Judge Denies Steve Bannon Bid for Early Release

Steve Bannon speaks outside Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn., on July 1, 2024. Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo

Steve Bannon will serve the rest of his prison sentence, a federal judge ordered on Oct. 22.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected Bannon’s request to be released early from prison.

“Whether viewed as a motion for reconsideration or not, the Court concludes that the relief the Defendant seeks is not warranted,” Nichols said in a minute order released by the U.S. District Court in Washington.

Bannon, a former official in the Trump administration, on July 1 started serving a 4-month sentence at a federal prison in Connecticut. He was convicted of being in contempt of Congress. Based on advice from his lawyer, Bannon had declined to cooperate with a U.S. House of Representatives panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

In an Aug. 29 motion, Bannon asked Nichols to order his release. Through his attorneys, Bannon argued that his appeal has a realistic prospect of succeeding, or at least of receiving from one or more judges a dissent from denial, and that either result would support early release based on historical practice.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit turned away Bannon’s appeal of his conviction, prompting Bannon to request a rehearing from the full appeals court. The panel denied his attempts to remain free as the appeal worked its way through the court system.

Prosecutors said Bannon should not be released because he has not shown any basis for a change.

Even if the court denied the attempt to reinstate bail pending appeal, then it should order Bannon released with supervision, his lawyers said.

They pointed to how the U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirmed on Oct. 21 that Bannon has accrued credits under the First Step Act good for 10 days of home confinement.

While the government’s position is that Bannon must ask the bureau’s director for a sentence reduction before turning to the courts, Bannon’s attorneys said that he should not have to wait and waste time he could be spending at home.

Darek Puzio, the acting warden at the Federal Correctional Institute in Danbury, Connecticut, told Bannon’s lawyers recently that there is not sufficient time left on Bannon’s sentence to process an early movement to home confinement. The office overseeing the area in which Bannon is serving will not accept placements under 30 days, Puzio said.

Bannon is scheduled to be released on Oct. 29, after serving his full sentence.