Opinion ID: 786612
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Modifications to Ohio's Substantive Prison Regulations

Text: 18 Prior to the district court's modifications, inmates could be placed at OSP for any contraband activity, no matter how minimal. As its first substantive modification, the district court directed that the policy be rewritten to specify a quantity of contraband activity, and for drug activity, the district court stipulated that the threshold amount should reflect a level that would subject an inmate to incarceration for at least a third degree felony, or alternately the court allowed placement for multiple violations involving lesser quantit[ies] of drugs. Austin II, 204 F.Supp.2d at 1028. The district court's second substantive modification was to the security group threat predicate for classification, directing the ODRC Officials to modify the criteria to require a greater showing of involvement in such groups. Third, the district court required that only behavior in the five years prior to a retention decision should be considered, and that an inmate with three years free of violent behavior and two years free of major misconduct should generally qualify for reclassification to a lower level and transfer out of OSP, with an exception to both of these rules if an inmate's prior conduct during incarceration resulted in death or extreme bodily harm. Id. 19 The power of the federal courts to order modifications in state prison policies extends only as far as is necessary to protect federal rights. The Inmates do not argue and we do not decide whether placement at OSP implicates either the Eighth Amendment or the substantive portion of the Due Process Clause. 9 The federal right at issue in this case, then, is defined solely in relation to the substantive limits placed on the discretion of the ODRC officials by state law itself. Therefore, the district court only had the power to order federally mandated process in a substantive inquiry otherwise governed by the state. The district court was thus without power to order the state officials to modify the substantive predicates which governed placement and retention at OSP. See Washington v. Harper, 494 U.S. 210, 219-222, 110 S.Ct. 1028, 108 L.Ed.2d 178 (1990) (reviewing a state court's substantive as well as procedural modifications to state correctional regulations). Therefore, regardless of their inherent soundness, these three modifications must fail, as they order the ODRC to alter its substantive rules governing OSP placement and retention. 20 While the district court correctly identified adequate notice as a requirement of due process when making these changes, see Columbia Natural Res., Inc. v. Tatum, 58 F.3d 1101, 1104-05 (6th Cir.1995), we conclude that each of the regulations provides sufficient notice and that the modifications made by the district court are in fact substantive modifications. For instance, new 111-07 states that any amount of drugs can trigger a reclassification hearing; altering the policy to require a specified amount does not improve upon that notice but instead limits the substantive discretion of the ODRC Officials. Similarly, the security group modification alters the substantive grounds for placement at OSP, rather than the process used in determining that placement. And the modification to the retention criteria also limits the substantive discretion of the Officials. While the due process requirement of notice applies in the prison context as well as outside of it, albeit slightly differently, see United States v. Chatman, 538 F.2d 567, 569 (4th Cir.1976), any deficiencies in the notice provided by these provisions are properly corrected through case by case as applied challenges to the regulations, rather than striking the regulations down on their face. See Parker v. Levy, 417 U.S. 733, 755-56, 94 S.Ct. 2547, 41 L.Ed.2d 439 (1974); Adams v. Gunnell, 729 F.2d 362, 369-70 (5th Cir.1984). We therefore reverse those portions of the district court's judgments that altered the contents of these three substantive regulations. 21