NOEL L. HILLMAN, District Judge.
Petitioner Olushegun Onikosi ("Petitioner"), a prisoner presently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix in Fort Dix, New Jersey, has filed a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (the "Petition"). ECF No. 1. Petitioner's sole grievance raised in the Petition is that he has not received credit towards his federal sentence for time previously served in federal custody.
On April 13, 2010, Petitioner was arrested by New York state authorities on charges of grand larceny, aggravated identity theft, criminal possession of stolen property, identity theft, and possession of forged instruments. ECF No. 4-1 at 1. Petitioner was released from state custody on bond three days later.
On January 12, 2012, Petitioner was arrested by federal authorities and charged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York with conspiracy and bank fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1349 and 1344.
While released on his federal charges, Petitioner was tried and convicted on the pending state charges on January 9, 2013. ECF No. 1 at 1-2. After his conviction, he was remanded to the custody of the State of New York. ECF No. 4-1 at 2.
Shortly thereafter, on February 4, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued a federal writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum directing the U.S. Marshals Service to produce Petitioner from the custody of the State of New York to federal court on February 8, 2013, to address his federal criminal charges.
On February 21, 2013, Petitioner was sentenced on his state charges in New York State court to 3 to 6 years of imprisonment on three counts; 2 to 4 years on three other counts; and 1 year on the final count, with all sentences to run concurrently.
After he was sentenced on his federal charges, Petitioner remained in a federal detention center on the previously issued writ. ECF No. 4 at 4. On or about July 6, 2016, Petitioner was released from the federal writ and returned to state custody, specifically to the Manhattan Detention Center, a state corrections facility.
After his return to state custody, New York computed his state sentence and release dates, including assessing and applying prior jail credit for time in custody.
As part of the computation, New York anticipated that Petitioner would receive two years of good conduct time, with a conditional release date of January 1, 2017, and a maximum expiration of sentence date of January 1, 2019.
When Petitioner entered federal custody, the Federal Bureau of Prisons calculated his federal sentence. In calculating Petitioner's federal sentence, the BOP reviewed the calculations that the State of New York had performed and the custodial credits New York had awarded towards Petitioner's state sentence, outlined
Petitioner filed this Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 on May 31, 2018. In the Petition, Petitioner alleges that he "first entered federal custody on February 5, 2013 as a pre-trial detainee," where he remained until July 6, 2016, when he "was released from federal custody and transferred to the custody of the New York State Department of Corrections." ECF No. 1 at 2. Petitioner states that he remained in state custody until December 2016, when he "was returned to federal custody."
"Section 2241 is the only statute that confers habeas jurisdiction to hear the petition of a federal prisoner who is challenging not the validity but the execution of his sentence."
Generally, a prisoner must exhaust all stages of the administrative remedy system prior to the filing of a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241.
Petitioner has not exhausted his remedies as to the calculation of his federal sentence. Here, Petitioner filed an administrative remedy form with the Warden of FCI Fort Dix on or about April 6, 2017, requesting prior custody credit for the time period at issue. No. 18-cv-9920, ECF No. 4 at 6. Petitioner, however, voluntarily withdrew this request on April 17, 2017, and he has not filed any subsequent requests for administrative remedies regarding his sentence computation.
Exhaustion may be excused if (1) it would be futile, (2) the actions of the agency clearly and unambiguously violate a statutory or constitutional right, or (3) the administrative remedy process would be clearly inadequate to prevent irreparable harm.
Petitioner's argument is that he was in federal custody from February 6, 2013, through July 5, 2016, when he was confined in a federal detention center.
Here, Petitioner was first in state custody when he was arrested on April 13, 2010. After he was released on bond three days later, however, he was in no sovereign's custody. Then, when he was arrested on January 12, 2012 on the federal charges, he was in federal custody, but again, he was released a few days later on bond, at which point he was once again in no sovereign's custody. Petitioner next entered a sovereign's custody on January 9, 2013, when he was convicted on his pending state criminal charges. At this point, he entered the custody of the State of New York. Once in state custody, he remained in "state custody" until the he served his state court sentence and was released to federal custody on December 30, 2016.
Some confusion may have arisen because Petitioner was housed in a federal facility while he was in "state custody." The time spent in state custody under the primary custody doctrine while physically in a federal facility, however, was credited towards his state sentence.
In addition, Petitioner has no right to receive "double credit" towards his federal sentence for that time since it was already allocated towards his state sentence. Title 18, section 3585(b) governs prior custody credit and provides, in pertinent part:
18 U.S.C. § 3585(b). Here, the prior custody credit was properly awarded to Petitioner's state sentence as New York retained primary custody over Petitioner even when he was in a federal detention center, and such credit cannot be awarded towards his consecutive federal sentence under § 3585(b) because it was awarded to his state sentence.
Notably, Petitioner has not filed a reply to the Answer nor has he refuted the arguments and declarations submitted by Respondent. Because the time spend in the federal detention center was properly credited towards his state sentence and because Petitioner has no right for it to also be credited towards his consecutive federal sentence, the Petition will be denied.
For the above reasons, the § 2241 habeas petition is denied. An appropriate Order follows.