Judge John Curtin
Federal prisoner Stevenson served sentence at a residential program at Buffalo Halfway House Inc. He was employed as a cleaner by the Bethel Head Start program and required to stay in telephone contact with Halfway House staff. Based on mis-reports of his location, Stevenson was charged with escape on Feb. 14, 2013. Found guilty after a disciplinary hearing, Stevenson was removed from the residential program and forfeited 27 days of good time credit. The March 14 memorandum notifying Stevenson of the decision—supported by evidence that the Halfway House’s assistant director went to Stevenson’s work site and verified his absence—provided him 21 days to appeal to the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) regional director. Stevenson’s April 17 appeal was dismissed as untimely. District court denied Stevenson 28 USC §2241 habeas relief seeking release from county jail custody and restoration of good time credits. The record showed he failed to exhaust his administrative remedies before the BOP prior to seeking habeas relief. Further, even if it were to excuse such failure the court—discussing the protections articulated in Wolff v. McDonnell—concluded that Stevenson was afforded all the process he was due.
