you by speaking with and scheduling witnesses, obtaining written statements, and otherwise helping you prepare evidence for presentation at the DHO's hearing. During the DHO's hearing, you are entitled to have the staff representative appear and assist you in understanding the proceedings. The staff representative can also assist you in presenting evidence during the DHO's hearing. (3) How the staff representative may appear. Your staff representative may appear either in person or electronically (for example, by video or telephone conferencing) at the DHO's discretion. If your staff representative is not available for the scheduled hearing, you may either select another staff representative, request the hearing be postponed for a reasonable amount of time until your staff representative can appear, or proceed without a staff representative. (e) Inmate appearance. You are permitted to appear before the DHO during the hearing on the incident report as follows: (1) You may appear either in person or electronically (for example, by video or telephone conferencing), at the DHO's discretion. (2) Your appearance may be prohibited during DHO deliberations or when your presence would jeopardize institution security, at the DHO's discretion. (3) You may waive your appearance before the DHO. If you waive your appearance, the DHO hearing will be conducted in your absence. (4) If you escape or are otherwise absent from custody, the DHO will conduct a hearing in your absence at the institution where you were last confined. (f) Evidence and witnesses. You are entitled to make a statement and present documentary evidence to the DHO on your own behalf. The DHO will consider all evidence presented during the hearing. The DHO's decision will be based on at least some facts and, if there is conflicting evidence, on the greater weight of the evidence. Witnesses may appear at the DHO's hearing as follows: (1) Witnesses may appear before the DHO either in person or electronically (for example, by video or telephone conferencing) at the DHO's discretion. (2) The DHO will call witnesses who have information directly relevant to the charge(s) and who are reasonably available. However, the DHO need not call witnesses adverse to you if their testimony is adequately summarized in the incident report or other investigation materials. (3) You or your staff representative may request witnesses appear at the hearing to testify on your behalf. Your requested witnesses may not appear if, in the DHO's discretion, they are not reasonably available, their presence at the hearing would jeopardize institution security, or they would present repetitive evidence. (4) If your requested witnesses are unavailable to appear, written statements can be requested by either the DHO or staff representative. The written statements can then be considered during the DHO's hearing. (5) Only the DHO may directly question witnesses at the DHO's hearing. Any questions by you or your staff representative must be submitted to the DHO, who will present the question to the witness in his/her discretion. (6) The DHO may consider evidence provided by a confidential informant (CI) that the DHO finds reliable. You will not be informed of the CI's identity. You will be informed of the CI's testimony to the extent it will not jeopardize institution security, at the DHO's discretion. (g) Sanctions. If you committed a prohibited act(s), the DHO can impose any of the available sanctions listed in Tables 1 and 2. (h) Written Report. You will receive a written copy of the DHO's decision following the hearing. The DHO is not required to prepare a verbatim record of the hearing. The DHO's written report will document the following: (1) Whether you were advised of your rights during the DHO process; (2) The evidence relied on by the DHO; (3) The DHO's decision; (4) The sanction imposed by the DHO; and (5) The reason(s) for the sanction(s) imposed. (i) Appeals. You may appeal the DHO's action(s) through the Administrative Remedy Program, 28 CFR part 542, subpart B.

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