Cite as: 531 U. S. 230 (2001)
Syllabus
Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837, 843-845, 866, so long as the interpretation is a permissible construction of the statute. The BOP's decision to deny early release to drug traffickers who carry firearms, the court concluded, represents a manifestly permissible statutory construction and an appropriate exercise of discretion.
Held: The regulation at issue is a permissible exercise of the BOP's discretion under § 3621(e)(2)(B). Pp. 238-245.
(a) Section 3621(e)(2)(B) gives the BOP discretion to grant or deny a sentence reduction, but leaves open the manner in which the discretion is to be exercised. If an inmate meets the two statutory prerequisites for sentence reduction—conviction of a nonviolent offense and successful completion of drug treatment—then § 3621(e)(2)(B) instructs that the BOP "may," not that it must, grant early release. The statute's use of the permissive "may" contrasts with Congress' use of a mandatory "shall" elsewhere in § 3621 to impose discretionless obligations, e. g., the obligation to provide drug treatment when funds are available, see § 3621(e)(1). Sensibly read, § 3621(e)(2)(B)'s sentence reduction discretion parallels the grant of discretion in § 3621(e)(2)(A) to retain a prisoner who successfully completes drug treatment "under such [custodial] conditions as the [BOP] deems appropriate." The constraints Lopez urges—requiring the BOP to make individualized determinations based only on postconviction conduct—are nowhere to be found in § 3621(e)(2)(B). Beyond instructing that the BOP has discretion to reduce the period of imprisonment for a nonviolent offender who successfully completes drug treatment, Congress has not identified any further circumstance in which the BOP either must grant the reduction, or is forbidden to do so. In this familiar situation, where Congress has enacted a law that does not answer the precise question at issue, all this Court must decide is whether the BOP, the agency empowered to administer the early release program, has filled the statutory gap in a way that is reasonable in light of the Legislature's revealed design. E. g., NationsBank of N. C., N. A. v. Variable Annuity Life Ins. Co., 513 U. S. 251, 257. Pp. 238-242. (b) The BOP may categorically exclude prisoners from early release eligibility based on their preconviction conduct. The Court rejects Lopez's argument that the BOP may take into account only postconviction conduct. The BOP need not blind itself to preconviction conduct that the agency reasonably views as jeopardizing life and limb. By denying eligibility to violent offenders, the statute manifests congressional concern for preconviction behavior—and for the very conduct leading to conviction. The BOP may reasonably attend to these factors as well. The statute's restriction of early release eligibility to nonviolent offend-
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