TRENTON, NJ – A man serving time at FCI Fort Dix for a kidnapping conviction under the District of Columbia Code has been denied early release credits under the First Step Act, after a federal judge ruled Tuesday that his offense is too similar to a federal kidnapping crime to qualify.

Darrell Bracey, the petitioner in the case, claimed that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) improperly refused to apply time credits that could have advanced his transfer to a residential reentry center. Bracey, convicted under D.C. law for armed kidnapping, argued that as a D.C. inmate held in federal custody, he was entitled to earn credits under the 2018 First Step Act — a law designed to incentivize inmate rehabilitation through participation in programs tied to sentence reductions.

The court disagree

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