Federal Prison Offense Sentences in the Southern District of West Virginia, FY2016–2025
All 89 people sentenced for prison offenses in the Southern District of West Virginia in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 pleaded guilty, and all 89 received a prison term. The median prison term was 12 months. Of the 85 sentences with guideline information, 35 (41%) were below the guideline range at the g
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In brief: All 89 people sentenced for prison offenses in the Southern District of West Virginia in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 pleaded guilty, and all 89 received a prison term. The median prison term was 12 months. Of the 85 sentences with guideline information, 35 (41%) were below the guideline range at the government's request.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 89 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.
Sentences Below the Range at the Government's Request
The guideline range is the range the federal sentencing guidelines calculate for each case. Of the 85 sentences with that information, 44 (52%) were within the range. Another 35 (41%) were below the range at the government's request, and 5 (6%) were below the range without a government request. One (1%) was above the range.
The sheet gives no all-district figure for below-range sentences at the government's request, so the records here cannot show how this share compares with other districts. For within-range sentences, the share was 52% here, compared with 63% for all districts in this offense type and 51% for all offenses in this district.
What Counts as a Prison Offense?
"Prison Offenses" is the U.S. Sentencing Commission's offense type. These cases were 4% of the 2,416 people sentenced in the district. The primary guideline was §2P1.2 (Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison) for 63 people and §2P1.1 (Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape) for 22 people.
The remaining cases used other guidelines that the sheet does not list.
Prison Terms
Among the 89 people, the median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 15 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less. The terms are tightly grouped in this district. Prison terms are those imposed, not time served.
For all 94 districts, the median in this offense type is 10 months, and 96% of people were sent to prison. The median here is higher than the all-district median. The median for all offenses in this district is 42 months, which is higher than the median here.
All Guilty Pleas
All 89 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Guilty pleas were 99% across all districts in this offense type and 97% for all offenses in this district. Among guilty pleas, 83% had a written plea agreement and 17% were straight pleas with no agreement.
No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 86 people with that information recorded (0%).
Supervised Release and Criminal History
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 72 people (81%), with a median term of 36 months. No fine and no restitution was ordered for anyone.
In criminal history, 0% were in the lowest category, category I, and 20% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Counts by Year and Limits of the Data
The district sentenced 43 people in this offense type in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 46 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. The year with the most people was 2018, with 20. The yearly median was 12 or 13 months in most years, as the table shows.
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data, so the records cannot show how many prison-related prosecutions ended without a conviction.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 7 | 15 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2017 | 6 | 12 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2018 | 20 | 13 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 10 | 15 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 6 | 12 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2021 | 11 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 7 | 12 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2023 | 7 | 12 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2024 | 8 | 12 months | 8 of 8 |
| 2025 | 7 | 13 months | 7 of 7 |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of West Virginia (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "W Virginia South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Prison Offenses" (89). 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 West Virginia, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of West Virginia, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of West Virginia, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of West Virginia, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Sexual Abuse Sentences in the Southern District of West Virginia, 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.