Kenneth Hanson, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Jon Heckel, Defendant-appellee, 791 F.2d 93 (7th Cir. 1986)

This is an appeal from the dismissal of a state prisoner's civil rights action. See 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The district court construed all the claims as sounding in habeas corpus and denied relief for failure to exhaust state court remedies. We affirm.

Petitioner Kenneth Hanson is an inmate presently incarcerated at Illinois' Centralia Correctional Center, although he initially was committed to the Vandalia Correctional Center, in Vandalia, Illinois. Hanson claims that, while he was at Vandalia, its warden, Jon Heckel, denied him various amounts of meritorious good time in violation of his constitutional rights under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. He brought two pro se civil rights actions against Heckel.¹  Hanson requested that the district court enter a declaratory judgment and award damages for the alleged deprivation of meritorious good time credits; he did not request the award or restoration of any credits. Hanson also asserted that he had pending in the Illinois state courts a habeas corpus action against Heckel that dealt with the identical claims he now raises. Notwithstanding the absence of a specific request for habeas corpus relief, the district court nonetheless proceeded to construe Hanson's allegations liberally under the dictates of Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520-21, 92 S. Ct. 594, 595-96, 30 L. Ed. 2d 652 (1972), and concluded that Hanson raised issues properly the basis for determination in a habeas corpus action. Since Hanson plainly conceded that he had not exhausted his state court remedies, the court dismissed the action under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b).²  The court then proceeded to conclude that, in any event, Hanson failed to raise a cognizable constitutional claim. The district court denied Hanson's motion for reconsideration, and Hanson appealed. On appeal, Hanson argues that it was incorrect to construe his action as one for habeas corpus relief and to require exhaustion of state remedies. Citing Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S. Ct. 2963, 41 L. Ed. 2d 935 (1974), Hanson contends that an action such as his which seeks money damages and declaratory relief but does not include a request for a speedier release may be brought properly under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. We disagree.

Exhaustion of state remedies generally is not required when an action is brought under Section 1983. Patsy v. Board of Regents, 457 U.S. 496, 507, 102 S. Ct. 2557, 2563, 73 L. Ed. 2d 172 (1982); Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 183, 81 S. Ct. 473, 481, 5 L. Ed. 2d 492 (1961). But when a state prisoner brings a civil rights action and raises constitutional issues that directly relate to the fact or duration of his confinement and are cognizable in habeas corpus, the competing interests underlying habeas relief, including the exhaustion requirement, must prevail. In Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 93 S. Ct. 1827, 36 L. Ed. 2d 439 (1973), the Supreme Court explicitly reaffirmed the holdings of a number of then recent prisoner cases (all of which related solely to prison officials' alleged unconstitutional "treatment" of prisoners while in confinement) which established the right of state prisoners to bring federal civil rights actions. The Court stated that "a Sec. 1983 action is a proper remedy for a state prisoner who is making a constitutional challenge to the conditions of his prison life, but not to the fact or length of his custody." Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. at 499, 93 S. Ct. at 1841. " [The] latter claim ... is cognizable only in federal habeas corpus, with its attendant requirement of exhaustion of state remedies," id. at 499 n. 14, 93 S. Ct. at 1841 n. 14, and "must override the general terms of Sec. 1983." Id. at 490, 93 S. Ct. at 1836.³  Attempts to circumvent the habeas corpus statute will be repudiated. Id. at 489-90, 93 S. Ct. at 1836.⁴ 

Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S. Ct. 2963, 41 L. Ed. 2d 935 (1974), is not to the contrary and supports our reading of Preiser. Citing footnote 14 of Preiser v. Rodriguez,⁵  the Wolff Court concluded that "Preiser expressly contemplated that claims properly brought under Sec. 1983 could go forward while actual restoration of good-time credits is sought in state proceedings." Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. at 554, 94 S. Ct. at 2974 (emphasis added). Wolff does not stand for the proposition that exhaustion is not required where, as here, there exists an undeniably direct and specific relationship between the challenged conduct and a change in the prisoner's release date.

