Russell Cline v. Linda Sanders

MEMORANDUM

Russell Cline, who at the time of the filing of this petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 was serving a federal prison sentence, appeals from a judgment of the district court dismissing his petition on the ground that he failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. On this appeal, he argues that he was denied the benefits of the Residential Drug Abuse Program (“RDAP”) at FCC Lompoc in retaliation for the exercise of his constitutional rights in “challenging what he believed to be inappropriate and illegal BOP actions at the RDAP in Lom-poc.” The successful completion of the program would have rendered him eligible for a one-year reduction of his sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3621 (e)(2)(B).

The magistrate judge, whose recommendation was adopted by the district court, discussed the rule requiring exhaustion and observed that petitioner had not yet exhausted his administrative remedies. Although the magistrate judge observed that petitioner “argues that this Court should waive the exhaustion requirement ... [because] exhaustion would be futile and Petitioner fears retaliation,” he did not discuss that argument; instead, without any further…