(HC) Rodriguez v. Fisher
- Proceeding
- original
- Outcome
- other — Accordingly, in order to conform with the requirements of 27 Rule 2(a) of the Rules Governing § 2254 Cases and to avoid changing the Respondent 28 again if Petitioner is transferred to
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Allison H. Goddard (author)
Analysis
The court reviewed a pro se state prisoner's petition for a writ of habeas corpus and noted that the petitioner's place of custody had changed from Valley State Prison to the San Diego County Jail. The court sua sponte ordered the substitution of Kathleen Allison, Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as the respondent in place of the previously named warden.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Substitution of Respondent“the Court hereby sua sponte ORDERS the substitution of Kathleen Allison, Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as Respondent in place of “Warden Fisher.”” | agree with court The decision follows from the legal requirement that a habeas petition must be directed to the immediate custodian of the prisoner. Because the petitioner was transferred, the named respondent was no longer the correct custodian. Substituting the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is a standard procedural mechanism in the Ninth Circuit to ensure the petition is directed to a proper official who remains in charge of the state's penal institutions, thereby avoiding the need for repeated substitutions if the prisoner is transferred again. |
The order itself: sound — The order correctly identifies the procedural defect (wrong respondent due to transfer) and applies the correct legal standard (custodian requirement) and binding Ninth Circuit authority (Ortiz-Sandoval) to resolve it. The reasoning is concise and directly addresses the issue.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 PEDRO RODRIGUEZ, Case No.: 3:21-cv-01395-JLS-AHG 12 Petitioner, ORDER SUA SPONTE 13 v. SUBSTITUTING RESPONDENT 14 KATHLEEN ALLISON, Secretary, 15 Respondent. 16 17 Petitioner, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, has submitted a Petition for Writ of 18 Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. ECF No. 1. At the time of filing, Petitioner 19 was apparently housed at Valley State Prison and thus named “Warden Fisher” as 20 Respondent. Based on the notice of change of address Petitioner submitted to the Court on 21 October 22, 2021, it appears Petitioner is no longer housed at Valley State Prison; rather, 22 it appears he is presently incarcerated at the San Diego County Jail as a state prisoner. See 23 ECF No. 12. 24 A writ of habeas corpus acts upon the custodian of the state prisoner. See 28 U.S.C. 25 § 2242; Rule 2(a), 28 U.S.C. foll. § 2254. Because Petitioner’s place of custody has 26 changed, so has his custodian. Accordingly, in order to conform with the requirements of 27 Rule 2(a) of the Rules Governing § 2254 Cases and to avoid changing the Respondent 28 again if Petitioner is transferred to another prison or paroled, the Court hereby sua sponte 1 |} ORDERS the substitution of Kathleen Allison, Secretary of the California Department of 2 ||Corrections and Rehabilitation, as Respondent in place of “Warden Fisher.” See Ortiz- 3 || Sandoval v. Gomez, 81 F.3d 891, 894 (9th Cir. 1996) (stating that the respondent in § 2254 4 || proceedings may be the chief officer in charge of state penal institutions). 5 The Clerk of the Court will modify the docket to reflect “Kathleen Allison, 6 || Secretary” as respondent in place of “Warden Fisher.” 7 8 IT IS SO ORDERED. 9 || Dated: October 25, 2021 10 _Abiomt. Xl Honorable Allison H. Goddard 11 United States Magistrate Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28