Minotti v. Whitehead, Civil Case No. RWT-08-1418.
| Decision Date | 31 October 2008 |
| Docket Number | Civil Case No. RWT-08-1018.,Civil Case No. RWT-08-1418.,Civil Case No. RWT-08-2084. |
| Parties | Jon MINOTTI, Plaintiff v. J.D. WHITEHEAD<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL>, Warden FCI-Cumberland, et al., Defendants. Craig Overman, Plaintiff v. J.D. Whitehead, Warden FCI-Cumberland, et al., Defendants. John Sherman Floyd, Petitioner v. J.D. Whitehead, Warden FCI-Cumberland, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
Brian W. Shaughnessy, Shaughnessy, Volzer, Gagner, PC, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.
John Sherman Floyd, Cumberland, MD, pro se.
Kenneth Adebonojo, U.S. Attorney's Office, Washington, DC, Jason Daniel Medinger, Office of the United States Attorney, Baltimore, MD, for Defendants.
Melanie L. Glickson, Maryland Office of the United States Attorney, Baltimore, MD, for Defendants/Respondent.
Allen F. Loucks, Office of the United States Attorney, Baltimore, MD, for Respondent.
Congress enacted 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e)(2)(B) to give the Bureau of Prisons ("BOP") the authority to reduce by up to one year the prison term of an inmate convicted of a nonviolent felony, if the prisoner successfully completes a substance abuse program. The BOP adopted an implementing regulation that categorically denied early release to prisoners whose offense of conviction was a felony attended by "the carrying, possession, or use of a firearm." 28 C.F.R. § 550.58(a)(1)(vi)(B) (2000). Resolving a split among the circuits over the validity of this regulation, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Lopez v. Davis, 531 U.S. 230, 244, 121 S.Ct. 714, 148 L.Ed.2d 635 (2001), and held that the BOP's regulation was a permissible exercise of the discretion delegated to it by Congress under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e)(2)(B). In so holding, however, the Supreme Court expressly declined in footnote six of its opinion to address a question raised by an amicus as to whether the BOP had violated the notice and comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act when it published its interim implementing regulation. Id. at n. 6.
Earlier this year, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit addressed this unresolved issue in Arlington v. Daniels, 516 F.3d 1106, 1116 (9th Cir.2008), and held that the BOP had violated the Administrative Procedure Act because it failed to articulate a rational basis for the manner in which it exercised its discretion and thus the interim implementing regulation was arbitrary and capricious. In the wake of Arrington, a number of federal district courts confronting the validity of the BOP's interim regulation (and final regulation, which is identical in every regard to the interim regulation) have questioned Arrington's reasoning and declined to follow suit.
For the reasons that follow, this Court also finds the reasoning in Arrington unpersuasive and declines to follow it. Thus, the Court upholds the BOP's decision to categorically deny early release to prisoners whose current offense was a felony attended by "the carrying, possession, or use of a firearm." 28 C.F.R. § 550.58(a)(1)(vi)(B) (2000).
In the consolidated cases before the Court, three federal inmates incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institute ("FCI") in Cumberland have filed separate actions alleging that the BOP's final regulation that excludes them from eligibility for early release under § 3621 is arbitrary and capricious (citing Arrington) and that their convictions should be considered "nonviolent." Respectively, they sought either habeas or injunctive relief, and are collectively referred to in this opinion as the "Plaintiffs." Their cases were consolidated because they contain substantially similar legal arguments and factual circumstances.
Jon Minotti, the plaintiff in Civil Case No. RWT-08-1418, is currently serving a three year term of imprisonment at FCI-Cumberland to be followed by four years of supervised release. He seeks declaratory and injunctive relief as to the validity of the BOP's final regulation.
Craig Overman, the plaintiff in Civil Case No. RWT-08-2084, is currently serving a four year term of imprisonment at FCI-Cumberland. Overman also seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.
John Sherman Floyd, the pro se petitioner in Civil Case No. RWT-08-1018, is currently serving a sixty month term of imprisonment at FCI—Cumberland to be followed by three years of supervised release. Floyd petitions for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus, raising essentially the same legal grounds as Minotti and Overman.
All three Plaintiffs pleaded guilty to drug offenses.2 All three Plaintiffs were either convicted of a firearms offense or received a two-point weapons sentencing enhancement.3 Each was deemed eligible to participate in RDAP but provisionally determined to be ineligible for early release due to a conviction for a firearms offense or receipt of the two-point weapons sentencing enhancement. Had Plaintiffs Minotti and Overman been deemed eligible for early release, they would have already been transferred to a residential re-entry center (i.e., a half-way house) because they have completed the first phase of the RDAP (which requires a 500-hour residential program); Petitioner Floyd seeks a declaration that he is eligible to receive early release credit toward the term of his imprisonment. All three Plaintiffs exhausted the administrative remedy process.4
18 U.S.C. § 3621 governs the imprisonment of persons convicted of federal crimes. Congress amended this statute in 1990 and directed the BOP to provide residential substance abuse treatment programs for prisoners who were determined to have a treatable condition of substance addiction or abuse. Crime Control Act of 1990, Pub.L. No. 101-647, § 2903, 104 Stat. 4913 (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b)). Congress amended the statute again in 1994 to provide an early release incentive to encourage prisoner participation in these residential substance abuse treatment programs. Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 103 Pub.L. No. 322, § 32001, 108 Stat. 1796, 1896-97 (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e)(2)(B)). Under the amended federal statute, the BOP may reduce, by up to one year, the prison term of a prisoner who was convicted of a nonviolent felony and who successfully completes a residential drug abuse treatment program ("RDAP"). 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e)(2)(B); see also H.R.Rep. No. 103-320, 103 Cong., 1st Sess. 6 (1993) ().
