Brown v. Frey, 86-1383

• Decision Date: 24 December 1986
• Docket Number: No. 86-1383,86-1383
• Citation: 807 F.2d 1407
• Parties: William BROWN, Appellant, v. Gerald FREY, Captain Ronald Kennedy, J.P. Smith, Larry Bogan, Mike Bowersox and Missouri Dept. of Corrections and Human Resources, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1407

807 F.2d 1407

55 USLW 2384

William BROWN, Appellant, v. Gerald FREY, Captain Ronald Kennedy, J.P. Smith, Larry

Bogan, Mike Bowersox and Missouri Dept. of

Corrections and Human Resources, Appellees.

No. 86-1383.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Sept. 11, 1986.

Decided Dec. 24, 1986.

Vincent Caracci, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant.

Winfield Sinclair, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Mo., for appellee.

Before ARNOLD, Circuit Judge, BRIGHT, Senior Circuit Judge, and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

William Brown appeals from a judgment denying his section 1983 claim. His claim arises from the revocation of his presumptive parole date resulting from a determination that he committed "riot" at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center. Brown argues that the district court ¹ erroneously concluded that Brown was afforded procedural due process in the adjustment board proceeding in which he was deprived of a liberty interest. He contends that the proceeding was deficient in two respects: (1) the adjustment board failed to provide a constitutionally sufficient written statement of the evidence relied on and the reasons for the disciplinary action; and (2) the adjustment board's decision is not supported by "some evidence in the record." We affirm the judgment of the district court.

On March 13, 1984, Brown was a resident of Wing D at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center. That evening Officers Kemp, Brown, and Lewis saw two residents of Wing D moving a chair from one room to another in violation of the institution's rules. When the officers ordered that the chair be returned, the residents demanded an explanation and started an argument. Approximately forty of the fifty residents in the wing, including Brown, came into the hallway to see the incident, which was taking place just outside Brown's room. The officers ordered the residents to return to their rooms, and after the arrival of some higher officials, the residents did return to their rooms and normalcy returned to Wing D.

Officers Kemp, Brown, and Lewis prepared a joint memorandum describing the chair-moving incident. The memorandum identifies Brown along with five other residents as the source of a statement encouraging the residents to remain in the hallway until they were allowed to see the shift commander. ² Brown was later interviewed by Officers Kennedy and Delo. After the interview, a conduct violation report ³ was prepared charging Brown with a violation of institutional rule 5, which prohibits "riot." ⁴

Brown was then transferred to the Missouri State Penitentiary, where he was placed in segregation pending hearings before the classification treatment team and the adjustment board. After listening to Brown's version of the chair-moving incident, the classification treatment team referred the matter to the adjustment board and recommended that if found guilty Brown should be permanently transferred to the Missouri State Penitentiary, his presumptive parole date of September 16, 1985 should be revoked, and his conditional release date should be extended.

The adjustment board hearing was held on March 20, 1984 before a panel consisting of Appellees Bogan, Bowersox, and Smith. The hearing was tape recorded as a matter of department policy. At the hearing a member of the panel first read the charges asserted against Brown in the conduct violation report, read Brown's denial of guilt in the report, and read the recommendations of the classification treatment team. The board then questioned Brown, who repeated his version of the chair-moving incident. When asked to comment on the joint memorandum written by Officers Kemp, Brown, and Lewis, Brown disagreed with the officers' version of the incident, once again contending that he played no role in the disturbance. After listening to this testimony and considering that Brown had received his high school equivalency degree, started taking college courses, acted as a tutor while at the Correctional Center, and received no conduct violations during the prior nine months, the board found Brown guilty and approved the sentencing recommendation of the classification treatment team. The adjustment board's action was subsequently approved by Gerald Frey, and on May 24, 1985, Brown was notified by the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole that his presumptive parole date of September 16, 1985 was cancelled.

