Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Case of the Day: Koh v. Berkebile, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92320 (W.D. Okla. June 1, 2017)

Summary:

Petitioner is an illegal alien from South Korea who is serving a prison term in Oklahoma for illegal possession of firearms and illegal re-entry into the United States after having been deported. Petitioner alleged that the Bureau of Prison discriminates between U.S. citizens and non-citizens in that the non-citizens are not considered for early release or minimum security prison, and are placed far away from their family.

The court dismissed. The court first found that the petitioner had no standing for the early release, as he is not eligible for the program at any rate. The court also found that there was a rational basis to deny non-citizen prisoners certain rehabilitation programs, as such prisoners will be deported at the conclusion of their prison term and will not be released into the United States.

Takeaway:

In some ways this is reasonable, but I still find the reasons the court gave fascinating. How many Americans would think rehabilitation is a privilege reserved for U.S. citizens?

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