§2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024
All 287 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 under §2P1.1 pleaded guilty, and 284 (99%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 12 months. 7% of sentences (19 people) were above the guideline range.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape › §2P1.1: FY2024
In brief: All 287 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 under §2P1.1 pleaded guilty, and 284 (99%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 12 months. 7% of sentences (19 people) were above the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 287 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024. 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.
Guilty Pleas Without Any Trial Convictions
All 287 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Of the guilty pleas, 61% had a written plea agreement and 39% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Because there were no trial convictions this year, the data show no comparison between trial and plea sentences.
Range Position in Fiscal Year 2024
Within the range: 66% (188 people). Below the range at the government's request: 11% (33). Below the range without a government request: 16% (47). Above the range: 7% (19).
In fiscal year 2023, 67% of sentences were within the range, and in fiscal year 2025 the figure was 72%. For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024, 46% were within the range. A sentence above the range is the least common result in this group.
Prison Terms and Probation
Of the 287 people, 284 (99%) received a prison term and 3 (1%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 12 months.
A quarter received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 6.7 months or less. No mandatory minimum applied to any of the 287 people with that information recorded.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 216 people (75%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 10 (3%). Restitution was ordered for 0 (0%).
A fine and restitution are separate orders, and the data record each on its own. No person in this year was ordered to pay restitution, and 10 were ordered to pay a fine.
About the Guideline
The Guidelines Manual titles §2P1.1 "Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape." The Commission's offense type for the 287 cases is Prison Offenses. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. Only people convicted and sentenced are in the data.
Years Before and After
Fiscal year 2023 had 303 people under this guideline and fiscal year 2025 had 253. The median prison term was 12 months in each. The share within the range was 67% in 2023 and 72% in 2025. The table lists 2016 to 2025.
Over all those years, 2,807 people were sentenced under §2P1.1, and 66% of sentences were within the range. For every guideline in fiscal year 2024, there were 61,678 people and the median prison term was 30 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% |
Criminal History and Other Limits
In this group, 34% were in the highest criminal history category (VI), and 2% were in the lowest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, and the approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline. The federal numbers are therefore reported on their own.
The records do not show the facts of any escape or why a court sentenced above or below the range.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2P1.1 (287), 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 2023 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025 (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.