Opinion
Case No. 3:13-cr-00057-MMD
05-13-2019
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff/Respondent, v. EDUARDO SEGURA, Defendant/Petitioner.
ORDER
The Court sentenced Defendant Eduardo Segura to 120 months in the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons ("BOP") on August 18, 2014. (ECF Nos. 104, 105.) The Court received the attached letter from Defendant's sister on May 10, 2019, asking the Court to order BOP to transfer Defendant from a Louisiana prison to a prison closer to his family in California.
The attached letter redacts Defendant's prisoner identification number as well as his sister's personal contact information. The Court will instruct the Clerk of the Court to file an unredacted version of the letter under seal. --------
While the Court is sympathetic to this request, the Court has no authority to order BOP to transfer Defendant. Foy v. United States, 285 F.R.D. 407, 410 (N.D. Iowa 2012) ("[O]nce BOP assumes custody of a prisoner, the court has no authority to designate the place of imprisonment."); United States v. Gonzalez-Juarez, No. 95-472-1-FR, 1997 WL 817359, at *1 (D. Or. Dec. 15, 1997) ("This court has no authority to order the Bureau of Prisons to house the defendant closer to his family.").
Furthermore, while a provision of the First Step Act requires BOP to "place the prisoner in a facility as close as practicable to the prisoner's primary residence, and to the extent practicable, in a facility within 500 driving miles of that residence," this requirement is tempered by numerous other considerations, including bed availability and the prisoner's security designation. 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b). Moreover, "a designation of a place /// of imprisonment under this subsection is not reviewable by any court." United States v. Tovar-Zamorano, No. 16-20052-JAR, 2019 WL 2005918, at *2 (D. Kan. May 7, 2019) (citing 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b)).
Nevertheless, the Court notes that prisoners in other cases have asked their case managers for transfer based on the First Step Act. See Porche v. Salazar, No. 3:19-CV-00077-MK, 2019 WL 1373683, at *1 (D. Or. Mar. 5, 2019), report and recommendation adopted, No. 3:19-CV-00077-MK, 2019 WL 1371139 (D. Or. Mar. 26, 2019) ("Based on this provision of the Act, petitioner again asked his case manager if he could be transferred to a facility closer to his release address. His case manager allegedly denied his request, stating that the BOP had not yet made changes to its policies pursuant to the First Step Act. Pet. at 2, 4. Petitioner did not seek further administrative review."). Defendant may be able to make a similar request within BOP.
It is therefore ordered that the Clerk of the Court docket the unredacted version of the letter under seal. The Clerk of the Court is instructed to send a copy of this order to Defendant's sister at the address listed in the unredacted version of the letter filed separately under seal.
DATED THIS 13th day of May 2019.
/s/_________
MIRANDA M. DU
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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