HARRIS v. COUNTY OF ATLANTIC et al

Filing 2

MEMORANDUM, OPINION and ORDER Clerk shall administratively terminate this matter. ORDERED Clerk shall send Plaintiff a copy of this Order, a blank IFP application for both a civil rights and habeas matter, and a blank form for both a civil rights and habeas matter. Signed by Judge Renee Marie Bumb on 2/19/2015. (nz, )n.m.

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

Shawn L. Harris,
Plaintiff,
v.
County of Atlantic et al,
Defendants.

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Civil Action No. 15cv574(RMB)

MEMORANDUM, OPINION AND ORDER

BUMB, District Judge:
On January 28, 2015, the Clerk received Plaintiff’s filing,
written on two forms:

(1) an Application to Proceed In Forma

Pauperis (IFP application) and (2) a prisoner civil rights
complaint form.

Plaintiff’s filing purported to be a “Petition

for Removal,” a “Writ of Habeas Corpus,” as well as a civil
rights complaint, an admiralty and maritime action, and various
incomprehensible affidavits and other documents. (Doc. No. 1.)
Also attached to the filing is a certified prisoner trust fund
account statement from Atlantic County Jail.

(Doc. No. 1-2.)

It appears that Plaintiff wishes to proceed without
prepaying a filing fee, but his IFP application is not properly
completed, as required under 28 U.S.C. § 1915.

28 U.S.C. § 1915

requires a prisoner who seeks to proceed without prepaying

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filing fees to complete an affidavit of poverty and to submit
his or her certified prison trust fund account statements.
Plaintiff submitted the account statements but did not complete
the affidavit of poverty required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1).
Plaintiff will be given the opportunity to correct this
deficiency by filing a new IFP application.

Plaintiff should

answer each question on the form, to the best of his ability,
and shall not assert any legal claims on the IFP application.
I.

DISCUSSION
The Court must dismiss this case because it is not entirely

clear what Plaintiff is seeking.

If Plaintiff is seeking to

bring more than one type of case, for example, a Petition for a
Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, seeking release
from pretrial detention, and a Civil Rights Complaint under 42
U.S.C. § 1983, seeking money damages, he must do so in separate
cases.

If Plaintiff seeks to proceed without prepaying the

filing fees, each case should be accompanied by the proper IFP
application.
Plaintiff’s filing indicates that he is detained in
Atlantic County Jail, after being arrested on October 14, 2014.
(Compl. at 6.)

It appears that Plaintiff seeks to be released

and to be paid money damages for the time he spent in jail.
(Id. at 7.)

A prisoner, however, cannot seek release by

bringing a civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
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Release from state pretrial detention is only available through
a habeas proceeding.

Wallace v. Fegan, 455 F. App’x. 137 (3d

Cir. 2011).
If Plaintiff is seeking money damages based on his
allegedly unconstitutional arrest, he will be allowed to renew
this case by correcting the deficiencies in his filings.

When a

prisoner, including a pretrial detainee, files a civil rights
complaint without paying the entire filing fee, he must still
pay the fee in installments when he is granted IFP status.
McGeachy v. Aviles, No. CIV. 10–3562 JLL, 2011 WL 1885938, at *1
(D.N.J. May 18, 2011).

The installment payments will be

collected even if the complaint is dismissed upon summary review
by the Court.

Id. (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)).

A

prisoner’s civil rights complaint will be dismissed, without
first serving the defendants and ordering an answer, if a claim
is frivolous or malicious, the complaint fails to state a claim
upon which relief may be granted, or seeks monetary relief from
a defendant who is immune from such relief.

Id.

If Plaintiff chooses to refile a civil rights complaint, he
should take heed of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(d), which
provides, “[e]ach allegation must be simple, concise, and
direct.”

It would be helpful for Plaintiff to number each

sentence of the complaint, with each sentence stating a fact
that explains what a particular defendant did that violated
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Plaintiff’s federal constitutional rights or a federal law.

See

Rode v. Dellarciprete, 845 F.2d 1195, 1208 (3d Cir. 1988)(“a
defendant in a civil rights action must have personal
involvement in the alleged wrongs”)(citing Parratt v. Taylor,
451 U.S. 527, 537 n. 3 (1981)).

A civil rights complaint is

generally adequate when it states the time, place, and persons
responsible for the alleged wrongs.

Id. (citing Boykins v.

