Good Time Credit -- BOP's interpretation affirmed

The Sixth Circuit, in Petty v. Stine, --- F.3d ---, 2005 WL 2258042, 2005 Fed.App. 0396P, (6th Cir. September 19, 2005) (No. 05-5379), (opinion available here), held that the BOP's interpretation of 18 U.S.C. §3624(b), the "good-time credit" statute, is reasonable. This statute permits the BOP to award federal prisoners 54 days of "good-time credit" per year, to be awarded based on time actually served by the prisoner. Mr. Petty filed a 28 U.S.C. §2241 petition challenging the manner in which the BOP calculates good-time credit. He argued that the credit should be awarded based on the sentence imposed, not the time actually served. Unfortunately for Mr. Petty, (and all other federal prisoners in the Sixth Circuit), the Court held that the BOP's interpretation was reasonable. The Sixth Circuit joins with the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 7th Circuits in this view.