Tavaris Cain v. Acting Warden Bienemy

District Court, E.D. Virginia·Decided July 22, 2026·No. 1:25-cv-01324·Unknown

Opinion

| IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE | EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA Alexandria Division Tavaris Cain, ) Petitioner, Vv. Case No. 1:25-cv-1324 (RDA/WBP) Acting Warden Bienemy, Respondent. This matter comes before the Court on Respondent Acting Warden Bienemy’s (“Resporident”) Motion for Summary Judgment (“Motion”) of Petitioner Travaris Cain’s (“Petitioner”) pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus, filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 | Dkts. 11, 12, 13. Cain (“Petitioner” or “Cain”) challenges the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (“BOP”) denial of his application to have his First Step Act (“FSA”) time credits “applied to [his] prelease custody date.” Dkt. 1 at 2, 6-7; 2 at 11-12; Dkt. 5 at 8. On December 15, 2025, Respondent filed his motion f | r summary judgment, with a supporting brief and exhibits. Dkts. 10-11. On April 22, 2026, vaitone was advised of his rights under Roseboro v. Garrison, 528 F.2d 309 (4th Cir. 1975), (Dkt. 14) but did not respond to the Motion. Accordingly, this matter is ripe for disposition. For the reasons stated below, the Motion will be granted.

| Respondent filed, in the alternative, a motion to dismiss. Dkt. 10-13. Although the motion to dismiss would also be dispositive, resolving this matter via the motion for summary judgment provides a clearer picture of the proceedings at FCI-Petersburg. The motion to dismiss will be cpio as moot.

| I, Standard of Review Title 28 U.S.C. § 2241(a) provides that “[w]rits of habeas corpus may be granted by the Supreme Court, any justice thereof, the district courts and any circuit judge within their respective jurisdictions.” Under § 2241, federal courts may consider “not only constitutional claims but claims of statutory interpretation as well.” Bowrin v. U.S. INS, 194 F.3d 483, 487 (4th Cir. 1999) (citing Goncalves v. Reno, 144 F.3d 110, 123-24 (1st Cir. 1998)). In addition, “attacks on the execution of a sentence are properly raised in a § 2241 petition.” Jn re Vial, 115 F.3d 1192, 1194 n.5 (4th Cir. 1997) (citing Bradshaw v. Story, 86 F.3d 164, 166 (10th Cir. 1996)); Hanahan v. Luther, 693 F.2d 629, 632 n.1 (7th Cir. 1982)). After receiving a petition and the respondent’s mepomee “(t]he court shall summarily hear and determine the facts[] and dispose of the matter as law and justice require.” 28 U.S.C. § 2243. Summary judgment is appropriate “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).? “One of the principal purposes of the summary judgment rule is to isolate and dispose of factually unsupported claims or defenses, and we think it should be interpreted in a way that allows it to accomplish this purpose.” Celotex v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323-24 (1986). As the Fourth

2 Banoub v. Crawford, 819 F. Supp. 3d 477, 484 n.11 (E.D. Va. Dec. 23, 2025) (“Rule 1(b) of the Rules Governing § 2254 Cases permits this Court to apply the Rules Governing § 2254 Cases to petitions under 28 U.S.C. § 2241.”) (citing Aguayo v. Harvey, 476 F.3d 971, 976 (D.C. Cir. 2007)); see also Walker v. True, 399 F.3d 315, 319 (4th Cir. 2005) (observing that under Rule 11, Rules Governing § 2254 Cases, that “[t]he Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to the extent that they are not inconsistent with these rules, may be applied when appropriate, to petitions filed under these rules.”) (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 81(a)(2) (“These rules are applicable to proceedings for... habeas corpus . . . to the extent that the practice in such proceedings is not set forth in the statutes of the United States, the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases, the Rules Governing Section 2255 Proceedittgs, and has heretofore conformed to the practice in civil action.”)). |

Circuit has noted, summary judgment allows courts “to avoid useless trials where material facts are not depute and the law points unerringly to the conclusion that one of the parties is entitled to judgment as a matter of law,” Utility Control Corp. v. Prince William Constr. Co., 558 F.2d 716, 719 (4th Cir. 1977). Summary judgment is proper “[w]here the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, there [being] no genuine issue for trial.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986). Respondent, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, filed his statement of undisputed material facts. Petitioner, however, has failed to comply with his obligations under Rule 56 I submit statements of undisputed and disputed facts. See Carlson v. Boston Sci. Corp., 856 F.3d! 320, 325 (4th Cir. 2017) (“The responsibility to comb through the record in search of facts men to summary judgment falls on the parties—not the court.”); Malina v. Baltimore Gas & Elec. 18 F. Supp.2d 596, 604 (D. Md. 1998) (“[I]t is the responsibility of the plaintiff, not the court, to identify with particularity the evidentiary facts existing in the record which can oppose the defendant’s summary judgment motion. The court . . . is not required to independently comb the record to look for them.”); see also Amnesty America v. Town of West Hartford, 288 F.3d 467, 470-71 be Cir. 2002) (“Fed. R. Civ. P. 56 does not impose an obligation on a district court to perform I independent review of the record to find proof of a factual dispute . . .. Nothing in the federal rules mandates that district courts conduct an exhaustive search of the entire record before ruling on|a motion for summary judgment .. . .”)? The Court accepts Respondent’s statement of facts as true because Petitioner has failed to

3 The summary judgment record of admissible evidence includes the affidavits and unobjected to documents submitted in support of the motion for summary judgment, Dkt.

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