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, Kevin Vanover,
a federal prisoner who was confined at the FMC- Fort Worth,
against Eric Wilson, warden of FMC-Fort Worth,
Respondent.[1] After considering the pleadings and relief
sought by Petitioner, the Court has concluded that the
petition should be dismissed as moot, in part, and denied, in
part.
I.
BACKGROUND
Petitioner
is serving a total term of 70 months' imprisonment for
his convictions in the Western district of North Carolina for
possession with intent to manufacture marijuana, aiding and
abetting; possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; and
possession of an unregistered firearm. Resp't's App.
2, ECF No. 9. In this petition, filed in February 2019,
Petitioner complains that, as required by the Bureau of
Prisons's (BOP) policies and regulations, he was never
given the written report of the disciplinary hearing officer
(DHO) with respect to a 2016 disciplinary proceeding
conducted at FCI-Edgefield in South Carolina and the
resultant sanctions, including the loss of 27 days of accrued
good conduct time, and the report is not in his inmate
central file. Pet. 3-5, doc. 1.
He
seeks the following relief:
• removal of all references to the disciplinary incident
from his prison record in SENTRY;
• reinstatement of his 27 days of lost good conduct
time;
• his “security and classification score”
re-scored without the incident report; and
• any other relief that the Court deems necessary.
Id. at 7.
II.
DISCUSSION
Petitioner
was charged in Incident Report No. 3035806 with assaulting
another inmate without serious injury, a code 224 violation.
Resp't's App. 1, ECF No. 9. Following a disciplinary
hearing in September 2017, the DHO found Petitioner had
committed the prohibited act. Id. His sanctions
included disallowance of 27 days of good conduct time.
Id. Respondent has provided the declaration of DHO
Willie Davis confirming that on April 10, 2019, he reexamined
the incident, found that there was insufficient evidence to
support the previous finding, restored Petitioner's good
conduct time, and expunged the incident report from
Petitioner's prison record. Id. Respondent
asserts that the petition has, thus, been rendered moot as to
Petitioner's request for removal of the disciplinary
incident from his prison record in SENTRY and reinstatement
of his 27 days of lost good conduct time. Resp't's
Resp. 1-3, ECF No. 8. The Court agrees. Because there is no
longer any relief for the Court to award in these respects,
the petition is rendered moot and will be dismissed.
As to
Petitioner's request for re-scoring of his
“security and classification score, ” Respondent
asserts that the claim is not cognizable under § 2241 or
should be dismissed because Petitioner has not exhausted his
administrative remedies with the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
Id. at 3-5. In his declaration, Willie Davis
confirms that Petitioner has not filed any administrative
remedies related to his custody classification or security
level. Resp't's App. 3, ECF No. 9. See Fuller v.
Rich, 11 F.3d 61, 62 (5th Cir. 1994) (holding that a
§ 2241 petitioner must exhaust his administrative
remedies); United States v. Cleto, 956 F.2d 83, 84
(5th Cir. 1992) (holding that exhaustion of administrative
remedies is a prerequisite to § 2241 relief). Petitioner
has since been transferred to FCI-Manchester, a medium
security institution with an adjacent minimum security camp.
To the extent his security and classification level has not
already been updated, the claim is unexhausted and Petitioner
has not establish his failure to exhaust his administrative
remedies should be excused. Nevertheless, no constitutional
issue is raised. Decisions regarding classification and
designation of inmates to a particular prison facility are
vested within the BOP. See 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b).
A federal prisoner has no protected liberty interest in his
classification level or his assigned facility. Harper v.
Showers, 174 F.3d 716, 719 (5th Cir. 1999). Thus, in
this respect, the petition will be denied.
III.
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