Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/472/445/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 16:13:17+00:00

Document:
Respondent inmates in a Massachusetts state prison each received disciplinary reports charging them with assaulting another inmate. At separate hearings, a prison disciplinary board heard testimony from a prison guard and received his written report. According to this evidence, the guard heard some commotion in a prison walkway and, upon investigating, discovered an inmate who evidently had just been assaulted, and saw three other inmates, including respondents, fleeing down the walkway. The board found respondents guilty and revoked their good time credits. After an unsuccessful appeal to the prison superintendent, respondents filed a complaint in Massachusetts Superior Court alleging that the board's decisions violated their constitutional rights because there was no evidence to support the board's findings. The Superior Court granted summary judgment for respondents, holding that the board's findings of guilt rested on no evidence constitutionally adequate to support the findings, and ordered that the lost good time be restored. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed.
1. Since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court interpreted a state statute as providing for judicial review of respondents' claims, there is no need to decide whether due process would require judicial review. Pp. 472 U. S. 449-453.
2. Assuming that good time credits constitute a protected liberty interest, the revocation of such credits must be supported by some evidence in order to satisfy the minimum requirements of procedural due process. Such a requirement will help to prevent arbitrary deprivation without threatening institutional interests or imposing undue administrative burdens. Ascertaining whether the "some evidence" standard is satisfied does not require examination of the entire record, independent assessment of witnesses' credibility, or weighing of the evidence, but, instead, the relevant question is whether there is any evidence in the record to support the disciplinary board's conclusion. Pp. 472 U. S. 453-456.
of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although the evidence might be characterized as meager, and there was no direct evidence identifying any one of the three fleeing inmates as the assailant, the record is not so devoid of evidence that the board's findings were without support or otherwise arbitrary. Pp. 472 U. S. 456-457.
392 Mass.198, 466 N.E.2d 818, reversed and remanded.
O'CONNOR, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and WHITE, BLACKMUN, POWELL, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined, and in Parts I, II, and III of which BRENNAN, MARSHALL, and STEVENS, JJ., joined. STEVENS, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which BRENNAN and MARSHALL, JJ., joined, post, p. 472 U. S. 457.
Massachusetts inmates who comply with prison rules can accumulate good time credits that reduce the term of imprisonment. Mass.Gen.Laws Ann., ch. 127, § 129 (West 1974). Such credits may be lost "if a prisoner violates any rule of his place of confinement." Ibid. The question presented is whether revocation of an inmate's good time credits violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment if the decision of the prison disciplinary board is not supported by evidence in the record. We conclude that where good time credits constitute a protected liberty interest, a decision to revoke such credits must be supported by some evidence. Because the record in this case contains sufficient evidence to support the decision of the disciplinary board, we reverse.
in the area, which was enclosed by a chain link fence. Maguire concluded that one or more of the three inmates had assaulted Stephens, and that they had acted as a group. Maguire also testified at Hill's hearing that a prison "medic" had told him that Stephens had been beaten. Hill and Crawford each declared their innocence before the disciplinary board, and Stephens gave written statements that the other inmates had not caused his injuries.
"there was no evidence to confirm that the incident took place nor was there any evidence to state that, if the incident did take place the [respondents] were involved."
Id. at 10. After reviewing the record, the Superior Court concluded that "the Board's finding of guilty rested, in each case, on no evidence constitutionally adequate to support that finding." App. to Pet. for Cert. 8b. The Superior Court granted summary judgment for respondents and ordered that the findings of the disciplinary board be voided and the lost good time restored.
the board's findings" logically follows from Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U. S. 539 (1974). 392 Mass. at 201, 466 N.E.2d at 821. Without deciding whether the appropriate standard of review is "some evidence" or the stricter test of "substantial evidence," id. at 203, n. 5, 466 N.E.2d at 822, n. 5, the Supreme Judicial Court agreed with the trial judge that the record failed to present even "some evidence which, if believed, would rationally permit the board's findings." Id. at 203, 466 N.E.2d at 822 (footnote omitted).
The Massachusetts Attorney General filed a petition for a writ of certiorari urging this Court to decide whether prison inmates have a due process right to judicial review of prison disciplinary proceedings or, alternatively, whether the standard of review applied by the state court was more stringent than is required by the Due Process Clause. Pet. for Cert. i, 20-21. We granted the petition, 469 U.S. 1016 (1984), and we now reverse.
