Winston Churchill Henry v. Paul J. Madigan, Warden, United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz, California

Henry appeals from a decision in a habeas corpus proceeding in which the District Court for the Northern District of California held that the appellee Warden was entitled to imprison Henry on a sentence rendered in May, 1951, by the District Court for the District of Hawaii for conspiracy to import narcotics, the sentence being first stated “to run consecutively with any sentences [plural] that are pending against you”, later stated in the entered judgment as “a period of two years to run consecutively with any sentences [plural] now serving.”

At the time of the above sentence Henry had begun to serve two prior sentences of four and two years “to run consecutively” imposed upon him by the same court on November 26, 1950, for narcotics violations. When the instant application for the writ was filed Henry had served the consecutive time of both the prior sentences, assuming the two first sentences are consecutive. The pri- or sentences also imposed fines which, as well as that in the instant case, have been paid.

It is apparent that the court had jurisdiction to determine the right to imprison Henry for these federal offenses in a habeas corpus proceeding and that the question was…