Cornelius Martin, II v. Warden Michael Zenk

244 F. App'x 974
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 9, 2007
Docket07-10439
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 244 F. App'x 974 (Cornelius Martin, II v. Warden Michael Zenk) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cornelius Martin, II v. Warden Michael Zenk, 244 F. App'x 974 (11th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Cornelius Martin, II, a federal prisoner proceeding pro se, appeals the district court’s dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 for failure to exhaust all available administrative remedies. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The BOP’s Grievance and Administrative Remedy Process

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) makes available to all inmates a process for filing grievances and seeking review of any resolution of those grievances. The inmate must first submit a formal administrative remedy request on the appropriate form (BP-9) within 20 days of the event forming the basis of the request. 28 C.F.R. § 542.14(a). After the Warden has responded to the inmate’s request, the inmate may submit an appeal on the appropriate form (BP-10) to the Regional Director for the BOP geographic region in which the inmate is incarcerated. Id. § 542.15(a). This appeal must be filed within 20 days after the date the Warden signed the response to the inmate's administrative request. Id. Once the Regional Director has responded, the inmate may submit an appeal on the appropriate form (BP-11) to the BOP’s General Counsel within 30 days of the date the Regional *976 Director signed the response. Id. “Appeal to the General Counsel is the final administrative appeal.” Id.

In responding to an inmate’s administrative request, the BOP must adhere to the following time limits:

Once [a Request is] filed, response shall be made by the Warden or CCM within 20 calendar days; by the Regional Director within 30 calendar days; and by the General Counsel within 40 calendar days----Staff shall respond in writing to all filed Requests or Appeals. If the inmate does not receive a response within the time allotted for reply, including extension, the inmate may consider the absence of a response to be a denial at that level.

Id. § 542.18 (emphasis added).

B. Facts Underlying Martin’s Habeas Petition

On June 22, 2006, Martin, who is currently serving a 37-month sentence for wire fraud, filed a pro se petition for habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 seeking relief from the BOP’s denial of his request to be transferred to a Residential Drug Abuse Program (“RDAP”).

According to Martin, he submitted an informal administrative remedy request using a BP-8 form regarding his entry into the RDAP to “Counselor Fairley” on May 24, 2006, but Fairley advised him that there was no remedy at the “informal level.” Martin claims that after Fairley provided him with a BP-9, he personally delivered both a BP-8 (informal request) and a completed BP-9 (formal request) to Fairley’s office on May 25, 2006. Martin attached a copy of a BP-9, dated May 24, 2006, to his § 2241 habeas petition as “Exhibit L.”

On June 15, 2006, Martin received a response to his BP-8 request from BOP officials, advising Martin to submit his original BP-8 request to the Unit Manager when resolution is accepted or to forward the BP-8 request with a BP-9 if informal resolution cannot be reached. The response also indicated that a BP-9 form was provided to Martin on June 15th. Martin submitted a BP-9 request on June 15, 2006, which the BOP received on June 20th.

In addition to the May BP-9 request, Martin also attached a copy of a BP-10 request to his habeas petition as “Exhibit P.” In this BP-10, dated June 19th, Martin stated that:

On May 24, 2006, I submitted a BP-9 to Counselor Fairley at DCU Atlanta, for re-consideration of my disqualification to the RDAP. It was returned to me on June 15, 2006 unanswered. Per the ARP § 542 I am to consider such time passage to be a denial. I therefore seek the following relief.

REQUESTED RELIEF

I request reconsideration for qualification for the RDAP____

As stated above, on June 22, 2006, Martin filed a petition for habeas corpus pursuant to § 2241 challenging the BOP’s failure to place him in a RDAP based on his status as a disabled inmate. On June 30th, the Warden denied Martin’s June 15th BP-9.

On July 8th, Martin submitted a BP-10 appealing the Warden’s denial of his June 15th BP-9 request. On July 13th, the Regional Remedy Coordinator sent Martin a rejection notice advising Martin that his BP-10 had been received, but that he had *977 failed to provide a copy of his BP-9 or the Warden’s response to that BP-9. The regional rejection notice also advised Martin that he could resubmit his BP-10 appeal with the proper forms within 10 days.

Rather than resubmit the rejected BP-10, Martin submitted a BP-11 appeal. On July 28th, the Central Office Administrative Remedy Coordinator issued a rejection notice advising Martin that his BP-11 had been received, but that he had failed to provide copy of his BP-10 or the official response to that BP-10. This rejection notice also advised Martin that he could resubmit his BP-11 in the proper form within 15 days.

The Government filed a motion to dismiss Martin’s habeas petition on the ground that he failed to exhaust all available administrative remedies provided by the BOP before filing his petition. The magistrate judge entered a Report and Recommendation, concluding that Martin failed to exhaust all available administrative remedies and that he failed to show grounds to excuse him from the exhaustion requirement. The magistrate judge thus recommended that the district court dismiss Martin’s petition without prejudice for failure to exhaust. In a written order, the district court adopted the magistrate’s Report and Recommendation. The court also held that even had Martin exhausted all administrative remedies, the petition was denied on the merits because he failed to show that successful completion of the RDAP would result in a decrease of his sentence. Martin now appeals.

II. DISCUSSION

When reviewing the district court’s denial of a habeas petition, we review questions of law de novo, mixed questions of law and fact de novo, and findings of fact for clear error. LeCroy v. Sec’y, Fla. Dep’t of Corr., 421 F.3d 1237, 1259 (11th Cir.2005).

Prisoners seeking habeas relief pursuant to § 2241 are subject to administrative exhaustion requirements. Skinner v. Wiley, 355 F.3d 1293, 1295 (11th Cir.) (“[A] prisoner is ... required to exhaust his administrative remedies in all habeas cases.”), cert. denied,

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244 F. App'x 974, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cornelius-martin-ii-v-warden-michael-zenk-ca11-2007.