Ambridge Area School District, 621 F.2d 75, 80 (3d Cir. 1980)).
As a state pretrial detainee, the proper way to seek
release by this Court is by filing a Petition for a Writ of
Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241.1

See Robertson v.

Allegheny Court of Common Pleas, Civil Action No. 12–1080, 2012
WL 4712034, at *2 (W.D.Pa. Aug. 22, 2013)(“[w]hen an individual
is in state custody for reasons other than a judgment of a state
court, such as in pretrial detention, a petition for a writ of
habeas corpus is properly brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241”
(citing Moore v. DeYoung, 515 F.2d 437, 441–43 (3d Cir. 1975));
1–5 R. Hertz & J. Liebman Federal Habeas Practice and Procedure
§ 5.3 n. 6 (Nov. 2011) (collecting cases)).

If Plaintiff seeks

such relief, he must file a habeas petition separate from his §
1983 civil rights complaint.

A federal court may issue a writ

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The filing fee for a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus under
28 U.S.C. § 2241 is five dollars. If Plaintiff does not have
$5.00, he may submit a properly completed form “Prisoner
Applying To Proceed In Forma Pauperis In A Habeas Corpus Case.”
This form will be supplied to him by the Clerk of Court.
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of habeas corpus to a pretrial detainee who “is in custody in
violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United
States.”

§ 2241(c)(3).

Before this Court will ordinarily consider a state pretrial
detainee’s habeas claims, however, the petitioner must first
exhaust his state court remedies.

Robertson, 2012 WL 4712034,

at *2 (citing Lines v. Larkin, 208 F.3d 153, 159 (3d Cir.
2000)).

This means he must present his federal constitutional

claims to the state courts, and allow the state courts to
address the claims before proceeding in federal court.
v. Reese, 541 U.S. 27, 29 (2004).

Baldwin

The purpose of this

requirement is to preserve the role of state courts in
protecting federally guaranteed rights.

Id. (citing Duncan v.

Henry, 513 U.S. 364, 365 (1995)(per curiam)).

Federal

constitutional claims must be fairly presented to the state
courts, including the highest state court (a state supreme court
with powers of discretionary review) before the claim is
exhausted.

Id. (citing Duncan, 513 U.S. at 364-65.)

If a

habeas claim is unexhausted, a federal habeas court will
typically dismiss the claim without prejudice, to allow the
petitioner to first exhaust his claims in state court.
Robertson, 2012 WL 4712034, at *3 (“where state court remedies
are unexhausted, ‘principles of federalism and comity require
district courts to abstain from enjoining pending state criminal
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proceedings absent extraordinary circumstances.’”)(quoting
Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1981)).

With this guidance,

Plaintiff may wish to exhaust his state remedies before filing a
separate Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus Under 28 U.S.C. §
2241.
IT IS, therefore, on this 19th day of February 2015,
ORDERED that the Clerk shall administratively terminate
this matter by making a new and separate entry reading, “CIVIL
CASE TERMINATED.”

Such termination shall be subject to

reopening in the event Plaintiff timely submits a properly
executed IFP application; and no statement in this Memorandum,
Opinion and Order shall be construed as withdrawal of this
Court’s jurisdiction over this matter; and it is further
ORDERED that Plaintiff may renew his application in this
matter by submitting, within thirty days from the date of entry
of this Memorandum, Opinion and Order, a properly executed IFP
application for a prisoner civil rights case; and he may
accompany that submission with a new “Prisoner Civil Rights
Complaint” completed in accordance with the guidance provided
herein; and it is further
ORDERED that in the event Plaintiff also elects to file a
Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus Under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, he
shall submit, in an entirely separate action, a properly
executed “Prisoner Applying To Proceed In Forma Pauperis In A
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Habeas Corpus Case”, together with a “Petition for Writ of
Habeas Corpus Under 28 U.S.C. § 2241”; and it is further
ORDERED that the Clerk shall serve this Memorandum, Opinion
and Order upon Plaintiff by regular U.S. Mail, together with the
following blank forms:

“Prisoner Applying To Proceed In Forma

Pauperis In A Civil Rights Case”; “Prisoner Civil Rights
Complaint”; “Prisoner Applying To Proceed In Forma Pauperis In A
Habeas Corpus Case”; and “Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus
Under 28 U.S.C. § 2241.”

s/Renée Marie Bumb
RENÉE MARIE BUMB
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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