Former White House chief strategist Steve Banon’s four months of jail time will likely be relatively safe, as he will be housed in a facility with few dangerous inmates.
Bannon could soon start his prison sentence following his contempt of Congress conviction, and is guaranteed to serve the four-month full term once it begins.
As Bannon was found guilty of federal crimes, as opposed to state crime, he will likely be housed in a federal prison.
These facilities are considered safer than state prisons as they contain inmates who are not considered dangerous or violent. Federal prisons are typically for defendants who have been handed shorter sentences too.
Bannon, who now hosts the influential right-wing podcast WarRoom, has been ordered to surrender to authorities on July 1 to begin his sentence.
Steve Bannon, former adviser to President Donald Trump. He has been ordered to begin serving his four-month sentence on July 1, he is looking at four months in a relatively safe federal prison.
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
The order arrived nearly two years after Bannon was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress after failing to comply with subpoenas issued to him by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack.
The top Trump ally has so far avoided jail time pending the result of his appeal, which was recently rejected by a federal appeals court panel in May.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who originally delayed the start of Bannon’s custodial sentence, ruled on Thursday the original basis for his stay is no longer relevant, and ordered Bannon to surrender by the start of next month.
Bannon has vowed to go “all the way to the Supreme Court” to appeal his conviction, which could yet delay the start of his sentence.
“There’s not a prison built or jail built that will ever shut me up,” he told reporters outside a Washington, D.C. courthouse on Thursday.
If Bannon’s appeal fails and he is ordered to jail, he will likely have to serve his full four-month sentence.
“There is no parole in the federal system and no credit for good behavior for sentences under one year, so I expect he will serve all four months,” former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade told Newsweek.
“Unless he becomes eligible for compassionate release for serious health issues that cannot be addressed in prison.”
According to Borys Law, law firm specializing in Parole and Correctional Law, Prosecutor John Crabb told judge Nichols, at a Thursday hearing it was “very unlikely” Bannon will succeed in having his conviction thrown out on appeal.
Bannon’s legal team has been contacted for comment via email.
The Bureau of Prisons decides on where prisoners will be held based on a series of factors such as the types of crimes they have committed, the risk of violence against them, as well as issues related to the prisoner’s mental, medical or faith-based needs.
There are also other factors in determining where an inmate will be based, such as where there is available space and judicial recommendations.
In a previous statement after the Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling, Bannon’s lawyer David Schoen told Newsweek that “Today’s decision is wrong as a matter of law, and it reflects a very dangerous view of the threshold for criminal liability for any defendant in our country and for future political abuses of the congressional hearing process.”
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