§2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
In fiscal year 2018, 206 people were sentenced in federal court with §2P1.2, "Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison," as the primary guideline. Of those, 197 (96%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 months. 199 of the 206 (97%) pleaded guilty.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison › §2P1.2: FY2018
In brief: In fiscal year 2018, 206 people were sentenced in federal court with §2P1.2, "Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison," as the primary guideline. Of those, 197 (96%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 months. 199 of the 206 (97%) pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 206 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018. 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.
Who Was Sentenced Under §2P1.2 in Fiscal Year 2018?
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 206 people whose primary guideline was §2P1.2 in fiscal year 2018. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. The Commission placed all 206 cases in its Prison Offenses category.
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018. The Commission's data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not part of these numbers.
How Long Were the Prison Terms?
Prison was the sentence for 197 of the 206 people. Another 7 (3%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among the 197 sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 20 months or more, and a quarter received 4 months or less. The terms were spread widely, so the median alone does not describe every case.
These are the terms the courts imposed. They are not the time actually served.
Guilty Pleas, Trials, and Mandatory Minimums
Of the 206 people, 199 pleaded guilty and 7 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months. After a trial it was 31.5 months.
The trial figure rests on only 6 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison. A group that small can move a median a long way, so the figure should not be read as a pattern.
Among the guilty pleas, 57% came with a written plea agreement and 40% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 201 people with that information recorded.
Where the Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
The Commission recorded this information for 205 people. 69% (142) were sentenced within the guideline range. 18% (36) were sentenced below it at the government's request, and 11% (22) were sentenced below it without a government request. Only 2% (5) were sentenced above the range.
For everyone sentenced in federal court that year under every guideline, 51% were within the range. Sentences under §2P1.2 were within the range more often than that.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 83 people (40%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 11 (5%). Restitution was ordered for 0 (0%).
In criminal history, 8% of the people were in category I, the lowest, and 18% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so that measure has no military counterpart here.
Fiscal Year 2018 Next to Other Years
The previous year, 2017, had 133 people under §2P1.2, a median prison term of 8 months, and 64% of sentences within the range. The next year, 2019, had 250 people, a median of 6 months, and 66% within the range. The table below lists every year from 2016 to 2025.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,552 people were sentenced under §2P1.2. Of those, 93% went to prison, the median prison term was 9 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 62% were sentenced within the range.
In fiscal year 2018, 69,425 people were sentenced under all guidelines combined. The median prison term for that whole group was 24 months, and 97% pleaded guilty.
| 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% |
What These Records Cannot Show
The numbers describe sentences, not the underlying conduct. They cannot show what kind of contraband was involved or where the offense happened. The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2P1.2 (206), 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)
- §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (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.