Brown received a written statement from the adjustment board, which stated that the board relied on the following in reaching its decision:

"1. Relied on CV & additional report

2. No CV's for past 9 months

3. Relied on # 5 definition."

Brown brought an action under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 claiming that he was deprived of a liberty interest without being afforded due process in the adjustment board proceeding. Among other things, Brown made the claims he now asserts: that the adjustment board failed to provide Brown a consitutionally sufficient written statement of the evidence relied on and the reasons for the disciplinary action, and that the board's conclusion that Brown committed "riot" is not supported by "some evidence in the record."

As to the first claim, the district court concluded that "although sparse, the statement of findings and evidence relied on by the adjustment board is sufficient * * * to comport with the minimal requirements of procedural due process * * *." Brown v. Frey, No. 84-1082-C(6), slip op. at 12 (E.D.Mo. Feb. 12, 1986). The district court also rejected Brown's second claim, concluding that there was some evidence in the record--namely, the statements in the joint memorandum prepared by Officers Kemp, Brown, and Lewis and the conduct violation report--to support the adjustment board's decision. Id.

Appellees do not dispute Brown's contention that the adjustment board proceeding against Brown resulted in the deprivation of a state-created liberty interest, thus mandating that the proceeding comport with the procedural requirements of the fourteenth amendment due process clause. Accordingly, we consider Brown's two claims. We hold, first, that the adjustment board provided Brown a constitutionally adequate written statement of the evidence relied on and the reasons for the disciplinary action, and, second, that the adjustment board's decision is supported by "some evidence in the record."

I.

Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974), established the constitutional requirement that in a prison disciplinary proceeding resulting in the deprivation of a liberty interest "there must be a 'written statement by the factfinders as to the evidence relied on and reasons' for the disciplinary action." Wolff, 418 U.S. at 564, 94 S.Ct. at 2979 (quoting Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 489, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 2604, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972)). The written statement requirement serves two interrelated purposes. First, the requirement prevents arbitrary action by disciplinary boards; it "helps to insure that administrators * * * will act fairly." Id. at 565, 94 S.Ct. at 2979. Second, the written statement requirement facilitates review of the disciplinary proceeding by those reviewing bodies having penological concerns--such as officials considering whether to transfer an inmate to another institution and parole boards making parole decisions--as well as those reviewing bodies more interested in the fairness and constitutional propriety of the proceeding--for example, state officials, the public, and the courts. Id.

As with any prisoner's procedural due process rights, Brown's procedural due process rights are limited in scope and exist only to the extent that his constitutional liberty interest outweighs the interests of the penal system and the public. E.g., Polizzi v. Sigler, 564 F.2d 792, 798 (8th Cir.1977). The Supreme Court has already concluded, of course, that this balancing test mandates the Wolff written statement requirement. Still, it is instructive to review the Supreme Court's analysis of these competing interests as we consider whether the written statement in question meets the Wolff written statement requirement.

An inmate is undoubtedly deprived of a liberty interest when he is deprived of state-created "good time credits." But the revocation of good time credits is "not comparable to a criminal conviction," Superintendent v. Hill, 472 U.S. 445, 105 S.Ct. 2768, 2774, 86 L.Ed.2d 536 (1985), nor does it yield the degree of deprivation a parolee experiences when his parole is revoked. Wolff, 418 U.S. at 560-61, 94 S.Ct. at 2977. The Wolff Court explained:

For the prison inmate, the deprivation of good time is not the same immediate disaster that the revocation of parole is for the parolee. The deprivation, very likely, does not then and there work any change in the conditions of his liberty. It can postpone the date of eligibility for parole and extend the maximum term to be served, but it is not certain to do so, for good time may be restored. Even if not restored, it cannot be said with certainty that the actual date of parole will be affected; and if parole occurs, the extension of the maximum term resulting from loss of good time may affect only the termination of parole, and it may not even do that. The deprivation of good time is unquestionably a matter of considerable importance. The State reserves it as a sanction for serious misconduct, and we should not unrealistically discount its significance. But it is qualitatively and quantitatively different from the revocation of parole or probation.

Id.

This limited liberty interest is countered by the administrative costs and burdens a penal institution encounters, and society pays for, when a disciplinary board must provide in every case before it a written statement of the evidence relied on and the reasons for the disciplinary action. Prison disciplinary proceedings are unlike any other in a free society. They "take place in...