A Game of Cat and Mouse - Or Government and Prisoner: Granting Relief to an Erroneously Released Prisoner in Vega v. United States

Villanova Law Review, Sep 2017

By Danielle E. Wall, Published on 01/01/08

A PDF file should load here. If you do not see its contents the file may be temporarily unavailable at the journal website or you do not have a PDF plug-in installed and enabled in your browser.

Alternatively, you can download the file locally and open with any standalone PDF reader:

https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=vlr

A Game of Cat and Mouse - Or Government and Prisoner: Granting Relief to an Erroneously Released Prisoner in Vega v. United States

Erroneously Released Prisoner in Vega v. United States United States Danielle E. Wall 0 1 Recommended Citation 0 Danielle E. Wall, A Game of Cat and Mouse - Or Government and Prisoner: Granting Relief to an 1 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Villanova Law Review by an authorized editor of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository Wall: A Game of Cat and Mouse - Or Government and Prisoner: Granting Re A GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE-OR GOVERNMENT AND PRISONER: GRANTING RELIEF TO AN ERRONEOUSLY RELEASED PRISONER IN VEGA v. UNITED STATES "The government is not permitted to play cat and mouse with the prisoner, delaying indefinitely the [expiration] of his debt to society and his reintegration into the free community."1 his criminal sentence. 2 In the article, prison officials blamed the error on the prison's computer system, which tracked time served, credits for good behavior, and other factors affecting the length of criminal sentences. 3 1. Dunne v. Keohane, 14 F.3d 335, 336 (7th Cir. 1994) (acknowledging common law rule that government cannot require service of criminal sentence in installments and, therefore, prison sentence runs continuously from date defendant begins serving it even if prisoner is erroneously released). In Dunne, Chief Judge Posner used the phrase "play[ing] cat and mouse" to describe the actions of the government in releasing prisoners only to reincarcerate them later. See id. (suggesting that rule against installment punishment protects against arbitrary use of governmental power). The phrase "to play cat and mouse" is a common idiom used to describe a situation in which one person tries to defeat another person by tricking him or her into making a mistake in an effort to gain an advantage later. See CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF IDIOMS (2d ed. 1998), available at http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/play+at+and+mouse (last visited Jan. 19, 2008) (defining phrase "play cat and mouse"). This phrase is based on the way a cat plays with a mouse before killing it. See id. (providing etymology of phrase). 2. See Thomas Farragher, Correction System 'Mess' Held Inmates Past Their Time, THE BOSTON GLOBE, Apr. 22, 2007, at Al, available at http://www.boston.com/ news/local/ massachusetts/ articles/ 2007/04/ 22 / correction system-mess held_ inmates-past their time (last visitedJan. 19, 2008) (reporting story of inmate held in Massachusetts prison system four years longer than original sentence due to negligence of prison officials). 3. See id. (noting that prison officials admitted inmate was held too long because they relied on computer system that could not adequately account for time off for good behavior, disciplinary history and arcane court guidelines affecting length of criminal sentences). The Boston Globe article also mentioned a previous whistleblower case in which a prison employee complained that she was transferred for complaining that inmates were being held past their release dates. See id. (discussing prior complaints regarding prison's sentence computation system). The prison's correction commissioner testified in this case and admitted that the department sentence tracking system had become so "dysfunctional" that sentences needed to be verified manually. See id. at A20. (noting prison official's admission regarding inadequacy of sentence computation system). The prison system has since instituted a new computer network, the Inmate Management System. See id. (describing prison system's efforts to improve accuracy of sentence calculations). Nevertheless, the prison classification director admitted that the consequences of some court decisions are still beyond the capability of the new computer system. See id. (highlighting weaknesses in department's new sentence (385) The unveiling of this miscalculation sparked a further investigation by the United States Department of Corrections to determine if other inmates were similarly affected. 4 As a result of this investigation, government officials identified thirteen other inmates who had been detained beyond their release dates for periods ranging from a mere one day to an astound5 ing 515 days. While stories of inmates being held in prison too long are undoubtedly shocking, even more alarming is the high number of inmates who are released too early. 6 Our society assumes that after an individual is convicted and sentenced to serve jail time, the individual is taken into custody and incarcerated until the sentence expires. 7 Contrary to this assumption, prison officials sometimes mistakenly release prisoners before their sentences expire, or fail to take convicted criminals into custody within a reasonable timeframe. 8 With over-burdened federal, state and local prison systems releasing approximately 630,000 prisoners each year, erroneous release and delayed incarcer (...truncated)


This is a preview of a remote PDF: https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=vlr

Danielle E. Wall. A Game of Cat and Mouse - Or Government and Prisoner: Granting Relief to an Erroneously Released Prisoner in Vega v. United States, Villanova Law Review, 2017, pp. 385, Volume 53, Issue 2,