Big development on federal boot camp
Courtesy of a FOB (“friend of blog”), I just got the news US District Judge Saris has enjoined the Bureau of Prisons from terminating the Shock Incarceration (or Intensive Confinement Center) Program until it has complied with the Administrative Procedure Act. (Interesting background on this story can be found here.)
The decision, which can be downloaded below, is Castellini v. Lappin, 05-10220 (D. Mass. Apr. 12, 2005), and here is the opinion’s introduction:
Plaintiff Richard Castellini, who was sentenced to twenty-one months of incarceration with a recommendation that his sentence be served in the federal boot camp program, moves for a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction to prevent defendant Harley Lappin, Director of the federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”), from terminating the boot camp program. Plaintiff argues that he is likely to succeed on the merits because the BOP’s termination of the program exceeded the BOP’s authority, violated the notice-and-comment requirements for agency rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 553, and violated the Ex Post Facto Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 3. After hearing, plaintiff’s motion is ALLOWED on the ground that plaintiff is likely to succeed on his claim that the BOP failed to comply with the APA and violated the Ex Post Facto Clause.