Lee v. Bradley (Incident No. 3246747)

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 3, 2021
Docket1:21-cv-01504
StatusUnknown

This text of Lee v. Bradley (Incident No. 3246747) (Lee v. Bradley (Incident No. 3246747)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lee v. Bradley (Incident No. 3246747), (M.D. Pa. 2021).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

MICHAEL A. LEE, : Petitioner : : No. 1:21-cv-1504 v. : : (Judge Rambo) E. BRADLEY, : Respondent :

MEMORANDUM

On August 31, 2021, pro se Petitioner Michael A. Lee (“Petitioner”), who is currently incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary Canaan (“USP Canaan”) in Waymart, Pennsylvania, initiated the above-captioned action by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, challenging an incident report he received while incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution Gilmer (“FCI Gilmer”) in Glenville, West Virginia. (Doc. No. 1.) Petitioner paid the requisite filing fee on September 21, 2021. (Doc. No. 6.) In an Order entered September 22, 2021, the Court directed Respondent to show cause why Petitioner should not receive the relief he seeks. (Doc. No. 7.) Respondent filed his response on October 12, 2021. (Doc. No. 9.) Petitioner filed his traverse (Doc. No. 10) and a motion to subpoena Unit Manager Clem to testify (Doc. No. 11) on October 29, 2021. Petitioner’s § 2241 petition is, therefore, ripe for disposition. I. BACKGROUND On March 20, 2022, the United States District Court for the Eastern District

of North Carolina sentenced Petitioner to serve 360 months’ incarceration for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and a consecutive term of sixty (60) months’ for carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking offense. (Doc. No. 9-1 at 119-20.)

Subsequently, the court reduced Petitioner’s sentence on the conspiracy conviction to 202 months’ incarceration. (Id. at 119.) Petitioner, therefore, is serving an aggregate sentence of 262 months’ incarceration. His anticipated release date, with good conduct time (“GCT”) factored in, is April 5, 2022. (Id. at 118.)

A. Facts Regarding Incident Report #3246747 On April 17, 2019, Officer Gainer approached Petitioner’s cell after noticing that he had covered the camera located inside his cell. (Id. at 123.) The officer also

noted that the cell window was covered. (Id.) Officer Gainer ordered Petitioner to uncover his window and submit to hand restraints; Petitioner refused. (Id.) Petitioner stated, “Do what you gotta do, I’m a do what I gotta do. I’m a f*** one of ya all up if you come in here.” (Id.) Officer Gainer issued Incident Report

#3246747, charging Petitioner with a violation of Code 307, refusing an order, and 203, threatening another with bodily harm or any other offense. (Id.) Petitioner received a copy of the Incident Report that same day. (Id.) The investigating officer,

2 Lieutenant Bishoff, advised Petitioner of his rights and noted that Petitioner stated, “No comment.” (Id. at 124.)

The Incident Report was forwarded to the Unit Discipline Committee (“UDC”) for further action. (Id.) The UDC hearing was initially conducted on April 20, 2019,1 and the Incident Report was referred to the DHO. (Id. at 126.) However,

the DHO remanded the Incident Report for further investigation because Lieutenant Bishoff had been involved in the incident. (Id. at 126, 134.) A new Incident Report, investigated by Lieutenant Boatwright, was issued to Petitioner on April 23, 2019. (Id. at 125.) Lieutenant Boatwright advised Petitioner of his rights, and Petitioner

provided the following statement: “This incident never happened, I never even spoke to Officer Gainer. The two staff I spoke to were Lt. Bishoff and Officer Frazier, they came to my door and video should prove this. Officer Gainer never stopped at

my door or had a conversation with me, Officer Gainer never opened the food slot to even give me the opportunity to submit to restraints.” (Id.) Because of the delay caused by reissuing the Incident Report, staff received approval from the Warden to conduct the UDC hearing outside of the normal time limitations. (Id. at 126.) The

UDC hearing was held on April 26, 2019. (Id. at 127.) Petitioner was advised of his rights at that time. (Id. at 128.) He requested that R. Clem serve as his staff

1 It is unclear whether Petitioner appeared at this initial UDC hearing. The record contains a document waiving his right to appeal, but it was not signed by Petitioner. (Doc. No. 9-1 at 130.) 3 representative and that inmate Johnnie Banks appear as a witness on his behalf. (Id. at 129.)

Petitioner appeared before the DHO on May 10, 2019. (Id. at 132.) The DHO confirmed that Petitioner understood his rights. (Id.) Unit Manager Clem appeared and noted that Petitioner had requested that he review the video footage, which he

did. (Id.) Unit Manager Clem stated that the video showed Petitioner covering the window of the cell door, the officers standing in front of the cell door, and Petitioner finally uncovering his window. (Id.) Dr. Wagner was also on the scene for “confrontation avoidance.” (Id.) Petitioner provided the following statement, “I

never made this statement to Officer Gainer. Even if I did make the statement how could he hear me. The officers always say how loud it is down there and they have to put [their] ear to the door anytime we try to talk to them.” (Id.) Inmate Banks

appeared and stated, “I was in the cell next to Lee, I don’t remember him saying anything to Gainer.” (Id. at 133.) Petitioner also had provided a written statement to the UDC, which the DHO asked that he read aloud because two (2) of the pages were illegible. (Id. at 134.)

The DHO found Petitioner guilty of Code 299, disruptive conduct most like a violation of Code 203, threatening another person. (Id. at 133-34.) In doing so, the DHO considered the Incident Report, statements made by Petitioner and his witness,

4 photographs, injury assessments, Petitioner’s clinical encounter report, and staff memoranda. (Id. at 133.) The DHO sanctioned Petitioner with disallowance of

twenty-seven (27) days’ GCT, thirty (30) days of disciplinary segregation, and six (6) months’ loss of commissary and phone privileges. (Id. at 135.) Petitioner received a copy of the DHO report on June 20, 2019. (Id. at 136.) He subsequently

exhausted his administrative remedies with respect to this Incident Report. (Id. at 109.) B. Summary of Petitioner’s § 2241 Petition Petitioner then filed the instant § 2241 petition. (Doc. No. 1.) In his petition,

Petitioner argues that his due process rights were violated because: (1) the DHO intentionally misrepresented the statement made by his staff representative; (2) he did not have a UDC hearing twenty-four (24) hours before the DHO hearing; (3) the

charging document is not a true Incident Report and a second incident report was never issued after it was remanded; (4) Lieutenant Bishoff added an offense to the Incident Report; (5) the Incident Report contains an incorrect time for when the offense occurred; and (6) the DHO changed the offense code without any notice to

Petitioner. (Id. at 6-8.) As relief, Petitioner requests that the BOP expunge the Incident Report and restore his GCT. (Id. at 7.)

5 II. DISCUSSION Liberty interests protected by the Fifth Amendment may arise either from the

Due Process Clause itself or from statutory law. Torres v. Fauver, 292 F.3d 141 (3d Cir. 2002). It is well settled that “prison disciplinary proceedings are not part of a criminal prosecution and the full panoply of rights due a defendant in such

proceedings does not apply.” Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 556 (1974). Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has held that that there can be a liberty interest at stake in disciplinary proceedings in which an inmate loses good conduct time. Id. at 557.

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Bluebook (online)
Lee v. Bradley (Incident No. 3246747), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-bradley-incident-no-3246747-pamd-2021.