Prison and Reentry Reform Amicus

Brief in Support of Petitioner

4th Circuit Court of Appeals

In this amicus brief, we argue the Bureau of Prisons improperly interprets the First Step Act to deny thousands of prisoners credits earned through rehabilitation programs, unlawfully extending their imprisonment, and frustrating Congress’s intent to reduce federal prison costs. Furthermore, because the statute is ambiguous about whether “serving a sentence for a conviction” applies to entire prison terms or individual sentences, the rule of lenity should resolve it in the petitioner’s favor and make him eligible to earn time credits under the First Step Act.

Filed with NACDL.

The 4th Circuit unfortunately affirmed the district court’s position. You can read the decision here.

We thank Timothy Grinsell of Hoppin Grinsell LLP for his pro bono work on this issue.