Source: http://ca.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20120321_0003890.ECA.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2016-10-21 15:23:22
Document Index: 475339284

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 1915', '§ 636', '§ 1915', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983']

| Francois P. Givens v. Governor of the State of California et al
FRANCOIS P. GIVENS, PLAINTIFF,v.GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA ET AL.,DEFENDANTS.
Plaintiff is a parolee at-large proceeding pro se. Plaintiff seeks relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and has filed an application to proceed in forma pauperis under 28 U.S.C. § 1915. This proceeding was referred to the undersigned magistrate judge in accordance with Local Rule 302 and 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1).
The court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the plaintiff has raised claims that are legally "frivolous or malicious," that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(I)-(iii).
In the present case, plaintiff has identified the Governor of the State of California, Matthew Cate, and various parole administrative officials as the defendants. In his complaint, plaintiff alleges that he was on parole when the defendants informed him that he would have to complete a 52-week domestic violence class before they would release him from parole. Plaintiff contends that he attempted to challenge this special condition of parole through the administrative appeals process, but the defendants failed to properly process his appeal. Plaintiff claims that he eventually completed the 52-week class and satisfied the special condition, but the defendants still have not discharged him from parole. In terms of relief, plaintiff requests declaratory relief and monetary damages. (Compl. at 1-30.)
A civil rights action is the proper mechanism for a prisoner seeking to challenge the conditions of his confinement. Badea v. Cox, 931 F.2d 573, 574 (9th Cir. 1991). In contrast, habeas corpus proceedings are the proper mechanism for a prisoner seeking to challenge the fact or duration of his confinement. Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 484 (1973). Here, plaintiff claims that the defendants improperly imposed on him a special condition of parole, and although he has satisfied the condition, that the defendants have still not discharged him from parole.
Based on plaintiff's allegations, the court cannot allow him to proceed in this civil rights action because he has not alleged that his current parole sentence has been overturned or otherwise invalidated. See Wilkinson v. Dotson, 544 U.S. 74, 81-82 (2005) ("a state prisoner's § 1983 action is barred (absent prior invalidation) - no matter the relief sought (damages or equitable relief), no matter the target of the prisoner's suit (state conduct leading to conviction or internal prison proceedings) - if success in that action would necessarily demonstrate the invalidity of confinement or its duration."); Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994) (a state prisoner may not recover damages under § 1983 for allegedly unconstitutional imprisonment, or for any other harm caused by "actions whose unlawfulness would render the imprisonment invalid," unless he can prove that the conviction or other basis for confinement has been reversed on direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make such a determination, or called into question by a federal court's issuance of a writ of habeas corpus); Cordell v. Tilton, 515 F. Supp. 2d 1114, 1122 & 1131-33 (S.D. Cal. 2007) (§ 1983 claims alleging that parole supervisors imposed and enforced unconstitutional conditions on parolee could only be properly brought in habeas action); Fisher v. Fresno Police Dep't, No. 1:11cv01580 LJO DLB, 2011 WL 4629225 at *3-4 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 3, 2011) (plaintiff's sole federal remedy for challenging parole conditions as arbitrary and capricious is with a petition for writ of habeas corpus); Thornton v. Schwarzenegger, Civil No. 10cv01583, 2011 WL 2173652 at *8-14 (S.D. Cal. June 1, 2011) (§ 1983 challenge to parole conditions falls within the recognized scope of federal habeas corpus relief).
Here, plaintiff's allegations necessarily implicate the validity of his parole status. Accordingly, a writ of habeas corpus is the sole remedy by which plaintiff may attack the conditions of his parole in federal court. Moreover, plaintiff may pursue that remedy only after he has exhausted all of his constitutional claims by fairly presenting them to the highest state court.
Also pending before the court is plaintiff's motion for leave to use the court's electronic filing system, CM-ECF. See Local Rule 133(b). The court previously instructed plaintiff that before the court would rule on his motion, he had to file a declaration signed under penalty of perjury stating that he has investigated this court's electronic filing requirements, has all necessary hardware and software, and will comply with all requirements concerning electronic filing in this court. Plaintiff has since filed a declaration stating as much. Accordingly, the court will grant plaintiff's motion to file electronically and direct him to register to file electronically forthwith.
1. Plaintiff's motion to proceed in forma pauperis (Doc. No. 10) is granted; and
2. Plaintiff's motion for leave to use the court's electronic filing system, CMECF, (Doc. No. 8) is granted.