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# §2H3.3 Obstructing Correspondence: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2h3-3-obstructing-correspondence-fy2022/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:59:17.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:59:17.000Z
- Description: In fiscal year 2022, none of the 11 people sentenced under guideline §2H3.3, "Obstructing Correspondence," received a prison term. 10 of the 11 (91%) received probation only, and all 11 pleaded guilty. 10 of the 11 sentences (91%) were within the guideline range.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2H3.3 Obstructing Correspondence](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2h3-3-obstructing-correspondence/) › §2H3.3: FY2022

**In brief:** In fiscal year 2022, none of the 11 people sentenced under guideline §2H3.3, "Obstructing Correspondence," received a prison term. 10 of the 11 (91%) received probation only, and all 11 pleaded guilty. 10 of the 11 sentences (91%) were within the guideline range.

Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025

This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 11 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022\. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. It is part of the [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/).

## No Prison Terms Among the 11 People

The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 11 people in fiscal year 2022 whose primary guideline was §2H3.3\. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. The Commission files these cases under the offense type Individual Rights.

0 of the 11 (0%) received a prison term. 10 (91%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Because no one was sent to prison, there is no median prison term for the year, and the yearly table shows n/a.

Across all fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 9% of the 53 people sentenced under this guideline were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 0.5 months. Fiscal year 2022 was lower than that share.

## Nearly All Sentences Were Within the Guideline Range

10 sentences (91%) were within the guideline range. 1 (9%) was below the range without a government request. None were below it at the government's request, and none were above it.

The all-years figure under this guideline is 96% within the range. The within-range share in fiscal year 2022 was a little lower. The figure for everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 under any guideline was 42%.

## Guilty Pleas

11 of the 11 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none were convicted after a trial. 82% of the pleas had a written plea agreement, and 18% were straight pleas with no agreement.

The all-years guilty plea rate under this guideline is 100%. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2022, it was 97%. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 11 people.

## Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History

A fine was ordered for 2 people (18%), and restitution for 1 person (9%). The records for this year do not give a supervised release figure.

82% of the 11 people were in the lowest criminal history category, Category I, and 0% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.

## Fiscal Year 2022 in the Yearly Table

Fiscal year 2022 has the largest group in the table, at 11 people. Other years range from 2 to 7 people. Medians appear for fiscal years 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2025, and range from 0 months to 7.6 months. The other years, including fiscal year 2022, show n/a.

For every guideline in fiscal year 2022, 64,142 people were sentenced, and the median prison term was 30 months. Fiscal year 2022 ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 6                | 7.6 months    | 6 of 6         |
| 2017        | 2                | n/a           | 2 of 2         |
| 2018        | 6                | 6 months      | 6 of 6         |
| 2019        | 3                | 0 months      | 3 of 3         |
| 2020        | 4                | 0.5 months    | 4 of 4         |
| 2021        | 5                | n/a           | 5 of 5         |
| 2022        | 11               | n/a           | 100%           |
| 2023        | 6                | n/a           | 6 of 6         |
| 2024        | 3                | n/a           | 3 of 3         |
| 2025        | 7                | 0 months      | 7 of 7         |

## What Cannot Be Concluded

There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.

The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. It does not describe individual cases, and one year with 11 people does not show a trend.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2H3.3 (11), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.

Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30\. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.

### What to Keep in Mind

**No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct.** Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987\. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.

**Federal supervised release.** Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.

**Who decides the sentence, and under what rules.** Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.

**Time periods.** Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.

**How life sentences and "time served" are counted.** In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.

## Related Analysis

- [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article)
- [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts)
- [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method)
- [§2H3.3 Obstructing Correspondence: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2h3-3-obstructing-correspondence/) (overview)
- [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/)
- [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/)
- [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)
- [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)

**About the author.** Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts *Where All The Bodies Are Buried* and runs the [Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.