Opinion ID: 591803
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Right to Call Jones as a Witness

Text: 15 Minimal procedural due process requirements must be met in prison disciplinary proceedings, including the opportunity to call witnesses and present documentary evidence in defense. Wolff, 418 U.S. at 563; see also Bartholomew v. Watson, 665 F.2d 915, 918 (9th Cir.1982) (prison procedures precluding the calling by an inmate of another inmate or staff member as a witness before a disciplinary committee violated due process). The prison disciplinary committee has the burden of proving that it had adequate justification for denying a prisoner the right to call a witness. See Ponte v. Real, 471 U.S. 491, 499 (1985). The inmate, however, must inform the committee of the nature of the testimony each witness will deliver in order to allow the committee to determine whether institutional concerns would preclude calling the witness. Bostic, 884 F.2d at 1274. 16 Here, Bostic had a constitutional right to call Jones, the alleged victim of the assault, to testify on his behalf. See Wolff, 418 U.S. at 563. Defendants failed to offer any evidence to the district court demonstrating that they had a good-faith, albeit mistaken belief that Jones had been released from custody. No affidavits or documentary records were submitted to the district court showing that defendants had relied on inaccurate information in submitting their transfer report to the disciplinary committee. This lack of documentary evidence indicates that there remains a genuine issue of material fact as to whether defendants had a good faith belief that Jones had been released from custody and was unavailable to testify. See Ponte, 471 U.S. at 499; Tzung, 873 F.2d at 1339-40. Accordingly, the district court erred when it granted summary judgment in favor of defendants on the issue of Jones's unavailability as a witness. 17 AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and REMANDED.