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- NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
- preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to
- notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
- ington, D.C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that
- corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press.
- SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
- --------
- No. 94-790
- --------
- JANET RENO, ATTORNEY GENERAL, et al., PETI-
- TIONERS v. ZIYA K. KORAY
- on writ of certiorari to the united states court
- of appeals for the third circuit
- [June 5, 1995]
-
- Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the
- Court.
- Title 18 U. S. C. 3585(b) provides that a defendant
- generally must -be given credit toward the service of a
- term of imprisonment for any time he has spent in
- official detention prior to the date the sentence com-
- mences.- Before the commencement of respondent's
- federal sentence, a federal magistrate judge -released-
- him on bail pursuant to the Bail Reform Act of 1984
- and ordered him confined to a community treatment
- center. The question presented is whether respondent
- was in -official detention,- and thus entitled to a
- sentence credit under 3585(b), during the time he spent
- at the treatment center. We hold that he was not.
- On April 23, 1991, respondent Ziya Koray was arrested
- for laundering monetary instruments in violation of 18
- U. S. C. 1956(a)(1). On June 18, 1991, he pleaded
- guilty to that charge in the United States District Court
- for the District of Maryland. One week later, on June
- 25, 1991, a federal magistrate judge entered a -release
- order- pursuant to 18 U. S. C. 3142(c), ordering
- respondent released on bail, pending sentencing, into the
- custody of the Pretrial Services Agency. The order
- required that he be -confined to [the] premises- of a
- Volunteers of America community treatment center
- without -authoriz[ation] to leave for any reason unless
- accompanied- by a Government special agent. On
- October 22, 1991, the District Court sentenced respond-
- ent to 41 months' imprisonment. Respondent remained
- at the Volunteers of America facility until November 25,
- 1991, the day he reported to the Allenwood Federal
- Prison Camp to serve his sentence.
- Respondent requested the Bureau of Prisons (BOP or
- Bureau) to credit toward his sentence of imprisonment
- the approximately 150 days he spent at the Volunteers
- of America community treatment center between June
- 25 and November 25, 1991. Relying on its established
- policy, BOP refused to grant the requested credit. After
- exhausting his administrative remedies, respondent filed
- a petition for habeas corpus in the United States
- District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
- seeking credit under 18 U. S. C. 3585 for the time he
- spent at the community treatment center. The District
- Court denied the petition, finding that respondent's stay
- at the center did not constitute -official detention-
- within the meaning of 18 U. S. C. 3585(b).
- The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed.
- 21 F. 3d 558 (1994). It acknowledged that the over-
- whelming majority of the Courts of Appeals -have
- concluded that section 3585 . . . does not require the
- Bureau to credit presentenced defendants whose bail
- conditions allowed them to be confined outside of Bureau
- of Prison[s] facilities.- Id., at 561. The Court declined,
- however, to defer to the Bureau's view-that time spent
- under highly restrictive conditions while -released- on
- bail is not -`official detention'- under 3585(b) because
- a -`released'- defendant is not subject to the Bureau's
- control. 21 F. 3d, at 562-565. Instead, the Court
- reasoned that 3585(b)'s -`official detention'- language
- need not be read -as if it provided `official detention by
- the Attorney General or the Bureau of Prisons,'- since
- -there is nothing in the statute which requires or
- suggests that a defendant must be under the detention
- of the Bureau,- and since -[a] court may `detain' a
- person as `official[ly]' as the Attorney General.- 21 F.
- 3d, at 563-564. Concluding that -`official detention' for
- purposes of credit under 18 U. S. C. 3585 includes time
- spent under conditions of jail-type confinement,- 21 F.
- 3d, at 567, the Court of Appeals remanded the case for
- a determination whether respondent was in -jail-type
- confinement- during his stay at the Volunteers of
- America community treatment center.
- We granted the Government's petition for certiorari to
- resolve a conflict among the Courts of Appeals on the
- question whether a federal prisoner is entitled to credit
- against his sentence under 3585(b) for time when he
- was -released- on bail pursuant to the Bail Reform Act
- of 1984. 513 U. S. ___ (1995). We now reverse.
