§2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
All 321 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 with §2P1.1 as the primary guideline pleaded guilty. 316 (98%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 months.
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In brief: All 321 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 with §2P1.1 as the primary guideline pleaded guilty. 316 (98%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 321 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. 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 series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
No Trials Under §2P1.1 in Fiscal Year 2017
Of the 321 people, 321 (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Because there were no trial convictions, the data have no trial prison term to compare with the guilty-plea term. Every prison term in this year therefore followed a guilty plea.
Among guilty pleas, 68% had a written plea agreement. The other 32% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Length of Prison Terms
A prison term was given to 316 people (98%), and 3 (less than 1%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 12 months.
A quarter of those sent to prison received 15 months or more. A quarter received 6.2 months or less. Prison terms in the data are the terms imposed, not time served.
The median is the middle value of the 316 prison terms. The figures of 6.2 months and 15 months mark the lower and upper ends of the middle group of terms.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
Within the range: 217 people (68%). Below the range at the government's request: 36 (11%). Below the range without a government request: 62 (19%). Above the range: 6 (2%).
For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017, 49% of sentences were within the range. Sentences under §2P1.1 were within the range more often than sentences overall.
Criminal History and Mandatory Minimums
In this group, 28% were in the highest criminal history category (VI), and 3% were in the lowest. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 321 people with that information recorded.
Court-martial records have no criminal history field. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so the federal numbers are reported on their own.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 268 people (83%), and the median term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 11 (3%). Restitution was ordered for 3 (less than 1%).
The Guideline and the Fiscal Year
The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2P1.1 "Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape." The Commission's offense type for all 321 cases is Prison Offenses. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017.
Fiscal year 2016 had 264 people under this guideline, with 69% of sentences within the range. Fiscal year 2018 had 301 people, with 62% within the range. The table lists every year from 2016 to 2025.
For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 2,807 people were sentenced under §2P1.1. In fiscal year 2017 across every guideline, there were 66,873 people and the median prison term was 24 months.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 264 | 12 months | more than 99% |
| 2017 | 321 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 301 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 298 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2020 | 235 | 10 months | more than 99% |
| 2021 | 265 | 12 months | more than 99% |
| 2022 | 280 | 12 months | more than 99% |
| 2023 | 303 | 12 months | more than 99% |
| 2024 | 287 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 253 | 12 months | more than 99% |
What Is Not in the Records
Acquittals and dismissals are not in this data, so it covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. It also does not describe the circumstances of any escape or why a court chose a given term.
The numbers describe a group of people sentenced in one fiscal year. They do not show how many escape cases were investigated or charged, or how many ended without a conviction.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2P1.1 (321), 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 (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (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. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.