Edward Allen Mead v. Raymond W. Meier

Before us is an appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska dismissing a petition for writ of habeas corpus filed in that court by appellant. The district court concluded it lacked jurisdiction and dismissed the petition without a hearing on the merits.

The petition asserts that appellant was denied his constitutional right to due process, including the effective assistance of counsel, as required by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. Appellant named as respondent to his petition Raymond W. Meier, Warden of the United States Penitentiary at McNeil Island, State of Washington. Appellant is a prisoner by virtue of a judgment imposed in the State of Alaska, and is incarcerated in the United States Penitentiary, McNeil Island, Steilacoom, State of Washington, pursuant to an agreement between the State of Alaska and the United States Department of Justice.

In dismissing the petition the district court determined that appellant’s petition did not meet the requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (a), in that the phrase “within their respective jurisdictions” in § 2241 of Title 28 U.S.C.A. requires the presence of a prisoner within the territorial…