
    Jeffrey L. HUNTER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Iqbal KHAN; Edwinn Swann; Doctor Toler; Doctor Walker; North Carolina Division of Prisons, Defendants-Appellees.
    No. 01-8110.
    United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
    Submitted March 14, 2002.
    Decided March 25, 2002.
    
      Jeffrey L. Hunter, Appellant Pro Se.
    Before NIEMEYER and KING, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.
    Dismissed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.
   PER CURIAM.

Jeffrey L. Hunter seeks to appeal the district court’s order adopting the magistrate judge’s recommendation to dismiss his § 1983 action. We dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction because Hunter’s notice of appeal was not timely filed.

Parties are accorded thirty days after the entry of the district court’s final judgment or order to note an appeal, see Fed. R.App. P. 4(a)(1), unless the district court extends the appeal period under Fed. R.App. P. 4(a)(5) or reopens the appeal period under Fed. R.App. P. 4(a)(6). This appeal period is “mandatory and jurisdictional.” Browder v. Director, Dep’t of Corrections, 434 U.S. 257, 264, 98 S.Ct. 556, 54 L.Ed.2d 521 (1978) (quoting United States v. Robinson, 361 U.S. 220, 229, 80 S.Ct. 282, 4 L.Ed.2d 259 (1960)).

The district court’s order was entered on the docket on August 20, 2001. Hunter’s notice of appeal was filed on November 16, 2001. Because Hunter failed to file a timely notice of appeal or to obtain an extension or reopening of the appeal period, we dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED. 
      
       Because Hunter was not incarcerated when he noted his appeal, he does not benefit from Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 108 S.Ct. 2379, 101 L.Ed.2d 245 (1988).
     