Fourth Circuit Holds Federal Prisoner Does Not Earn First Step Act Time Credits While in Transit Between Prisons
by Matt Clarke
On January 13, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the denial of a federal prisoner’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus claiming he was unlawfully denied time credits he was entitled to pursuant to the First Step Act of 2018 (FSA), 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4), during a three-day period while he was being transferred between prisons.
Federal prisoner William White was housed in the “Special Housing Unit” of the Federal Transfer Center Oklahoma for three days while being transferred between prisons. He had been participating in FSA programming prior to the transfer and was thus eligible for FSA time credits. The federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), however, denied him the single credit he would have otherwise earned for the time he served in transit.
White filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, alleging the denial of credits violated both the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and the FSA. The district court denied the petition and, aided by Claire Victoria Madill, Patricia L. Richman and James Wyda of the Baltimore Federal Public Defender’s Office, White appealed.
Although the district court denied the petition based on BOP regulations and policy, the Fourth Circuit upheld the decision based solely on the language of the FSA. It held that a prisoner who is not being offered programming because he is being temporarily housed at a transit facility that does not offer programming cannot be “successfully participating” in FSA programming as required by the FSA for the awarding of time credit.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Robert Bruce King pointed out that the majority opinion was based on a new theory not raised before the district court by the BOP, which also seems contrary to the statutory requirement that the BOP provide FSA programming to all eligible prisoners and further was based on facts not in evidence. See: White v. Warden of Fed. Corr. Institution - Cumberland, 164 F.4th 326 (4th Cir. 2026).
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Related legal case
White v. Warden of Fed. Corr. Institution - Cumberland
| Year | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Cite | 164 F.4th 326 (4th Cir. 2026) |
| Level | Court of Appeals |