Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/427/215/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 02:13:23+00:00

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The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment held not to entitle a duly convicted state prisoner to a factfinding hearing when he is transferred to a prison the conditions of which are substantially less favorable to him, absent a state law or practice conditioning such transfers on proof of serious misconduct or the occurrence of other specified events. Such a transfer does not infringe or implicate a "liberty" interest of the prisoner within the meaning of the Due Process Clause. Pp. 427 U. S. 223-229.
(a) Given a valid conviction, the criminal defendant has been constitutionally deprived of his liberty to the extent that the State may confine him and subject him to the rules of its prison system so long as the conditions of confinement do not otherwise violate the Constitution. P. 427 U. S. 224.
(b) The Due Process Clause does not, in and of itself, protect a duly convicted prisoner against transfer from one institution to another, and that life in one prison is much more disagreeable than in another does not, in itself, signify that a Fourteenth Amendment liberty interest is implicated when a prisoner is transferred to the institution with the more severe rules. P. 427 U. S. 225.
(c) To hold that any substantial deprivation imposed by prison authorities triggers the procedural protections of the Due Process Clause would subject to judicial review a wide spectrum of discretionary actions that traditionally have been the business of prison administrators, rather than of the federal courts. Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U. S. 539, distinguished. Pp. 427 U. S. 225-227.
(d) Whatever expectation the prisoner may have in remaining at a particular prison so long as he behaves himself, it is too ephemeral and insubstantial to trigger procedural due process protections as long as prison officials have discretion to transfer him for any reason whatsoever, or for no reason at all. P. 427 U. S. 228.
WHITE, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and STEWART, BLACKMUN, POWELL, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined. STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BRENNAN and MARSHALL, JJ., joined, post, p. 427 U. S. 229.
who repeated the information that had been received from informants. Each respondent was then told that the evidence supported the allegations contained in the notice, but was not then -- or ever -- given transcripts or summaries of Meachum's testimony before the Board. Each respondent was allowed to present evidence in his own behalf; and each denied involvement in the particular infraction being investigated. Some respondents submitted supportive testimony or written statements from correction officers. A social worker also testified in the presence of each respondent, furnishing the respondent's criminal and custodial record, including prior rule infractions, if any, and other aspects of his performance and "general adjustment" at Norfolk.
drew upon informant sources, the details of this information were not revealed to respondents and are not included in the Board's reports which are part of the record before us.
Meanwhile respondents had brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against petitioners Meachum, the prison superintendent; Hall, the State Commissioner of Corrections; and Dawber, the Acting Deputy for Classification and Treatment, alleging that respondents were being deprived of liberty without due process of law in that petitioners had ordered them transferred to a less favorable institution without an adequate factfinding hearing. They sought an injunction setting aside the ordered transfer, declaratory relief, and damages.
of respondents within the meaning of the Due Process Clause. Contrary to the Court of Appeals, we hold that it did not. We reject at the outset the notion that any grievous loss visited upon a person by the State is sufficient to invoke the procedural protections of the Due Process Clause. In Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U. S. 564 (1972), a university professor was deprived of his job, a loss which was surely a matter of great substance, but, because the professor had no property interest in his position, due process procedures were not required in connection with his dismissal. We there held that the determining factor is the nature of the interest involved, rather than its weight. Id. at 408 U. S. 570-571.
Similarly, we cannot agree that any change in the conditions of confinement having a substantial adverse impact on the prisoner involved is sufficient to invoke the protections of the Due Process Clause. The Due Process Clause, by its own force, forbids the State from convicting any person of crime and depriving him of his liberty without complying fully with the requirements of the Clause. But, given a valid conviction, the criminal defendant has been constitutionally deprived of his liberty to the extent that the State may confine him and subject him to the rules of its prison system so long as the conditions of confinement do not otherwise violate the Constitution. The Constitution does not require that the State have more than one prison for convicted felons; nor does it guarantee that the convicted prisoner will be placed in any particular prison if, as is likely, the State has more than one correctional institution. The initial decision to assign the convict to a particular institution is not subject to audit under the Due Process Clause, although the degree of confinement in one prison may be quite different from that in another. The conviction has sufficiently extinguished the defendant's liberty interest to empower the State to confine him in any of its prisons.
Neither, in our view, does the Due Process Clause, in and of itself, protect a duly convicted prisoner against transfer from one institution to another within the state prison system. Confinement in any of the State's institutions is within the normal limits or range of custody which the conviction has authorized the State to impose. That life in one prison is much more disagreeable than in another does not, in itself, signify that a Fourteenth Amendment liberty interest is implicated when a prisoner is transferred to the institution with the more severe rules.
