Case Title: Shuttle v. Patrissi

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 1991-11-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under V.R.A.P. 40
 as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont Reports.
 Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Vermont Supreme
 Court, 111 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05602 of any errors in order
 that corrections may be made before this opinion goes to press.


                                 No. 90-316

 Michael Shuttle                              Supreme Court

                                              On Appeal from
      v.                                      Caledonia Superior Court

 Joseph Patrissi, Commissioner,               November Term, 1991
 Vt. Department of Corrections, et al.


 John P. Meaker, J.

 E.M. Allen, Defender General, and Jeffrey Dworkin and Seth Lipschutz,
   Prisoners' Rights Office, Montpelier, for plaintiff-appellee

 Jeffrey L. Amestoy, Attorney General, Montpelier, and Thomas J. Rushford,
   Assistant Attorney General, Waterbury, for defendant-appellants


 PRESENT:  Allen, C.J., Gibson, Dooley and Johnson, JJ., and Peck, J. (Ret.),
           Specially Assigned


      ALLEN, C.J.   The State appeals from an order of the superior court
 expunging defendant's conviction for violating a Vermont Department of
 Corrections (Department) disciplinary rule.  The State argues that the court
 erred in (1) reviewing the conviction under the habeas corpus statute, and
 (2) finding the rule void for vagueness.  We affirm.
      Upon defendant's return from furlough to the St. Johnsbury Correctional
 Center, the Department gave him a breath test that revealed consumption of
 alcohol.  The Department convicted defendant in July of 1989 of violating
 their rule "No. 10 Highest, Possession of, or use of alcohol, includes
 returning from furlough."  As a result, defendant lost three days of
 statutory "good time."  The effect of the conviction was to extend his
 incarceration by those three days.  The Commissioner of Corrections denied
 defendant's administrative appeal on July 18, 1989.  Defendant filed a
 complaint with the superior court for review of governmental action pursuant
 to V.R.C.P. 75 on June 1, 1990.  The court denied Rule 75 relief because
 defendant had not filed the complaint within the required thirty days, but
 converted the complaint into a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.  The
 court held that rule 10 was unconstitutionally vague and ordered the
 violation expunged from defendant's record, thereby restoring his three days
 of good time.  As a result, defendant was immediately released from
 incarceration.
                                     I.
      The State argues that the superior court lacked jurisdiction to review
 prison disciplinary measures under the habeas corpus statute.  We disagree.
 We recognize, however, that whether to permit habeas corpus review when a
 defendant fails to avail himself of alternative avenues of review requires
 us to balance the liberty interests of inmates against the State's interest
 in maintaining the integrity of the judicial process.
      The Vermont Constitution guarantees the broad availability of the writ:
 "The Writ of Habeas Corpus shall in no case be suspended.  It shall be a
 writ issuable of right; and the General Assembly shall make provision to
 render it a speedy and effectual remedy in all cases proper therefor."  Vt.
 Const. Ch. II, { 41.  Additionally, 12 V.S.A. { 3952 provides:  "A person
 imprisoned in a common jail, or the liberties thereof, or otherwise re-
 strained of his liberty by an officer or other person, may prosecute a writ
 of habeas corpus to inquire into the cause of such imprisonment or
 restraint, and obtain relief therefrom if it is unlawful."  We have said
 that "[t]he purpose of the 'Great Writ' . . . is to guard against illegal
 restraints on liberty."  In re Stewart, 140 Vt. 351, 359,