§2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025
In fiscal year 2025, 120 of the 121 people sentenced under §2P1.2, "Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison," pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. 109 (90%) received prison, with a median prison term of 12 months. No sentence in the group was above the guideline range.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison › §2P1.2: FY2025
In brief: In fiscal year 2025, 120 of the 121 people sentenced under §2P1.2, "Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison," pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. 109 (90%) received prison, with a median prison term of 12 months. No sentence in the group was above the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 121 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.
One Trial Conviction in the Group
Among the 121 people, 120 (more than 99%) pleaded guilty. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12.5 months. The single person convicted at trial received a prison term of 12 months.
One person is not enough to compare trials with pleas. Both medians are reported here only for completeness. 85% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 14% were straight pleas.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
All 121 people had range information. 54% (65) were within the range. 39% (47) were below it at the government's request, and 7% (9) were below it without a request. 0% (0) were above it.
In fiscal year 2024 the within-range share was 48%. Across all guidelines in 2025, it was 51%, and across all of fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under §2P1.2 it was 62%.
Prison and Probation
109 people (90%) were sentenced to prison, and 12 (10%) received probation only with no prison or other confinement. For those sent to prison, the median was 12 months. A quarter received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 121 people (less than 1%). The terms are those imposed, not time served.
Fines, Restitution, and Supervised Release
16 people (13%) were ordered to pay a fine, and 1 (less than 1%) was ordered to pay restitution. 56 (46%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months.
Criminal History
14% of the people were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 21% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records do not have a criminal history field.
What Was Counted and How 2025 Compares
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 121 people whose primary guideline, meaning the one that set the offense level for the most serious count, was §2P1.2. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025. The data covers only convicted and sentenced people.
The previous year, 2024, had 122 people and a median of 12 months. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,552 people were sentenced, 93% went to prison, the median was 9 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. The table lists each year.
For everyone sentenced in federal court in 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 | 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% |
Limits on What These Numbers Show
A single year with 121 people is a small base, and these numbers do not show a trend. The records cannot explain why government-requested reductions were frequent in this year or describe the conduct behind any case. No close court-martial counterpart exists in the approved crosswalk, so only federal figures are given.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2P1.2 (121), 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 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.