The opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
______________________________
:
GEORGE B. SMITH, :
:
Petitioner, : Civ. No. 20-11052 (NLH)
:
v. : OPINION
:
EUGENE CALDWELL, et al., :
:
Respondents. :
______________________________:
APPEARANCES:
George B. Smith
32448
Cumberland County Correctional Facility
54 W Broad St.
Bridgeton, NJ 08302
Petitioner pro se
Jennifer Webb-McCrae, Cumberland County Prosecutor
Andre R. Araujo, Assistant Prosecutor
Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office
115 Vine St.
Bridgeton, NJ 08302
Attorneys for Respondents
HILLMAN, District Judge
Petitioner George Smith filed a petition for writ of habeas
corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 alleging that his pretrial
detention was unconstitutional due to the conditions at the
Cumberland County Jail and seeking his immediate release as a
remedy, ECF No. 1. Respondent opposed the petition, ECF No. 4.
On January 19, 2022, the Court lifted a stay that had been
imposed pending a decision in Brown v. Warren, No. 1:20-cv-7907,
ECF No. 7. The Court also directed Petitioner to file a
supplemental brief within 30 days, ECF No. 8. Petitioner did
not submit a supplemental brief or otherwise respond.
The Court issued an Order to Show Cause on September 22,
2022. ECF No. 9. It noted that the Cumberland County’s Current
Inmate List suggested that Petitioner was no longer in custody,
which would moot Petitioner’s § 2241 petition about his pretrial
detention. Id. (citing
http://inmates.bluhorse.com/Default.aspx?ID=CUMB (last visited
Oct. 26, 2022)). On October 4, 2022, Respondents submitted a
letter stating that Petitioner “was sentenced on May 3, 2021 and
remanded from the Cumberland County Jail to Southern State
Correctional Facility.” ECF No. 10 at 1. “Petitioner was
thereafter released on or about March 13, 2022 and is, to
Respondent’s knowledge, no longer in custody at the Cumberland
County Jail or at Southern State Correctional Facility.” Id.
The Court has not received any communication from Petitioner
regarding his current address.
District courts have jurisdiction under § 2241 to issue a
writ of habeas corpus before a criminal judgment is entered
against an individual in state court. Moore v. De Young, 515
F.2d 437, 441-42 (3d Cir. 1975). This includes claims that
pretrial conditions of confinement violate the Constitution.
See Hope v. Warden York County Prison, 972 F.3d 310 (3d Cir.
2020).
Petitioner filed this habeas corpus petition seeking
release from allegedly unconstitutional conditions of
confinement at the Cumberland County Jail. Petitioner’s
sentencing and release from custody moots his § 2241 habeas
petition, however. See Williams v. New Jersey, No. 18-14964,
2020 WL 3259223, at *2 (D.N.J. June 16, 2020). “[I]f a case no
longer presents a live case or controversy, the case is moot,
and the federal court lacks jurisdiction to hear it.” Id.
(citing Nextel W. Corp. v. Unity Twp., 282 F.3d 257, 261 (3d
Cir. 2002)). The Court will dismiss the petition accordingly.
To the extent a certificate of appealability is required,
the Court declines to issue one because reasonable jurists would
agree that the petition is moot. 28 U.S.C. § 2253; Slack v.
McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000).
An appropriate Order will be entered.
Dated: October 26, 2022 s/ Noel L. Hillman
At Camden, New Jersey NOEL L. HILLMAN, U.S.D.J.