NINTH CIRCUIT RULES THAT A HALFWAY HOUSE IS NOT IMPRISONMENT
U.S. v. Sullivan, No. 06-30546 (9-28-07).
The question here is: Is a halfway house considered prison, or not?
The Federal Bureau of Prisons here said "no." So have other federal agencies, and other federal circuit courts of appeal. So, why does it matter?
The defendant here tested dirty for pot in Montana while he was in a pre-release halfway house. The question posed to the court was whether or not this restraint on freedom counted toward supervised release on his federal charge.
If it did count as imprisonment, then defendant's supervised release had expired. He could then not be returned to court on a supervised release violation. The Ninth Circuit, joining other circuits already addressing this issue, held that a halfway house is not imprisonment. Rather, a halfway house is an alternate to imprisonment.
So, what happened? Since the supervised release had started running, the petition was out of time, and the prosecution could not seek a revocation.
