Dolfi v. Pontesso
| Decision Date | 30 September 1998 |
| Docket Number | 97-1880 and 98-1394,97-1689,Nos. 97-1381,s. 97-1381 |
| Parties | James E. DOLFI (98-1394); Terrance Darnell Williams (97-1381), Petitioners-Appellees, v. Stephen PONTESSO, Warden, Milan Federal Correctional Institution, Respondent-Appellant. Samuel LIVINGSTON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES PAROLE COMMISSION, Respondent-Appellee. Dominic PASSALACQUA, Petitioner-Appellee, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Elaine Mittleman (argued and briefed), Falls Church, VA, for James E. Dolfi.
James E. Dolfi, Cleveland, OH, pro se.
Penny R. Beardslee (argued and briefed), Federal Public Defenders Office, Detroit, MI, for Samuel Livingston.
Dominic Passalacqua, St. Clair Shores, MI, pro se.
Aaron P. Buda (argued and briefed), Cincinnati, OH, for Dominic Passalacqua.
Terrance Darnell Williams, Detroit, MI, pro se.
Patrick J. Wright (argued and briefed), Farmington Hills, MI, for Terrance Darnell Williams.
Patricia G. Blake, Mark W. Osler (argued and briefed), Office of the U.S. Attorney, Detroit, MI, for Stephen F. Pontesso.
Mark W. Osler (argued and briefed), Office of the U.S. Attorney, Detroit, MI, for U.S. Parole Commission and United States of America.
Before: MERRITT, KENNEDY, and GILMAN, Circuit Judges.
If a person on special parole violates the terms of his release, 21 U.S.C. § 841(c) allows the United States Parole Commission to reincarcerate him for all or part of his original "special parole term," without allowing him credit on his jail time for his so-called "street time" spent on parole prior to his reincarceration. Section 841(c) prescribes the consequences after revocation of a "special parole term" in the following language:
A special parole term ... may be revoked if its terms and conditions are violated. In such circumstances the original term of imprisonment shall be increased by the period of the special parole term and the resulting new term of imprisonment shall not be diminished by the time which was spent on special parole. A person whose special parole term has been revoked may be required to serve all or part of the remainder of the new term of imprisonment. A special parole term provided for in this section ... shall be in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other parole provided for by law.
21 U.S.C. § 841(c) (emphasis added). Special parole treats "street time" differently than traditional parole. Under traditional parole, a parolee gets credit for the time he served on parole if his parole is revoked. A parolee serving special parole does not get this credit, and thus he can be reimprisoned for his entire parole term no matter how long he has spent on parole.
The issue in these four consolidated cases is whether the Parole Commission, should it choose to reparole a federal prisoner after revoking his original special parole term, can reimpose a successive term of special parole and thereby prevent the parolee from receiving credit for any street time he subsequently serves on reparole. Although the statute is silent on the subject, there is no issue in this case about whether a reincarcerated offender should get credit for his first period of parole when he is reparoled after his imprisonment on his first violation. The only issue in these appeals is whether the Parole Commission can deny credit for parole time upon the second and successive revocation of parole.
The statute allows the Parole Commission to revoke credit for the original "time which was spent on special parole," but it is altogether silent on whether the Parole Commission may impose another term of special parole upon a prisoner who is reincarcerated for only a part of the original special parole term. The four petitioners in these appeals interpret this silence to mean that the Parole Commission can only impose traditional parole upon the a prisoner who was reincarcerated for violating an original term special parole, which would give them credit for any street time they subsequently served on reparole after their initial revocation and reincarceration. The government interprets this silence as implicit authority for the Parole Commission to impose successive terms of special parole upon violators who are rereleased before serving their entire special parole term in prison. To resolve this dispute, some historical background is in order.
"Special parole" had been an additional penalty for all drug offenses that was mandatory in all cases until the Sentencing Reform Act replaced it with "supervised release." Special parole was imposed by the district judge to follow the period of imprisonment; when it is revoked, the offender may be reincarcerated for the full length of the parole term without credit for street time already spent on special parole. It is governed by 21 U.S.C. § 841, which Congress repealed in 1984, but it still applies to drug crimes committed before November 1, 1987. Pub.L. No. 98-473, § 224(a)(2) (formerly § 224(a)(6)), 98 Stat. 2030 (1984); Pub.L. No. 99-570, § 1005(a)(2), 100 Stat. 3207-6 (1986).
