United States v. Patterson

• Decision Date: 31 January 1887
• Citation: 29 F. 775
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. PATTERSON, Keeper, etc.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

29 F. 775

UNITED STATES v. PATTERSON, Keeper, etc.

United States Circuit Court, D. New Jersey.

January 31, 1887

On Habeas Corpus for the body of Oscar L. Baldwin. The petition for habeas corpus in this case was presented to JOSEPH P BRADLEY, an associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, allotted to the Third circuit, on the thirtieth of December, 1886, and alleges that the petitioner Oscar L. Baldwin, is imprisoned in the state's prison of the state of New Jersey, in custody of John H. Patterson, the keeper thereof, under judgment, sentence, and commitment thereon of the district court of the United States for the district of New Jersey, said judgment being rendered on the thirty-first day of January, 1882, upon petitioner's plea of guilty to three indictments found against him under section 5209 of the Revised Statutes of the United States,-- one for misapplying the funds of the Mechanics' National Bank of Newark, of which he was cashier, one for false entries to conceal such misapplication, and the third for making a false statement with intent to deceive the examining officers; that, being set at the bar of said district court for sentence, the same was pronounced against him in the following words, as recorded in the records of said court to-wit 'The court do order and adjudge that the prisoner, Oscar L. Baldwin, be confined at hard labor in the state's prison of the state of New Jersey, for the term of five (5) years upon each of the three indictments above named, said terms not to run concurrently; and from and after the expiration of said terms until the costs of this prosecution shall have been paid.'

-- That, immediately upon the rendition of said judgment and sentence, the petitioner was committed to the custody of the keeper of said state's prison, and that from thence hitherto he has been and is now kept in said state's prison, at hard labor, according to all the rules and regulations of said prison, the same established and carried on in the case of all persons convicted under the laws of New Jersey, and sentenced to hard labor by its courts; that by the laws of said state the keeper of the state's prison is required to have kept a correct, impartial, daily record of the conduct of each prisoner, and of his labor, whether satisfactory or otherwise, and to lay the same before the inspectors as often as they may require; that the said inspectors, being satisfied that the record is properly kept shall direct the keeper, for every month of faithful performance of assigned labor by any convict, to remit to him two days of the term for which he was sentenced; for every month of manifest effort at intellectual improvement and self-control, to be certified by the moral instructors, one day; provided, that in any month in which a convict shall have merited and received punishment no such remission shall be made, and, in case of any flagrant misconduct, the inspectors may declare a forfeiture of the time previously remitted, either in whole or in part, as to them shall seem just; that, on the recommendation of the keeper and moral instructor, it shall be lawful for the inspectors to remit an additional day per month to every convict who for 12 months preceding shall have merited the same by his continuous good conduct, and for each succeeding year, progressively, to increase the remission one day per month for that year.

The petitioner states that, by virtue of the 5544th section of the Revised Statutes of the United States, he is entitled to the benefit of these regulations; and that by reason of his good behavior he became entitled to and has been awarded such credits; and that by force thereof such deductions have been made from the said term of five years, for which he was sentenced, that said term expired and came to an end on the twenty-fifth day of January, 1886, a remission of 372 days having been allowed to him; also that the costs of prosecution of said indictments have been fully paid. The petitioner further states that he is advised by his counsel that he is not now detained in custody in said state's prison by virtue of any sentence; that a second term of five years' imprisonment has not begun, and will not begin till the thirty-first day of January, 1887; and that he is therefore unlawfully detained in prison. He also, upon the same advice, contends that the judgment was unlawful, because it sentenced him to imprisonment at hard labor, whereas section 5209 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, under which he was indicted, imposed the punishment of imprisonment only. Also that no more than one sentence of five years' imprisonment could lawfully be imposed upon him under the said section, inasmuch as said offenses were each acts forming part of one act of misapplication of moneys. Also that the said sentence is unlawful for uncertainty, except as to the first term of five years' imprisonment, which has expired, and that the court had no lawful right or authority to impose any more than one term of five years' imprisonment on him. A duly-exemplified copy of the three indictments, and the proceedings thereon, and of the sentence pronounced against the petitioner, and of the award of remission of penalty by the inspectors of the state's prison, as stated in the petition, was annexed thereto, confirming...