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Administrative Law Keyed to Popper
Dismas Charities, Inc. v. United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons
Citation:
401 F.3d 666 (2005)Facts
Dismas Charities operates community correction centers (CCCs) that house federal inmates. Prior to December 2002, the BOP interpreted 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) to allow placement of federal prisoners in CCCs at any time during their sentences, including “front end” placements (serving entire sentences at CCCs) and “back end” placements (transitioning to CCCs before release). On December 13, 2002, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a new interpretation of § 3621(b), concluding that the BOP lacked authority to place prisoners in CCCs from the outset of their sentences and could only transfer prisoners to CCCs for the lesser of 10% of their sentence or six months. This policy change drastically reduced the number of inmates at Dismas facilities, resulting in a revenue loss of over $1.2 million. Dismas challenged the policy as arbitrary and capricious, and argued that the BOP failed to follow notice-and-comment procedures required by the APA.
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