§2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
In fiscal year 2022, 42% of the 280 people sentenced under §2P1.1 were in the highest criminal history category (VI). 277 people (99%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 months. 66% of sentences were within the guideline range.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape › §2P1.1: FY2022
In brief: In fiscal year 2022, 42% of the 280 people sentenced under §2P1.1 were in the highest criminal history category (VI). 277 people (99%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 months. 66% of sentences were within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 280 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 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.
Criminal History in Fiscal Year 2022
Among the 280 people sentenced under this guideline, 42% were in the highest criminal history category (VI). Only 2% were in the lowest category. The Sentencing Commission records this category for each person.
Court-martial records have no criminal history field. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
Prison Terms From Short to Long
A prison term was given to 277 of the 280 people (99%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, was given to 3 (1%). The median prison term was 12 months.
A quarter of those sent to prison received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 7.8 months or less. The terms are those imposed, not time served.
Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
Within the range: 66% (186 people). Below the range at the government's request: 11% (32). Below the range without a government request: 19% (53). Above the range: 3% (9).
For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 66% of sentences under §2P1.1 were within the range. For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022, the figure was 42%.
A sentence below the range at the government's request means the prosecution asked the court for the lower sentence. A sentence below the range without that request means the court went below the range on its own. The records show which of these applied, but not the reasons.
Plea Agreements and a Single Trial
Of the 280 people, 279 (more than 99%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. That person's prison term was 36 months, compared with a median of 12 months after a guilty plea. One case cannot show how trials compare with pleas.
Among guilty pleas, 65% had a written plea agreement and 35% were straight pleas with no agreement. No mandatory minimum applied to any of the 280 people with that information recorded.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 225 people (80%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 6 (2%). Restitution was ordered for 2 (less than 1%).
The Guideline Itself
The Guidelines Manual titles §2P1.1 "Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape." The Commission's offense type for these 280 cases is Prison Offenses. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. Only people convicted and sentenced are counted.
Comparison Years and All Cases
Fiscal year 2021 had 265 people under this guideline and fiscal year 2023 had 303. Both had a median prison term of 12 months. The table lists 2016 to 2025.
For every guideline in fiscal year 2022, there were 64,142 people, the median prison term was 30 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The records cannot say why the totals differ.
The data describe people sentenced in one fiscal year. They do not describe how many escape cases were charged, how many ended in dismissal, or what any person was serving time for when the escape occurred.
| 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% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2P1.1 (280), 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 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (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.