Hughes v. Warden (Current) FCI Jesup, Jesup Ga

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Georgia
DecidedSeptember 8, 2025
Docket2:25-cv-00017
StatusUnknown

This text of Hughes v. Warden (Current) FCI Jesup, Jesup Ga (Hughes v. Warden (Current) FCI Jesup, Jesup Ga) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hughes v. Warden (Current) FCI Jesup, Jesup Ga, (S.D. Ga. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA BRUNSWICK DIVISION

DAWON HUGHES,

Petitioner, CIVIL ACTION NO.: 2:25-cv-17

v.

WARDEN, FCI JESUP-CAMP,

Respondent.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION Petitioner Dawon Hughes (“Hughes”), who is currently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Jesup, Georgia, filed a 28 U.S.C. § 2241 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. Doc. 1. Respondent filed a Motion to Dismiss, and Hughes filed a Response. Docs. 6, 8. For the following reasons, I RECOMMEND the Court GRANT Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss, DISMISS without prejudice Hughes’s Petition based on his failure to exhaust available remedies, DIRECT the Clerk of Court to CLOSE this case and enter the appropriate judgment of dismissal, and DENY Hughes in forma pauperis status on appeal. BACKGROUND Hughes was convicted in the District Court for the District of Nebraska of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and was sentenced to 139 months in prison. Doc. 6-1 at 7. Hughes has a statutory release date of November 14, 2027, via good conduct release, and a projected release date of November 14, 2026, via First Step Act (“FSA”) release. Id. Hughes also has a home detention or residential reentry center eligibility date of May 14, 2026. Id. In his Petition, Hughes asserts that the Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) has not properly credited his sentence under the FSA, resulting in his continued custody. Doc. 1 at 4. Hughes also asserts that his release date under the Second Chance Act was July 5, 2024. Id. at 12. Hughes asks the Court to apply his earned FSA credits and set him for placement in a residential re-entry program and to have the BOP re-apply his Second Chance Act credits.1 Id. at 14–15.

Respondent asks this Court to dismiss Hughes’s Petition because Hughes failed to exhaust his administrative remedies regarding the claims he raises in this Petition. Doc. 6 at 3–6. In addition, Respondent contends that the Court lacks jurisdiction under the Administrative Procedures Act to review Hughes’s FSA claim and Hughes cannot challenge his placement via § 2241. Id. at 6–12. DISCUSSION I. Hughes Did Not Exhaust His Available Administrative Remedies Before Filing His Petition Respondent asserts that Hughes states that using the administrative remedies process would be futile and, thus, he should be excused from this requirement. Id. at 5 (citing Doc. 1 at 12). Respondent argues that a futility exception does not apply. Because Hughes has not exhausted his administrative remedies, Respondent asserts Hughes’s Petition should be dismissed. Id. at 6. Hughes recognizes that he was required to exhaust all administrative remedies before filing suit in federal court. Doc. 1 at 12. However, Hughes states exhaustion would be futile

because his presumptive release date has passed, and he would not have access to the procedure

1 Respondent submitted documents in support of his Motion to Dismiss indicate Hughes was due to be transferred to a residential re-entry program on April 16, 2025. Doc. 6-1 at 3, 15, 18. If that is correct and Hughes has been transferred, his Petition is likely moot, as he has now received the relief he requested. This would provide another basis for dismissal. once he is released. Id.; Doc. 8 at 3. Hughes also states he began the remedies process but “will not be able to complete [it].” Doc. 1 at 12. The Court addresses Respondent’s assertion that Hughes did not exhaust his administrative remedies prior to filing his Petition and Hughes’s assertion that exhaustion would

be futile. A. Generally, a Petitioner Must Fully Exhaust All Available Administrative Remedies Before Filing a § 2241 Petition The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held a § 2241 petitioner’s failure to exhaust administrative remedies is not a jurisdictional defect. Santiago-Lugo v. Warden, 785 F.3d 467, 474 (11th Cir. 2015); see also Fleming v. Warden of FCI Tallahassee, 631 F. App’x 840, 842 (11th Cir. 2015) (“[Section] 2241’s exhaustion requirement was judicially imposed, not congressionally mandated, and . . . nothing in the statute itself support[s] the conclusion that the requirement [is] jurisdictional.”). Nevertheless, the Eleventh Circuit has noted “the exhaustion requirement [is] still a requirement and that courts cannot ‘disregard a failure to exhaust . . . .’” Fleming, 631 F. App’x at 842 (citing Santiago-Lugo v. Warden, 785 F.3d 467, 475 (11th Cir. 2015)). Exhaustion of administrative remedies must occur first in the agency setting to allow “the agency [to] develop the necessary factual background upon which decisions should be based” and to give “the agency a chance to discover and correct its own errors.” Green v. Sec’y for Dep’t of Corr., 212 F. App’x 869, 871 (11th Cir. 2006) (quoting Alexander v. Hawk, 159 F.3d

1321, 1327 (11th Cir. 1998) (first alteration in original)). Furthermore, requiring exhaustion in the prison setting “eliminate[s] unwarranted federal-court interference with the administration of prisons” and allows “corrections officials time and opportunity to address complaints internally before allowing the initiation of a federal case.” Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 93 (2006).2 The United States Supreme Court has noted exhaustion must be “proper.” Id. at 92. “Proper exhaustion demands compliance with an agency’s deadlines and other critical procedural

rules because no adjudicative system can function effectively without imposing some orderly structure on the course of its proceedings.” Id. at 90–91. In other words, an institution’s requirements define what is considered exhaustion. Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 218 (2007). The Eleventh Circuit has explained—though only in an unpublished opinion—that a § 2241 petitioner need only exhaust “available” administrative remedies. Blevins v. FCI Hazelton Warden, 819 F. App’x 853, 856 (11th Cir. 2020) (citing Ross v. Blake, 578 U.S. 632 (2016)). As a result, a petitioner need not exhaust administrative remedies: (1) where despite what regulations or guidance materials may promise, the administrative process operates as a simple dead end––with officers unable or consistently unwilling to provide any relief to aggrieved inmates, (2) where the administrative process is “so opaque that it becomes, practically speaking, incapable of use” because “no ordinary prisoner can discern or navigate it, and (3) where prison administrators thwart inmates from taking advantage of a grievance process through machination, misrepresentation, or intimidation. Id. (cleaned up); see also Parra-Orona v. Jenkins, No. 1:23-CV-2434, 2024 WL 6083897, at *2 (N.D. Ga. Jan. 16, 2024) (citing Blevins and evaluating the unavailability of administrative remedies in the § 2241 context), adopted by, 2024 WL 6083898 (N.D. Ga. Mar. 26, 2024); Ridling v. Yeager, No. 1:24-CV-01785, 2025 WL 1892707, at *3 (N.D. Ala. June 13, 2025) (same), adopted by, 2025 WL 1885636 (N.D. Ala. July 8, 2025).

2 Although Woodford was a civil rights suit rather than a habeas petition, the Court “noted that the requirement of exhaustion is imposed by administrative law in order to ensure that the agency addresses the issues on the merits.” Fulgengio v. Wells, CV309-26, 2009 WL 3201800, at *4 (S.D. Ga. Oct.

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Hughes v. Warden (Current) FCI Jesup, Jesup Ga, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hughes-v-warden-current-fci-jesup-jesup-ga-gasd-2025.