Source: http://ca.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20121002_0013463.ECA.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2017-02-21 07:35:07
Document Index: 525570142

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2241', '§ 636', '§ 2241', '§ 28', '§ 2241', '§ 2241', '§ 2241', '§ 2241', '§ 2241', '§ 2241']

FENTON MICHAEL TORREZ,PETITIONER,v.SHERIFF MARGARET MIMS, ET AL. RESPONDENT.
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO DISMISS THE PETITION WITHOUT
PREJUDICE (DOC. 1) AND TO DIRECT THE CLERK TO CLOSE THE ACTION
Petitioner is a federal prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis with a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The matter has been referred to the Magistrate Judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) and Local Rules 302 and 304. Pending before the Court is the petition, which was filed on June 25, 2012.
Petitioner alleges that he is an inmate of the Fresno County Jail serving a sentence imposed by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. It also appears that he is in a temporary holding status for inmates who are going to federal court. (Pet. 2-3.) Petitioner complains of various conditions of confinement he is experiencing in custody, including staff's failure to process Petitioner's grievances concerning jail staff's alleged failures to protect him from other inmates, which he alleges violates his right to due process of law and his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. (Pet. 2-3, 6-14.) Petitioner further alleges that correctional officers are exposing him to danger as retaliation for his grievances. (Id. at 4.)
Relief by way of a writ of habeas corpus extends to a person in custody under the authority of the United States if the petitioner can show that he is "in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(1) & (3). A habeas corpus action is the proper mechanism for a prisoner to challenge the fact or duration of his confinement. Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 485 (1973); Tucker v. Carlson, 925 F.2d 330, 332 (9th Cir. 1990) (holding in a Bivens *fn1 action that a claim that time spent serving a state sentence should have been credited against a federal sentence concerned the fact or duration of confinement and thus should have been construed as a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to § 28 U.S.C. § 2241, but that to the extent that the complaint sought damages for civil rights violations, it should be construed as a Bivens action); Crawford v. Bell, 599 F.2d 890, 891--892 (9th Cir. 1979) (upholding dismissal of a petition challenging conditions of confinement and noting that the writ of habeas corpus has traditionally been limited to attacks upon the legality or duration of confinement); see, Greenhill v. Lappin, 376 Fed. Appx. 757, 757-58 (9th Cir. 2010) (holding that the appropriate remedy for a federal prisoner's claim that relates to the conditions of his confinement is a civil rights action under Bivens; but see, Bostic v. Carlson, 884 F.2d 1267, 1269 (9th Cir. 1989) (holding that habeas corpus is available pursuant to § 2241 for claims concerning denial of good time credits or subjection to greater restrictions on his liberty, such as disciplinary segregation, without due process of law); Cardenas v. Adler, 2010 WL 2180378 (No.1:09-cv-00831-AWI-JLT-HC, May 28, 2010) (holding that a petitioner's challenge to the constitutionality of the sanction of disciplinary segregation and his claim that the disciplinary proceedings were the product of retaliation by prison staff were cognizable in a habeas proceeding pursuant to § 2241).
Claims concerning various prison conditions that have been brought pursuant to § 2241 have been dismissed in this district for lack of subject matter jurisdiction with indications that an action pursuant to Bivens is appropriate. See, e.g., Dyson v. Rios, 2010 WL 3516358, *3 (No. 1:10-cv-00382-DLB (HC), E.D.Cal. Sept. 2, 2010) (a claim challenging placement in a special management housing unit in connection with a disciplinary violation); Burnette v. Smith, 2009 WL 667199 at *1 (No. 08-2178- DAD-P, E.D.Cal. Mar. 13, 2009) (a petition seeking a transfer and prevention of retaliation by prison staff); Evans v. U.S. Penitentiary, 2007 WL 4212339 at *1 (No. 1:07-cv-1611-OWW-GSA-HC, E.D.Cal. Nov. 27, 2007) (claims brought pursuant to § 2241 regarding a transfer and inadequate medical care).
Here, Petitioner's claims concern conditions of confinement that do involve the legality or duration of his confinement. As these claims relate solely to the conditions of his confinement, it is concluded that the Court lacks habeas corpus jurisdiction over the claims pursuant to § 2241.