Background
Federal inmate Ashton Causey pleaded guilty to several offenses, including possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). His sentence for the § 924(c) conviction was consecutive to the concurrent sentences imposed for his other convictions.
The Bureau of Prisons treated Causey’s multiple prison terms as one aggregate term and denied him earned time credits under the First Step Act because § 924(c) is a disqualifying conviction. Causey petitioned for habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, arguing that he should become eligible to earn credits after completing the § 924(c) portion of his imprisonment. The district court denied the petition, and Causey appealed.
The Court’s Holding
The Fifth Circuit affirmed. It held that 18 U.S.C. § 3584(c), which requires concurrent and consecutive prison terms to be treated as a single aggregate term for administrative purposes, applies to the computation of First Step Act time credits. Because Causey’s aggregate term included a sentence for a disqualifying § 924(c) conviction, he remained ineligible to earn those credits even after the portion attributable to that conviction had been served.
The court concluded that the relevant statutes were clear, so neither agency deference nor the rule of lenity changed the result. It also rejected Causey’s appellate exhaustion argument because the district court had not denied relief for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. For the same reason, the court denied his motion to consolidate the appeal with two other cases. Judge Higginson dissented and would have reversed based on the reasoning of the dissent in Bonnie v. Dunbar.
Key Takeaways
- The BOP may aggregate concurrent and consecutive sentences when determining eligibility for First Step Act earned time credits.
- A disqualifying § 924(c) conviction makes a prisoner ineligible for credits throughout the aggregated term, including after the § 924(c) portion has been served.
- An appellate argument about administrative exhaustion did not affect the judgment because the district court decided the petition solely on statutory eligibility.
Why It Matters
The decision aligns the Fifth Circuit with other circuits holding that First Step Act eligibility turns on the prisoner’s aggregate term rather than on separately segmented portions of that term. Federal prisoners whose combined sentences include a disqualifying offense therefore cannot begin earning credits merely because they have completed the time attributable to that offense.