Geronimo-Zorrilla v. Withers

Filing 2

ORDER: the Court DISMISSES this case without prejudice for lack of standing. The Court will issue a separate final judgment consistent with this Order. The Clerk of Court shall mail this Order and the final judgment to Geronimo-Zorrilla at his address of record. Signed by District Judge Kristi H. Johnson on 3/7/2025 (cwl)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI
NORTHERN DIVISION
BRAYNER GERONIMO-ZORRILLA
V.

PETITIONER
CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:24-CV-723-KHJ-MTP

WARDEN SHANNON D. WITHERS

RESPONDENT
ORDER

Before the Court is pro se Petitioner Brayner Geronimo-Zorrilla’s [1] Petition
for Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Geronimo-Zorrilla is an alien
incarcerated by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and he seeks an injunction preventing
the BOP from possibly lengthening his sentence. See [1] at 1, 10. For the reasons
stated, the Court dismisses this case without prejudice for lack of standing.
Geronimo-Zorrilla alleges that the BOP has awarded him sentencing credits
under the First Step Act. Id. at 2–4. He contends that the BOP has correctly
calculated his sentence. See id. But he claims that “many inmates in different BOP
prisons” are not receiving these credits, even though they “do not have a final order
of removal issued by a federal immigration judge.” Id. at 2. So Geronimo-Zorrilla “is
challenging the pos[s]ibility that the BOP . . . may remove [his] earn[ed] time
credits . . . from [his] sentence . . . .” Id. at 3. He asks the Court “to order the BOP to
keep and not remove [his] . . . credits . . . from [his] computation [of] sentence as [he
has] been classified by the BOP . . . as eligible and has been granted . . . the . . .
credits.” Id. at 10.

Geronimo-Zorrilla does not seek speedier release; instead, he seeks a
protective order against the BOP. “To seek injunctive relief, a plaintiff must show,”
among other things, “that he is under threat of suffering injury in fact that is
concrete and particularized.” Summers v. Earth Island Inst., 555 U.S. 488, 493
(2009) (cleaned up). The threat of injury “must be actual and imminent, not
conjectural or hypothetical.” Id. The “threatened injury must be certainly

impending,” and “allegations of possible future injury are not sufficient.” Clapper v.
Amnesty Int’l USA, 568 U.S. 398, 409 (2013) (cleaned up).
Geronimo-Zorrilla contends that the BOP has correctly calculated his
sentence and awarded him First Step Act credits. [1] at 8. He does not allege that
anyone has threatened to take away these credits. He merely alleges that “many”
inmates at “different” prisons are being wrongfully denied their credits. Id. at 2. The
allegation that unnamed prisoners at other prisons may be losing their First Step
Act credits is insufficient to imply that the threatened injury—loss of GeronimoZorrilla’s credits—is “certainly impending.” Clapper, 568 U.S. at 409 (cleaned up).
On this record, any such injury is too speculative. Because he fails to plausibly
allege an injury in fact, Geronimo-Zorrilla lacks standing to pursue his claim.
For the reasons stated, the Court DISMISSES this case without prejudice for
lack of standing. The Court will issue a separate final judgment consistent with this
Order. The Clerk of Court shall mail this Order and the final judgment to
Geronimo-Zorrilla at his address of record.
SO ORDERED, this 7th day of March, 2025.
2

s/ Kristi H. Johnson
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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