Opinion ID: 596599
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: refusal to grant offense level reduction

Text: 8 Appellant argues that under U.S.S.G. § 2P1.1(b)(3) he was entitled to a four level reduction in the offense level calculated for him. § 2P1.1(b)(3) instructs: 9 If the defendant escaped from the non-secure custody of a community corrections center, community treatment center, halfway house, or similar facility, and [the provision concerning escapees who voluntarily return within 96 hours] is not applicable, decrease the offense level [by 4 levels if the defendant was in custody as the result of a conviction or an arrest on a charge of felony] or [otherwise decrease] the offense level ... by 2 levels. Provided, however, that this reduction shall not apply if the defendant, while away from the facility, committed any federal, state, or local offense punishable by a term of imprisonment of one year or more. 10 At the time of his escape, appellant was imprisoned at Maxwell Federal Prison Camp, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. He effected his escape by walking away from his post on an unguarded grounds maintenance detail located in a section of the base outside of the security perimeter of the prison camp. 11 As the government concedes, the work detail constituted non-secure custody for the purposes of § 2P1.1(b)(3). See U.S.S.G. § 2P1.1, comment. (n. 1) (citing walk[ing] away from a work detail outside the security perimeter of an institution as an example of non-secure custody). However, the government argues that in order to qualify for an offense level reduction under § 2P1.1(b)(3), not only must the defendant have escaped from non-secure custody, but the escape must have been from custody in a designated category of detention facility: a community corrections center, community treatment center, 'halfway house,' or similar facility. § 2P1.1(b)(3). We agree with this construction of § 2P1.1(b)(3). As Chief Judge Thompson of the Middle District of Alabama explained recently: 12 When § 2P1.1(b)(3) is construed in the context of other, related provisions of the Guidelines, it is clear that the specific-institution language imposes an additional requirement which must be met before the provision may be applied. Section 2P1.1(b)(2), like § 2P1.1(b)(3), applies to escapes. Subsection (b)(2) provides for a sentence reduction If the defendant escaped from non-secure custody and returned voluntarily within ninety-six hours (emphasis added). However, unlike subsection (b)(3), subsection (b)(2) does not require that the defendant have resided in any particular type of facility. Subsection (b)(2) therefore applies to non-secure custody in general, whereas subsection (b)(3) applies to non-secure custody in specific institutions only. It would be illogical to read the two subsections as if they contained the same language when they do not. 13