Source document (2021-12-21) — United States v. Stewart

What This Document Is

Stewart's pro se reply, composed December 14, 2021 on the prison TRULINCS system (Register No. 28576509, Unit TDG-V-A, Talladega FPC) and docketed December 21, 2021, responding to the government's Entry 21 response on his request for a judicial recommendation of Residential Re-Entry Center placement. The filing states it is a second certified copy; a November 19, 2021 mailing confirmed delivered November 23 never appeared on the docket.

Factual Summary

Stewart clarifies he never sought to amend the judgment — the government's Rule 35(a) framing — but asked only for a non-binding "Judicial Recommendation of 9 to 12 months of Residential Re-entry Center (RRC) Placement." Citing United States v. Ferguson and district decisions from within the Fourth Circuit (Smith, Patterson, Mccoy, Kenney), he argues a majority of federal courts hold a sentencing court may issue advisory placement recommendations on a post-sentence motion at any time, since 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b)(4) directs the BOP to consider "any statement" of the sentencing court.

Factually, he reports that self-surrender cost him his employment (leading to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, No. 21-01609-TOM7), interrupted post-graduate legal education whose correspondence materials the facility's mailroom repeatedly returned (his Exhibit A), and that the facility offers no mental-health treatment supporting the course the court ordered as a condition. He states he works full-time as the law-library clerk at FPC Talladega, has helped numerous inmates with their cases, completed available BOP programs (parenting, real-estate investing, money management, First Step Act initiatives), and that neither he nor counsel could locate a sentencing transcript on PACER — the government's suggested alternative. He asks that the recommendation issue and be forwarded to the BOP Director and the Talladega warden.

Key Facts

• Composed December 14, docketed December 21, 2021; Docket Entry 22; reply to Entry 21.
• Relief clarified: advisory 9-to-12-month RRC recommendation, not judgment amendment.
• Reported consequences of imprisonment: job termination, Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing (21-01609-TOM7), interrupted legal education.
• Reported prison role: full-time law-library clerk; assistance to other inmates (corroborated by the Entry 20-1 inmate letters).
• The court denied the underlying motion January 5, 2022 (Entry 23) without issuing the recommendation.

Source Caveats

• The source is a scanned TRULINCS printout with OCR-level legibility; citations as rendered by Stewart (case names and numbers) are reproduced as filed and were not independently verified.
• Assertions about employment, bankruptcy, facility mail handling, and program completion are the filer's own statements; the bankruptcy case number is as stated in the filing.