Unreported / Non-Citable
Background
Donatus Ozoani, a Bureau of Prisons inmate sentenced in Australia and serving his sentence in the United States through a treaty transfer, asked the BOP to apply First Step Act time credits to his file. The warden denied the request under Program Statement 5410.01 CN-2, which categorically excluded treaty-transfer inmates from earning those credits.
The warden told Ozoani which forms to file to pursue the BOP’s Administrative Remedy process. Ozoani instead petitioned for habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The district court denied the petition because he had not exhausted his administrative remedies.
The Court’s Holding
The Fifth Circuit held that Ozoani was excused from completing the administrative process because doing so would have been futile. Although § 2241 contains no statutory exhaustion requirement, the court ordinarily applies a nonjurisdictional, jurisprudential exhaustion doctrine requiring federal prisoners to pursue available administrative remedies before filing a petition.
The majority reasoned that the governing Program Statement unequivocally excluded treaty-transfer inmates and bound the officials who would hear Ozoani’s administrative appeals. Because those officials lacked discretion to grant the relief he sought and Ozoani challenged the lawfulness of the scheme itself, further exhaustion would have been a “textbook” exercise in futility.
The court reversed the district court’s judgment and remanded for reconsideration of Ozoani’s petition. It did not decide whether Ozoani was legally entitled to First Step Act time credits. The court also denied the motion to consolidate. Judge Haynes dissented, stating that she would have affirmed the district court.
Key Takeaways
- A federal prisoner ordinarily must exhaust available administrative remedies before pursuing relief under § 2241, even though the statute does not expressly require exhaustion.
- Exhaustion may be excused when agency officials are bound by a categorical policy and lack discretion to provide the requested relief.
- The decision addresses only whether Ozoani had to exhaust administrative remedies; it does not resolve the merits of his challenge to the exclusion of treaty-transfer inmates from First Step Act time credits.
Why It Matters
The decision clarifies that the Fifth Circuit’s judicially created exhaustion requirement for § 2241 petitions does not compel prisoners to pursue administrative appeals that agency policy predetermines they will lose. The availability of the futility exception turns on whether officials in the administrative process possess meaningful discretion to grant relief.
On remand, the district court must reconsider Ozoani’s petition without denying it for failure to exhaust. The legality of the BOP policy excluding treaty-transfer inmates from earning First Step Act time credits remains unresolved.