Opinion ID: 2267996
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: John Dillard

Text: On March 17, 1977, John Dillard was sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment for first degree rape, first degree sexual offense, and robbery with a deadly weapon. Sometime after being committed to the custody of the DOC, he was transferred to the Patuxent Institution. In April of 1983, Dillard was given a one-day leave from the institution but did not return as required. Authorities finally apprehended Dillard in Kansas on January 7, 1984, and he was returned to Patuxent on January 22 of that same year. Dillard was charged with escape, but the Howard County State's Attorney nolle prosequied the charge. Dillard never received a disciplinary sanction for the infraction. In March of 1990, Dillard was transferred from Patuxent to the DOC. From June 1991 until September 1998, he served his sentence in minimum security. During this period in minimum security, Dillard's classification status was reviewed 12 times, and on at least 9 of those occasions, the objective point system for evaluating security classifications recommended reducing Dillard's security level to pre-release status. Despite the recommendations, the case management team overrode the point assessment every time and maintained Dillard in minimum security. Dillard went before the Maryland Parole Commission for hearings in 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997. Following each of these hearings, the Parole Commission indicated that Dillard needed to obtain work-release to test his suitability for parole release. In June of 1996, Dillard was assigned to work detail that operated outside of the correctional institute. That November, the case management staff considered Dillard for pre-release status, but he was denied. Dillard then was removed from the work detail at his request. In April 1998, the Parole Commission issued a decision, granting Dillard parole release in April 1999 subject to the completion of six-months work release. The case management team at Central Laundry Facility approved a plan for Dillard, which provided for six-months of work release prior to April 1999. Nevertheless, when the plan was presented to the Commissioner for final approval, his designee denied that plan, stating that [i]n accordance with DCD 100-508, an inmate who has escaped during the current incarceration is never work-release eligible. The Commissioner's designee offered, instead, six-months of pre-release work detail. On July 8, 1998, the Parole Commission suspended Dillard's parole release date pending a hearing scheduled for September 1998. At that hearing, on September 18, 1998, the Parole Commission hearing officer recommended rescission of the release date and complete refusal of parole. The Parole Commission adopted the hearing officer's recommendation, and Dillard was transferred to a medium security prison on October 1, 1998. Dillard brought a grievance before the Grievance Office on January 13, 1999, alleging that DCDs 100-005 (security classification) and 100-508 (work release eligibility), which both became effective after Dillard was sentenced, constitute ex post facto laws. Dillard contended that DCDs 100-005 and 100-508 operated to prevent him from serving his sentence below medium security or obtaining work release. He also complained that the Commissioner's decision to deny him work-release was arbitrary and capricious. On June 24, 1999, the Executive Director of the Grievance Office dismissed Dillard's grievance as being on its face wholly lacking of merit.... The dismissal letter stated that the various security policies governing Dillard's confinement were subject to change as warranted by the Commissioner of Correction or his designee and that [a] revision of the Classification procedures is not the equivalent of an ex post facto law. Dillard filed an action for judicial review in the Circuit Court for Allegany County, which reversed the dismissal and remanded the case for a hearing to be conducted by the Office of Administrative Hearings. Following that hearing on July 13, 2000, the Administrative Law Judge concluded that Dillard had not shown that DCDs 100-005 and 100-508 are ex post facto laws because their application did not increase the punishment of the crimes for which [he] was convicted. Dillard again filed an action for judicial review in the Circuit Court for Allegany County, which heard the merits of his claim on October 12, 2001, and affirmed the decision of the Administrative Law Judge. The Circuit Court stated that Dillard's contentions concern Directives for the administration of the prison ... `which every prisoner can anticipate are contemplated by his original sentence [and] are necessarily functions of prison management that must be left to the broad discretion of prison administrators.' (quoting Gaston v. Taylor, 946 F.2d 340, 343 (4th Cir.1991) (en banc)).