Section 3624(e) of Title 18 of the U.S.C. provides that “[a] term of supervised release does not run during any period in which the person is imprisoned in connection with a conviction for a Federal, State, or local crime unless the imprisonment is for a period of less than 30 consecutive days.” The question sometimes arises as to whether pretrial detention similarly tolls the term of supervised release. Although pretrial detention is not, on first look, a “period in which the person is imprisoned in connection with a conviction” for a crime, things look murkier when considered retrospectively. This is because courts often, upon the defendant’s subsequent conviction for the offense for which he was detained pretrial, credit that period of detention against the term of imprisonment ultimately imposed. Indeed, § 3585(b) requires such credit in federal cases.
Today the Supreme Court ruled in Mont v. United States, Sup. Ct. No. 17-8995, that a period of pretrial detention later credited toward a term of imprisonment imposed upon the defendant’s conviction does indeed toll the period of supervised release under § 3624(e) as a “period in which the person is imprisoned in connection with a conviction . . . .” Justice Thomas’s decision for 5 justices explains why; Justice Sotomayor writes for the 4 dissenters.
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