Maxwell v. Dinis

Overview

A federal prisoner asked the Bureau of Prisons for early transfer to a halfway house or home confinement using time credits earned under the First Step Act of 2018. The Fifth Circuit, splitting from other circuits, held that such a claim cannot be brought as a habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. 2241 unless success would directly shorten the sentence. The Supreme Court will decide which procedural vehicle these First Step Act credit claims belong in. (This is not the Ghislaine Maxwell case, an unrelated petition denied in 2025.)