Hanson states that under the Illinois Department of Corrections' early release program he "expected to be released" "via the grant of meritorious good time" but was not and claims that "no reason was given to appellant, despite his demand, as to why he was not so released." Appellant's Brief at 1. Similarly, Hanson alleges that on two other occasions he was "deprived of ten days of [meritorious good time], for disciplinary purposes, with no procedural protection at all," and "denied some thirty-five days of this credit for an irrational reason...." Id. at 2. As to each alleged deprivation of good time credits, Hanson requested damages and a declaration that his constitutional rights had been violated. Id. But, in order to establish a civil rights claim, Hanson was required to show that the deprivation of which he complains caused him injury, see Garza v. Henderson, 779 F.2d 390, 395-96 (7th Cir. 1985), and the injury of which Hanson complains, of course, is the loss or deprivation of meritorious good time. Thus, to entertain Hanson's challenge would be tantamount to a decision on his entitlement to a speedier release, and under both Preiser and Wolff, a matter that is foreclosed from consideration until all state remedies have been exhausted.

We decline, as Hanson would have us do, to determine the applicability of Preiser solely by reference to the relief sought rather than by reference to the nature of the claim. Cf. Palmer v. City of Chicago, 755 F.2d 560, 573 (7th Cir. 1985) ("once a ... plaintiff ... begins an attack upon the fact or duration of his imprisonment, then his exclusive remedy in Federal court is habeas corpus relief"); Larsen v. Sielaff, 702 F.2d 116 (7th Cir.) (although prisoner's Section 1983 action, seeking expungement of disciplinary record, restoration of good time and damages, was allowed to proceed in district court following deletion of the good time request, because resultant consent decree awarded plaintiff first two items of relief but no damages, the matter was a habeas proceeding for purposes of Section 1988 fee award), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 956, 104 S. Ct. 372, 78 L. Ed. 2d 330 (1983); Drollinger v. Milligan, 552 F.2d 1220, 1224-25 (7th Cir. 1977) (state probationer's challenge as unconstitutional certain conditions of her probation not an appropriate subject matter for a Section 1983 suit).

We add that our holding today is compatible with those of circuits that have addressed the issue.⁶  See Hadley v. Werner, 753 F.2d 514, 516 (6th Cir. 1985) (per curiam) (although inmate's civil rights complaint sought damages rather than release, a necessary portion of his claim challenged the validity of his conviction and consequent confinement; dismissal of action proper and inmate directed to pursue relief in habeas corpus proceeding); Ybarra v. Reno Thunderbird Mobile Home Village, 723 F.2d 675, 682 (9th Cir. 1984) (summary judgment proper as to prisoner's action for declaratory relief where basis of claim is a challenge to the constitutionality of conviction; "initial and exclusive" remedy lies in habeas corpus); Alexander v. Ware, 714 F.2d 416, 419 (5th Cir. 1983) (if a prisoner challenges a " 'single allegedly defective [disciplinary] hearing,' " he attacks, in essence, the fact and duration of his custody; whatever relief is sought for an isolated incident, the prisoner must resort to habeas corpus and exhaust state remedies); Todd v. Baskerville, 712 F.2d 70, 73 (4th Cir. 1983) (prisoner's Section 1983 action, seeking damages and restoration of good time, would be dismissed for failure to exhaust since "core" of the claim was the duration of sentence and any claim of damages was ancillary to and dependent on its favorable resolution); Richardson v. Fleming, 651 F.2d 366, 373 (5th Cir. 1981) (the propriety of a prisoner's Section 1983 action is not determined solely on the basis of relief sought; rather, if upon examination the basis of the claim directly draws into question the validity of the fact or length of confinement, the exclusive remedy is habeas corpus); see also Parkhurst v. State of Wyoming, 641 F.2d 775, 777 (10th Cir. 1981) (per curiam) (where resolution of prisoner's claim for money damages would involve a determination of validity of state court conviction presently before state supreme court, Section 1983 action should be stayed during its pendency).⁷ 

We thus construe Hanson's action as a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Because Hanson's right to seek Section 1983 relief will not be prejudiced by the running of the relevant statute of limitations, see Ill. Rev. Stats. ch. 110, sec. 13-211;⁸  Bailey v. Faulkner, 765 F.2d 102, 103-04 (7th Cir. 1985); Duncan v. Nelson, 466 F.2d 939, 941-42 (7th Cir. 1972), the district court properly dismissed Hanson's action for failure to exhaust state court remedies.

AFFIRMED.