Kelly v. Nix

• Citation: 329 N.W.2d 287
• Decision Date: 19 January 1983
• Docket Number: No. 68503,68503
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
• Parties: Warner S. KELLY, Appellee, v. Crispus NIX, Warden, Iowa State Penitentiary, Appellant.

Page 287

329 N.W.2d 287

Warner S. KELLY, Appellee, v. Crispus NIX, Warden, Iowa State Penitentiary, Appellant.

No. 68503.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Jan. 19, 1983.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen. and Jonathan Golden and Bruce C. McDonald, Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellant.

C.J. Krogmeier, West Point, for appellee.

Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and McGIVERIN, LARSON, SCHULTZ, and CARTER, JJ.

SCHULTZ, Justice.

This appeal arises from a district court decision upholding an inmate's challenge of his prison disciplinary proceedings. For the reasons discussed herein, we reverse and remand.

On November 20, 1981, Warner S. Kelly, who was then serving a ninety year sentence for second degree murder, received a disciplinary notice advising him that he was charged with violating the prison rule against assault. He was informed that he was accused of assaulting another inmate, one Calhoun, on November 14, 1981, while both men had been incarcerated in a medium security portion of the penitentiary. Kelly was placed in administrative segregation within the penitentiary, pending investigation by a prosecutor to determine whether criminal charges should be filed. On December 8 he appeared before a disciplinary committee and the committee learned that criminal prosecution would not be undertaken. On December 10 Kelly was found guilty of violating the prison rule. This finding resulted in a disposition of ten days solitary confinement, 180 days administrative segregation, removal from the medium security facility, and cancellation of good and honor time. Following an unsuccessful appeal to the warden, Kelly filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The district court treated the petition as an application for postconviction relief and found that the prison authorities failed to follow the penitentiary rules. The court ruled that this failure was a violation of Kelly's rights of due process. Accordingly, it then reversed the decision of the disciplinary committee, vacated Kelly's punishment, and ordered his records expunged of any reference to the incident.

On appeal the warden urges two arguments. First, he argues that the court improperly characterized Kelly's petition for a writ of habeas corpus as an application for postconviction relief. Kelly's challenge to prison rules cannot be determined in a habeas corpus proceeding. The warden contends that since the petition should not have been recharacterized, the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to rule on Kelly's lawsuit and the lawsuit should have been dismissed. Second, the warden argues that because prison authorities substantially complied with the prison disciplinary rules, the trial court erred in ruling that Kelly was deprived of his due process rights. Thus, he argues, the court should not have reversed the disciplinary committee's finding of a rule violation, nor should it have required expungement of the records.

We find that the court acted properly by treating Kelly's petition as an application for postconviction relief. However, we determine that Kelly was afforded due process in the disciplinary proceedings and we find sufficient proof that Kelly violated a prison rule. Consequently, we reverse and remand for reinstatement of the decision of the disciplinary committee.

I. Subject matter jurisdiction. Challenges to good or honor time forfeitures have been formerly undertaken by writ of habeas corpus. Allen v. State, 217 N.W.2d 528, 531 (Iowa 1974). However, it has been the law since July 1, 1981, that such challenges are to be brought exclusively through the postconviction statute, chapter 663A of the 1981 Iowa Code, as amended. 1981 Iowa Acts ch. 198, §§ 1 and 2.

Kelly, acting pro se, encaptioned his pleading "Petition for a writ of Habeas Corpus." Although counsel was subsequently appointed for him, the pleading was not amended before the matter came to trial on April 12, 1982. At the close of Kelly's evidence, the warden moved for a directed verdict on the ground that the court did not have subject matter jurisdiction to consider Kelly's pleading since it had not been brought in the context of postconviction relief. ¹ The trial court overruled the motion and treated the pleading as an application for postconviction relief.

Jurisdiction of the subject matter is the power to hear and determine cases of the general class to which a particular proceeding belongs. Matter of Estate of Dull, 303 N.W.2d 402, 406 (Iowa 1981); City of Clinton v. Owners of Property, 191 N.W.2d 671, 677 (Iowa 1971). The district court has the power to hear and determine questions arising from the forfeiture of the reduction of sentence for honor time. 1981 Iowa Acts ch. 198, §§ 1 and 2.

