Opinions of the United
2005 Decisions States Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit
4-28-2005
Greene v. Miner
Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential
Docket No. 05-1299
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Recommended Citation
"Greene v. Miner" (2005). 2005 Decisions. Paper 1300.
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
NO. 05-1299
________________
JOHN GREENE
v.
JOHN C. MINER; BUREAU OF PRISONS
_______________________________________
On Appeal From the United States District Court
For the District of New Jersey
(D.C. Civ. No. 05-cv-00113)
District Judge: Honorable Jerome B. Simandle
_______________________________________
Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a)
April 25, 2005
Before: SLOVITER, BARRY and FISHER, Circuit Judges
(Filed: April 28, 2005)
_______________________
OPINION
_______________________
PER CURIAM
John Greene appeals from the District Court’s order dismissing his habeas corpus
petition filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. In his habeas petition, Greene challenges the
calculation of his good conduct time (“GCT”) by the Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”). For the
following reasons, we will affirm the District Court’s order.
Greene is currently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton,
New Jersey, serving a sentence of 130 months imposed by the United States District
Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. According to the BOP, Greene is eligible
under the applicable statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b), to earn up to 509 days of GCT, i.e., 54
days of GCT per year of time he will actually serve. The BOP projects Greene’s release
date as October 26, 2012.
After administratively challenging the BOP’s calculation of his GCT, Greene filed
a § 2241 habeas corpus petition in the District Court. Greene argues that § 3624(b)
allows him to earn up to 54 days per year based on the term of sentence imposed, not
based on time actually served, and that the BOP’s calculation deprives him of the amount
to which he is entitled by statute. Citing opinions from several other courts, the District
Court rejected Greene’s position and dismissed his habeas petition. Greene appeals.1
We will affirm the District Court’s order. As the Government explains in its brief,
we recently resolved the issue in O’Donald v. Johns, __F.3d__, No. 04-2990, 2005 WL
647669 (3d Cir. Mar. 22, 2005). In O’Donald, we held that the meaning of § 3624(b) is
ambiguous and thus deferred to the BOP’s reasonable interpretation of the statute. See
1
1 We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253(a). We exercise
2 plenary review over the District Court’s legal conclusions and apply a clearly erroneous
3 standard to its findings of fact. See Ruggiano v. Reish, 307 F.3d 121, 126 (3d Cir. 2002).
2
O’Donald, 2005 WL 647669 at *2. Greene’s challenge, identical to the one raised and
rejected in O’Donald, is unavailing.
In short, for the reasons described in O’Donald, the District Court properly
rejected Greene’s challenge to the BOP’s calculation of his GCT. Accordingly, we will
affirm the District Court’s order dismissing his habeas corpus petition.
3