§2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024
In fiscal year 2024, the §2D1.8 group split evenly between prison and probation: 6 of the 13 people (46%) were sentenced to prison, and 6 (46%) received probation only. All 13 pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 15.7 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2D1.8 Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment › §2D1.8: FY2024
In brief: In fiscal year 2024, the §2D1.8 group split evenly between prison and probation: 6 of the 13 people (46%) were sentenced to prison, and 6 (46%) received probation only. All 13 pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 15.7 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 13 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024. 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.
Prison and Probation in Equal Numbers
In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 13 people whose primary guideline was §2D1.8. The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles this guideline "Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment; Attempt or Conspiracy." The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024.
6 people (46%) received a prison term, and 6 (46%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 74% of the people sentenced under this guideline were sent to prison. The 2024 share is lower than that.
The group is small, so the split describes this one year only. Each person is a large share of the total. The records cannot show whether it reflects any lasting pattern.
Length of the Prison Terms
Among the people sent to prison, the median prison term was 15.7 months. A quarter received 22.5 months or more, and a quarter received 10.1 months or less.
The median for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under §2D1.8 was 16.2 months, which is about the same as the 2024 figure. The median in fiscal year 2023 was 30 months, and the median across every guideline in fiscal year 2024 was 30 months.
Prison terms here are the terms imposed, not time served. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 13 people with that information recorded (0%).
Every Case Ended in a Guilty Plea
All 13 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Each guilty plea (100%) had a written plea agreement.
The Commission's data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Cases that ended in a dismissal or an acquittal are not in it.
Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2024, 61,678 people were sentenced and 97% of them pleaded guilty.
Position Against the Guideline Range
2 sentences (15%) were within the guideline range. 6 (46%) were below the range at the government's request, and 5 (38%) were below the range without a government request. None (0%) was above it.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2024, 46% of sentences were within the range. For §2D1.8 the share was 15%, which is lower.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 6 people (46%), with a median term of 36 months. Fines were ordered for 2 (15%). No restitution was ordered (0%).
Criminal history category I held 85% of the group, and the highest category (VI) held 8%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The Full Series From 2016 to 2025
Fiscal year 2023 had 15 people, and fiscal year 2025 had 8, with a median prison term of 2.5 months. Counts this small make year-to-year medians unstable. The table shows the count, the median prison term, and the guilty plea share for each year.
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.
| 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 |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2D1.8 (13), 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 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.