Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO. 06-4450.
June 20, 2007
MEMORANDUM
Plaintiffs have filed a motion to vacate judgment which we will treat as a motion to reconsider our decision of May 3, 2007 granting defendants' motion to dismiss the above-captioned lawsuit.
That lawsuit was dismissed because prisoners in state custody cannot use a § 1983 action to challenge the fact or duration of confinement; they must seek federal habeas corpus relief or appropriate state relief instead.
Plaintiffs seek reconsideration of our May 3, 2007 decision based on the case of Wilkinson v. Dotson, 125 S.Ct. 1242 (2005). Wilkinson does not assist the plaintiffs in the present case. The Supreme Court in Wilkinson held that the relief that the plaintiffs were seeking in that case challenged the constitutionality of state parole procedures not the fact or duration of their confinement. For that reason plaintiffs' motion to vacate judgment, which we have treated as a motion for reconsideration, will be denied.
We therefore enter the following Order.