Cruz v. I.C.M. Manhattan, NY

Background

Abraham Cruz filed this action without a lawyer while incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution in Dallas, Pennsylvania. He sued defendants identified in the caption as “Federal at I.C.M. Manhattan, N.Y.,” “Dir. I.C. Metro Manhattan,” “Psychiatrist I.C. Metro Manhattan,” and “Inmate (Cellmate) Mr. Mannanlei.” The court understood those defendants to be the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York; the warden who served there while Cruz was incarcerated there; an unidentified psychiatrist employed there; and a former cellmate whose last name might be “Mannanlei.” Cruz sought damages and appeared also to challenge his federal and Pennsylvania convictions and sentences.

The court treated Cruz’s damages claims against federal officials and the federal prison as claims under Bivens, a judge-created damages remedy for constitutional violations by federal officials. It treated the claims against the former cellmate as state-law claims. Earlier in the case, Judge Louis L. Stanton had transferred Cruz’s challenges to his federal conviction and sentence to the Middle District of Pennsylvania under the federal procedure for challenging a federal sentence, dismissed claims against the federal government based on immunity, dismissed the claims against the federal prison for failure to state a claim, and allowed Cruz to amend claims involving alleged failure to protect him and alleged retaliation by the psychiatrist.

Rulings on conviction and sentence claims

The court dismissed without prejudice Cruz’s renewed challenges to his federal conviction and sentence because those claims duplicated claims pending in the Middle District of Pennsylvania under docket number 1:20-CV-1252. The court also dismissed without prejudice Cruz’s apparent challenges to Pennsylvania state convictions and sentences for lack of jurisdiction. It explained that a federal petition challenging a state judgment may be filed in the federal district where the person is held or in the district where the state court that convicted and sentenced the person is located; the opinion concluded that this district could not hear those claims.

Ruling on the federal prison

The court dismissed without prejudice Cruz’s claims under Bivens against the federal prison. It held that such a claim may be brought only against a federal officer or employee, not against the federal prison itself.

Identifying the remaining defendants

The court found that Cruz had provided enough information for the Federal Bureau of Prisons to identify three individuals: the warden of the facility during Cruz’s incarceration between 2011 and 2012; the psychiatrist to whom Cruz allegedly complained about his cellmate and who was responsible for transferring Cruz to another federal facility; and the prisoner who was Cruz’s cellmate in cell 6C-4 and allegedly assaulted him.

The court directed the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York to provide the full and correct identities, any applicable prisoner identification number, and service addresses for those individuals within 60 days. Within 30 days after receiving that information, Cruz must file a second amended complaint naming them. The second amended complaint will replace, rather than add to, the earlier complaints. The court stated that it would screen the second amended complaint and, if necessary, issue directions for service.

Other orders and disposition

The court dismissed without prejudice the claims challenging Cruz’s convictions and sentences and the claims against “Federal at I.C. Manhattan.” It therefore denied Cruz’s motions seeking that relief, identified as docket entries 19 and 20. It also denied Cruz’s motion to reopen cases, identified as docket entry 15. The court directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order and amended complaint to Cruz and to the Civil Division of the United States Attorney’s Office. It certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal.