§2P1.3 Engaging In, Inciting or Attempting to Incite a Riot Involving Persons in a Facility for Official Detention: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025
Every one of the 26 people sentenced under §2P1.3 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term, with a median of 47 months (3.9 years). All 26 pleaded guilty.
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In brief: Every one of the 26 people sentenced under §2P1.3 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term, with a median of 47 months (3.9 years). All 26 pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 26 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 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.
Everyone Went to Prison
From fiscal year 2016 through fiscal year 2025, 26 people were sentenced in federal court with §2P1.3 as the primary guideline. All 26 (100%) received a prison term, and 0 received probation only.
The median prison term was 47 months (3.9 years). A quarter received 84.5 months or more, and a quarter received 27.2 months or less. Terms are those imposed, not time served. The median is the middle prison term when all terms are listed from shortest to longest. The gap between the 84.5-month and 27.2-month figures shows that terms varied widely.
What the Title Describes
The Guidelines Manual titles §2P1.3 "Engaging In, Inciting or Attempting to Incite a Riot Involving Persons in a Facility for Official Detention." The Sentencing Commission files these cases under Prison Offenses.
The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
No Trials
All 26 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Because there were no trials, plea sentences cannot be compared with trial sentences. Among the pleas, 73% had a written plea agreement and 27% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Range, Minimums, and Supervised Release
Within the guideline range were 46% (12). Below the range at the government's request were 35% (9), and below the range without a government request were 19% (5). None were above the range. No mandatory minimum prison term applied.
Supervised release was ordered for 14 people (54%), with a median term of 36 months.
Money Penalties and Criminal History
No fine was ordered for anyone: 0 (0%). Restitution was the only money penalty recorded in this group. Restitution was ordered for 12 (46%).
Criminal history was spread differently from most guidelines in this series. Only 8% were in the lowest category, category I, and 19% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Medians by Period
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 12 people with a median prison term of 90.5 months. Fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 14 people with a median prison term of 32.5 months. The later median is lower.
The table has rows for only 5 fiscal years. In fiscal year 2016, 11 people were sentenced with a median of 89 months. In fiscal year 2025, 6 people were sentenced with a median of 8 months. The records cannot show why they differ, and the years without rows had no sentences under this guideline in the data.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 11 | 89 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 1 | 120 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2022 | 2 | 47.5 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2023 | 6 | 41 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2025 | 6 | 8 months | 6 of 6 |
Limits
No close court-martial counterpart for this guideline appears in the approved crosswalk, so only federal numbers are given. The data counts only people convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2P1.3 (26), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2P1.2 Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- 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.