by Christopher D. Cobb

I am a federal prisoner housed at theFederal Satellite Low located in Jesup (“Jesup”), Georgia, and a subscriber to both PLN and CLN. I obtained a Paralegal certificate from Blackstone Institute in January of 2020, with a corresponding Advanced Certificate in Criminal Law in July of 2020. Since then I have assisted the others incarcerated here at Jesup with filing for detainer removals, quashing pending warrants, dismissing various state charges, compassionate release motions, assisted both paid and appointed attorneys in legal research for multiple direct appeals for fellow prisoners, prepared nearly a dozen successful § 2255 petitions for fellows prisoners, and most recently, have devoted much effort towards the proper standards for both earning and having applied the First Step Act’s (“FSA”) Time Credits Program.

The many Latino prisoners housed here have recently credited me (undeservedly in my opinion) with getting the Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) to recognize the mandatory nature of the Time Credits as expressed in the BOP’s Change Notice issued on March 10, 2023, in which the BOP acknowledged that those with both detainers and pending charges are now able to apply the Time Credits toward prerelease custody (Halfway House and Home ...