§2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
In fiscal year 2020, 162 people were sentenced in federal court under §2P1.2, "Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison." The median prison term was 7.4 months. 59% were sentenced within the guideline range, which is a lower share than in the years on either side of 2020.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison › §2P1.2: FY2020
In brief: In fiscal year 2020, 162 people were sentenced in federal court under §2P1.2, "Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison." The median prison term was 7.4 months. 59% were sentenced within the guideline range, which is a lower share than in the years on either side of 2020.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 162 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020. 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.
A Median of 7.4 Months for 152 People
Of the 162 people sentenced, 152 (94%) received prison. The median prison term for them was 7.4 months. A quarter received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 3 months or less.
Another 7 people (4%) were given probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The terms are the ones imposed by the court, not the time served.
How the Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
All 162 people had range information. 59% (95) were sentenced within the guideline range. Sentences below the range without a government request made up 22% (36), and sentences below it at the government's request made up 15% (25). Sentences above the range made up 4% (6).
The previous year, 2019, had 66% within the range, and the next year, 2021, had 67%. For all guidelines combined in 2020, 50% were within the range. Under §2P1.2 the share was higher than that overall figure.
Trials Were Rare and Their Numbers Are Small
157 people (97%) pleaded guilty, and 5 were convicted after a trial. After a guilty plea the median prison term was 7 months. After a trial it was 45 months.
The trial median comes from only 4 people who went to prison, so it cannot support a conclusion about trials in general. Among the guilty pleas, 56% included a written plea agreement and 43% were straight pleas.
A mandatory minimum applied to 1 of the 161 people with that information recorded, which is less than 1%.
What Else Was Ordered
Supervised release followed prison for 53 people (33%). The median supervised release term was 36 months. 10 people (6%) were ordered to pay a fine, and 0 (0%) were ordered to pay restitution.
Criminal History in This Group
12% of the people were in criminal history category I, the lowest. 28% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records do not have a criminal history field.
Fiscal Year 2020 Among All Years Under §2P1.2
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counts people by the primary guideline, meaning the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020, and the Commission placed all 162 cases in its Prison Offenses category.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,552 people were sentenced under this guideline. 93% went to prison, the median was 9 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 62% were within the range. The table gives each year. In 2019 there were 250 people with a median of 6 months, and in 2021 there were 198 people with a median of 6 months.
Among everyone sentenced in federal court in 2020, there were 64,565 people, the median prison term was 18 months, and 98% 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 the Records Leave Out
People who were acquitted or whose cases were dismissed are not in this data. The figures also say nothing about the conduct behind each case. The crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2P1.2 (162), 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 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (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.