09-5201 Barber v. Thomas

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Sentencing
Good-time calculation

Because the Bureau of Prisons' method for calculating good time credit reflects the most natural reading of the statute, it is lawful.

The statute's language and purpose, taken together, support the BOP's method. That method tracks §3624(b)'s language by providing a prisoner a maximum credit of 54 days for each full year of imprisonment and a proportionally adjusted amount of credit for any additional time served that is less than a full year. As §3624(b) directs, the BOP awards the credit "at the end of each year" of imprisonment. Petitioners' approach cannot be reconciled with the statute. Because it awards credit for the sentence imposed, regardless of how much time is actually served, a prisoner could receive credit for a year that he does not spend in prison. Moreover the calculation of credit for such a year would not be made "at the end of" that year. Nor could the BOP determine whether the prisoner had exemplary behavior "during that year." This language did not find its way into the statute by accident. The differences between the prior provision (repealed in 1984)-which granted the prisoner a deduction at the outset of his sentence, subject to forfeiture for breaking prison rules-and the present statute-under which "credit" is "earned" "at the end of" the year based on an evaluation of behavior "during that year"-show an intent to move from a prospective entitlement to a retrospective award. The BOP's method also furthers the basic purpose of the statute. Section 3624 was part of the comprehensive Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, which sought to achieve both increased sentencing uniformity and greater honesty by "mak[ing] all sentences basically determinate." Mistretta v. United States, 488 U. S. 361, 367. Thereafter, the sentence the judge imposed would be the one the offender actually served, with a sole statutory exception for good time credits. Ibid. Section 3624(b) states the reason for the exception: to provide an incentive for prisoners to "compl[y] with institutional disciplinary regulations." The exception is limited and tailored to its purpose-credit is earned at the end of the year after compliance with institutional rules is demonstrated and thereby rewards and reinforces a readily identifiable period of good behavior. The BOP's approach furthers §3624's objectives by tying the award directly to good behavior during the preceding year. In contrast, petitioners' approach would allow a prisoner to earn credit for both the portion of his sentence that he served and the portion offset with earned credit, which would loosen the statute's connection between good behavior and the goodtime award.

Affirmed.

09-5201 Barber v. Thomas

Breyer, J. Kennedy, J., dissenting.

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