Schoffner v. United States Board of Parole

416 F. Supp. 759, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16377
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 2, 1976
DocketNo. 75-691 Civ
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 416 F. Supp. 759 (Schoffner v. United States Board of Parole) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schoffner v. United States Board of Parole, 416 F. Supp. 759, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16377 (M.D. Pa. 1976).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NEALON, District Judge.

Petitioner, presently incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, seeks a writ of habeas corpus contending that the law has been improperly applied to the facts in regard to the method by which his statutory good time credits have been computed by prison authorities. In addition, petitioner challenges the alleged failure of the United. States Board of Parole to execute a mandatory release violator’s warrant, which is presently filed against petitioner as a detainer. The pertinent facts are as follows.

On September 16, 1965, petitioner was sentenced in the Southern District of Mississippi *„to a term of five years for the offense of interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2312. On February 17, 1966, petitioner was sentenced in the Northern District of Georgia to a term of one year, to run consecutive to the 1965 sentence, for the offense of interstate transportation of forged securities in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314. On September 29, 1967, petitioner was sentenced in the Western District of Missouri to two concurrent terms of five years each, to run consecutive to the sentences imposed in 1965 and 1966, for the offenses of interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2312 and unlawful escape from a federal penitentiary in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 751.

The one-year and two five-year sentences were aggregated by prison authorities for the purpose of computing petitioner’s mandatory release date.1 Under this method of [761]*761computation, petitioner was credited with a total of 1541 days,2 and, pursuant to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 4164, petitioner was released from confinement on February 20, 1973.

On August 13, 1974, petitioner was arrested in Elmira, New York on state charges involving the theft of a motor vehicle. This arrest resulted in the lodging of federal charges, and on September 20,1974, the United States Board of Parole issued a mandatory release violator’s warrant. 28 C.F.R. § 2.49. Petitioner was subsequently convicted in the Western District of New York, again for the offense of interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2312, and on December 16, 1974, was sentenced to serve a four-year term of imprisonment. The unexecuted mandatory release violator’s warrant remains filed against petitioner as a detainer.

Petitioner contends that the prison authorities are incorrect in their calculation that he has 1541 days remaining to be served. It is petitioner’s belief that he was required to serve all of his 1965 and 1966 sentences prior to beginning his 1967 sentence and, therefore, when mandatorily released on February 20, 1973, could only have been charged with good time service as computed on the five-year 1967 sentence standing alone, which he computes to be 480 days. The Court does not agree.3

Under the applicable law, 18 U.S.C. § 4161, Bureau of Prisons Policy Statement 7600.54A, and the case law interpreting such, prison officials aggregate multiple sentences. Trimmings v. Henderson, 498 F.2d 86 (5th Cir. 1974); Briest v. United States Bureau of Prisons, 459 F.2d 284 (8th Cir. 1972); McFarland v. United States, 408 F.2d 376 (5th Cir. 1969); Desmond v. U. S. Board of Parole, 397 F.2d 386 (1st Cir. 1968); Gregory v. United States, 297 F.2d 80 (10th Cir. 1961). The purpose of such aggregation is to allow inmates the benefit of accumulating statutory good time at the highest possible rate. To compute sentences separately would result in the inmate serving additional time in prison since he would accumulate less good time. Briest, supra, at 286. Consequently, the Court finds no merit to the contention that the aggregation of the sentences for the purpose of computing good time credits was illegal.

Although he is not contesting the lawfulness of the lodging of the mandatory release violator’s warrant as a detainer, petitioner challenges that detainer on the ground that respondents have failed to execute within a reasonable time after its issuance the underlying mandatory release violator’s warrant. While it is, of course, true that the Parole Board has a duty to [762]*762execute a warrant without delay, Simon v. Moseley, 452 F.2d 306 (10th Cir. 1971), it is well settled that “where a warrant has been properly issued within the maximum term of the sentence, the execution of that warrant may be held in abeyance for the service of an intervening sentence.” (citations omitted) Stockton v. Massey, 34 F.2d 96, 97 (4th Cir. 1929), cert. denied, 281 U.S. 723, 50 S.Ct. 239, 74 L.Ed. 1141 (1930); Gaddy v. Michael, 519 F.2d 669 (4th Cir. 1975); United States ex rel. Blassingame v. Gengler, 502 F.2d 1388 (2d Cir. 1974); Small v. Britton, 500 F.2d 299, at 301 (10th Cir. 1974); Trimmings v. Henderson, supra, at 87; Cook v. United States Attorney General, 488 F.2d 667, at 671 (5th Cir. 1974); Vladovic v. Parker, 455 F.2d 495, at 496 (9th Cir. 1972); Barr v. Parker, 453 F.2d 865, at 867 (9th Cir. 1971); Cox v. Feldkamp, 438 F.2d 1, at 3 (5th Cir. 1971); Moore v. Smith,

Related

Jones v. Jackson
416 A.2d 249 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1980)
Silberberg v. U. S. Parole Commission
483 F. Supp. 1280 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 1980)
Schoffner v. U. S. Board of Parole
547 F.2d 1164 (Third Circuit, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
416 F. Supp. 759, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schoffner-v-united-states-board-of-parole-pamd-1976.