United States District Court, N.D. Texas, Fort Worth Division
OPINION AND ORDER
REED
O'CONNOR, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Before
the Court is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant
to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 filed by Petitioner, Ruby
Handler-Jacobs (“Handler-Jacobs”), a federal
prisoner confined in the Federal Medical Center in Fort
Worth, Texas (FMC-Carswell), against Jody R. Upton, Warden of
FMC-Carswell, Respondent. (ECF No. 1.) After considering the
pleading and relief sought by Petitioner, the Court has
concluded that the petition should be summarily dismissed.
I.
BACKGROUND
Petitioner
Handler-Jacobs is serving a 24-month term of imprisonment for
her 2018 conviction in the United States District Court for
the Southern District of New York for conspiracy to
impersonate an officer or employee of the United States in
violation of 18 U.S.C. 371. Pet. 3, ECF No. 1; J., United
States v. Handler-Jacobs, No. 16-cr-800-3 (PGG), ECF No.
236.[2]
In this § 2241 petition, she claims that she is being
held past the date of release under the “First Step Act
Elderly 60 Plus Pilot Program.” She recites the
following:
[T]his program would have released me to Home Confinement on
April 25, 2019 if not for the mis-management of my case
handled at FMC-Carswell. I applied for release in March of
2019 for this program, I am attaching documents that [I] used
to file. I am also attaching the documents showing that the
unit manager applied for 10% Home Confinement. I have been
held 7 weeks past the time that I should have been released,
I am seeking damages for the days past the time that I should
have been released.
Pet. 5,
ECF No. 1. Handler-Jacobs requests the following relief:
I am seeking damages for the time I am spending incarcerated
when I could have been released under this Elderly 60 plus
program. I am seeking damages in the amount of 10, 000 for
every week that I am still incarcerated past April 25, 2019.
Id. at 7.
II.
DISCUSSION
Title
28, United State Code, section 2243 authorizes a district
court to summarily dismiss a frivolous habeas-corpus petition
prior to any answer or other pleading by the
government.[3]Therefore, no service has issued upon
Respondent.
Handler-Jacobs's
seeks only monetary damages in her petition. A claim for
monetary damages, however, is not cognizable on habeas
review. Instead, an inmate seeking monetary damages for
perceived violations of her constitutional rights must file
an action under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents,
403 U.S. 388 (1971), on the appropriate civil complaint form
against the responsible officials. Habeas relief is not
available to review questions unrelated to the fact or
duration of one's incarceration that would result in an
earlier release. Preiser v. Rodruguez, 411 U.S. 475,
484 (1973).
III.
CONCLUSION and ORDER
For the
reasons discussed herein, Handler-Jacobs's § 2241
petition seeking only monetary damages is
DISMISSED for lack of
jurisdiction.[4]
SO
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