The BOP operates the RDAP in order to assist prisoners in overcoming their substance abuse problems. BOP Program Statement 5330.10, Drug Abuse Programs Manual-Inmate, Chapter 5, Residential Drug Abuse Treatment Programs, at www.bop.gov. The RDAP has three phases. The first phase is the residential unit component, which lasts a minimum of 500 hours over a six to twelve-month period. Id.; 28 C.F.R. § 550.56. Drug abuse treatment specialists and the drug abuse treatment coordinator operate a treatment unit, which is set apart from the general prison population, that focuses on individual and group activities. BOP Program Statement 5330.10. After the successful completion of the first phase, the second phase of the program is the institution transitional services component. Id. Inmates are provided counseling support for a minimum of one hour per month over a period of twelve months while the inmates transition back into the general prison population. Id. The third phase of the program is the community transitional services component, which lasts up to six months when the inmate is transferred to a community corrections center or to home confinement. Id. Inmates participate in drug treatment programs and receive counseling support in a community-based program to aid their transition back into their communities. Id. To have successfully completed the RDAP, an inmate must complete the residential portion of the program (i.e. the first phase) and any of the applicable transitional services components (i.e. the second or third phases if they apply). 28 C.F.R. § 550.56. Participation in the RDAP is strictly voluntary. Id. The BOP, however, has and continues to offer incentives to inmates who participate, including the early release incentive provided for in 18 U.S.C. § 3621 under which the BOP Director may reduce the sentence of an inmate convicted of a nonviolent offense who successfully completes the RDAP. 28 C.F.R. §§ 550.57; 550.58.
Congress did not define the term "nonviolent offense" in the statute and authorized the BOP to use its discretion in the implementation of the statute. Pursuant to this discretion, the BOP amended its rule and corresponding regulation on drug abuse treatment programs in May 1995 in order to implement the early release incentive Congress provided for in § 3621 (hereinafter "the 1995 Rule"). 60 Fed. Reg. 27692-27695 (May 25, 1995); 28 C.F.R. § 550.58 (1995). Because § 3621 explicitly confined the early release incentive to prisoners convicted of "nonviolent offense[s]," the BOP categorized as ineligible for early release all inmates currently incarcerated for "crime[s] of violence." 60 Fed.Reg. 27692. The BOP's accompanying Program Statement explained that because the term "nonviolent offense" was not defined by Congress in the statute, the BOP would rely on the definition of "crime of violence" in another federal statutory provision, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3). BOP Program Statement No. 5162.02, § 9 (July 24, 1995); 28 C.F.R. § 550.58 (1995). A "crime of violence" is defined by 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(A)-(B) as a felony that "has as an element the use, attempted, use, or threatened use of physical force against the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Handley v. Chapman
...(W.D.Pa.2009), aff'd, No. 09-1213, 2009 WL 3022150, 2009 U.S.App. LEXIS 21124 (3d Cir. Sept. 23, 2009) (per curiam); Minotti v. Whitehead, 584 F.Supp.2d 750 (D.Md. 2008). 5. Rublee v. Fleming, 160 F.3d 213, 217 (5th Cir.1998) (holding that there is no fundamental right to early release unde......
-
Hayes v. Warden
...Arrington as conflicting with the reasoning of Lopez and finding the regulation valid under §706 of the APA); Minotti v. Whitehead, 584 F.Supp. 2d 750 (D. Md. Oct. 31, 2008)(Arrington decision is unpersuasive and misguided, and distinguishable because it violates the very administrative pre......
-
Hicks v. Federal Bureau of Prisons
...prisoners. Drug Abuse Treatment: Early Release Consideration, 65 Fed.Reg. 80745, 80747 (Dec. 22, 2000). See also Minotti v. Whitehead, 584 F.Supp.2d 750, 765 (D.Md. 2008) ("Closer examination of Arrington reveals the fatal flaw in the Ninth Circuit's reasoning. The BOP provided an explanati......
-
United States v. Tapia
...Hour Drug Program in which the district judge recommended that she enroll takes less than 30 months to complete. See Minotti v. Whitehead, 584 F.Supp.2d 750, 755 (D.Md.2008). There are a number of considerations, however, that might explain why the district judge may have thought that a 51–......
-
District of Columbia v. Heller: Firing Blanks? - Nicole Price
...regulations would fall short of the constitutional infringements asserted in Heller. 191. Id. 192. Id. See Minotti v. Whitehead, 584 F. Supp. 2d 750, 760 n.2 (D. Md. Oct. 31, 2008) (distinguishing Heller on the basis that the defendant's weapon was found in his car whereas in Heller the dec......