> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-8-renting-or-managing-a-drug-establishment-fy2020/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:57:28.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:57:28.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2020, 17 people were sentenced in federal court under §2D1.8. Of the 17, 13 (76%) received prison, with a median term of 16.5 months, close to the 16.2 months for all years combined. All 17 (100%) pleaded guilty, and 3 sentences (18%) were within the guideline range. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-8-renting-or-managing-a-drug-establishment/) › §2D1.8: FY2020 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2020, 17 people were sentenced in federal court under §2D1.8\. Of the 17, 13 (76%) received prison, with a median term of 16.5 months, close to the 16.2 months for all years combined. All 17 (100%) pleaded guilty, and 3 sentences (18%) were within the guideline range. Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 17 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020\. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. It is part of the [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## A Median Close to the All-Years Figure The median prison term in fiscal year 2020 was 16.5 months. For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together, the median under §2D1.8 was 16.2 months. The figures are about the same. A quarter of the 13 people sent to prison received 41 months or more, and a quarter received 6.2 months or less. The year before, the median was 24 months, and the year after it was 21 months. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2020, it was 18 months among 64,565 people. ## Probation and Prison Of the 17 people, 13 (76%) received a prison term. The other 4 (24%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Supervised release followed prison for 13 people (76%), and the median term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 2 (12%), and restitution for 0 (0%). ## Few Sentences Within the Range 3 sentences (18%) were within the guideline range. A total of 8 (47%) were below the range at the government's request, and 6 (35%) were below it without a request. None was above the range. The share within the range was 33% in fiscal year 2019 and 27% in fiscal year 2021\. Across all years under this guideline, it was 26%. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2020, it was 50%. ## Pleas and Mandatory Minimums All 17 people pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Of the guilty pleas, 88% had a written plea agreement, and 12% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 17 people. A mandatory minimum is a term that a statute sets as the lowest a court may impose. A straight plea is a guilty plea without a written agreement with the government. The data does not say what terms were offered in any agreement. ## Guideline Title and Criminal History The Guidelines Manual titles §2D1.8 "Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment; Attempt or Conspiracy." The Commission files these cases under drug trafficking. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. In this group, 59% were in the lowest criminal history category I, and 0% were in the highest (category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field. | Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty | | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- | | 2016 | 19 | 12 months | 95% | | 2017 | 24 | 15 months | 100% | | 2018 | 21 | 24 months | 100% | | 2019 | 12 | 24 months | 100% | | 2020 | 17 | 16.5 months | 100% | | 2021 | 22 | 21 months | 100% | | 2022 | 22 | 12 months | 100% | | 2023 | 15 | 30 months | 100% | | 2024 | 13 | 15.7 months | 100% | | 2025 | 8 | 2.5 months | 8 of 8 | ## Limits on These Numbers Across all 10 years, 173 people were sentenced under the guideline, and 74% went to prison. Yearly counts in the table are small, so no single year is a trend. The data covers only people convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, and prison terms are those imposed, not served. The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart, so this post reports federal numbers on their own. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2D1.8 (17), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30\. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records. ### What to Keep in Mind **No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct.** Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987\. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served. **Federal supervised release.** Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial. **Who decides the sentence, and under what rules.** Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart. **Time periods.** Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually. **How life sentences and "time served" are counted.** In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less. ## Related Analysis - [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-8-renting-or-managing-a-drug-establishment/) (overview) - [§2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-8-renting-or-managing-a-drug-establishment-fy2019/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-8-renting-or-managing-a-drug-establishment-fy2021/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) **About the author.** Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts *Where All The Bodies Are Buried* and runs the [Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.