Fuller v. Rich
| Decision Date | 10 January 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-1767,93-1767 |
| Citation | 11 F.3d 61 |
| Parties | Joel FULLER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. James RICH, Warden for FCI, Seagoville, Texas, et al., Respondents-Appellees. Conference Calendar. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Joel Fuller, pro se.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Before GARWOOD, JOLLY, and BARKSDALE, Circuit Judges.
Joel Fuller appeals the district court's dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. According to Fuller, he cannot file an administrative appeal because he did not receive notice of the Parole Commission's decision until the time for filing such an appeal had elapsed. See 28 C.F.R. Sec. 2.26 (1993) ().
A prisoner challenging a Parole Commission decision is required to exhaust his administrative remedies before seeking habeas relief in federal court under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2241. See Smith v. Thompson, 937 F.2d 217, 219 (5th Cir.1991). The district court's dismissal of Fuller's petition for failure to exhaust administrative remedies is reviewed for abuse of discretion. DCP Farms v. Yeutter, 957 F.2d 1183, 1188 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 406, 121 L.Ed.2d 331 (1992).
"Exceptions to the exhaustion requirement are appropriate where the available administrative remedies either are unavailable or wholly inappropriate to the relief sought, or where the attempt to exhaust such remedies would itself be a patently futile course of action." Hessbrook v. Lennon, 777 F.2d 999, 1003 (5th Cir.1985). However, exceptions to the exhaustion requirement apply only in "extraordinary circumstances," Yeutter, 957 F.2d at 1189, and Fuller bears the burden of demonstrating the futility of administrative review. See Gardner v. School Bd. Caddo Parish, 958 F.2d 108, 112 (5th Cir.1992).
Although the exhaustion doctrine does not require that the National Appeals Board actually rule on the merits of Fuller's claims, it does require that Fuller present the claims to the Board, thereby giving it an opportunity to review the decision reached by the Parole Commission. See Talerico v. Warden, U.S. Penitentiary, 391 F.Supp. 193, 195 (M.D.Pa.1975). Accordingly, before Fuller may seek relief in federal court, he must file an appeal with the National Appeals Board. We require Fuller to take this further step because until he actually appeals and that appeal is acted on, we do not know what the appeals board will do with Fuller's claim, and until the appeals board has been given an opportunity to act, Fuller has not exhausted his administrative remedies. The National Appeals...
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Smith v. U.S., CIV.A. 03-0464(RMU).
...authority, however, for waiving the exhaustion requirement when seeking administrative remedies would be patently futile. Fuller v. Rich, 11 F.3d 61, 62 (5th Cir.1994); see also Ezratty v. Puerto Rico, 648 F.2d 770, 774 (1st Cir.1981) (not requiring exhaustion when the issue is a "pure matt......
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Iacaboni v. U.S.
...under 18 U.S.C. § 2241. The obvious futility of any administrative remedy would excuse the failure to exhaust. See, e.g., Fuller v. Rich, 11 F.3d 61, 62 (5th Cir.1994) (exception to exhaustion requirement for § 2241 claim applies when attempt to exhaust would be patently futile); Ezratty v.......
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Jones v. Zenk
...by the Second Circuit in Carmona v. U.S. Bureau of Prisons, 243 F.3d 629, 634 (2d Cir.2001), the Fifth Circuit in Fuller v. Rich, 11 F.3d 61, 62 (5th Cir.1994), the Sixth Circuit in Little v. Hopkins, 638 F.2d 953, 953-54 (6th Cir. 1981), and the Eight Circuit in Willis v. Ciccone, 506 F.2d......
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Moreland v. Federal Bureau of Prisons
...to the exhaustion requirement are appropriate where the attempt to exhaust such remedies would be patently futile. See Fuller v. Rich, 11 F.3d 61, 62 (5th Cir.1994). The Bureau has adopted a uniform policy to calculate the amount of good time awarded per year under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b)(1), e......