Court to consider federal inmate’s ability to use habeas to accelerate transfer to a halfway house or home confinement

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Nov. 2 in Maxwell v. Dinis regarding whether a federal inmate may use habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 to challenge the Federal Bureau of Prisons' refusal to accelerate his transfer to a halfway house or home confinement.

William Maxwell was convicted in 2015 of conspiracy with La Cosa Nostra members to take over FirstPlus Financial Group, Inc. and drain it of assets. He took over $14 million from the company and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Maxwell participated in programs under the First Step Act of 2018 seeking time credits to accelerate his transfer to a halfway house or home confinement. He claimed the BOP failed to count certain activities and owed him between 42 and 48 months of time credit. The government states Maxwell is eligible for transfer on Jan. 22, 2027.

The district court rejected Maxwell's habeas petition for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit affirmed on alternative grounds, adopting a bright-line rule that Section 2241 habeas relief is unavailable unless the claim automatically entitles the inmate to accelerated release.

Maxwell argues that the Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Jones v. Hendrix allows habeas challenges to the legality of detention without attacking sentence validity. He also invokes the 1973 case Preiser v. Rodriguez, where the Court held a state prisoner could use habeas to challenge denial of good-conduct time credits. Maxwell contends that if habeas is unavailable, he has no alternative remedy.

The government agrees alternatives to habeas are unavailable and declines to defend the 5th Circuit's bright-line rule. However, the government proposes a narrower standard: habeas relief is available only when an inmate argues his imprisonment has been unlawfully prolonged. The government contends that on the merits, a statute bars courts from reviewing the BOP's classification decisions regarding inmate placement.

The Supreme Court appointed an amicus to address the 5th Circuit's rule. The amicus proposes that habeas relief should be available only when an inmate's claim implies his detention must be shortened, he is entitled to earlier release on bail or parole, or the sentencing court lacked jurisdiction to order his sentence served in that location.