298 U. S. 38, 298 U. S. 51-52 (1936); Ng Fung Ho v. White, 259 U. S. 276, 259 U. S. 284-285 (1922).
The extent to which legislatures may commit to an administrative body the unreviewable authority to make determinations implicating fundamental rights is a difficult question of constitutional law. See, e.g., Califano v. Sanders, 430 U. S. 99, 430 U. S. 109 (1977); 5 K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise § 28:3 (2d ed.1984); Hart, The Power of Congress to Limit the Jurisdiction of Federal Courts: An Exercise in Dialectic, 66 Harv.L.Rev. 1362, 1375-1378, 1388-1391 (1953). The per curiam opinion in Ortwein did not purport to resolve this question definitively; nor are we disposed to construe that case as implicitly holding that due process would never require some form of judicial review of determinations made in prison disciplinary proceedings. Cf. Crowell v. Benson, 285 U. S. 22, 285 U. S. 87 (1932) (Brandeis, J., dissenting) ("under certain circumstances, the constitutional requirement of due process is a requirement of judicial process"). Whether the Constitution requires judicial review is only at issue if such review is otherwise barred, and we will not address the constitutional question unless it is necessary to the resolution of the case before the Court. See Johnson v. Robison, 415 U. S. 361, 415 U. S. 366-367 (1974).
"A civil action in the nature of certiorari to correct errors in proceedings which are not according to the course of the common law, which proceedings are not otherwise reviewable by motion or by appeal, may be brought in the supreme judicial or superior court."
"'[i]n the absence of a statutory method of judicial review, certiorari is an appropriate mode for correcting errors of law arising out of an administrative action.'"
Taunton Eastern Little League v. Taunton, 389 Mass. 719, 720, n. 1, 452 N.E.2d 211, 212, n. 1 (1983), quoting Reading v. Attorney General, 362 Mass. 266, 269, 285 N.E.2d 429, 431 (1972). In the present case, the Supreme Judicial Court expressly stated that respondents, who framed their complaints as petitions for a "writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum,'" should have brought civil actions pursuant to § 4. 392 Mass. at 199, n. 2, 466 N.E.2d at 819, n. 2. The state court supported this conclusion by citing its previous decision in Boston Edison Co. v. Board of Selectmen of Concord, 355 Mass. 79, 242 N.E.2d 868 (1968), and the decision of the Appeals Court of Massachusetts in Cepulonis v. Commissioner of Correction, 15 Mass.App. 292, 445 N.E.2d 178 (1983).
Mass.Gen.Laws Ann., ch. 249, § 4 (West 1959). Petitioner correctly informed this Court that the quoted phrase and the writ of certiorari were abolished by 1973 amendments to § 4, 1973 Mass.Acts, ch. 1114, § 289. Tr. of Oral Arg. 25, 50-51. Somewhat inexplicably, petitioner failed to add that the 1973 amendments substituted "a civil action in the nature of certiorari'" for the previously available writ, and did not narrow the relief formerly obtainable under the statute. See, e.g., Boston Edison Co. v. Boston Redevelopment Authority, 374 Mass. 37, 47-49, 371 N.E.2d 728, 737-738 (1977).
The second decision cited by the Supreme Judicial Court, Cepulonis, construed an inmate's challenge to a finding of a prison disciplinary board "as seeking review in the nature of certiorari" under § 4. 15 Mass.App. at 292, 445 N.E.2d at 178. Cepulonis did not address a due process claim; instead, the inmate contended that the disciplinary board's finding was not supported by "reliable evidence" as required by regulations of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. Id. at 293, 445 N.E.2d at 179. Thus, Boston Edison and Cepulonis relied on § 4 to provide an avenue for judicial review where an adjudicatory decision by a nonjudicial body was challenged as not supported by sufficient evidence. In those cases, the aggrieved parties argued that the evidence was insufficient to meet standards imposed by state law. See also 1001 Plays, Inc. v. Mayor of Boston, 387 Mass. 879, 444 N.E.2d 931 (1983) (§ 4 challenge to sufficiency of evidence to support denial of license for video game arcade); McSweeney v. Town Manager of Lexington, 379 Mass. 794, 401 N.E.2d 113 (1980) (noting that appropriate standard varies according to nature of action sought to be reviewed).
