[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED
________________________ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
March 28, 2006
No. 05-14973 THOMAS K. KAHN
Non-Argument Calendar CLERK
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 05-01913-CV-TWT-1
KIRK WHITTAKER,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
G. MALDONADO, JR.,
Respondent-Appellee.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia
_________________________
(March 28, 2006)
Before TJOFLAT, ANDERSON and BIRCH, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Petitioner is a serving a 262-month sentence in a federal prison. He
contends that the Bureau of Prison’s (BOP) policy of calculating good time credit
(GTC) based on the time the prisoner has been incarcerated is contrary to the plain
meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b)(1); instead, the BOP should be calculating GTC
based on the time the prisoner is sentenced to serve. He bought this action under
28 U.S.C. § 2241, hoping to obtain a court order requiring the BOP to calculate
GTC based on the time he is sentenced to serve. The district court dismissed his
petition. He now appeals. We affirm.
The statute at issue states that
a prisoner who is serving a term of imprisonment of more than 1 year
. . . may receive credit toward the service of the prisoner’s sentence,
beyond the time served, of up to 54 days at the end of each year of the
prisoner’s term of imprisonment, beginning at the end of the first year
of the term, subject to determination by the Bureau of Prisons that,
during that year, the prisoner has displayed exemplary compliance
with institutional disciplinary regulations.
18 U.S.C. § 3624(b)(1). The BOP interprets this section to mean that an inmate
earns “54 days credit toward service of sentence (good time credit) for each year
served.” 28 C.F.R. § 523.20(a).
In Brown v. McFadden, 416 F.3d 1271, 1272 (11th Cir. 2005), we decided
the claim petitioner presents here. There, we held the BOP’s “interpretation of the
statute that a federal prisoner should get good time credit of 54 days for each year
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he actually serves in prison [was] reasonable and therefore [was] due to be
affirmed.”
Brown dictates our decision.
AFFIRMED.
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