Roberts v. Cox

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA
SOUTHERN DIVISION
TIMOTHY MUNRO ROBERTS,
Petitioner,
vs.
J.W. COX, in his capacity as warden of
Yankton Federal Prison Camp,
Respondent.
4:20-CV-04187-KES
ORDER REQUIRING BRIEF
Petitioner, Timothy Munro Roberts, brought this pro se petition for writ
of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Docket 1. Roberts sought immediate
application of his earned time credits under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(h)(4). See id. at 2.
Roberts was released to prerelease custody at the Dismas House Residential
Reentry Center in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 3, 2022, after the BOP
published its final rule on the implementation of the First Step Act. See Docket
63 at 1. Roberts then argued that he should either be immediately released or
placed on supervised release to be allowed to complete RDAP from home.
Docket 72 at 13-14. This court found that the BOP’s decision to require
Roberts to complete RDAP while in prerelease custody was not an abuse of the
discretion afforded to the BOP by the First Step Act and denied Roberts’s
petition as moot. Docket 75 at 4-6. Roberts was placed on supervised release
on June 3, 2022. See Inmate Locator, Federal Bureau of Prisons,
https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ (last visited July 8, 2022).
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Under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(d)(4)(C),
Time 	credits 	earned 	under 	this 	paragraph 	by 	prisoners 	who
successfully 	participate 	in 	recidivism 	reduction 	programs 	or
productive activities shall be applied toward time in prerelease
custody or supervised release. The Director of the Bureau of Prisons
shall 	transfer 	eligible 	prisoners, 	as 	determined 	under section
3624(g), into prerelease custody or supervised release.
In its earlier order, this court interpreted § 3624(d)(4)(C) to allow the BOP
discretion to place a prisoner who has earned time credits equal to or greater
than his or her remaining sentence in either prerelease custody or supervised
release. See Docket 75 at 4, 6.
Roberts now asks this court to reopen his case based on the Eastern
District of Tennessee’s recent ruling in Dyer v. Fulgam. Docket 85 (citing Dyer
v. Fulgam, 2022 WL 1598249 (E.D. Tenn. May 20, 2022). In Dyer, the court
found that the petitioner accumulated 540 days of earned time credits under
the First Step Act while incarcerated and was placed on supervised release 51
days earlier than his release date through the application of his time credits,
leaving 489 days of earned time credits “unused.” Id. at *2. The Dyer court
interpreted § 3624(d)(4)(C)’s mandate that time credits “be applied toward time
in . . . supervised release” to require a reduction of the petitioner’s time spent
in supervised release and granted the petitioner a 489-day reduction in his
term of supervised release. Id. at *3 (omission in original) (quoting §
3624(d)(4)(C)).
The court requests that respondent submit a brief explaining the BOP’s
position on the argument put forth by Roberts regarding § 3624(d)(4)(C) and
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the Eastern District of Tennessee’s ruling in Dyer. The court will address
Roberts’s motion after respondent has submitted a brief and Roberts has had a
chance to respond.
Thus, it is ORDERED:
1. 	That respondent will submit a brief explaining the BOP’s position on
the application earned time credits to reduce a petitioner’s time
spent in supervised release under § 3624(d)(4)(C) by August 1,
2022. 	Roberts 	will 	have 	21 	days 	to 	submit 	a 	response 	to
respondent’s brief.
Dated July 11, 2022.
BY THE COURT:
/s/ Karen E. Schreier
KAREN E. SCHREIER
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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