D.C. federal court rules for class of inmates in case where Professor Brent Newton served as expert witness

CARLISLE, PA—In June, a federal district court in the District of Columbia ruled in favor of a class of inmates in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) who contended that the BOP has arbitrarily classified them in a harmful manner based on an erroneous view of their criminal histories (which has adversely affected their security levels in prison).

Professor Brent E. Newton, the former deputy director of the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2009 to 2019, served as an expert witness for the class of prisoners in that case and offered a detailed analysis of the BOP's erroneously treatment of the prisoners' criminal histories.

The court's decision could potentially affect hundreds of prisoners in BOP each year. You can read the court's decision — which discusses Professor Newton's analysis — by clicking here.

In 2009, Practitioner in Residence Brent E. Newton was appointed as deputy director of the United States Sentencing Commission, a position he held until January 2019. Professor Newton also practices civil, criminal, and immigration law in Maryland and Texas. In addition, he has been a lecturer, adjunct professor, or visiting professor at several other law schools, including American and Georgetown Universities, the University of Houston Law Center, and Seoul National University in South Korea. Professor Newton has been an elected member of the American Law Institute since 2010.