Summary
dismissing a CARES Act claim in an emergency motion for release because the Act did not mandate home confinement for any class of inmate and the decision was discretionary for the Attorney General
Summary of this case from Bobka v. Warden, Estill Fed. Prison CampOpinion
1:20-cv-3688 (NLH)
04-08-2020
JEFFREY JOHN VALENTA, Petitioner, v. WARDEN DAVID ORTIZ, Respondent.
APPEARANCES: Jeffrey John Valenta 35910-068 Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution Inmate Mail/Parcels East: P.O. Box 2000 Fort Dix, NJ 08640 Petitioner pro se
MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER
APPEARANCES: Jeffrey John Valenta
35910-068
Fort Dix
Federal Correctional Institution
Inmate Mail/Parcels
East: P.O. Box 2000
Fort Dix, NJ 08640
Petitioner pro se HILLMAN , District Judge
WHEREAS, Petitioner Jeffrey John Valenta has filed an emergency motion for release under the First Step Act of 2018 and CARES Act of 2020, see ECF No. 1; and
WHEREAS, Petitioner states he is "just short" of his sixtieth birthday and suffers from sleep apnea, diabetes, hypertension, chronic asthma, and GERD, id. at 2-3; and
WHEREAS, Petitioner argues he should be released to his parents' home; and
WHEREAS, motions for compassionate release under the First Step Act must be filed in the sentencing court, 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c). Petitioner was sentenced in the Western District of Pennsylvania, United States v. Valenta, No. 15-cr-161 (W.D. Pa. June 26, 2018). Therefore, any request for compassionate release must be filed in that court; and
The Court notes that while Petitioner received an adverse decision from the warden, he may not have fully exhausted administratively this adverse decision by the BOP. See United States v. Raia, No. 20-1033 (3d Cir. Apr. 2, 2020) (precedential) (slip op. at 7). The question of exhaustion under the First Step Act will be left, however, to determination in the transferee court. Any claim under the CARES Act, if one existed, would be similarly unexhausted. --------
WHEREAS, the coronavirus relief bill enacted on March 27 allows the Attorney General to expand the BOP's ability to move prisoners to home confinement: "During the covered emergency period, if the Attorney General finds that emergency conditions will materially affect the functioning of the Bureau, the Director of the Bureau may lengthen the maximum amount of time for which the Director is authorized to place a prisoner in home confinement under the first sentence of section 3624(c)(2) of title 18, United States Code, as the Director determines appropriate." Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Pub. L. No. 116-136, § 12003(b)(2) (2020). It does not mandate home confinement for any class of inmate;
THEREFORE, IT IS on this 8th day of April, 2020
ORDERED that the emergency request for relief is severed with the portion seeking release under the First Step Act being transferred to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania for filing in United States v. Valenta, No. 15-cr-161; and it is further
ORDERED that the CARES Act claim is dismissed without prejudice; and it is finally
ORDERED that the Clerk shall serve a copy of this Order upon Petitioner by regular mail and mark this case closed.
s/ Noel L. Hillman
NOEL L. HILLMAN, U.S.D.J. At Camden, New Jersey