Summary
The Second Circuit held that time credits earned under the First Step Act cannot be used to reduce the length of a federal prisoner's term of supervised release. Because Rivera-Perez had been transferred to a residential reentry center, his habeas petition seeking prerelease custody relief became moot. The court vacated the district court's judgment and remanded with instructions to dismiss the case as moot.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether earned time credits under 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(C) may be used to reduce the duration of a federal prisoner's term of supervised release.
- Whether Rivera-Perez's § 2241 petition became moot after he was transferred from prison to a residential reentry center and received the maximum available early-transfer benefit.
Holdings
- Time credits earned under 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(C) may be applied to move a prisoner toward an earlier start of prerelease custody or supervised release, but they may not be used to reduce the duration of a post-incarceration term of supervised release.
- Rivera-Perez's § 2241 petition became moot when he was transferred to a residential reentry center because the court could no longer grant him any additional relief authorized by the First Step Act.
Key quotations
“In sum, we hold that when FSA time credits are “applied toward time in . . . supervised release” pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(C), they reduce a prisoner’s time in incarceration by starting a term of supervised release early. They do not reduce a post-incarceration term of supervised release.” (30)
“A ruling in his favor could not give him any more than that because Section 3632(d)(4)(C) cannot reduce his term of supervised release.” (30-31)
Factual background
Rivera-Perez was serving a federal sentence that had been reduced from life imprisonment to 360 months, followed by five years of supervised release. While incarcerated at FCI Danbury, he filed a § 2241 petition alleging that the Bureau of Prisons had miscalculated more than 700 First Step Act time credits and improperly denied him transfer to home confinement. The BOP applied 365 credits to accelerate the start of supervised release, and Rivera-Perez was later transferred to a residential reentry center, leaving 415 credits unused.
Procedural history
Rivera-Perez filed a § 2241 petition challenging the Bureau of Prisons' calculation of his First Step Act time credits and seeking immediate release to home confinement. After he was transferred to a residential reentry center, the Warden moved to dismiss as moot. The district court acknowledged that the original request for prerelease custody was moot but construed the petition as seeking application of unused credits to reduce supervised release and granted relief. The Second Circuit reversed that statutory interpretation, vacated the judgment, and remanded for dismissal as moot.
Remand instructions
Remand to the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut with instructions to dismiss the case as moot.