- Title 18 U. S. C. 3585 determines when a federal
- sentence of imprisonment commences and whether credit
- against that sentence must be granted for time spent in
- -official detention- before the sentence began. It states:
- -Calculation of a term of imprisonment
- -(a) Commencement of sentence.--A sentence to a
- term of imprisonment commences on the date the
- defendant is received in custody awaiting transporta-
- tion to, or arrives voluntarily to commence service of
- sentence at, the official detention facility at which
- the sentence is to be served.
- -(b) Credit for prior custody.--A defendant shall be
- given credit toward the service of a term of impris-
- onment for any time he has spent in official deten-
- tion prior to the date the sentence commences-
- -(1) as a result of the offense for which the
- sentence was imposed; or
- -(2) as a result of any other charge for which
- the defendant was arrested after the commission
- of the offense for which the sentence was imposed;
- -that has not been credited against another sen-
- tence.- 18 U. S. C. 3585 (emphasis added).
- In United States v. Wilson, 503 U. S. 329, 337 (1992),
- we specifically noted Congress' use of the term -`official
- detention'- in 3585(b), but we had no occasion to rule
- on the meaning of that term. We must do so today.
- The Government contends that the phrase -official
- detention- in 3585(b) refers to a court order detaining
- a defendant and committing him to the custody of the
- Attorney General for confinement. Respondent, on the
- other hand, argues that the phrase -official detention-
- includes the restrictive conditions of his release on bail
- because the federal magistrate's bail order was -official-
- and significantly curtailed his liberty. Viewing the
- phrase in isolation, it may be said that either reading is
- plausible. But it is a -fundamental principle of statu-
- tory construction (and, indeed, of language itself) that
- the meaning of a word cannot be determined in isola-
- tion, but must be drawn from the context in which it is
- used.- Deal v. United States, 508 U. S. ___, ___ (1993)
- (slip op., at 3). After examining the phrase -official
- detention- in this light, we believe the Government's
- interpretation is the correct one.
- Section 3585(b) provides credit for time -spent in offi-
- cial detention prior to the date the sentence commences,-
- 18 U. S. C. 3585(b) (emphasis added), thus making
- clear that credit is awarded only for presentence re-
- straints on liberty. Because the Bail Reform Act of
- 1984, 18 U. S. C. 3141 et seq., is the body of law that
- authorizes federal courts to place presentence restraints
- on a defendant's liberty, see 3142(a) (authorizing courts
- to impose restraints on the defendant -pending trial-);
- 3143(a) (authorizing courts to impose restraints while
- the defendant -is awaiting imposition or execution of
- sentence-), the -official detention- language of 3585(b)
- must be construed in conjunction with that Act. This is
- especially so because the Bail Reform Act of 1984 was
- enacted in the same statute as the Sentencing Reform
- Act of 1984, of which 3585 is a part. See Gozlon-
- Peretz v. United States, 498 U. S. 395, 407-408 (1991)
- (-It is not uncommon to refer to other, related legislative
- enactments when interpreting specialized statutory
- terms,- since Congress is presumed to have -legislated
- with reference to- those terms).
- The Bail Reform Act of 1984 provides a federal court
- with two choices when dealing with a criminal defendant
- who has been -charged with an offense- and is awaiting
- trial, 18 U. S. C. 3142(a), or who -has been found
- guilty of an offense and . . . is awaiting imposition or
- execution of sentence,- 3143(a)(1) (1988 ed., Supp V).
- The court may either (1) -release- the defendant on bail
- or (2) order him -detained- without bail. A court may
- -release- a defendant subject to a variety of restrictive
- conditions, including residence in a community treatment
- center. See 3142(c)(1)(B)(i), (x) and (xiv). If, however,
- the court -finds that no condition or combination of
- conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the
- person as required and the safety of any other person
- and the community,- 3142(e), the court -shall order the
- detention of the person,- ibid., by issuing a -detention
- order- -direct[ing] that the person be committed to the
- custody of the Attorney General for confinement in a
- corrections facility.- 3142(i)(2). Thus, under the
- language of the Bail Reform Act of 1984, a defendant
- suffers -detention- only when committed to the custody
- of the Attorney General; a defendant admitted to bail on
- restrictive conditions, like respondent was, is -released.-
- See Dawson v. Scott, No. 93-6240, 1995 WL 148978,
- *4-5, and nn. 11-12 (CA11, Apr. 6, 1995); Moreland v.