review under state Administrative Procedure Act does not indicate legislative intent to preclude judicial review of sufficiency of evidence for disciplinary board decisions). Indeed, previous decisions by the Supreme Judicial Court indicate that § 4 provides a means of review in state court where an administrative decision is challenged on federal constitutional grounds. See, e.g., Taunton Eastern Little League v. Taunton, supra, at 720-722, 452 N.E.2d at 212-213 (Establishment Clause challenge to rescission of beano license). We therefore interpret the opinion of the state court as holding that § 4 provides a mechanism for judicial review of respondents' claims. Given the rule of judicial restraint requiring us to avoid unnecessary resolution of constitutional issues, see, e.g., Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U. S. 288, 297 U. S. 346-347 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring), we decline to decide in this case whether due process would require judicial review.
our inquiry to the nature of the constitutionally required procedures.
"the provision for a written record helps to assure that administrators, faced with possible scrutiny by state officials and the public, and perhaps even the courts, where fundamental human rights may have been abridged, will act fairly."
Id. at 418 U. S. 565. We now hold that revocation of good time does not comport with "the minimum requirements of procedural due process," id. at 418 U. S. 558, unless the findings of the prison disciplinary board are supported by some evidence in the record.
"take place in a closed, tightly controlled environment peopled by those who have chosen to violate the criminal law and who have been lawfully incarcerated for doing so."
assuring the safety of inmates and prisoners, avoiding burdensome administrative requirements that might be susceptible to manipulation, and preserving the disciplinary process as a means of rehabilitation. See, e.g., Ponte v. Real, 471 U. S. 491 (1985); Baxter v. Palmigiano, 425 U. S. 308, 425 U. S. 321-322 (1976); Wolff v. McDonnell, supra, at 418 U. S. 562-563.
Requiring a modicum of evidence to support a decision to revoke good time credits will help to prevent arbitrary deprivations without threatening institutional interests or imposing undue administrative burdens. In a variety of contexts, the Court has recognized that a governmental decision resulting in the loss of an important liberty interest violates due process if the decision is not supported by any evidence. See, e.g., Douglas v. Buder, 412 U. S. 430, 412 U. S. 432 (1973) (per curiam) (revocation of probation); Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners, 353 U. S. 232, 353 U. S. 239 (1957) (denial of admission to bar); United States ex rel. Vajtauer v. Commissioner of Immigration, 273 U. S. 103, 273 U. S. 106 (1927) (deportation). Because the written statement mandated by Wolff requires a disciplinary board to explain the evidence relied upon, recognizing that due process requires some evidentiary basis for a decision to revoke good time credits will not impose significant new burdens on proceedings within the prison. Nor does it imply that a disciplinary board's factual findings or decisions with respect to appropriate punishment are subject to second-guessing upon review.
the conclusion reached by the disciplinary board. See ibid.; United States ex rel. Tisi v. Tod, 264 U. S. 131, 264 U. S. 133-134 (1924); Willis v. Ciccone, 506 F.2d 1011, 1018 (CA8 1974). We decline to adopt a more stringent evidentiary standard as a constitutional requirement. Prison disciplinary proceedings take place in a highly charged atmosphere, and prison administrators must often act swiftly on the basis of evidence that might be insufficient in less exigent circumstances. See Wolff, 418 U.S. at 418 U. S. 562-563, 418 U. S. 567-569. The fundamental fairness guaranteed by the Due Process Clause does not require courts to set aside decisions of prison administrators that have some basis in fact. Revocation of good time credits is not comparable to a criminal conviction, id. at 418 U. S. 556, and neither the amount of evidence necessary to support such a conviction, see Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (1979), nor any other standard greater than some evidence applies in this context.
Turning to the facts of this case, we conclude that the evidence before the disciplinary board was sufficient to meet the requirements imposed by the Due Process Clause. The disciplinary board received evidence in the form of testimony from the prison guard and copies of his written report. That evidence indicated that the guard heard some commotion and, upon investigating, discovered an inmate who evidently had just been assaulted. The guard saw three other inmates fleeing together down an enclosed walkway. No other inmates were in the area. The Supreme Judicial Court found that this evidence was constitutionally insufficient because it did not support an inference that more than one person had struck the victim or that either of the respondents was the assailant or otherwise participated in the assault. 392 Mass. at 203-204, 466 N.E.2d at 822. This conclusion, however, misperceives the nature of the evidence required by the Due Process Clause.