Where jurisdiction of the subject matter exists, a mere insufficiency of the pleadings will not affect that jurisdiction. The gravamen of the warden's complaint is that the petition was wrongly labeled. It is well established, however, that "[t]he designation given a pleading is not of vital importance. Its character is to be determined largely by its allegations and legal effect, not solely from the name given it." Rouse v. Rouse, 174 N.W.2d 660, 664 (Iowa 1970), quoted in Schulte v. Mauer, 219 N.W.2d 496, 502 (Iowa 1974). A review of the petition in question shows that although Kelly designated it as an application for a writ of habeas corpus, the entire content of the petition and the claim for relief were posited on facts and claimed illegalities that cost him his good or honor time. The court did not modify the character of the proceeding, but simply treated it for what it was, a postconviction relief proceeding. Thus, we conclude that the defects in the petition do not deprive this court of subject matter jurisdiction.

II. Procedural rules. Also at issue in this appeal is the correctness of the district court's interpretation and application of penitentiary rules concerning the discipline and control of inmates. These rules, termed rule 804, were developed by prison authorities pursuant to the mandate of the federal district court. That court determined that rule 804 provided adequate procedural due process for prisoners; it permanently enjoined prison authorities from conducting prison disciplinary proceedings in contravention of the rule.

Generally, rule 804 provides procedural rules for disciplinary proceedings relating to (1) procedures for determining alleged violations of disciplinary rules, and (2) procedures for preliminary investigation of cases referred to the prosecutor for possible criminal prosecution. The rule contains provisions concerning the initial status of the inmate, notice, investigation, hearings, determination, disposition, appeal, and procedures for imposing emergency restrictions on the inmate. Rule 804 also provides that in the event a rule violation is not adjudicated in accordance with the designated procedure, no punishment may be imposed on the inmate for the rule violation and the records must be expunged. These provisions were in effect when the events leading to this appeal occurred. They have subsequently been clarified by the federal district court.

With this general background, we now examine Kelly's claim that his punishment for violating a rule was illegal because the prison authorities did not comply with rule 804 in both the prehearing and hearing stages. He contends that the rule violations are based on the following: (1) prehearing procedure concerning an untimely report, (2) improprieties concerning his administrative segregation, and (3) deficiencies in the hearing. The district court found, after an evidentiary hearing, that there was a timely report and we agree with this finding. The district court also found a violation of rule 804's administrative segregation rules and, therefore, reversed the decision of the prison disciplinary committee and ordered that Kelly's records be expunged. We will examine both the administrative segregation rules and the application of these rules to the facts as we find them.

A. Administrative segregation. The appropriate procedure for segregation of an inmate who is charged with a rule violation and is also subject to criminal prosecution is found in 804D(1) which in pertinent part provides:

(c) ... First, where no immediate disciplinary action is taken, the institution must investigate the matter to determine whether there is good cause to believe the report is true as written and that restriction is necessary. A designated higher official should review the incident report and attempt to verify, to the extent possible, the report....

(d) The inmate shall be notified within 48 hours that there is an incident report on file which indicates that one or more of the grounds for emergency restriction exists, that the report has been reviewed by the designated higher official, that there is or is not good cause to believe that the report is true, and that his status will or will not be continued pending investigation for possible criminal prosecution.

....

(f) An inmate may not be retained in a restricted status without a hearing for more than 30 days after referral to the County Attorney or other prosecuting authority, unless the County Attorney or other prosecuting authority has indicated his intent to pursue prosecution of the offense by filing an indictment or information.

(g) When the criminal justice authority makes a decision on whether or not to prosecute, the inmate shall be notified immediately of the decision and of the procedures and status which will follow.

The controlling issue in the trial court's ruling turned on the finding that the authorities did not comply with D(1)(d). We, too, find D(1)(d) to be the controlling section and will examine the facts to determine whether there was compliance with this section.

Prior to examining the facts, however, we must determine the standards of review involved in this case. Proceedings in postconviction relief are special proceedings treated...