- United States, 968 F. 2d 655, 659-660 (CA8), cert.
- denied, 506 U. S. ___ (1992); id., at 661-663 (Loken, J.,
- concurring); United States v. Becak, 954 F. 2d 386, 388
- (CA6), cert. denied, 504 U. S. 945 (1992).
- Section 3585(a) and related sentencing provisions
- confirm this interpretation. Section 3585(a) provides
- that a federal sentence -commences- when the defendant
- is received for transportation to or arrives at -the official
- detention facility at which the sentence is to be served.-
- Title 18 U. S. C. 3621, in turn, provides that the
- sentenced defendant -shall be committed to the custody
- of the Bureau of Prisons,- 3621(a), which -may desig-
- nate any available penal or correctional facility . . . ,
- whether maintained by the Federal Government or
- otherwise . . . , that the Bureau determines to be
- appropriate and suitable.- 3621(b) (emphasis added).
- The phrase -official detention facility- in 3585(a)
- therefore must refer to a correctional facility designated
- by the Bureau for the service of federal sentences, where
- the Bureau retains the discretion to -direct the transfer
- of a prisoner from one penal or correctional facility to
- another.- 3621(b).
- This reading of 3585(a) is reinforced by other provi-
- sions governing the administration of federal sentences.
- For example, 3622 gives the Bureau authority to
- release a prisoner from the place of his imprisonment
- for a limited period to -participate in a training or
- educational program in the community while continuing
- in official detention at the prison facility,- 3622(b), or
- to -work at paid employment in the community while
- continuing in official detention at the penal or correc-
- tional facility.- 3622(c). Because the words -official
- detention- should bear the same meaning in subsections
- (a) and (b) of 3585 as they do in the above related
- sentencing statutes, see Estate of Cowart v. Nicklos
- Drilling Co., 505 U. S. ____, ____ (1992) (slip op., at 9)
- (-the basic canon of statutory construction [is] that
- identical terms within an Act bear the same meaning-),
- credit for time spent in -official detention- under
- 3585(b) is available only to those defendants who were
- detained in a -penal or correctional facility,- 3621(b),
- and who were subject to BOP's control.
- The context and history of 3585(b) also support this
- view. As for context, 3585(b) reduces a defendant's
- -imprisonment- by the amount of time spent in -official
- detention- before his sentence, strongly suggesting that
- the period of presentence -detention- must be equivalent
- to the -imprisonment- itself. It would be anomalous to
- interpret 3585(b) to require sentence credit for time
- spent confined in a community treatment center where
- the defendant is not subject to BOP's control, since
- Congress generally views such a restriction on liberty as
- part of a sentence of -probation,- see 18 U. S. C.
- 3563(b)(10), (12), and (14), or -supervised release,- see
- 3583(d), rather than part of a sentence of -imprison-
- ment.- See United States v. Zackular, 945 F. 2d 423,
- 425 (CA1 1991).
- With respect to history, 3585(b)'s predecessor, 18
- U. S. C. 3568, required the Attorney General to award
- sentence credit for -any days spent in custody in
- connection with the offense or acts for which sentence
- was imposed.- 18 U. S. C. 3568 (1982 ed.) (emphasis
- added) (repealed). The Courts of Appeals uniformly held
- that the phrase -in custody- did not allow sentence
- credit because of restrictions placed on a defendant's
- liberty as a condition of release on bail. See Polakoff v.
- United States, 489 F. 2d 727, 730 (CA5 1974) (time
- spent on -highly restricted bond- not creditable as
- -`custody'-); United States v. Robles, 563 F. 2d 1308,
- 1309 (CA9 1977) (-time spent on bail or on bond
- pending appeal is not time served `in custody'-), cert.
