22. Habeas corpus.

U.S. Appeals Court

SENTENCE

DUE PROCESS

Bonebrake v. Norris, 417 F.3d 938 (8th Cir. 2005). An offender appealed her state conviction of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver. The federal court granted her habeas corpus petition. The state appealed and the appeals court reversed. The court held that the state's four-year delay in incarcerating the offender did not amount to a waiver of incarceration under the Due Process Clause. Neither the district attorney's office nor law enforcement personnel took any steps to take the offender into custody after the state appellate court affirmed her conviction and sentence, and the prisoner was not in hiding. (Yell County Jail, Arkansas)

U.S. Appeals Court

GOOD TIME

Brown v. McFadden, 416 F.3d 1271 (11th Cir. 2005). A federal prisoner petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus based on an alleged error in the calculation of his good conduct time (GCT). The district court denied the petition and the prisoner appealed. The appeals court affirmed, finding that it would defer to the regulation promulgated by the federal Bureau of Prisons that interpreted the phrase "term of imprisonment" to mean actual time served rather than the sentence imposed. (Federal Bureau of Prisons, Georgia)

U.S. Appeals Court

ALIEN

Morales-Fernandez v, I.N.S., 418 F.3d 1116 (10th Cir. 2005). An inadmissible alien who was detained in a federal correctional institution following a final order of removal filed a pro se habeas corpus petition. The district court denied the petition and the alien appealed. The appeals court reversed and remanded, finding that the district court plainly erred by denying the petition, where the alien had been detained well beyond six months following the Final removal order. The court noted that removal was not reasonably foreseeable. (Federal Correctional Institution, Florence, Colorado)

U.S. District Court

TRANSFER

Moss v. Apker, 376 F.Supp.2d 416 (S.D.N.Y. 2005). A prisoner brought a habeas corpus action to challenge the application of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policy that categorically restricted prisoner transfers to community corrections centers (CCCs) to the last ten percent of their sentences, not to exceed six months. The district court denied the petition. The court held that the challenge to an earlier version of the policy was mooted, and that the new policy complied with the notice and comment rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act...