Our cases hold that the convicted felon does not forfeit all constitutional protections by reason of his conviction and confinement in prison. He retains a variety of important rights that the courts must be alert to protect. See Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. at 418 U. S. 556, and cases there cited. But none of these cases reaches this one; and to hold, as we are urged to do, that any substantial deprivation imposed by prison authorities triggers the procedural protections of the Due Process Clause would subject to judicial review a wide spectrum of discretionary actions that traditionally have been the business of prison administrators, rather than of the federal courts.
Transfers between institutions, for example, are made for a variety of reasons, and often involve no more than informed predictions as to what would best serve institutional security or the safety and welfare of the inmate. Yet, under the approach urged here, any transfer, for whatever reason, would require a hearing as long as it could be said that the transfer would place the prisoner in substantially more burdensome conditions that he had been experiencing. We are unwilling to go so far.
"[A] person's liberty is equally protected, even when the liberty itself is a statutory creation of the State. The touchstone of due process is protection of the individual against arbitrary action of government, Dent v. West Virginia, 129 U. S. 114, 129 U. S. 123 (1889). Since prisoners in Nebraska can only lose good time credits if they are guilty of serious misconduct, the determination of whether such behavior has occurred becomes critical, and the minimum requirements of procedural due process appropriate for the circumstances must be observed."
Id. at 418 U. S. 558. The liberty interest protected in Wolff had its roots in state law, and the minimum procedures appropriate under the circumstances were held required by the Due Process Clause "to insure that the state-created right is not arbitrarily abrogated." Id. at 418 U. S. 557. This is consistent with our approach in other due process cases such as Goss v. Lopez, 419 U. S. 565 (1975); Board of Regents v. Roth, supra; Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U. S. 593 (1972); Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U. S. 254 (1970).
the occurrence of specified events. [Footnote 7] On the contrary, transfer in a wide variety of circumstances is vested in prison officials. The predicate for invoking the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment as construed and applied in Wolff v. McDonnell is totally nonexistent in this case.
Even if Massachusetts has not represented that transfers will occur only on the occurrence of certain events, it is argued that charges of serious misbehavior, as in this case, often initiate and heavily influence the transfer decision and that, because allegations of misconduct may be erroneous, hearings should be held before transfer to a more confining institution is to be suffered by the prisoner. That an inmate's conduct, in general or in specific instances, may often be a major factor in the decision of prison officials to transfer him is to be expected unless it be assumed that transfers are mindless events. A prisoner's past and anticipated future behavior will very likely be taken into account in selecting a prison in which he will be initially incarcerated or to which he will be transferred to best serve the State's penological goals.
A prisoner's behavior may precipitate a transfer; and, absent such behavior, perhaps transfer would not take place at all. But, as we have said, Massachusetts prison officials have the discretion to transfer prisoners for any number of reasons. Their discretion is not limited to instances of serious misconduct. As we understand it, no legal interest or right of these respondents under Massachusetts law would have been violated by their transfer, whether or not their misconduct had been proved in accordance with procedures that might be required by the Due Process Clause in other circumstances. Whatever expectation the prisoner may have in remaining at a particular prison so long as he behaves himself, it is too ephemeral and insubstantial to trigger procedural due process protections as long as prison officials have discretion to transfer him for whatever reason, or for no reason at all.
"The depart,ment has received information through a reliable source that you were in possession of instruments that might be used as weapons and/or ammunition and that you had joined in plans to use these contraband items."
"These items and plans occurred during the period of serious unrest at MCI, Norfolk, which included many fires that posed a significant threat to lives of persons at MCI, Norfolk, as well as serious property damage."
"The department has received information through reliable sources that you were significantly involved in the planning and execution of one or more of the serious fires occurring within MCI, Norfolk, in the past few weeks. These fires caused considerable property damage and posed a very real threat to personal safety."
"The department has received information through a reliable source that you were involved in the trafficking of contraband in MCI, Norfolk (narcotics, barbiturates and/or amphetamines)."
"This occurred during a period of serious unrest at MCI, Norfolk, which included many fires, that posed a significant threat to the lives of persons at MCI, Norfolk as well as serious property damage."
"1. The 'reliable sources' were deemed acceptable as reliable because they had produced truthful and verifiable information prior to incidents, which were then avoided, and serious harm prevented."