- denied, 435 U. S. 925 (1978); Ortega v. United States,
- 510 F. 2d 412, 413 (CA10 1975) (-`custody'- refers to
- -actual custodial incarceration,- not -the time a criminal
- defendant is free on bond-); United States v. Peterson,
- 507 F. 2d 1191, 1192 (CADC 1974) (-`in custody'- does
- -not refer to the stipulations imposed when a defendant
- is at large on conditional release-). In 1984, Congress
- enacted 3585(b) and altered 3568 by, inter alia,
- -replac[ing] the term `custody' with the term `official
- detention.'- Wilson, 503 U. S., at 337; see also 18
- U. S. C. 3585(b). In thus rewording the credit statute,
- however, nothing suggests that Congress disagreed with
- the Courts of Appeals' rule denying credit to defendants
- who had been released on bail. To the contrary,
- Congress presumably made the change to conform the
- credit statute to the nomenclature used in related
- sentencing provisions, see 18 U. S. C. 3585(a)
- and 3622, and in the Bail Reform Act of 1984.
- See Moreland, supra, at 662, and n. 5 (Loken, J.,
- concurring).
- The Bureau, as the agency charged with administering
- the credit statute, see Wilson, supra, at 334-335,
- likewise has interpreted 3585(b)'s -official detention-
- language to require credit for time spent by a defendant
- under a 3142(e) -detention order,- but not for time
- spent under a 3142(c) -release order,- no matter how
- restrictive the conditions. As we have explained, see
- supra, at 5-9, the Bureau's interpretation is the most
- natural and reasonable reading of 3585(b)'s -offi-
- cial detention- language. It is true that the Bu-
- reau's interpretation appears only in a -Program
- Statement--an internal agency guideline-rather than
- in -published regulations subject to the rigors of the
- Administrative Procedur[e] Act, including public notice
- and comment.- 21 F. 3d, at 562. But BOP's internal
- agency guideline, which is akin to an -interpretive rule-
- that -do[es] not require notice-and-comment,- Shalala v.
- Guernsey Memorial Hospital, 514 U. S. ___, ___ (1995)
- (slip op., at 11), is still entitled to some deference, cf.
- Martin v. Occupational Safety and Health Review
- Comm'n, 499 U. S. 144, 157 (1991), since it is a -permis-
- sible construction of the statute.- Chevron U. S. A. Inc.
- v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S.
- 837, 843 (1984).
- Respondent, as we have indicated, disagrees with the
- above interpretation of 3585(b). He contends that the
- -plain meaning- of the phrase -official detention-
- includes the restrictive conditions of his confinement,
- even though he was released on bail. This contention is
- a plausible one if the phrase is read in isolation:
- respondent was subjected to restrictive conditions when
- released on bail, these conditions were imposed by a
- court order, and his sojourn in the community treatment
- center therefore amounted to -official detention.- But
- even without reference to the context of the language
- and the history of the statute, respondent's is not the
- only plausible interpretation of the language; it would be
- too much to say that the statute -cannot bear the
- interpretation adopted by- the Bureau. Sullivan v.
- Everhart, 494 U. S. 83, 91-92 (1990). And in light of
- the foregoing textual and historical analysis, the initial
- plausibility of respondent's reading simply does not carry
- the day.
- Respondent also argues it is improper to focus on the
- release/detention dichotomy of the Bail Reform Act of
- 1984 to construe 3585(b)'s -official detention- language
- because a defendant -released- on bail may be subjected
- to conditions (under 18 U. S. C. 3142(c)(1)(B)(xiv)) that
- are just as onerous as those faced by -detained- defend-
- ants. In addition, he asserts that his confinement as
- a -released- defendant in the Volunteers of America
- community treatment center constituted -official deten-
- tion- because -sentenced- prisoners are deemed to be in
- -official detention- when BOP authorizes them to serve
- the last part of their sentences in a community treat-
- ment center, see U. S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of
- Prisons Program Statement No. 7310.02 (Oct. 19, 1993)
- (interpreting 18 U. S. C. 3624(c) to allow BOP to place
- sentenced prisoners in community corrections centers,
- since such centers meet 18 U. S. C. 3621(b)'s definition
- of a -penal or correctional facility-), or to serve their
- sentences on educational or work release, see 18
- U. S. C. 3622(b) and (c).
