Jail-House Lawyer Fails

Arsonist-Killer Not Eligible for Elderly House Confinement Program

Jack Ferranti, acting as his own attorney, appealed the District Court's orders denying his petition for habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 and his motion to reconsider.

FACTS

Ferranti was responsible for causing a fire at his business that resulted in the death of a firefighter. The trial judge sentenced him to 435 months' imprisonment. See United States v. Ferranti, 928 F.Supp. 206, 21316 (E.D.N.Y. 1996). His conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal. See United States v. Tocco, 135 F.3d 116 (2d Cir. 1998).

In Jack Ferranti v. Warden Allenwood LSCI, No. 22-1892, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit (June 30, 2023) noted that Ferranti was convicted in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York of arson homicide, arson conspiracy, 16 counts of mail fraud, and witness tampering, based on an insurance-fraud scheme. The Third Circuit resolved the request for release to the elderly home confinement program (EOHDP).

In 2020, Ferranti argued that he met the criteria for the EOHDP, and he asked for the District Court to order the BOP to process his application and place him in the program.

ANALYSIS

As the District Court explained, federal courts do not have the authority to grant the relief that Ferranti requested to order his placement in the EOHDP. The executive branch, not the courts, have control over an inmate's placement. Moreover, even if the ability to challenge the BOP's actions were available through habeas, Ferranti did not establish that he qualified for the program.

The statute disqualifies those whom "the Bureau of Prisons, on the basis of information the Bureau uses to make custody classifications, and in the sole discretion of the Bureau, [determines] to have a history of violence."

Further, even if he did qualify, the BOP would not be required to place him in the EOHDP because, again, the statute leaves placement as a matter of discretion for the BOP. In any event, the BOP did not err by concluding that Ferranti's history of violence-comprised of the underlying conduct for his convictions as well as disciplinary infractions in prison-disqualified him from participating in the EOHDP.

ZALMA OPINION

In an example of Chutzpah, Ferranti sought release from prison into the EOHDP in violation of the program's requirement that only a non-violent prisoner is allowed into the program. Just being elderly, especially after the arson-for-profit scheme resulted in the death of a firefighter, was denied by the District Court and the Third Circuit without hesitation.

(c) 2023 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.

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