Opinion ID: 424928
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plaintiff Redding

Text: 9 James Redding received a resident disciplinary report on November 19, 1979, charging him, among other things, with forging a name on a medical pass in violation of A.R. 804 Secs. (II)(A)-(1), (13) & (14). On November 21, Redding appeared before the Adjustment Committee, then consisting of Defendants Hosier, Marion, and Klaren. Redding requested that Hosier disqualify himself, because Redding had an unrelated civil rights suit for damages pending against Hosier. Hosier refused the request. 10 The Committee found Redding guilty. In the section of the Adjustment Committee Summary marked Record of Proceedings, the Committee wrote: Resident states the officer is lying, that is his signature. And this document is not a forgery. In the section marked Basis for Decision/Evidence Relied Upon, the Committee wrote: All evidence presented has convinced the committee the resident is guilty of forging a pass or altering a pass, giving false information to a [sic] employee and disobeying a prison rule. Redding received fifteen days in segregation and a thirty-day demotion to C-grade status, entailing loss of certain privileges accorded to A-grade inmates. The Committee's finding of guilt and the punishment imposed were approved by Defendant Fairman, Pontiac's warden, but six months later the entire incident was expunged from Redding's record because the charging officer admitted that the signature was not a forgery. 11 Redding testified in a deposition that he submitted an advance written request to call three witnesses at the Committee hearing. 2 The Committee denied his requests. The Adjustment Committee Summary did not explain two of the three denials. 12 At trial, Redding testified that he spent fifteen days in segregation as a result of the Committee decision. The jury awarded Redding $20 compensatory damages for denial of Redding's request to call witnesses, denial of an impartial decisionmaker, and inadequate summaries of the evidence and reasons for the Committee decision. The jury awarded Redding $200 punitive damages against Defendant Hosier for refusal to disqualify himself from the Committee.