§2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
Only 3 of the 133 people sentenced under §2P1.2 in fiscal year 2017 (2%) received probation only. 125 (94%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 8 months, lower than the 12 months in fiscal year 2016.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison › §2P1.2: FY2017
In brief: Only 3 of the 133 people sentenced under §2P1.2 in fiscal year 2017 (2%) received probation only. 125 (94%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 8 months, lower than the 12 months in fiscal year 2016.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 133 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.
Probation Only for 3 People
In fiscal year 2017, 125 of 133 people (94%) were sentenced to prison. 3 (2%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2017, 66,873 people were sentenced. The median prison term for all of them was 24 months, and 97% pleaded guilty.
Prison Length in Fiscal Year 2017
The median prison term under §2P1.2 was 8 months. A quarter of the people sent to prison received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 4 months or less.
The median in fiscal year 2016 was 12 months, and in fiscal year 2018 it was 12 months. One year of change is not a trend, and the records do not say why the 2017 median was lower. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 133 people with that information recorded (less than 1%).
Reading the Guideline Title
The Guidelines Manual calls §2P1.2 "Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison." All 133 cases fall in the Sentencing Commission's Prison Offenses type.
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017. Each person counted was convicted and sentenced. Their primary guideline was §2P1.2, which set the offense level for the most serious count.
One Trial, Many Guilty Pleas
132 of the 133 people (more than 99%) pleaded guilty, and 1 person was convicted after a trial. 67% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 33% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 7.5 months. The 1 person convicted at trial received 37 months. One case does not show how trial cases usually end.
Sentences Against the Range
85 people (64%) were sentenced within the guideline range. 28 (21%) were below it at the government's request, and 14 (11%) were below it without a request. 6 (5%) were above it.
In fiscal year 2016 the share within the range was 61%, and in fiscal year 2018 it was 69%. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2017, it was 49%. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under §2P1.2, it was 62%.
Supervision, Fines, Restitution, and Prior Records
62 people (47%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 11 (8%), and restitution for 2 (2%).
7% of the group were in the lowest criminal history category, and 23% were in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The 2016 to 2025 Series
From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,552 people were sentenced under §2P1.2. 93% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 9 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. Fiscal year 2016 had 119 people and fiscal year 2018 had 206. The table shows all years.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports federal numbers on their own.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 119 | 12 months | more than 99% |
| 2017 | 133 | 8 months | more than 99% |
| 2018 | 206 | 12 months | 97% |
| 2019 | 250 | 6 months | 98% |
| 2020 | 162 | 7.4 months | 97% |
| 2021 | 198 | 6 months | 98% |
| 2022 | 144 | 6 months | 98% |
| 2023 | 97 | 12 months | 96% |
| 2024 | 122 | 12 months | 95% |
| 2025 | 121 | 12 months | more than 99% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2P1.2 (133), 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.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
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)
- §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: 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.