TDAT and CTS: one RDAP component, two names

For RDAP, TDAT and CTS are the same component. TDAT is the older name. CTS is the current one.

You will hear both names for RDAP aftercare. They mean the same thing.

CTS is also wider than RDAP. BOP's 2026 policy says CTS pays for drug treatment, medication-assisted treatment, mental health treatment, peer support and sex offender treatment for people living in the community (P7430.03, § 1, p. 1).

So being in CTS does not by itself mean someone is in RDAP. For RDAP, the part that counts is CTS drug treatment, the third phase (P7430.03, § 6, p. 7).

Why aftercare is required

You cannot finish RDAP without it. The rule says:

"For inmates to successfully complete all components of RDAP, they must participate in CTS. If inmates refuse or fail to complete CTS, they fail RDAP and are disqualified for any additional incentives."

BOP's 2026 policy calls CTS substance use treatment "the third phase for inmates to complete RDAP" (P7430.03, § 6, p. 7). The early release comes only after you complete it (28 C.F.R. § 550.53(a)(3)).

Where CTS happens

CTS happens while you live "in the community." BOP's policy counts four places as the community (P7430.03, § 2, p. 2):

  • a Residential Reentry Center (a halfway house)
  • home confinement
  • a Day Reporting Center
  • Federal Location Monitoring
Residential Reentry Center (RRC)

BOP's name for a federal halfway house.

Home confinement

Serving the end of your BOP sentence at home, under BOP rules and monitoring.

The warden's decision about community placement

You need a community placement to finish RDAP, and the warden has a say in it. The rule says the warden "may find an inmate ineligible for participation in a community-based program; therefore, the inmate cannot complete RDAP" (28 C.F.R. § 550.53(a)(3)).

That is why BOP checks, before you start, that you can go to a halfway house or home confinement (§ 550.53(b)(3)).

How many days is TDAT?

No rule sets a fixed number of days. BOP policy sets a usual minimum of 120 days in a halfway house:

"Ordinarily, inmates who participate in the TDAT must receive no less than a 120-day placement in an RRC."

What if you get less than 120 days? The same policy says you then "cannot ordinarily complete the final component of the RDAP." You are then not eligible for early release (P5330.11, ch. 2, p. 21).

It strongly encourages wardens to approve RDAP graduates for halfway-house placement. It also tells BOP's community corrections staff to place them, when possible, for the most time the warden recommends.

BOP's First Step Act program guide describes how CTS treatment is authorized. If your community placement is under 180 days, the referral covers the whole placement. If it is 180 days or more, the referral covers 180 days, and then staff decide if more treatment is needed (BOP First Step Act Approved Programs Guide, p. 23).

What CTS treatment involves

Local treatment providers run CTS under contracts with BOP, and BOP pays for it (P7430.03, § 1, p. 1). BOP staff read your records and send you to the care you need. That can include an assessment, counseling alone or in a group or with family, mental health care, and medicine to treat addiction (P7430.03, § 4.b, p. 5).

Your provider sends BOP monthly progress reports (P7430.03, § 2, p. 3). Before you leave BOP custody, BOP sends your RDAP Treatment Summary to your probation office so your care can continue (P7430.03, § 9, p. 11).

When your release date moves

Your early release date can move later so you can finish CTS. The rule says:

"If inmates cannot fulfill their community-based treatment obligations by the presumptive release date, we may adjust provisional release dates by the least amount of time necessary to allow inmates to fulfill their treatment obligations."

Under BOP's 2026 policy, a BOP community treatment supervisor starts any change to your early release date. That includes a delay, or taking the early release away, for treatment problems. When you finish CTS, that supervisor tells BOP's release-date office that you completed all of RDAP (P7430.03, § 6, pp. 7–8).

Halfway house and home confinement time: the RDAP part

This page covers only how RDAP affects your time in a halfway house or home confinement:

  • One RDAP reward is "consideration for the maximum period of time in a community-based treatment program, if the inmate is otherwise eligible" (28 C.F.R. § 550.54(a)(1)(ii)).
  • Refusing, quitting or being expelled from RDAP "will be a factor to consider in determining length of community confinement" (28 C.F.R. § 550.53(h)(2)).
  • If you have a known drug problem but did not take RDAP, BOP may still require CTS as a condition of your community placement (28 C.F.R. § 550.56(b)).

For the general rules, see Federal halfway houses (RRCs) on sentencing.net and Federal home confinement on sentencing.net.

If aftercare goes wrong

Failing CTS means failing RDAP (28 C.F.R. § 550.56(a)). The expulsion guide explains what can happen and how to challenge a decision.

What should you ask if community treatment is delayed?

Find out which part of RDAP is still open, who is setting up the treatment referral, and whether BOP has changed the provisional release date in writing. Keep copies of every notice and a dated list of each time you went to treatment or tried to get it. A provider scheduling problem is not the same as refusing treatment.

Useful questions:

  • Which part of RDAP is not finished yet?
  • Who is setting up the treatment referral?
  • Which appointments are required, and when?
  • Has BOP changed the provisional release date in writing?

A scheduling problem is also not the same as a staff finding that treatment is not going well.

The usual 120-day halfway-house placement in BOP policy is not a promise of a certain halfway house, a bed date or release after exactly four months. BOP applies the rules and your treatment needs. A dispute about timing needs the actual placement and release-date records.