Bronson v. Central Office Review Committee

• Decision Date: 22 December 1998
• Citation: 721 A.2d 357,554 Pa. 317
• Parties: Purcell BRONSON, Appellant, v. CENTRAL OFFICE REVIEW COMMITTEE, Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

721 A.2d 357

554 Pa. 317

Purcell BRONSON, Appellant, v. CENTRAL OFFICE REVIEW COMMITTEE, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted May 27, 1998.

Decided December 22, 1998.

Purcell Bronson, Pro Se.

William E. Fairall, Jr., Camp Hill, for Dept. of Corrections.

Before FLAHERTY, C.J., and ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN and SAYLOR, JJ.

OPINION OF THE COURT

FLAHERTY, Chief Justice.

We granted allocatur in this case to address a question of first impression and resolve conflicting decisions of the lower courts. The question is whether the commonwealth court has jurisdiction over inmate appeals of decisions of the Central Office Review Committee (C.O.R.C.), under either 42 Pa.C.S. § 761 (original jurisdiction) or 42 Pa.C.S § 763 (appellate jurisdiction).¹ Appellee, the C.O.R.C., is an administrative body comprised of three members of the Department of Corrections central office staff, "to include the Commissioner, Executive Deputy Commissioner and Chief Counsel or their designees." DC-ADM 804 IV. D. With certain exceptions not pertinent here, the C.O.R.C. is responsible for "direct review of all Inmate Appeals for Final Review."²Id. Appellant, Purcell Bronson, is an inmate currently in the custody of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections who seeks appellate review of the C.O.R.C.'s decision denying his inmate grievances.

Appellant filed two separate grievances with C.O.R.C. seeking reimbursement for what he claimed was erroneously seized and destroyed personal property.³ The C.O.R.C. denied both grievances. Appellant then filed a petition for review with the commonwealth court, ostensibly addressed to the court's original jurisdiction, 42 Pa.C.S. § 761, seeking compensation for the confiscated property. The court, construing appellant's petition for review as an attempt to appeal C.O.R.C.'s denial of his grievances, docketed the case under its appellate jurisdiction, 42 Pa.C.S § 763. Relying upon Ricketts v. C.O.R.C., 125 Pa.Cmwlth. 670, 557 A.2d 1180 (Pa. Cmwlth.1989), the court then dismissed the petition.

In Ricketts, an inmate dissatisfied with the ultimate decision reached by the C.O.R.C. (made in accordance with procedures provided by BC-ADM 101, a directive of the then Bureau of Corrections, forerunner of the present Department of Corrections) filed an appeal in the commonwealth court's appellate jurisdiction seeking review of the C.O.R.C.'s decision. The court, relying on Robson v. Biester, 53 Pa.Cmwlth. 587, 420 A.2d 9 (Pa. Cmwlth.1980), rejected appellant's contention that a decision of the C.O.R.C. is a final adjudication by a government agency within the court's appellate jurisdiction. Ricketts, 557 A.2d at 1182. The court analyzed the function of the C.O.R.C. and determined that, unlike government agencies such as parole boards that preside over the fate of those granted early release and enjoying a protected liberty interest, the C.O.R.C. is an internal administrative tribunal that reviews the grievances and disciplinary sentences of those already confined. Id. at 1182. The court refused to elevate the C.O.R.C. to the status of a government agency whose final decisions are appealable and quashed the appeal. Id.

As we have observed, the commonwealth court has held that the C.O.R.C. is an administrative body whose functions are purely internal to the Department of Corrections and does not function on the level of a government agency. See Ricketts, supra; Edmunson v. Horn, 694 A.2d 1179 (Pa. Cmwlth.1997). The court has also held that internal prison operations are more properly left to the legislative and executive branches, and that prison officials must be allowed to exercise their judgment in the execution of policies necessary to preserve order and maintain security free from judicial interference. See Robson, supra at 12 (citing Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979)). We agree. Unlike the criminal trial and appeals process where a defendant is accorded the full spectrum of rights and protections guaranteed by the state and federal constitutions, and which is necessarily within the ambit of the judiciary, the procedures for pursuing inmate grievances and misconduct appeals are a matter of internal prison administration and the "full panoply of rights due a defendant in a criminal prosecution is not necessary in a prison disciplinary proceeding...." Robson, supra at 12 (citing Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974)). Therefore, the commonwealth court does not have appellate jurisdiction, under 42 Pa.C.S § 763, over inmate appeals of decisions by intra-prison disciplinary tribunals.

Since the commonwealth court does not have appellate jurisdiction in this case, appellant's only other route to the court would be via its original jurisdiction, 42 Pa. C.S. § 761. This, in fact, is the route he has chosen, relying on Kisner v. Pa. Dept. of Corrections, 683 A.2d 353 (Pa.Cmwlth.1996), and Holloway v. Lehman, 671 A.2d 1179 (Pa.Cmwlth.1996).

In Kisner, an inmate filed a grievance seeking admission into a sex-offender program claiming that he was being denied parole because of his failure to participate in such a program, and that this failure was a result of the denial of his request for acceptance into the program. Kisner, 683 A.2d at 354. The C.O.R.C. denied the grievance and the inmate filed a complaint in mandamus in the court's original jurisdiction to compel the C.O.R.C. to admit him to the program. Id. at 355. The C.O.R.C. filed preliminary objections claiming, inter alia, that the court lacked jurisdiction to review the decision because it is not an officer of the commonwealth government for the purposes of 42 Pa.C.S. § 761.

The Kisner court observed that "the term `officer,' for jurisdictional purposes, [had been defined] as those persons who perform state-wide policymaking functions and who are charged with the responsibility for independent initiation of administrative policy regarding some sovereign function of state government." Kisner at 355 (internal quotes omitted). The court determined that the C.O.R.C. performed these functions and that its decisions were subject to review in the court's original jurisdiction, but dismissed the complaint on other grounds. Id.

In Holloway, several inmates were issued misconducts for the destruction of prison property. Holloway, 671 A.2d at 1180. Without a hearing, the business offices of the respective institutions directed that damages, which had been administratively calculated for each inmate, were to be deducted from the inmates' prison accounts. Id. at 1180. The inmates filed complaints seeking declaratory, mandamus and equitable relief in the commonwealth court's original jurisdiction. Id. The inmates were not seeking a review of the misconduct determinations. Id. The respondents, various prison officials, filed preliminary objections asserting, inter alia, that the court lacked jurisdiction. Id. at 1181. The court concluded that it had original jurisdiction. Id.

While appellant has accurately represented the commonwealth court's holdings in these two cases, his claim, nonetheless, fails. Holloway, unlike the present case, involves the claim of the violation of a specific constitutional right, and we reject the rationale of Kisner that Commonwealth Court had original...