§2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025
In fiscal year 2025, 72% of the 253 people sentenced in federal court under §2P1.1 received a sentence within the guideline range: 183 people. 250 (99%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 12 months. 45% of guilty pleas were straight pleas with no plea agreement.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2P1.1 Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape › §2P1.1: FY2025
In brief: In fiscal year 2025, 72% of the 253 people sentenced in federal court under §2P1.1 received a sentence within the guideline range: 183 people. 250 (99%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 12 months. 45% of guilty pleas were straight pleas with no plea agreement.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 253 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025. 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.
How Often Were Pleas Made Without an Agreement?
Of the 253 people, 251 (more than 99%) pleaded guilty. Among those guilty pleas, 53% had a written plea agreement and 45% were straight pleas with no agreement. A straight plea means the person pleaded guilty without a written agreement with the prosecution.
2 people were convicted after a trial. Their median prison term was 17.5 months, compared with 12 months after a guilty plea. With only 2 trial convictions, that comparison is not reliable, and the records cannot explain what drove either figure.
Range Position
Within the range: 72% (183 people). Below the range at the government's request: 9% (22). Below the range without a government request: 15% (39). Above the range: 4% (9).
Fiscal year 2024 had 66% within the range under this guideline, and all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together had 66%. For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025, 51% were within the range.
Prison Terms and Probation
A prison term went to 250 of the 253 people (99%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 2 (less than 1%). The median prison term was 12 months.
A quarter received 15 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less. A mandatory minimum applied to 0 of the 251 people with that information recorded.
Supervised Release and Financial Orders
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 187 people (74%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 5 (2%). Restitution was ordered for 1 (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 these 253 cases is Prison Offenses. Fiscal year 2025 ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data.
Earlier Years and All Cases
Fiscal year 2024 had 287 people under this guideline and a median prison term of 12 months. The table lists 2016 to 2025, and 2,807 people were sentenced under §2P1.1 across those years.
For every guideline in fiscal year 2025, there were 66,662 people, the median prison term was 24 months, and 98% pleaded guilty.
| 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 What the Records Omit
In this group, 31% were in the highest criminal history category (VI), and 4% in the lowest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers appear here.
The data do not show the circumstances of any escape.
They also do not show how many escape cases were charged, or how many ended without a conviction.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2P1.1 (253), 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 2024 (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.