Harris v. Daniels

466 F. Supp. 2d 1239, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94288, 2006 WL 3770976
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedDecember 5, 2006
DocketCIV. 06-1562-HA
StatusPublished

This text of 466 F. Supp. 2d 1239 (Harris v. Daniels) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harris v. Daniels, 466 F. Supp. 2d 1239, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94288, 2006 WL 3770976 (D. Or. 2006).

Opinion

ORDER

HAGGERTY, Chief Judge.

Petitioner brings this petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. He invokes this court’s jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343(4). Petitioner is a federal prisoner being housed by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon. Petitioner asserts that his statutory and due process rights are being violated by the BOP’s revocation of his eligibility for reduction of his period of custody.

Petitioner was convicted in the Northern District of California in September, 2001, for Unlawful Possession of Cocaine Base. He received a total guideline sentence of ninety-two months in the custody of the BOP, followed by a three-year-term of supervised release.

There is no dispute that petitioner was advised that he was eligible for early release consideration and was admitted into the BOP’s residential substance abuse treatment program (DAP). Specifically, respondent raises no objections to petitioner’s factual assertions that on February 7, 2005, “the BOP determined that the petitioner was eligible for early release pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e), provided him with formal notice on BP-S761, and en *1240 tered his status on the BOP’S SENTRY computer system: as instructed by Program Statement 5331.01.” Petition, ¶ 4.5.

Respondent concurs, agreeing that petitioner applied for entry into the DAP program on April 24, 2004, and that his application was reviewed by Dr. Neil Solomon on February 2, 2005. Respondent’s Answer, p. 5. After reviewing petitioner’s DAP application, Dr. Solomon found petitioner “eligible to participate in the DAP program.” Id. Doctor Solomon, however, failed “to note” a disqualifying Second Degree Robbery conviction listed in petitioner’s Pre-Sentence Report and “made [an erroneous] provisional determination of early release eligibility.” Respondent’s Answer, pp. 5-6.

Petitioner subsequently entered the 500-hour residential treatment program and graduated on October 20, 2006. However, on July 7, 2006, the BOP revoked petitioner’s eligibility for the § 3621(e) sentence reduction after discovering that petitioner had been convicted of Second Degree Robbery in 1992. Petitioner was given formal and oral notice that “per policy he was categorically ineligible” for early release because of his prior robbery conviction. Respondent’s Answer, p. 6.

Petitioner’s projected good conduct time release date was December 30, 2007. Pri- or to losing his early release eligibility, petitioner was to be transferred to community corrections on October 20, 2006, and then released after six months. Petition, ¶ 4.10.

“The petitioner has filed his administrative remedies. He is awaiting a response to his national appeal.” Petition, ¶ 4.8.

Respondent explains that petitioner’s eligibility was revoked after a “subsequent review... determined that the initial reviewer failed to identify a disqualifying felony conviction” noted in petitioner’s Pre-Sentence Report. Respondent’s Answer, p. 3. Respondent asserts that petitioner was never eligible for sentence reduction consideration due to his 1992 Second Degree Robbery conviction and that, therefore, the BOP now correctly refuses to transfer him to a community corrections facility to complete the last phase of the DAP program, or to consider him eligible for early release. Id. Petitioner contends that the revocation of this eligibility deprives him of rights conferred by 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e), 5 U.S.C. § 706, and the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

ANALYSIS

In 1994, as an incentive for prisoners to seek drug treatment, Congress made one-year sentence reductions available to prisoners convicted of nonviolent offenses who successfully completed substance abuse treatment programs. 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e)(2)(B).

The BOP has broad discretion in administering the sentence reduction treatment program, and that this discretion extends to the creation of categorical exclusions. Bowen v. Hood, 202 F.3d 1211, 1219 (9th Cir.2000), internal quotations and citations omitted. However, the Ninth Circuit has closely scrutinized the retroactive revocation of an inmate’s eligibility.

In Cort v. Crabtree, 113 F.3d at 1084, the Ninth Circuit examined Supreme Court precedent addressing retroactivity, noting that the Court “has reemphasized the importance of the presumption against retroactivity” and has reiterated that the presumption is deeply rooted in our jurisprudence and embodies a legal doctrine that is centuries old. 113 F.3d 1081, 1084 (9th Cir.1997), internal quotations and citations omitted. The Ninth Circuit in Bowen cited Cort in referring to the “bedrock *1241 principle” that retroactivity is not favored. Bowen, 202 F.3d at 1220, citing Cort, 113 F.3d at 1084. The Ninth Circuit has consistently emphasized that the settled expectations of inmates regarding early release eligibility should not be disrupted lightly. See Bowen, 202 F.3d at 1220; Cort, 113 F.3d at 1084-86; both quoting Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244, 265, 114 S.Ct. 1483, 128 L.Ed.2d 229 (1994).

Those “settled expectations” are not construed as diminished or compromised even though the BOP describes an inmate’s eligibility for the DAP program as provisional. Rather, the Ninth Circuit has held explicitly that the BOP’s use of term “provisional” “refers only to the successful completion of all phases of the drug abuse treatment program” and that “an inmate may lose his [or her] early release eligibility only for failure to complete the treatment program.” Bowen, 202 F.3d at 1221; see also Cort, 113 F.3d at 1085 (eligibility for sentence reduction is subject only to successful completion of program; the term “provisional” in the residential drug abuse treatment program contract fails to alter the BOP’s long-held policy that early release eligibility is conditioned only upon successful completion of the treatment program).

Accordingly, the Ninth Circuit has concluded that, even with the addition of the term “provisional” in BOP regulations pertaining to eligibility evaluations regarding the DAP program, an inmate’s DAP “eligibility determination is contingent only upon completion of the program, and not on any changes in the law or regulations.” Bowen, 202 F.3d at 1221-22.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
466 F. Supp. 2d 1239, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94288, 2006 WL 3770976, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-daniels-ord-2006.