Background
Sean Harris, a federal prisoner serving a term for a drug offense, appealed the district court’s denial of habeas relief under twenty-eight U.S.C. section two thousand two hundred forty-one. Harris alleged the Bureau of Prisons miscalculated his First Step Act time credits by excluding a seven-month period between his sentencing and his arrival at his designated facility. He claimed he earned credits by completing a survey and working as an orderly while in holdover status, but the Bureau of Prisons maintained he had not completed the required risk-and-needs assessment or received program assignments during that time.
The court’s reasoning
The panel held that Harris failed to carry his burden of proving he was entitled to habeas relief. The court found that Harris provided no evidence of engaging in qualifying programming, such as program descriptions, registration forms, or certificates of completion, during the period he sought credits. The court noted that Harris’s first risk-and-needs assessment occurred after he arrived at his designated facility, and his earliest participation in qualifying programming was on a waitlist for a drug education course. Relying on the Fourth Circuit’s decision in White v. Warden, the court reasoned that time credits are granted only to prisoners who earn them through actual participation in qualifying programming. The court concluded that the record showed Harris did not participate at all, making it unnecessary to address the novel legal questions regarding when a sentence commences or the validity of Bureau of Prisons regulations.
For Mr. Harris, it is not a question of whether he successfully participated; it is a question of whether he participated at all, and the record shows that he did not.
White v. Warden of Fed. Corr. Inst. – Cumberland, 164 F.4th 326, 333 (4th Cir. 2026)
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces that federal prisoners must provide concrete evidence of participation in assigned programming to claim First Step Act time credits, shifting the focus from statutory eligibility dates to actual engagement in qualifying activities.