Joel White v. John Lambert, Superintendent

Joel White challenges the State of Washington’s authority to continue to confine him after his transfer in November 1999 from a Washington state prison to a privately-run prison in Colorado. Unlike most habeas petitioners, White is not challenging the validity of his state court conviction, but rather the administrative deck sion to transfer him from one prison to another. White alleges that the transfer, initiated by the Washington Department of Corrections, was in violation of both the United States and Washington constitutions. After exhausting his state court remedies, White filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the federal district court for the Eastern District of Washington, invoking jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 .

The district court, after rejecting the State of Washington’s argument that jurisdiction was proper only under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 , allowed White to proceed under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 , but denied his petition on the merits. The district court also denied White’s motion for a certificate of appeala-bility (“COA”) as moot, reasoning that a COA was not necessary when a petitioner seeks habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 .

White’s appeal…