The old Parole Commission remains in existence to control the release of prisoners sentenced prior to the effectiveness of the Sentencing Guidelines instituted by the Sentencing Reform Act. It still monitors the parole of this shrinking class of federal prisoners and deals with any parole violations these parolees may commit. Section 841(c) authorizes the Parole Commission to reincarcerate a parolee who violates the term of his original special parole for the entire term; it does not have to give the prisoner credit toward his reincarceration for the street time he spent under his original special parole term. Under the terms of the statute, a prisoner serving a five-year special parole term who commits a parole violation well into his fourth year on release can be reincarcerated for up to five additional years, notwithstanding the time he spent on parole.
The issue in these appeals stems from the Parole Commission's presumption that it also has the authority to reimpose special parole upon reincarcerated special parolees whom it chooses to reparole. Under this system, a reincarcerated parolee who is reparoled can be put on special parole again, preventing him from receiving credit for any time he subsequently serves on parole. In practical terms, this means that the Parole Commission can subject an offender to an interminable cycle of governmental supervision through successive terms of special parole if the parolee continues to violate the terms of his release. If the Parole Commission may subject a reincarcerated parolee to successive terms of special parole, he will never receive credit for the street time he serves on reparole following his original special parole violation.
The petitioner Samuel Livingston is an example. He is currently serving thirty months in prison for violating his third term of special parole. Following his guilty plea to heroin trafficking in 1983, he was originally sentenced to five years imprisonment followed by five years of special parole. He began serving his initial term of special parole on December 15, 1987. After serving three years and four months of this original term, Livingston was reincarcerated on April 29, 1991 for violating the terms of his release. There is no question that the Parole Commission could refuse Livingston credit for those three years and four months of street time under § 841(c). Following this violation, the Parole Commission could have reincarcerated him for five additional years, until April 28, 1996. He is still in jail, however, because the Parole Commission chose to reparole him and imposed successive terms of special parole. Because he violated his second and third terms of special parole, he was not given credit for the two years and ten months he subsequently spent on reparole. As it now stands, he will again be eligible for parole on January 17, 1999. He would have been free from supervision on April 28, 1996 if he had been given credit for the street time he spent under his second and third parole terms.
The four petitioners in these consolidated appeals question the Parole Commission's presumed authority under 21 U.S.C. § 841(c) to impose a new or successive term of special parole upon them after revoking their original term. All four petitioners in these appeals received new terms of special parole following revocation of their original terms. None contests violating the conditions of his parole. The Courts of Appeals have split on the issue of whether the Parole Commission may impose a new special parole term or must instead impose traditional parole and give the offender credit for street time spent on reparole following revocation and reincarceration. The Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits have held the Parole Commission does not have statutory authority to impose successive new special parole terms after revoking an offender's initial term. The D.C. and Eighth Circuits disagree.
Section 841(c) is completely silent on the issue raised in these four petitions, as Magistrate Pepe observed in his comprehensive opinion in the case of petitioner Passalacqua. All the statute says is, "A person whose special parole term has been revoked may be required to serve all or part of the remainder of the new term of imprisonment." 18 U.S.C. § 841(c). Assuming that only "part" of the new prison term is served, the statutory question, as it applies to these four petitioners, is whether the Parole Commission may impose a new term of special parole upon the prisoner's release. The answer to this question has serious practical consequences. If the answer is yes, the Parole Commission may impose a potentially unlimited succession of parole and imprisonment terms because special parolees who violate the conditions of their release do not get credit for...
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U.S. v. Welch, No. 01-4170.
... ... United States, 494 U.S. 152, 177, 110 S.Ct. 997, 108 L.Ed.2d 132 (1990) (Scalia, J. concurring); accord Dolfi v. Pontesso, 156 F.3d 696, 700 (6th Cir.1998). Separation of power concerns and the recognized role of courts as final arbiters of what the law is ... ...
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Moreland v. Federal Bureau of Prisons
... ... For example, in Dolfi v. Pontesso, 156 F.3d 696, 699-700 (6th Cir.1998), the court refused deference to the U.S. Parole Commission's interpretation of the phrase "special ... ...
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