KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, District Judge.
Before the Court is the United States Parole Commission's ("Commission's") Opposition to Petitioner John Herndon's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus [Dkt. 11]. Petitioner filed his habeas petition [Dkt. 1] pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 to challenge the Commission's rescission of the time he served while on parole ("street-time credit") after repeated parole violations and revocations, which, in Petitioner's view, has resulted in the unlawful extension of his sentence. (Pet. at 5-6.) The Commission opposes issuing a writ on several grounds, and on April 23, 2013, the Court advised petitioner, who is proceeding pro se, about the duty to reply to the government's opposition and the consequences if he failed to reply. Particularly, petitioner was informed that the government's "allegations," if not opposed, "shall be accepted as true," unless the Court determined "from the evidence that they are not true." (Order [Dkt. 10] at 2 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2248).) Petitioner has neither filed a reply nor sought additional time to do so, and the Court accepts the government's allegations as true. Upon consideration of the habeas petition and the government's uncontested opposition, the Court finds no basis for issuing the writ. Hence, the habeas petition will be
The respondent's submissions document the following undisputed facts. Petitioner is serving an aggregate prison sentence of 21 years that the Superior Court of the District of Columbia imposed on April 7, 1989, and December 22, 1993, for drug possession and distribution offenses. (Resp't's Opp'n at 2.) Petitioner's first release to parole supervision occurred on June 12, 1996, with a sentence expiration date of February 1, 2010. (Id.) Petitioner violated this parole, and the then-District of Columbia Board of Parole ("D.C. Parole Board") issued a parole violator warrant that was executed with Petitioner's arrest two years later, on May 10, 1999. (Id.) Following a hearing in which Petitioner admitted the charge, the D.C. Parole Board revoked Petitioner's parole on August 14, 1999. (Id.)
Meanwhile, Congress abolished the D.C. Parole Board, and the Commission assumed authority over parole determinations of District of Columbia felons. See D.C.Code § 24-131; Franklin v. District of Columbia, 163 F.3d 625, 632 (D.C.Cir. 1998). Following a parole hearing on September 19, 2000, the Commission granted Petitioner parole and released him to parole supervision on June 13, 2001, with a new sentence expiration date of December 29, 2012. (Resp't's Opp'n at 2.)
In the ensuing years, an unfortunate sequence of release, violation, and revocation was repeated multiple times with respect to Petitioner's parole and incarceration status. (See id. at 3-5.) For
After the revocation of March 2009, Petitioner was released to parole supervision twice more, and he was rearrested for drug violations while on release both times. On the first occasion, Petitioner was released to parole on April 19, 2010, with a new sentence expiration date of August 20, 2018. (Id. at 4.) On September 24, 2010, the Commission issued a parole violator warrant, charging Petitioner with infractions such as failing to submit to drug testing and failing to report to his supervising officer as directed, and Petitioner was arrested pursuant to that warrant on October 8, 2010. (Id.) In lieu of full parole revocation, the Commission conditionally released Petitioner to an in-patient drug treatment and substance abuse program in February of 2011, which Petitioner failed to complete, and on January 3, 2012, another warrant issued for various drug-related infractions. (Id. at 4-5.) When petitioner was arrested three weeks later, (id. at 5), he agreed to participate in a drug intervention program in lieu of a revocation hearing. (See Resp't's Opp'n, Ex. JJ, "Short Intervention for Success Application.") As a result, the Commission revoked Petitioner's parole pursuant to the terms of the agreement, and credited petitioner with "[a]ll time spent on parole (from October 8, 2010 to February 22, 2011)." (Resp't's Opp'n, Ex. KK, "Feb. 8, 2012 Not. of Action.") The Commission also set a new parole date of May 22, 2012, and imposed conditions for Petitioner to participate in a special drug aftercare program "as instructed by your Supervision Officer." (Id.)
On May 22, 2012, petitioner was again released to parole supervision with a new sentence expiration date of January 7, 2020. (Resp't's Opp'n, Ex. LL, "Certificate of Parole.") The Commission was compelled to issue a violator warrant on November 28, 2012, however; and that warrant was executed when petitioner was arrested on January 4, 2013. (Resp't's Opp'n, Exs. MM, "Warrant Application," NN, "Warrant.")
Habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 is the "exclusive [federal] avenue available to a District of Columbia prisoner challenging the manner of execution of a sentence, rather than the sentence itself." Perkins v. Henderson, 881 F.Supp. 55, 60 (D.D.C.1995) (citations omitted). District of Columbia prisoners are entitled to habeas relief if they establish that their "custody is in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3).
Petitioner takes issue generally with the Commission's rescission of his street-time credit and the resulting extension of his sentence expiration date. (Pet. at 5-6.)
D.C.Code § 24-406(a) (1981) (emphasis added).
This statute unquestionably applied to petitioner's circumstances during the relevant period, and the constitutionality of its provisions is well settled. See U.S. Parole Comm'n v. Noble, 693 A.2d 1084, 1094-1104 (D.C. 1997), reinstated 711 A.2d 85
Consequently, the petition for a writ of habeas corpus is