Opinion ID: 2994465
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Transfer To Wabash Valley Correctional

Text: Facility Zimmerman wants to participate in vocational training and substance abuse programs, knowing that if he does and successfully completes the programs he earns good time credits. At Pendleton, he was participating in those programs. At Wabash Valley, he is not, because the programs are not offered. He thus protests his transfer, arguing that because he is now unable to participate in educational and rehabilitative programs, the transfer deprived him of a liberty interest. There is no constitutional mandate to provide educational, rehabilitative, or vocational programs, in the absence of conditions that give rise to a violation of the Eighth Amendment. Garza v. Miller, 688 F.2d 480, 486 (7th Cir. 1982). Although the Constitution guarantees no right to credit time for good behavior or educational programs, the State may create such a liberty interest. Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 557 (1974). Zimmerman argues that Indiana has done just that, created a liberty interest under Indiana Code sec.35-50-6-3.3, which grants an inmate credit time for successfully completing various educational programs. We have already reviewed and rejected this identical claim. In Higgason v. Farley, 83 F.3d 807, 809 (7th Cir. 1996), we held that the denial of access to educational programs does not infringe on a protected liberty interest. The plaintiff, like Zimmerman, claimed a liberty interest under Indiana Code sec.35-50-6-3.3. Relying on Supreme Court precedent, we soundly rejected that position. If the State’s action will inevitably affect the duration of the sentence, there is due process protection, but there is no such protection for action that merely might affect the duration of the sentence. Id., citing Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 487 (1995) (internal quotation marks omitted). We concluded that even if Higgason had been given the opportunity, it was not inevitable that he would complete an educational program and earn good time credits. Id. Thus, we found there was no due process violation. Higgason is a case that is on all fours with the case before us. We believe it is controlling and mandates that Zimmerman’s claim be dismissed. Zimmerman, however, suggests that a different result is necessary because he alleged in his Second Amended Complaint that he would receive good time credits if allowed to participate in an educational program. He wishes that the use of the word would would transform his case from one of uncertainty to one of certainty, thus taking him out of the ambit of Higgason. We do not think so. As we found in Higgason, the successful completion of a program is not inevitable. Thus, denying him the opportunity to earn good time credits does not inevitably affect the duration of the sentence, and does not deprive him of constitutional guarantees. The fact that he pleaded that he would have received credit time is merely a legal conclusion devoid of supporting factual allegations and does withstand a motion to dismiss. Strauss v. City of Chicago, 760 F.2d 765, 767 (7th Cir. 1985). Recently, in an analogous situation, we reaffirmed the principles underlying Higgason. In Stanley v. Litscher, 213 F.3d 340 (7th Cir. 2000), we analyzed a prisoner’s right to participate in a program for sex offenders and similarly concluded that there was no liberty interest in the participation of such programs. The plaintiff, a psychopath, desired to participate in a program, believing that it would give him a boost when seeking parole or work release and reduce the chance that he will be civilly committed at the end of his criminal sentence. Id. at 342. We rejected his constitutional claims, holding that admission to the program was not a liberty interest. No fixed set of criteria entitles anyone to admission, and exclusion leaves the prisoner with the normal attributes of confinement. Id. (citations omitted). As the District Court noted, the transfer of an inmate to less amenable and more restrictive quarters for non-punitive reasons is well within the terms of confinement ordinarily contemplated by a prison sentence. Hewitt v. Helms, 459 U.S. 460, 468 (1983). There is nothing in his Second Amended Complaint that suggests that Zimmerman is deprived of the basic human needs to which he is entitled. He complains only of the deprivation of the opportunity to earn good time credits. Such a deprivation is not a constitutional violation. The District Court therefore correctly dismissed his claim for violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.