Opinion ID: 220833
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Statutory Framework Governing Good Conduct Time

Text: We are concerned here principally with the interpretation and interaction of two statutes. The first, 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b), governs GCT, and provides in part: [A] prisoner who is serving a term of imprisonment of more than 1 year other than a term of imprisonment for the duration of the prisoner's life, may receive credit toward the service of the prisoner's sentence, beyond the time served, of up to 54 days at the end of each year of the prisoner's term of imprisonment, beginning at the end of the first year of the term, subject to determination by the Bureau of Prisons that, during that year, the prisoner has displayed exemplary compliance with institutional disciplinary regulations. 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b)(1). The second, 18 U.S.C. § 3585, titled, Calculation of a term of imprisonment, provides in full: (a) Commencement of sentence.  A sentence to a term of imprisonment commences on the date the defendant is received in custody awaiting transportation to, or arrives voluntarily to commence service of sentence at, the official detention facility at which the sentence is to be served. (b) Credit for prior custody.  A defendant shall be given credit toward the service of a term of imprisonment for any time he has spent in official detention prior to the date the sentence commences  (1) as a result of the offense for which the sentence was imposed; or (2) as a result of any other charge for which the defendant was arrested after the commission of the offense for which the sentence was imposed; that has not been credited against another sentence. Id. Under § 3585(b), therefore, the BOP may grant a defendant credit against his federal sentence for time served in custody prior to sentencing in district court so long as that presentence custody has not been credited against another sentence. 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b); see United States v. Labeille-Soto, 163 F.3d 93, 99 (2d Cir. 1998) ([A] defendant has no right to credit on his federal sentence for time that has been credited against his prior state sentence.). If a defendant's presentence custody has been credited to another sentence, no § 3585(b) credit is available, but the Sentencing Guidelines provide a functional equivalent. Under the version of the Guidelines applicable in this case, when sentencing a defendant with an undischarged term of imprisonment that ha[s] fully been taken into account in the determination of the offense level for the defendant's instant offense, see U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3(b), a district court: [S]hould adjust the sentence for any period of imprisonment already served as a result of the conduct taken into account in determining the guideline range for the instant offense if the court determines that period of imprisonment will not be credited to the federal sentence by the Bureau of Prisons.... For clarity, the court should note on the Judgment in the Criminal Case Order that the sentence imposed is not a departure from the guideline range because the defendant has been credited for guideline purposes under § 5G1.3(b) ... [for time] served in state custody that will not be credited to the federal sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b). U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3(b), cmt. n. 2 (2000); see United States v. Gonzalez, 192 F.3d 350, 354 (2d Cir.1999) (holding that because the defendant's presentence custody was credited to his state sentence, no § 3585(b) credit was available; thus, U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3(b) applied). Section 5G1.3(b) of the Guidelines therefore applies where a defendant faces punishment for the same criminal conduct in two prosecutions[,] ... [and] ensures that the defendant receives `credit' for time already served to eliminate double punishment. United States v. Fermin, 252 F.3d 102, 109 (2d Cir.2001) (citing Witte v. United States, 515 U.S. 389, 404-05, 115 S.Ct. 2199, 132 L.Ed.2d 351 (1995)).