Salim v. AUSA_SDNY Office
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-00721
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Salim v. AUSA_SDNY Office, Judge Swain transferred Salim’s habeas petition challenging prison restrictions to Colorado.
Mamdouh Salim’s petition was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the District of Colorado; the opinion does not resolve his challenge to the restriction.
What happened
Mamdouh Salim, who was incarcerated at a federal prison in Florence, Colorado, filed a self-represented petition challenging a special restriction that barred contact with his eldest son. He argued that the Southern District of New York was the proper place for his case because of the role he attributed to the United States Attorney’s Office there.
The court ruled that a petition challenging the conditions of confinement must generally be filed where the prisoner is confined, because that court has authority over the prisoner’s custodian. Since Salim was confined in Colorado, the court found that the District of Colorado was the proper venue.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the case transferred to the District of Colorado and closed the Southern District of New York case. She also denied permission to appeal without paying fees and ruled that no certificate allowing an appeal would issue; the opinion did not decide whether the restriction was lawful.
The detailed version
- Salim v. AUSA_SDNY Office · No. 1:22-cv-00721
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 4, 2022
Background
Mamdouh Salim, proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, a federal procedure for challenging certain aspects of custody. He challenged a special administrative measure that prohibited him from having contact with his eldest son. The opinion states that Salim was incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado.
Salim appeared to argue that venue was proper in the Southern District of New York because he believed the United States Attorney for that district had acted illegally by requesting renewal of the restriction. The court noted that federal regulations give the Attorney General, rather than an individual United States Attorney, authority to implement special administrative measures.
Court’s reasoning
The court explained that a § 2241 petition must generally be filed in a district with authority over the prisoner’s custodian. For a challenge to physical confinement or conditions of confinement, the proper district is generally the district where the prisoner is confined. The court treated Salim’s challenge to the special administrative measure as a challenge to his conditions of confinement.
Because Salim was confined in Florence, Colorado, the court concluded that the federal District of Colorado was the proper venue. It therefore transferred the petition to that district under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), which permits transfer when venue is improper or should be changed in the interest of justice. The court did not decide the merits of Salim’s challenge to the restriction.
Disposition
The court directed the Clerk of Court to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the District of Colorado and stated that the Southern District of New York case was closed. The court also ruled that no certificate of appealability would issue because the petition made no substantial showing that a constitutional right had been denied. It certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued and signed the order.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.