After receiving a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah is no longer behind bars. She only had to complete two years and nine months of her sentence. All things considered, that seems like a pretty sweet deal, but we’ve learned that Jen could have been released even sooner. While locked up, she filed a lawsuit arguing that the feds miscalculated her sentence.
Jen Shah accused a warden of “unconstitutionally” keeping her locked away in prison
According to court documents reviewed by Us Weekly, Jen filed a lawsuit against the warden of Bryan Federal Prison Camp in Texas. The suit filed on August 18 accused the prison officials of incorrectly calculating her release date. We know you’re thinking, “How is that possible if she got out early?” We’ll explain.
At the time of the suit, the feds had already moved Jen’s release date up to August 2026. In August 2025, Jen completed the nine-month Residential Drug Abuse Program, which earned her a full year reduction to her sentence. Based on that and her “spotless disciplinary record,” her lawsuit argued that her release date should have been August 6, 2025.
For Jen’s program, she completed daily treatment groups, individual counseling, and written assignments. The lawsuit described it as “highly regimented programming,” but Jen said that the warden tried to rescind her credit. She claimed that officials kept her “unconstitutionally confined beyond her scheduled release date.”
The warden asked a judge to dismiss Jen’s case, claiming that it had no legal standing. However, Jen and her lawyers pushed back. They said that this was an example of long-standing, inconsistent behavior from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Her lawyer said, “Jen successfully completed the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) in August 2025 and, consistent with longstanding BOP policy and practice, should have been released shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, the Bureau of Prisons has a well-documented history of failing to release inmates in a timely manner even after they complete qualifying programming that entitles them to earlier release consideration.”
A judge had yet to rule on Jen’s case. In the meantime, she received another sentence reduction that granted her the December 10 release date. She’s now back home, where she’ll complete “community confinement” until August 30, 2026.
Jen’s lawyer said, “At this stage, Jen is now moving forward into the next phase of her sentence, which is pre-release custody, and remains focused on a successful and compliant transition.”
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TELL US – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON JEN’S LAWSUIT FROM BEHIND BARS? DOES IT SURPRISE YOU THAT SHE GOT OUT SO EARLY?
