> ## 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 2021 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-8-renting-or-managing-a-drug-establishment-fy2021/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:57:29.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:57:29.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2021, 22 people were sentenced in federal court with §2D1.8 as the primary guideline. All 22 pleaded guilty, 16 (73%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 21 months. The number is small, so it describes one year and not a trend. - 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: FY2021 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2021, 22 people were sentenced in federal court with §2D1.8 as the primary guideline. All 22 pleaded guilty, 16 (73%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 21 months. The number is small, so it describes one year and not a trend. 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 22 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021\. 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/). ## What Happened to the 22 People Sentenced in Fiscal Year 2021 The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 22 people whose primary guideline was §2D1.8 in fiscal year 2021\. The guideline is titled "Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment; Attempt or Conspiracy" in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. 16 of the 22 (73%) were sentenced to prison. The other 6 (27%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 21 months. Prison terms in this data are the terms imposed by the court, not the time actually served. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. ## Every Person Pleaded Guilty All 22 (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 95% had a written plea agreement and 5% were straight pleas with no agreement. The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, so these numbers cannot show how many cases were charged under this guideline and ended some other way. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 22 people with that information recorded (5%). ## How Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range 6 of the 22 sentences (27%) were within the guideline range. 9 (41%) were below the range at the government's request, and 6 (27%) were below the range without a government request. One sentence (5%) was above the range. Across every guideline in fiscal year 2021, 43% of sentences were within the range. For §2D1.8 the share was 27%, which is lower. In this year, then, most of the sentences under this guideline were below the range. ## Spread of Prison Terms, Supervised Release, and Fines The median is the middle value of the prison terms. A quarter of those sent to prison received 46 months or more. A quarter received 0.1 months or less. After prison, 15 people (68%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median supervised release term was 36 months. No fine was ordered for anyone (0%), and no restitution was ordered (0%). The lowest criminal history category (category I) held 50% of the group, and the highest (VI) held 9%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so that measure has no military counterpart. ## Comparison With Other Years and All Federal Cases In fiscal year 2020, 17 people were sentenced under §2D1.8, with a median prison term of 16.5 months. In fiscal year 2022, 22 people were sentenced, with a median prison term of 12 months. The 2021 median of 21 months is higher than both. For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 173 people were sentenced under §2D1.8\. Of them, 74% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 16.2 months, and more than 99% pleaded guilty. Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021, under every guideline, totaled 57,287 people. Their median prison term was 29 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. The table shows each fiscal year for this guideline. | 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 | ## What the Records Cannot Show The records do not say what conduct each person committed beyond the guideline that applied. They do not show why a judge chose a particular term or why the government asked for a lower sentence. There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the crosswalk used for this site, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2D1.8 (22), 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. **Mandatory minimum sentences.** Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge. ## 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 2020](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-8-renting-or-managing-a-drug-establishment-fy2020/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2d1-8-renting-or-managing-a-drug-establishment-fy2022/) (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.