"2. Mr. Dussault has not made significant use of program facilities at MCI Norfolk. He has, in effect only been doing time."
"To Mr. Dussault & Attorney:"
"There is sufficient & significant information that has been made available to the committee that indicates to us that you have placed yourself in a situation at MCI Norfolk so that adequate programming cannot be provided at this time."
"1. The inclosed summary of informant information was considered. The sources are considered quite reliable in this case, and tend to corroborate each other. In addition, the number of times the subject was named in conjunction with the unrest at Norfolk adds weight, in the judgment of this board, to the reliability of this information."
"1. Informant information was judged sufficient in detail and reliability to be weighed seriously in the board[']s decisionmaking. The information regarding the subject's attitude and motivation seemed adequately supported by the man's record and his attitude before the board. (He stated he had never received fair treatment at classification.) The reliability of the information was judged as quite reliable, in that it came from three sources. When asked, Mr. Meachum provided details of the course of events on the night of Oct. 13th which substantiated in general terms the informant information presented (see attached letter)."
"1. When Mr. Hathaway was questioned during interview re: the charges expressed on notice of Classification hearing 'serious fires occurring with MCI Norfolk . . . ,' he immediately went into long discussion of two specific fires denying his [guilt] -- Although he was not privy to informant information, and could not have known specifics that these were the two mentioned in the charges. The more he talked, the more he appeared involved."
"2. The 'reliable sources' were deemed acceptable as reliable because they had produced truthful information prior to incidents that were then avoided and serious harm prevented."
"3. Mr. Hathaway, other than avocation has not made sufficiently of available programs at MCI Norfolk that might benefit him."
"Decision as Presented to Mr. Hathaway:"
"This committee feels that you should be removed from this environment and associates and the current situation at MCI Norfolk. Because of this, the recommendation will be to MCI Bridgewater. There are programs, such as AA which will be available to you. There is also a new avocational center in which you can become active. It is a Medium Security institution, and this committee has tried to listen when you've said 'Trust me -- Give me a chance. . . .'"
"Mr. Stolzberger requested that his client be allowed to return to population to empty room and sell Avo equipment. Denied."
"1. Informant information was presented by Mr. Larry Meachum, Supt of MCI Norfolk, prior to the hearing. Although several sources contributed to the presenting information, the committee felt that the sources had not been proved reliable enough to become a decisive factor, indicating transfer. Both Mr. Meachum's report & Source reliability report to follow elsewhere in this report."
"2. Although Mr. Royce had an additional disciplinary report (see D reports 2-3). It was felt by the committee to be of serious emotional instability rather than resorting to earlier behavior of absolute violence."
"3. Mr. Royce appears to be making an effort to get himself together with help. His good relationship with Mrs. Lowenstein and Mr. Jackson has been supportive of these efforts. His indicated interest in poetry, avocation, and school would also reaffirm his intent for self improvement."
"Summary of Informant Information and Conclusions:"
"Upon careful examination of all related materials and information, I have reached the following decision:"
"Reasons: I disagree with the recommendation of the Board, and I am assigning you to MCI, Walpole because I feel that you have demonstrated that you are unwilling and/or unable to accept the responsibility that is commensurate with assignment to MCI, Norfolk, a medium security facility. Your actions of Nov. 1, 1974, whereby you destroyed state property and displayed disrespect to a Correctional Officer have played a part in this decision."
At the time of the District Court hearing, DeBrosky was hospitalized at Norfolk, and Hathaway had not yet been transferred.
In addition to notice of the classification hearing, each respondent had been furnished with a copy of a disciplinary report specifying the instances of alleged misconduct. Under the applicable regulation, however, disciplinary proceedings were not held because the alleged misconduct had been referred to the local district attorney for investigation and action.
"We attach no significance for present purposes to the fact that these proceedings were for 'classification,' rather than 'discipline.' Defendants assert that 'there are in the instant case as many administrative overtones as disciplinary ones,' but we have already indicated that, in our view, the motive of prison officials, as such, is not properly a part of the due process calculus. Gomes v. Travisono, 510 F.2d 537, 541 (1st Cir.1974). Whether the transfer is thought of as punishment or as a way of preserving institutional order, the effects on the inmate are the same, and the appropriateness of the action depends upon the accuracy of the official allegation of misconduct."
520 F.2d at 376 n. 2. See also Gomes v. Travisono, 510 F.2d 537 (CA1 1974), modifying and affirming 490 F.2d 1209 (1973).