- It is quite true that under the Government's theory a
- defendant -released- to a community treatment center
- could be subject to restraints which do not materially
- differ from those imposed on a -detained- defendant
- committed to the custody of the Attorney General, and
- thence assigned to a treatment center. But this fact
- does not undercut the remaining distinction which exists
- between all defendants committed to the custody of the
- Attorney General on the one hand, and all defendants
- released on bail on the other. Unlike defendants
- -released- on bail, defendants who are -detained- or
- -sentenced- always remain subject to the control of the
- Bureau. See Randall v. Whelan, 938 F. 2d 522, 525
- (CA4 1991). This is an important distinction, as the
- identity of the custodian has both legal and practical
- significance. A defendant who is -released- is not in
- BOP's custody, and he cannot be summarily reassigned
- to a different place of confinement unless a judicial
- officer revokes his release, see 18 U. S. C. 3148(b), or
- modifies the conditions of his release, see 3142(c)(3).
- A defendant who is -detained,- however, is completely
- subject to BOP's control. And -[t]hat single factor
- encompasses a wide variety of restrictions.- Randall,
- supra, at 525. -Detained- defendants are subject to
- BOP's disciplinary procedures; they are subject to
- summary reassignment to any other penal or correc-
- tional facility within the system, cf. Meachum v. Fano,
- 427 U. S. 215, 224-229 (1976); and, being in the legal
- custody of BOP, the Bureau has full discretion to control
- many conditions of their confinement. See Moody v.
- Daggett, 429 U. S. 78, 88, n. 9 (1976); Bell v. Wolfish,
- 441 U. S. 520, 544-548 (1979).
- It may seem unwise policy to treat defendants differ-
- ently for purposes of sentence credit under 3585(b)
- when they are similarly situated in fact-the one is
- confined to a community treatment center after having
- been -detained- and committed to the Bureau's custody,
- while the other is -released- to such a center on bail.
- But the alternative construction adopted by the Court of
- Appeals in this case has its own grave difficulties. To
- determine in each case whether a defendant -released-
- on bail was subjected to -jail-type confinement- would
- require a fact-intensive inquiry into the circumstances of
- confinement, an inquiry based on information in the
- hands of private entities not available to the Bureau as
- a matter of right. Even were such information more
- readily available, it seems certain that the phrase -jail-
- type confinement- would remain sufficiently vague and
- amorphous so that much the same kind of disparity in
- treatment for similarly situated defendants would arise.
- The Government's construction of 3585(b), on the other
- hand, provides both it and the defendant with clear
- notice of the consequences of a 3142 -release- or
- -detention- order.
- Respondent finally suggests that the rule of lenity
- requires adoption of the -jail-type confinement- test for
- purposes of calculating credit under 3585(b) because
- -there is a split of authority in the Circuits concerning
- the reach of `official detention,'- Brief for Respondent 34,
- n. 13, and because there is ambiguity as to which forms
- of custody fall within the meaning of -`official deten-
- tion.'- See id., at 34. Respondent misconstrues the
- doctrine. A statute is not -`ambiguous' for purposes of
- lenity merely because- there is -a division of judicial
- authority- over its proper construction. Moskal v.
- United States, 498 U. S. 103, 108 (1990). The rule of
- lenity applies only if, -after seizing everything from
- which aid can be derived,- Smith v. United States, 508
- U. S. ___, ___ (1993) (slip op., at 16) (internal quotation
- marks and brackets omitted), we can make -no more
- than a guess as to what Congress intended.- Ladner v.
- United States, 358 U. S. 169, 178 (1958). That is not
- this case.
- We hold that the time respondent spent at the Volun-
- teers of America community treatment center while
- -released- on bail pursuant to the Bail Reform Act of
- 1984 was not -official detention- within the meaning of
- 18 U. S. C. 3585(b). Respondent therefore was not
- entitled to a credit against his sentence of imprisonment.
- The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and
- the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent
- with this opinion.
- It is so ordered.
-