Program Statement 5050.51 replaced BOP’s prior compassionate-release policy
On September 3, 2026, the Federal Bureau of Prisons issued Program Statement 5050.51, Compassionate Release/Reduction in Sentence Procedures. The new statement rescinds Program Statement 5050.50 and updates the agency’s internal procedures for requests under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), the former-law provision in § 4205(g), and D.C. Code § 24-403.04.
The policy matters because it identifies the requests BOP will evaluate, the officials responsible for processing them, the information required in a referral, and the factors BOP will consider before deciding whether its Director should ask a sentencing court to reduce a sentence.
People in an RRC or on home confinement may now seek BOP consideration
The new policy expressly states that people designated to a residential reentry center or placed on home confinement remain eligible to submit a reduction-in-sentence request. The request must explain why a reduction remains appropriate notwithstanding the person’s prerelease placement.
For these placements, “Warden” includes the Residential Reentry Manager, and the request goes to the Residential Reentry Management Office responsible for the jurisdiction where the person is confined. A person serving a federal sentence in state custody may submit a request to the BOP Regional Director for the region containing the state institution.
The medical categories now track a broader set of circumstances
Program Statement 5050.51 includes terminal illness, a serious and unrecoverable medical or cognitive impairment that substantially diminishes self-care, and age-related deterioration for qualifying people age 65 or older. It also identifies two additional medical routes tied to the current Sentencing Commission policy.
One concerns an extraordinary infectious-disease outbreak or declared public-health emergency that cannot be adequately mitigated for a person with heightened medical risk. The other concerns long-term or specialized care that BOP cannot provide without undue hardship, prohibitive cost, or significant disruption, where the lack of care creates a risk of serious deterioration or death.
Substantiated abuse in BOP custody has separate policy pathways
The policy includes requests based on substantiated sexual abuse committed by, or at the direction of, a BOP employee, contractor, or volunteer. It also includes substantiated physical abuse by those actors when the abuse caused serious bodily injury.
For these categories, “substantiated” generally requires a criminal conviction, an administrative misconduct finding, or a civil finding or admission of liability. The request should identify the circumstances, location, date, investigative body or court if known, and a release plan. Wardens must refer these sensitive requests to BOP’s Office of General Counsel.
The policy now incorporates D.C. Code compassionate-release requests
Program Statement 5050.51 directs BOP staff to process qualifying D.C. Code requests under D.C. Code § 24-403.04. The D.C. statute permits specified medical, age, and lengthy-incarceration grounds and allows either the BOP Director or the imprisoned person to file a motion.
The D.C. criteria are not identical to the federal-code categories. The governing judgment, offense date, sentence, time served, age, medical record, and statutory subsection must be identified before assuming that a D.C. Code pathway applies.
Several former BOP categories were removed—but that does not erase every court argument
The policy’s summary of changes says BOP eliminated its former child-caregiver, spouse-or-registered-partner caregiver, and elderly-time-served categories. The new BOP age category for federal-code offenders is narrower: it generally identifies people age 70 or older who have served at least 30 years, with additional distinctions for old-law sentences.
That change describes BOP’s internal referral criteria. Section 3582(c)(1)(A) separately permits a defendant to move in court after full administrative exhaustion or 30 days after the warden receives the request, whichever is earlier. The Sentencing Commission’s §1B1.13 still lists certain family circumstances and other qualifying grounds. BOP’s decision not to sponsor a motion does not itself decide what the sentencing court may consider.
A request still needs the asserted circumstances and a concrete release plan
The written request must identify the extraordinary or compelling circumstances and propose where the person will live, how the person will obtain financial support, and—when health is involved—where treatment will occur and how it will be paid for.
A complete record should also address current medical evidence, institutional conduct, programming, unresolved detainers or charges, disciplinary history, victim information where applicable, the presentence report, sentence computation, supervision requirements, and any sentencing-court statement relevant to age, health, punishment, or release.
BOP weighs public-safety and case-specific factors before making its own motion
The policy lists the offense, criminal history, victim comments, detainers, supervision violations, institutional adjustment, disciplinary infractions, personal history, sentence length, time served, age, health at the offense and sentencing, release plans, and pertinent court statements among the factors for every request.
BOP says the factors are neither exclusive nor weighted and that it will consider whether release would endanger another person or the community. If the Warden recommends approval, the matter proceeds through the Office of General Counsel and other internal review before the Director makes the agency’s final decision.
Terminal-illness requests carry statutory notice and processing duties
For a terminal diagnosis, the policy implements statutory duties that include prompt notice to authorized family members and counsel, an opportunity for family visitation, assistance with preparing a request, and processing a request submitted on the person’s behalf within 14 days. Confidentiality and written authorization requirements still apply.
The Clinical Director’s diagnosis triggers the time frames, and the Warden must forward the required information to the Office of General Counsel within 14 days. A failure to meet a timeline can be significant, but it does not automatically establish that the sentencing court must reduce the sentence.
BOP review and judicial compassionate release remain different decisions
A BOP-sponsored motion requires approval through the agency process. A defendant-filed motion follows the separate statutory route in § 3582(c)(1)(A). In either posture, the sentencing court must apply the statute, consider the applicable § 3553(a) factors, and follow the Sentencing Commission’s policy statement.
This article provides general educational information, not legal advice or a prediction of BOP or court action. The request date, proof of receipt, administrative record, sentence, release plan, medical evidence, institutional history, governing circuit law, and current §1B1.13 all require individualized review.