8th Circuit Court issues halfway house victory
6/23/06
In Fults v. Sanders, 44 F.3d 1088 (8th Cir. 2006), the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected regulations issued by the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in 2005 that limit a prisoner’s release to halfway house to the final 10 percent of the prisoner’s sentence, not to exceed six months. It affirmed the lower court’s order that directed the BOP to consider in good faith whether to transfer Fults to a halfway house to serve the final six months of his sentence.
For many years, the BOP and the Department of Justice (DOJ) interpreted 18 U.S.C. § 3621 as giving BOP broad authority to select the place of imprisonment if the BOP based its selection on five criteria in the statute. The BOP used that discretion when deciding whether and how long to assign prisoners to Community Corrections Centers (halfway houses) – for up to the last six months of a prisoner’s sentence for pre-release custody. Sometimes the BOP used the authority to house a prisoner in a halfway house for the entirety of a relatively short sentence.
In 2002 a DOJ opinion said the relevant statutes do not permit the BOP the discretion it had exercised, and the BOP changed course (see Winter 2004 FAMMGram, page 20). Following a series of successful court challenges to the 2002 rule change, the BOP tried again, issuing regulations in 2005 that sought to effect the 2002 rule change. The first appeals court to consider the new regulations rejected them in Woodall v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, 432 F.3d 2335 (3d Cir. 2005) (see Spring 2006 FAMMGram, page 19) and in April, the 8th Circuit agreed.
The 8th Circuit Court found the 2005 regulation invalid because it conflicts with 18 U.S.C. § 3621, the statute that states the criteria the BOP must consider in making placement decisions. By categorically limiting the length of time the BOP could place a person in a halfway house (the last 10 percent not to exceed six months), the BOP excludes all prisoners who have not reached the final 10 percent of their sentence. This categorical exclusion defies Congress’ mandate that a set of factors be considered when determining where to house a prisoner.
This decision applies to federal prisoners in facilities in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas. (Prisoners in these states should see “What it means to you,” Spring 2006 FAMMGram, page 19.) BOP facilities in those states must consider the full range of factors set out in the statute when deciding how much time a prisoner will spend in pre-release halfway house custody. These factors include, among others, facility resources, the offense nature and circumstance, the prisoner’s history and characteristics, and statements by the court on appropriate housing.