FSA Credits Not Redeemable for Supervised Release, 2nd Circuit Says – Update for April 2, 2026

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TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

More often than I like, prisoners seeking full use of their First Step Act time credits awarded under 18 USC § 3632(d) insist that if they can’t use them for halfway house/home confinement because there’s not enough time left on their sentence, they can apply them to shorten their time on supervised release.

Lately, they all point me to Rivera-Perez v. Stover, an unpublished District of Connecticut case in which the judge did exactly that: shortened a prisoner’s supervised release term because the Federal Bureau of Prisons had not allowed the inmate to use all of his FSA credits due to space limitations at the halfway house.

My granddaughter Helen loves unicorns. But no matter how hard she tries, she can’t wish them into existence. Last week, the 2^nd Circuit said the same is true of using FSA credits to shorten supervised release.

Raul Rivera-Perez filed a 28 USC § 2241 petition for habeas corpus, arguing that the BOP miscalculated his FSA time credits and illegally prevented his transfer from prison to a halfway house. However, while his petition was pending, Raul was transferred to a halfway house, and the BOP thus argued that his petition was moot. The district court, on its own motion, decided that the FSA requires application of credits to reduce a prisoner’s term of supervised release, and it did so.

The BOP appealed.

The 2^nd examined “the two critical sentences of § 3632(d)(4)(C): ‘Time credits earned . . . by prisoners… shall be applied toward time in prerelease custody or supervised release. The Director of the Bureau of Prisons shall transfer eligible prisoners, as determined under section 3624(g), into prerelease custody or supervised release.’ ”

Raul claimed that the language meant that FSA credits had to be used to shorten supervised release. The BOP said it just meant that FSA credits could be applied to get Raul to supervised release more quickly by shortening his sentence.

The Circuit conceded that the statute was ambiguous. However, it ruled, “the context of the phrase ‘applied toward time in… supervised release’ resolves the ambiguity in favor of [the BOP’s] reading of the statute. Recall that the contested phrase immediately precedes the following sentence: ‘The Director of the Bureau of Prisons shall transfer eligible prisoners, as determined under § 3624(g), into prerelease custody or supervised release.’ 18 USC § 3632(d)(4)(C). We conclude that this second sentence confirms [the BOP’s] reading of the statute because it unquestionably contemplates a transfer from prison to prerelease custody or supervised release, not a reduction of time spent in prerelease custody or a term of supervised release.”

Sorry, Helen. There are no unicorns. And FSA credits can’t shorten supervised release.

Rivera-Perez v. Stover, Case No. 25-149, 2026 U.S.App. LEXIS 8819 (2d Cir. March 26, 2026)

~ Thomas L. Root