Other Courts of Appeals, including the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, see Montanye v. Haymes, post, p. 427 U. S. 236, have held that minimum procedures must accompany only disciplinary transfers. Aikens v. Lash, 514 F.2d 55 (CA7 1975); Carroll v. Sielaff, 514 F.2d 415 (CA7 1975); Ault v. Holmes, 506 F.2d 288 (CA6 1974); Stone v. Egeler, 506 F.2d 287 (CA6 1974). See also Bryant v. Hardy, 488 F.2d 72 (CA4 1973). Still others have indicated that transfers of inmates do not call for due process hearings. Gray v. Creamer, 465 F.2d 179, 187 (CA3 1972); Hillen v. Director, 455 F.2d 510 (CA9 1972); cf. Fajeriak v. McGinnis, 493 F.2d 468 (CA9 1974).
"§ 20. Classification of prisoners; approval"
"There shall be established by the commissioner, with the approval of the governor and council, a reception center for all male prisoners, except those sentenced to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater. Any male convict who is sentenced to any correctional institution of the commonwealth, except the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater, shall be delivered by the sheriff or other officer authorized to execute sentence to said center for the purpose of proper classification of the prisoner. Classification of female prisoners shall be made at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham, under the supervision of the deputy commissioner for classification and treatment."
"§ 97. Transfers from and to correctional institutions; approval"
Nor do we think the situation is substantially different because a record will be made of the transfer and the reasons which underlay it, thus perhaps affecting the future conditions of confinement, including the possibilities of parole. The granting of parole has itself not yet been deemed a function to which due process requirements are applicable. See Scott v. Kentucky Parole Board, No. 74-6438, cert. granted, 423 U.S. 1031 (1975). If such holding eventuates, it will be time enough to consider respondents' contentions that there is unfounded information contained in their files.
I would disagree with the conclusion, but not with the constitutional analysis. The Court's holding today, however, appears to rest on a conception of "liberty" which I consider fundamentally incorrect.
The Court indicates that a "liberty interest" may have either of two sources. According to the Court, a liberty interest may "originate in the Constitution," ante at 427 U. S. 226, or it may have "its roots in state law." Ibid. Apart from those two possible origins, the Court is unable to find that a person has a constitutionally protected interest in liberty.
A correct description of the source of the liberty protected by the Constitution does not, of course, decide this case. For, by hypothesis, we are dealing with persons who may be deprived of their liberty because they have been convicted of criminal conduct after a fair trial. We should therefore first ask whether the deprivation of liberty which follows conviction is total or partial.
The moderating trend culminated in this Court's landmark holding that, notwithstanding the continuation of legal custody pursuant to a criminal conviction, a parolee has a measure of liberty that is entitled to constitutional protection.
"We see, therefore, that the liberty of a parolee, although indeterminate, includes many of the core values of unqualified liberty, and its termination inflicts a 'grievous loss' on the parolee, and often on others. It is hardly useful any longer to try to deal with this problem in terms of whether the parolee's liberty is a 'right' or a 'privilege.' By whatever name, the liberty is valuable, and must be seen as within the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. Its termination calls for some orderly process, however informal."
Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U. S. 471, 408 U. S. 482.
"In view of the fact that physical confinement is merely one species of legal custody, we are persuaded that Morrissey actually portends a more basic conceptual holding: liberty protected by the due process clause may -- indeed must, to some extent -- coexist with legal custody pursuant to conviction. The deprivation of liberty following an adjudication of guilt is partial, not total. A residuum of constitutionally protected rights remains."
"As we noted in Morales v. Schmidt, the view once held that an inmate is a mere slave is now totally rejected. The restraints and the punishment which a criminal conviction entails do not place the citizen beyond the ethical tradition that accords respect to the dignity and intrinsic worth of every individual. [Footnote 2/4] 'Liberty' and 'custody' are not mutually exclusive concepts. "
"If the Morrissey decision is not narrowly limited by the distinction between physical confinement and conditional liberty to live at large in society, [Footnote 2/5] it requires that due process precede any substantial deprivation of the liberty of persons in custody. We believe a due regard for the interests of the individual inmate, as well as the interests of that substantial segment of our total society represented by inmates, [Footnote 2/6] requires that Morrissey be so read."
United States ex rel. Miller v. Twomey, 479 F.2d 701, 712-713. It demeans the holding in Morrissey -- more importantly, it demeans the concept of liberty itself -- to ascribe to that holding nothing more than a protection of an interest that the State has created through its own prison regulations. For if the inmate's protected liberty interests are no greater than the State chooses to allow, he is really little more than the slave described in the 19th century cases. I think it clear that even the inmate retains an unalienable interest in liberty -- at the very minimum, the right to be treated with dignity -- which the Constitution may never ignore.
