SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-1532-15T2

KAPIL GOEL,

Appellant,

v.

NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF 

CORRECTIONS,

Respondent.

____________________________

Submitted June 7, 2017 – Decided

Before Judges Accurso and Lisa.

On appeal from the New Jersey Department of 

Corrections.

Kapil Goel, appellant pro se.

Christopher S. Porrino, Attorney General, 

attorney for respondent (Lisa A. Puglisi, 

Assistant Attorney General, of counsel; 

Christopher C. Josephson, Deputy Attorney 

General, on the brief).

PER CURIAM

Kapil Goel appeals from a November 4, 2015 final agency 

decision of the Department of Corrections denying his request 

for an international transfer to serve out his sentence in the 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." 

Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the 

parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R.1:36-3.

June 29, 2017
2 A-1532-15T2

United Kingdom pursuant to N.J.S.A. 30:7d-1 and N.J.A.C. 10A:10-

6.1 to -6.9. Because there is no proof that the Commissioner's 

decision was made with malicious intent or on a constitutionally 

impermissible basis, we affirm. See Shimoni v. N.J. Dep't of 

Corr., 412 N.J. Super. 218, 223-24 (App. Div. 2010).

Goel is a State prisoner housed at the Central Reception

and Assignment Facility in West Trenton. He was sentenced in 

2009 to two consecutive six-year terms, each subject to the 

periods of parole ineligibility and supervision required by the 

No Early Release Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2, following his guilty 

plea to two counts of vehicular homicide, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-5, and 

driving under the influence, N.J.S.A. 39:4-50. The 2008 

accident giving rise to his convictions took the lives of his 

two closest friends and roommates, passengers in his car when he 

drove into a telephone pole at over ninety miles per hour after 

a night of drinking. He is scheduled for release in September 

2018, when he will begin serving his three-year parole 

supervision term. He is, however, subject to an Immigration and 

Customs Enforcement order of removal, apparently attendant to

the expiration of his H1-B visa while serving his sentence. 

In September 2014, Goel, a dual citizen of the United 

Kingdom and India, filed an application for an international 

transfer to the U.K. pursuant to N.J.A.C. 10A:10-6.1. Goel 
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noted he met the eligibility criteria of N.J.A.C. 10A:10-6.3,

and proposed his transfer to a U.K. prison would save the State 

the costs of his incarceration, ease overcrowding and allow him 

to "meet [his] family more often and help [him] towards a more 

productive re-integration into the society." Goel explained 

that although he received undergraduate and masters' degrees in 

biomedical engineering at Rutgers and was employed thereafter in 

Branchburg as an assistant scientist in a biotech company, he 

had few friends and no family in New Jersey. His parents, both 

physicians, lived in India but intended to retire to the U.K.1

where they would be able to visit him regularly and assist in 

his reintegration into society upon release.

The DOC processed Goel's application and solicited comment 

from the Attorney General, the Middlesex County Prosecutor and 

the sentencing judge. See N.J.A.C. 10A:10-6.6(a)(5). The 

sentencing judge raised no objection to the transfer, but the 

Prosecutor was strenuously opposed. Although acknowledging that 

Goel had no prior criminal record, the Prosecutor noted Goel's 

blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit at the time of the 

accident, and that he had been convicted of seven moving 

violations in a three-year period between 2004 and 2006. The 

 

1 Goel's mother passed away in 2015 while his application for 

transfer was pending.
4 A-1532-15T2

Prosecutor asserted that one of the victims' families was 

opposed to the transfer and there was no indication that 

transferring Goel would ease overcrowding or custody problems 

related to language or cultural differences. The Attorney 

General likewise opposed the request.

The Commissioner denied Goel's transfer request in 

September 2015, noting that international transfers are rare and 

have been approved only "when there was significant evidence 

that the transfer . . . would serve to meet critical social and 

rehabilitative goals for the offender," absent here. Goel filed 

an administrative appeal, contending the Commissioner should not 

have considered the comments of the Prosecutor and the Attorney 

General because they were received after the thirty-day period 

permitted for comment in the regulation, and that his driving 

record reflected, not recklessness, but having learned to drive 

in India. 

The Commissioner denied the appeal on November 4, 2015. He 

determined, based on the materials provided, including the 

comments of law enforcement and Goel's history, that he was 

"educated and gainfully employed in the United States," that

"there are no social or rehabilitative barriers that would 

warrant [his] transfer to another country" and that "transfer 
5 A-1532-15T2

would not serve to meet critical social or rehabilitative 

goals." 

Goel appeals, contending the DOC failed to follow its own 

regulations and to consider material information presented, 

resulting in the infliction of "atypical and significant 

hardship" on him. We disagree.

Our review of the Commissioner's denial of a prisoner's 

application for international transfer is extremely constrained, 

as the usual standard of review of agency decisions, already 

limited, does not apply. Shimoni, supra, 412 N.J. Super. at 

223-24. Although the Department is required to follow its own 

regulations governing applications for transfer, there is no 

entitlement to a hearing, "and the Commissioner's decision may 

not be overturned unless made with malicious intent or on a 

constitutionally impermissible basis. Id. at 224. 

Applying that standard here provides no basis for reversal 

of the Commissioner's decision. The purpose of the statute 

permitting international transfer of State prisoners is to 

"contribute to the easing of overcrowded conditions in the State 

prisons" and "increase rehabilitation of the person and reduce 

custody problems in the State related to cultural and language 

differences." Senate Health and Welfare Committee, Statement to 

Senate Bill No. 2229, reprinted in N.J.S.A. 30:7D-1. The 
6 A-1532-15T2

Commissioner denied Goel's transfer based on the objections 

received by the Prosecutor, who is statutorily permitted to 

comment, and the failure of the transfer to advance any of the 

statute's goals.2

The Commissioner's expressed reasons for the denial bear no 

hint of malice or constitutional infirmity. Although both the 

Middlesex County Prosecutor and the Attorney General submitted 

their comments beyond the thirty-day period allotted, the delay 

does not appear attributable to the Department, which made 

multiple requests for the information. We certainly cannot find 

the Commissioner erred in considering the comments of law 

enforcement under those circumstances. Cf. King v. N.J. Racing 

Comm'n, 103 N.J. 412, 421 (1986) (discussing the difference 

between agency efficiency and agency responsibility). Goel's 

contention that the Commissioner was likely to have approved his 

 

2 It appears from the record that, although Goel had been 

admitted to graduate school in the U.K. shortly before the 

accident and was preparing to matriculate there, he had not 

lived in the U.K. since he was seven years old. Goel spent the 

bulk of his upbringing in India. His parents, both physicians, 

were still living there at the time Goel applied for transfer to 

the U.K. to serve the remainder of his sentence. Although 

Goel's parents were apparently intending to retire to the U.K. 

in the event of his transfer, the record does not demonstrate 

any existing network of family or friends at the time he made 

his transfer request. The record further demonstrates that Goel 

had adjusted to his incarceration, taking classes and 

participating fully in the opportunities provided for input into 

the administration of the facility.
7 A-1532-15T2

request in the absence of the belatedly-received comments is 

both completely speculative and ignores the Commissioner's 

finding that the transfer failed to advance any of the 

Legislature's goals in enacting the transfer statute.

While it is unfortunate that Goel has been imprisoned so 

far from his family and that his mother has passed during his 

incarceration, those facts are insufficient to reverse the 

Commissioner's decision denying Goel's request for an 

international transfer.

Affirmed.