Juan Gabriel Barrios v. Acting Warden Bienemy

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia denied a federal inmate’s 28 U.S.C. § 2241 petition challenging the Bureau of Prisons’ refusal to apply First Step Act earned time credits toward prerelease custody. The court held that the statute requires minimum or low recidivism-risk status for statutory eligibility and that the warden’s discretionary decision to deny an exception was not reviewable. The court granted the respondent’s motion to dismiss and dismissed the action.

Holdings

1. Section 3624(g)(1)(D)(i)(I) unambiguously requires a prisoner seeking transfer to prerelease custody through the statutory entitlement route to have been determined to be a minimum or low recidivism risk on the last two assessments. A medium-risk prisoner is therefore not entitled to application of earned time credits under Option One, even if the prisoner has demonstrated risk reduction under § 3624(g)(1)(B).
2. The warden's discretionary decision to deny a prisoner's request for approval to apply earned time credits under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(1)(D)(i)(II) is not reviewable by the court.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(1) permits a prisoner with a medium recidivism-risk classification to apply earned First Step Act time credits toward transfer to prerelease custody based on demonstrated risk reduction under § 3624(g)(1)(B).
2. Whether the court may review the warden's discretionary denial of a prisoner's request to apply earned First Step Act time credits under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(g)(1)(D)(i)(II).

Disposition

dismissed