Brown v. State
Citation | 592 So.2d 621 |
Court | Supreme Court of Alabama |
Decision Date | 22 March 1991 |
Parties | Ex parte State of Alabama. (Re Leroy BROWN v. STATE). 1900094. |
Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Norbert H. Williams, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Leroy Brown, pro se.
This case presents the issue of whether due process requires that prison officials tape record disciplinary proceedings that result in a prisoner's loss of "good-time" credit.
Leroy Brown, an inmate at Easterling Correctional Center, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to challenge the Alabama Department of Corrections Disciplinary Committee's decision to deprive him of 12 months' good time 1 for an alleged escape from a Montgomery work release facility. The circuit court granted the State's motion to dismiss Brown's habeas corpus petition. Brown appealed the dismissal of his petition to the Court of Criminal Appeals, which reversed the judgment and remanded the cause to the circuit court for a determination of whether the prison officials denied Brown due process because there was no evidence that Brown's prison disciplinary hearing was tape recorded, as required by Rule 403, IV. 2, Alabama Department of Corrections Administrative Regulations. We granted the State's petition for writ of certiorari.
In reversing and remanding, the Court of Criminal Appeals stated:
Brown v. State, 592 So.2d 618 (Ala.Crim.App.1990).
The State argued as follows:
From our examination of the State's petition for the writ certiorari, we cannot tell whether the argument now made in this Court was made to the Court of Criminal Appeals and we cannot tell whether, in fact, disciplinary proceedings were required to be tape recorded. We have examined the record for a better understanding of the facts, however, and we conclude that the trial court did not err in dismissing the original habeas corpus petition.
Even assuming that the taping requirement was in effect when the disciplinary hearing was conducted, the Court of Criminal Appeals' decision would be erroneous. The Department of Corrections was not required by the Constitution or by statute to tape record the disciplinary procedures in order to comply with due process requirements.
It is well settled that a violation of an administrative regulation is not tantamount to a constitutional violation unless the regulation is mandated to protect a constitutional right. United States v. Caceres, 440 U.S. 741, 99 S.Ct. 1465, 59 L.Ed.2d 733 (1979). Particularly where the internal regulations merely facilitate the administrative internal agency policies and are not necessary to afford significant procedural protections, we do not insist on strict compliance. See Caceres.
Moreover, the taping of disciplinary proceedings is not required in order to comply with due process requirements. Wolff v....
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