§2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
In fiscal year 2022, 11 of the 22 people sentenced under §2D1.8 (50%) received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request. Only 5 (23%) were sentenced within the range. The median prison term was 12 months for the 16 people sent to prison.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2022, 11 of the 22 people sentenced under §2D1.8 (50%) received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request. Only 5 (23%) were sentenced within the range. The median prison term was 12 months for the 16 people sent to prison.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 22 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022. 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 series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Sentences Below the Range at the Government's Request
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 22 people in fiscal year 2022 whose primary guideline was §2D1.8. The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles it "Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment; Attempt or Conspiracy."
For each person, the data records where the sentence fell against the guideline range. Of the 22, 5 (23%) were within the range, 11 (50%) were below the range at the government's request, and 6 (27%) were below the range without a government request. None (0%) was above the range.
For all guidelines combined in fiscal year 2022, 42% of sentences were within the range. The §2D1.8 share of 23% is lower.
Who Went to Prison and for How Long
Of the 22 people, 16 (73%) received a prison term. The other 6 (27%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 28.8 months or more, and a quarter received 0.3 months or less. The terms are those the court imposed, not time served.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 22 people with that information recorded (0%).
Guilty Pleas and Plea Agreements
All 22 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none were convicted after a trial. Every guilty plea (100%) came with a written plea agreement, and 0% were straight pleas.
Because the data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, it says nothing about cases that were dismissed or ended in an acquittal.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
After prison, 15 people (68%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 2 people (9%). Restitution was ordered for 0 (0%).
In the lowest criminal history category (category I) were 68% of the group, and 0% were in the highest (VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Fiscal Year 2022 Beside Other Years
The count was 22 people in fiscal year 2021 and 15 people in fiscal year 2023. The median prison term was 21 months in 2021 and 30 months in 2023, both higher than the 12 months in 2022. Counts this small can move a median a long way, so a single year should not be read as a trend.
Over 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 the share sentenced within the range was 26%. The 2022 median is lower than that 16.2 months.
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022, under all guidelines, totaled 64,142 people. Their median prison term was 30 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022.
| 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 of This Comparison
The records do not explain why the government asked for lower sentences in this group, and they do not describe what each person did. They also do not show how long anyone served.
The crosswalk used for this site has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so the post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022 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.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (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. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.