Federal Prison Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025
In the Southern District of Texas, 175 people were sentenced in the U.S. Sentencing Commission's "Prison Offenses" category in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. All 175 pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 10.9 months, compared with 10 months across all districts.
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In brief: In the Southern District of Texas, 175 people were sentenced in the U.S. Sentencing Commission's "Prison Offenses" category in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. All 175 pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 10.9 months, compared with 10 months across all districts.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 175 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.
A Category Built Around Escape and Contraband
The Commission's Prison Offenses category covers crimes tied to custody. In this district, §2P1.1 (Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape) was the primary guideline for 151 of the 175 people. §2P1.2 (Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison) was the primary guideline for 23.
These cases were less than 1% of the 71,026 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. All 94 districts together sentenced 4,976 people in this category.
Criminal History Was Different From Most Categories
In criminal history, 9% of these people were in the lowest category, and 21% were in the highest. Criminal history is a score the guidelines assign from prior convictions. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so there is no military comparison for this measure.
The records do not show how criminal history affected any one sentence.
Prison Terms
Of the 175 people, 166 (95%) received a prison term, and 4 (2%) received probation only. The median prison term was 10.9 months. A quarter received 15 months or more, and a quarter received 5.9 months or less.
Nationally, 96% of people in this category were sent to prison, and the median was 10 months. For all offenses in the Southern District of Texas, the median was 13 months. No mandatory minimum applied to any of the 174 people with that information recorded.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 8 | 12 months | 8 of 8 |
| 2017 | 22 | 14 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 20 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 17 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 16 | 4.9 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 23 | 6 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 20 | 8 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 17 | 7 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 19 | 10.9 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 13 | 12 months | 100% |
Pleas and Agreements
All 175 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Nationally, 99% pleaded guilty.
Among the guilty pleas, 34% had a written plea agreement and 65% were straight pleas with no agreement. That is a different pattern from the high share of plea agreements in many other offense types in this district.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
The guideline range is the sentencing range calculated under the Commission's guidelines. Of the 175 people, 78% (136) were sentenced within the range. Below the range at the government's request were 3% (5), and below it without a government request were 17% (30). Above the range were 2% (4).
Nationally, 63% of sentences in this category were within the range. For all offenses in this district, the figure was 58%.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Yearly Counts
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 133 people (76%), with a median term of 36 months. No fine or restitution was ordered for any of the 175 people.
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 67 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 108. Yearly groups are small, from 8 to 23 people. Yearly medians range from 4.9 months in fiscal year 2020 to 14 months in fiscal year 2017.
What the Records Leave Out
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals, dismissals, and uncharged cases are not in it. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The records do not say whether a sentence ran after or alongside another sentence.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of Texas (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Texas South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Prison Offenses" (175). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
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)
- Federal Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- 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.