The Federal Constitution does not require evidence that logically precludes any conclusion but the one reached by the disciplinary board. Instead, due process in this context requires only that there be some evidence to support the findings made in the disciplinary hearing. Although the evidence in this case might be characterized as meager, and there was no direct evidence identifying any one of three inmates as the assailant, the record is not so devoid of evidence that the findings of the disciplinary board were without support or otherwise arbitrary. Respondents relied only upon the Federal Constitution, and did not claim that the disciplinary board's findings failed to meet evidentiary standards imposed by state law. See id. at 199, n. 2, 466 N.E.2d at 819, n. 2; Brief for Respondents 17. Because the determination of the disciplinary board was not so lacking in evidentiary support as to violate due process, the judgment of the Supreme Judicial Court is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
Such favored treatment should give rise to a special duty to be meticulously forthright and accurate in advising the Court about relevant matters of state law affecting the specific questions that a State Attorney General asks this Court to review. A lawyer's greatest asset -- his or her professional reputation -- should not be squandered in order to achieve a favorable result in an individual case. I restate these simple truths because of my concern that the petitioner in this case and, indeed, the Court itself, may have attached greater importance to the correction of error in an isolated case than to the maintenance of standards that should govern procedures in this Court in all cases.
"I. Whether prison inmates have a substantive due process right to judicial review of prison disciplinary board findings?"
"II. Whether, under the due process clause, the findings of a prison disciplinary board should be reviewed under a standard more stringent than review for action which is arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion?"
a more stringent standard than abuse of discretion -- is not presented because the Massachusetts court did not apply a more stringent standard. [Footnote 3] The first question, however, may have merited our attention if there had been no state procedure for reviewing prison disciplinary board findings.
"A prison inmate has no general due process right to judicial review of disciplinary board findings for sufficiency of the evidence, and the creation of such a right is not consistent with those principles enunciated by this Court in the context of prison administration."
which . . . are not otherwise reviewable by motion or appeal." Mass.Gen.Laws Ann., ch. 249, § 4 (West Supp.1984). Of course, we need not "decide in this case whether due process would require judicial review," ante at 472 U. S. 453, if state law provides judicial review, and the Court today correctly acknowledges this settled rule of judicial restraint. See ante at 472 U. S. 450-453. The Court's proper disposition of the primary question presented, however, does not adequately explain how this case arrived on our argument docket.
The Attorney General's petition for certiorari did not mention the existence of state procedures allowing judicial review. In his argument brief, the Attorney General did cite the state statute in a somewhat opaque footnote. See Brief for Petitioner 6, n. 2. That footnote, however, merely confirms the presumption that he was aware of his own State's procedure. Moreover, the Attorney General omitted any reference to the fact that less than one month before this case was argued before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, that court rejected, in the context of a challenge to prison disciplinary hearings, the Attorney General's defense that "the only judicial review available to the plaintiffs is an action in the nature of certiorari pursuant to G. L. c. 249, § 4." Nelson v. Commissioner of Correction, 390 Mass. 379, 381-382, 387-388, n. 12, 456 N.E.2d 1100, 1102, 1106, n. 12 (1983) (emphasis added).
"When the prison Superintendent petitioned for certiorari, he had a heavy burden of explaining why this Court should intervene in what amounts to a controversy between the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and that State's prison officials."
not appropriate for this Court even if a diligent search will disclose error in the record. Cf. United States v. Hasting, 461 U. S. 499, 461 U. S. 512 (1983) (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment). I consider it particularly unwise to volunteer an advisory opinion on the sufficiency of the evidence when, on remand, the state court remains free to reinstate its judgment if it concludes that the evidence does not satisfy the standards required by state law. [Footnote 8] Once again, however, the Court places a higher value on the rendition of a volunteered advisory opinion than on the virtues of judicial restraint.
Accordingly, while I join Parts I, II and III of the Court's opinion, I respectfully dissent from Part IV and its judgment.
