Rivas v. Haro, et al

* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined
that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent
except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR.
R. 47.5.4.
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 01-30556
Conference Calendar
GENE G. RIVAS,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
JOSEPH M. HARO; U.S. BUREAU OF PRISONS,
Respondents-Appellees.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Louisiana
USDC No. 00-CV-1523
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February 20, 2002
Before JOLLY, JONES, and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Gene G. Rivas, federal prisoner #14791-074, appeals from the
denial of his petition for federal habeas corpus relief pursuant
to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Rivas argues that the Bureau of Prisons
(BOP) has usurped the power committed to the court system by
Article III by failing to credit his time in Arkansas state
custody against his federal sentence. He argues that BOP’s
action illegally extended his 240-month federal sentence to 262
months. Rivas’s letter pursuant to FED. R. APP. P. 28(j) is
STRICKEN.

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No. 01-30556
-2-
Sentencing courts are not authorized to compute credit under
18 U.S.C. § 3585(b); the Attorney General is to make credit
awards through the BOP after sentencing. “[T]he Attorney General
is ordinarily not required to give credit toward a federal
sentence for time spent by a prisoner serving a sentence imposed
by another jurisdiction for an unrelated offense.” Shaw v.
Smith, 680 F.2d 1104, 1106 (5th Cir. 1982). However,
[t]ime spent in state custody, even if for an unrelated
offense, must be credited toward time served on a
federal sentence “if the continued state confinement
was exclusively the product of such action by federal
law-enforcement officials as to justify treating the
state jail as the practical equivalent of a federal
one.”
Id. (citation omitted). The prisoner bears the burden of showing
that this is the case. Id.
Rivas has not shown that his state imprisonment was the
result of any federal action. Moreover, the time Rivas spent in
state prison was credited to his state sentence. The statute
precluded that time being credited to his federal sentence. 18
U.S.C. § 3585(b).
AFFIRMED.

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