Supreme Court grapples with prisoner pushing for earlier transfer

The Supreme Court waded into a prisoner’s challenge on Monday to his imprisonment under the First Step Act as he seeks a transfer to lower-security confinement, such as a halfway house, in the latest high court case over the 2018 criminal justice reform law.

The high court began its November sitting on Monday with oral arguments in Maxwell v. Dinis over whether William Maxwell, who is serving a sentence in a low-security prison in Texas for his role in organized crime and taking over a mortgage-loan company, can file a habeas corpus challenge to be transferred to a halfway house or home confinement under the First Step Act. A habeas corpus petition is a way for someone to challenge the legality of their imprisonment, while the First Step Act, signed into law in 2018, allows inmates to earn time credits for recidivism-reduction programming or productive activities, which can be used to secure early release from secure custody into halfway houses or home confinement.