Convict sues Federal Bureau of Prisons for not accepting him

A man who was convicted both in federal and local courts for trafficking 65 grams of methamphetamine or “ice” has sued the Federal Bureau of Prisons for refusing to accept him and returning him to the jail facility on Saipan.

Manabu Chizuwa, through counsel Joseph Horey, asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to compel the Bureau of Prisons to take him into custody to serve the sentence imposed by the federal court.

Chizuwa demanded attorney’s fees and court costs.

Horey stated in the complaint that on May 3, 2002, Chizuwa was arrested in Garapan and was subsequently charged in both federal and Superior Courts with drug-related offenses.

Following his arrest, the defendant was detained in the CNMI jail and was never released on bail.

Horey said that on Nov. 8, 2002, the defendant pleaded guilty in federal court to possession with intent to distribute and distribution of “ice” on May 3, 2002.

Chizuwa was sentenced on April 15, 2003 to five years in jail, with credit for the time he already served in jail.

On April 30, 2003, the defendant pleaded guilty in the Superior Court to possession and conspiracy to possess “ice” on May 3, 2002.

The Superior Court sentenced Chizuwa on May 30, 2003 to five years in prison for possession and four years in jail for conspiracy, to run concurrently.

The local court ordered that the sentence was to run concurrently with the sentence imposed in federal court.

Horey said that after his sentences were imposed, Chizuwa continued to be incarcerated in the Saipan jail.

Horey said the U.S. Marshal Service advised his client that they would not take him custody to commence his federal sentence until he was released by the CNMI.

The result of this, the lawyer asserted, was that the defendant’s local and federal sentences would not in fact run concurrently, but rather consecutively.

On April 6, 2005, Chizuwa applied for the Superior Court for a writ of habeas corpus, noting that continuing incarceration in the Saipan jail, was frustrating the Superior Court’s intent that he serve his local and federal sentences concurrently.

The defendant asked to be released to the custody of the U.S. Marshal to serve his federal sentence.

Horey said the CNMI Attorney General’s Office agreed that the defendant should be released to federal custody.

He said that on April 25, 2005, Superior Court Associate Judge Juan T. Lizama granted the defendant’s request and released him to custody of the U.S. Marshal Service to serve the federal sentence.

Horey said the U.S. Marshal took Chizuwa to Guam to await transfer to a federal prison in the U.S.

Horey said the defendant remained in federal custody on Guam for several months.

However, the lawyer said, Chizuwa was never taken to the U.S. and was never admitted to a federal prison.

He said the Bureau of Prisons refused to accept the defendant into custody.

This refusal, Horey said, was on the ground that the CNMI retained “primary jurisdiction” over the defendant.

He said that on Oct. 20, 2005, Chizuwa was returned to the Saipan jail and has remained incarcerated there until now.