See Marino v. Ragen, 332 U. S. 561, 332 U. S. 562 (1947) (per curiam).
See, e.g., Florida v. Rodriguez, 469 U. S. 1 (1984) (per curiam); California v. Beheler, 463 U. S. 1121 (1983) (per curiam); Illinois v. Batchelder, 463 U. S. 1112 (1983) (per curiam); California v. Ramos, 463 U. S. 992 (1983); Illinois v. Andreas, 463 U. S. 765 (1983).
The Massachusetts court expressly declined to apply a standard different than "some evidence" in this case. Additionally, I note that virtually all Courts of Appeals that have ruled on the issue have concluded that some evidence must support a decision to revoke good-time credits. See, e.g., Adams v. Gunnell, 729 F.2d 362, 370 (CA5 1984); Inglese v. Warden, U.S. Penitentiary, 687 F.2d 362, 363 (CA11 1982); Willis v. Ciccone, 506 F.2d 1011, 1018, 1019, n. 11 (CA8 1974); cf. Rusher v. Arnold, 550 F.2d 896, 899 (CA3 1977). One Circuit did adopt a "substantial evidence" standard a few years ago. Aikens v. Lash, 514 F.2d 55, 60-61 (CA7 1975) ("The term substantial evidence' need not be something prison officials should be overly concerned about"), vacated and remanded, 425 U.S. 947, modified, 547 F.2d 372 (1976). However, recent decisions of that court indicate that it may have modified the standard and that the modified version is applied much like the "some evidence" standard. See Brown-Bey v. United States, 720 F.2d 467, 469 (CA7 1983); Dawson v. Smith, 719 F.2d 896, 900 (CA7 1983); Jackson v. Carlson, 707 F.2d 943, 949 (CA7), cert. denied sub nom. Yeager v. Wilkinson, 464 U.S. 861 (1983). In any event, this minor dispute hardly qualifies as a one of national importance. Cf. Ponte v. Real, 471 U. S. 491, 471 U. S. 523, n. 21 (1985) (MARSHALL, J., dissenting) ("Reserving the argument docket for cases of truly national import would go far toward alleviating any workload problems allegedly facing the Court").
Ponte v. Real, 471 U.S. at 471 U. S. 501-502 (STEVENS, J., concurring) ("The merits of an isolated case have only an oblique relevance to the question whether a grant of certiorari is consistent with the sound administration of this Court's discretionary docket").
Cf. Board of License Comm'rs of Tiverton v. Pastore, 469 U. S. 238 (1985) (per curiam). See this Court's Rule 34.1(g) (a brief on the merits shall contain "a concise statement of the case containing al! that is material to the consideration of the question presented"); Rule 35.5 (supplemental brief may be filed to point out "late authorities, newly enacted legislation, or other intervening matters").
J. I. Case Co. v. Borak, 377 U. S. 426, 377 U. S. 428-429 (1964); Carpenters v. NLRB, 357 U. S. 93, 357 U. S. 96 (1958); Irvine v. California, 347 U. S. 128, 347 U. S. 129-130 (1954).
Thus, the Court not only excuses the Attorney General's error but actually rewards him by acting as "the High Magistrate," California v. Carney, 471 U. S. 386, 471 U. S. 396 (1985) (STEVENS, J., dissenting), and by reversing "fact-bound errors of minimal significance." Ibid.
Cf. Massachusetts v. Upton, 466 U. S. 727 (1984), on remand, Commonwealth v. Upton, 394 Mass. 363, 370-373, 476 N.E.2d 548, 550-551 (1985); California v. Ramos, 463 U. S. 992 (1983), on remand, People v. Ramos, 37 Cal.3d 136, 150-159, 689 P.2d 430, 437-444 (1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1119 (1985); South Dakota v. Neville, 459 U. S. 553 (1983), on remand, State v. Neville, 346 N.W.2d 425, 427-429 (SD 1984); Washington v. Chrisman, 455 U. S. 1 (1982), on remand, State v. Chrisman, 100 Wash. 814, 817-822, 676 P.2d 419, 422-424 (1984) (en banc).

References: § 129
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 28
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 4
 v. 
 v. 
 § 4
 § 4
 § 289
 v. 
 § 4
 § 4
 v. 
 v. 
 § 4
 v. 
 § 4
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 4
 § 4
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.