Rivera-Perez v. Stover
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Vacated
The Second Circuit held that First Step Act earned-time credits cannot be used to shorten a prisoner’s term of supervised release but only to accelerate the start of prerelease custody or supervised release. Because Rivera-Perez had already been transferred to a residential re-entry center and received all credit-related relief available, his § 2241 petition was moot. The court therefore vacated the district court’s judgment and remanded with instructions to dismiss the case.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether earned-time credits under the First Step Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(C), may be applied to reduce the length of a federal prisoner’s term of supervised release (as opposed to merely advancing the prisoner's transfer from incarceration to prerelease custody or supervised release).
Circuit Positions
FSA time credits may only be used to advance the date a prisoner enters prerelease custody or begins supervised release; they cannot reduce the supervised-release term.
FSA time credits may be applied to reduce the length of a prisoner’s supervised-release term.
Conflict Summary
The Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits hold that FSA time credits can only be used to start prerelease custody or supervised release earlier and cannot shorten the supervised-release term itself. The Ninth Circuit holds that FSA credits may be applied to reduce the amount of time the prisoner must spend on supervised release.