Opinion ID: 385769
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Denial of Witnesses (555 F.2d at 628-30)

Text: 17 In Hayes I, we held that the District Court erroneously dismissed the witness denial portion of Hayes' complaint because the record then before the Court did not permit even limited review of the Committee's decision: 18 The record now before this Court does not permit even limited review of the Institutional Adjustment Committee's exercise of discretion. The Institutional Adjustment Committee offered in justification of its action only broad conclusory findings of possible hazard both to potential witnesses and to institutional security which applied to all of the proposed witnesses on plaintiff's list. There is no indication in the record that the Institutional Adjustment Committee examined each proposed witness for the relative benefit or danger in his testimony. Similarly, this court cannot determine whether the broad conclusion applicable to all of the witnesses was improper as to individual witnesses. Since the record is barren of support for these broad conclusions, we find that the case must be returned to the district court for a determination of whether the Institutional Adjustment Committee's decision was a proper exercise of discretion. 19 We are not requiring that a statement of reasons be given to support the denial of a request for witnesses. We hold only that some support for the denial of a request for witnesses appear in the record. 555 F.2d at 630. 20 Our discussion emphasized the meaninglessness of judicial review if such broad unsupported findings were allowed to uphold disciplinary convictions. Our remand on this issue was to permit the prison authorities to introduce portions of the Committee's hearing record which may have been previously unavailable, and which would then allow a court to exercise its review function over the Committee's action. 21 We also held in Hayes I that the Committee did not comply with applicable regulations when it failed to consider each proposed witness individually. 1 22