This basic premise is not inconsistent with recognition of the obvious fact that the State must have wide latitude in determining the conditions of confinement that will be imposed following conviction of crime. To supervise and control its prison population, the State must retain the power to change the conditions for individuals, or for groups of prisoners, quickly and without judicial review. In many respects, the State's problems in governing its inmate population are comparable to those encountered in governing a military force. Prompt and unquestioning obedience by the individual, even to commands he does not understand, may be essential to the preservation of order and discipline. Nevertheless, within the limits imposed by the basic restraints governing the controlled population, each individual retains his dignity and, in time, acquires a status that is entitled to respect.
Imprisonment is intended to accomplish more than the temporary removal of the offender from society in order to prevent him from committing like offenses during the period of his incarceration. While custody denies the inmate the opportunity to offend, it also gives him an opportunity to improve himself and to acquire skills and habits that will help him to participate in an open society after his release. Within the prison community, if my basic hypothesis is correct, he has a protected right to pursue his limited rehabilitative goals, or at the minimum, to maintain whatever attributes of dignity are associated with his status in a tightly controlled society. It is unquestionably within the power of the State to change that status, abruptly and adversely; but if the change is sufficiently grievous, it may not be imposed arbitrarily. In such case, due process must be afforded.
Fourteenth Amendment. [Footnote 2/7] There must be grievous loss, and that term itself is somewhat flexible. I would certainly not consider every transfer within a prison system, even to more onerous conditions of confinement, such a loss. On the other hand, I am unable to identify a principled basis for differentiating between a transfer from the general prison population to solitary confinement and a transfer involving equally disparate conditions between one physical facility and another.
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,"
U.S.Const., Amdt. 13, § 1 (emphasis added).
Morales v. Schmidt, 489 F.2d 1335, 1338 (CA7 1973), modified on rehearing en banc, 494 F.2d 85 (1974).
"'A first tenet of our governmental, religious, and ethical tradition is the intrinsic worth of every individual, no matter how degenerate. It is a radical departure from that tradition to subject a defined class of persons, even criminals, to a regime in which their right to liberty is determined by officials wholly unaccountable in the exercise of their power. . . .'"
"443 F.2d , at 952 n. 1."
479 F.2d at 712-713, n. 21.
"See Task Force Report, at 12. See especially the discussion of "Blurring Lines Between Institution and Community" at 1." Id. at 713 n. 22.
"'A substantial portion of our population is affected by the law in this area. Approximately 1.3 million people are, at any one time, subject to correctional authority; untold millions have criminal records. There is increasing doubt as to the propriety of treating this large group of persons as, in varying degrees, outcasts from society. And there is increasing recognition that such treatment is not in the ultimate interests of society. Denying offenders any chance to challenge arbitrary assertions of power by correctional officials, and barring them from legitimate opportunities such as employment, are inconsistent with the correctional goal of rehabilitation, which emphasizes the need to instill respect for and willingness to cooperate with society and to help the offender assume the role of a normal citizen.'"
"Task Force Report at 82."
Id. at 713 n. 23.
"This does not mean, however, that every decision by prison officials should be subject to judicial review, or that the courts, rather than experienced administrators, should write prison regulations. Morrissey reminds us that due process is a flexible concept which takes account of the importance of the interests at stake; thus, it is abundantly clear that a myriad of problems of prison administration must remain beyond the scope of proper judicial concern. Only significant deprivations of liberty raise constitutional issues under Morrissey. Moreover, in determining whether to require due process, we need not choose between the 'full panoply' of rights accorded a defendant in a criminal prosecution, on the one hand, and no safeguards whatsoever, on the other. Rather, as Morrissey aptly illustrates, the requirements of due process may be shaped to fit the needs of a particular situation."
United States ex rel Miller v. Twomey, 479 F.2d at 713.
There is no question that respondents in this case suffered loss because of the transfer. Hathaway lost his laundry business -- a source of income -- which he had been running at Norfolk; Dussault lost his job as a plumber, in which he had been performing "a difficult job especially well"; Royce was separated from counselors with whom he had a "good relationship" which had helped him in his effort "to get himself together." These losses were in addition to the generally more restrictive conditions inherent in a maximum security institution, as compared to a medium security institution.

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