Opinion ID: 6322051
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Report of Classiﬁcation Hearing

Text: The ROCH begins as a generic form used for weekly reviews of new transfers, 90-day reviews, and annual reviews. Each form includes a section for a caseworker to recommend whether the inmate should remain in his or her current status. Then the supervisor of classiﬁcation reviews the recommendation and either approves or denies. This process is governed by the Department’s Adult Oﬀender Classiﬁcation Policy (the “Classiﬁcation Policy”). Under that policy, classiﬁcation decisions can be appealed through separate procedures based on whether the decision is intra-facility or interfacility. In general, ROCHs are completed more frequently after a change in an inmate’s status. For example, Crouch received a ROCH roughly once a week for the eight weeks following his transfer to administrative department-wide restrictive housing in August 2017. After that period, Crouch received only four ROCHs over the next two years. During his nearly four years in solitary conﬁnement, Crouch received at least 35 ROCHs, most of which concerned changes in his classiﬁcation or status. Crouch did not appeal any of these reports, 4 No. 21-2422 although before entering solitary conﬁnement he was aware of the process to appeal a ROCH and he had previously done so. 3