Opinion ID: 764670
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Edwards v. Balisok

Text: 30 Much of the confusion regarding the applicability of the Heck rule to intra-prison sanctions stemmed from the Supreme Court's decision in Edwards v. Balisok, 520 U.S. 641, 117 S.Ct. 1584, 137 L.Ed.2d 906 (1997). In Edwards, the Court held that a prisoner's § 1983 suit alleging deceit and unfairness by a hearing officer was not cognizable where the hearing resulted in a revocation of the prisoner's accrued good-time credits. See id. at 648, 117 S.Ct. 1584. Although the prisoner also was sentenced to 10 days in isolation and 20 days in segregation, see id. at 643, 117 S.Ct. 1584, the Court focused exclusively on the revocation of his good-time credits which, of course, affected the length of his overall sentence. 31 In its holding, the Edwards Court rejected the prisoner's distinction between challenges to the procedures used as opposed to the result of the hearing. See id. at 644, 117 S.Ct. 1584. The Court explained that even though the prisoner, unlike the plaintiff in Preiser, did not request the restoration of his good-time credits, a ruling in his favor on his procedural claims would necessarily vitiate the administrative decision revoking his good-time credits. As a consequence, the Court held that, consistent with Preiser and Heck, his § 1983 claim was not cognizable until the prison's decision had been overturned through administrative channels or by a state court or a federal court in a habeas proceeding. See id. at 648, 117 S.Ct. 1584. The Court did not address whether the prisoner could proceed separately with his § 1983 claim as to those portions of his sentence which affected only the conditions of his confinement. See id.