Opinion
Civil Action No. 04-582.
March 29, 2004
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
Presently before the Court is a pro se Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus filed by Florentino Perez pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Petitioner is incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution in Dallas, Pennsylvania ("SCI-Dallas"). For the reasons which follow, the petition should be transferred to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
DISCUSSION
Title 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d) provides:
Where an application for a writ of habeas corpus is made by a person in custody under the judgment and sentence of a State court of a State which contains two or more Federal judicial districts, the application may be filed in the district court for the district wherein such person is in custody or in the district court for the district within which the State court was held which convicted and sentenced him and each of such district courts shall have concurrent jurisdiction to entertain the application. The district court for the district wherein such an application is filed in the exercise of its discretion and in furtherance of justice may transfer the application to the other district court for hearing and determination.
Thus, a habeas petition may be filed in either the district court for the district where the petitioner is in custody or in the district court for the district in which he was convicted and sentenced, and a district court may transfer a petition to the other district court with jurisdiction, in the exercise of its discretion and in furtherance of justice. See Gellock v. Freeman, 1987 WL 7208, at *1 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 27, 1987).
This Court's civil docket reflects that in June of 2002, petitioner filed a previous habeas petition, and by Order filed August 15, 2002, the Honorable Legrome D. Davis approved and adopted my Report and Recommendation ("RR") and transferred the petition to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. See Perez v. Pennsylvania Bd. of Probation and Parole, No. 02-4045, Order (E.D. Pa. filed Aug. 15, 2002) (approving and adopting RR filed Aug. 7, 2002). As was the case when petitioner filed his previous habeas petition, petitioner and his custodian are currently located in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Although it appears that petitioner may have been convicted by a state court within this district, see Perez v. Pennsylvania Bd. of Probation and Parole, No. 02-4045, RR, at 2 (E.D. Pa. filed Aug. 7, 2002), it appears from the documents filed by petitioner that he is presently not challenging the lawfulness of those underlying convictions. Instead, he is challenging subsequent actions of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole.
SCI-Dallas, where petitioner is incarcerated, is located in Dallas Township in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania which lies within the venue of the Middle District of Pennsylvania. See 28 U.S.C. § 118(b); see also Tirado v. Stepanik, 1997 WL 337141, at *2 (E.D. Pa. May 27, 1997) (transferring civil rights case to the Middle District of Pennsylvania since defendants worked at SCI-Dallas which is located in the Middle District); Georgia v. Van Auken, 1992 WL 172679, at *1 (E.D. Pa. July 10, 1992) (same).
Under the circumstances in the present case, it would be more practical and equitable to transfer petitioner's application to the Middle District of Pennsylvania since that is where petitioner and his custodian are located. See Gellock, 1987 WL 7208, at *1 (transferring § 2254 petition to district where petitioner and custodian were located); Yacoubian v. Petsock, 1986 WL 2564, at *1 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 25, 1986) (same); see, e.g., Perez v. Pennsylvania Bd. of Probation and Parole, No. 02-4045, Order (E.D. Pa. filed Aug. 15, 2002). Among other things, the inconvenience of transferring petitioner from Luzerne County to Philadelphia for any hearings makes the Middle District a more appropriate forum. See Gellock, 1987 WL 7208, at *1;Yacoubian, 1986 WL 2564, at *1. Accordingly, this petition should be transferred, in the interest of justice, to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d). See Gellock, 1987 WL 7208, at *1; Yacoubian, 1986 WL 2564, at *1.
My Recommendation follows.