Opinion ID: 1198954
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Internal Management Procedures and Policies

Text: The petitioner also contends in his cross-appeal that subjecting him to the IMPP 11-101 level system because of his failure to participate in the SATP violated his due process rights. In order to properly address this issue, some background on the level system created by IMPP 11-101 is necessary. IMPP 11-101 is an internal management policy and procedure concerning offender privileges and incentives. Under IMPP 11-101, inmates can earn certain privileges, including television ownership, handicrafts, participation in organizations, use of outside funds, canteen expenditures, property, incentive pay, and visitation. Under IMPP 11-101, there are several levels of privileges. At Level I, the level at which the petitioner was placed following his refusal to participate in the SATP, the inmate may not have a personal television but has access to general television. Inmates at Level I are limited in activities, have limited expenditures at the canteen up to $20, may earn up to 600 per day in incentive pay, and may receive visitors from immediate family. At Level III, the highest level for inmates, the inmate may purchase a personal television, spend up to $140 in the canteen on a more extensive list of items, and may have any approved visitor. In order to move from level to level, the inmate must remain free of class I or class II disciplinary reports and demonstrate a willingness to participate in recommended programs and/or work assignments for a full review cycle of a minimum of 120 days. An inmate may lose levels for disciplinary offenses and is automatically reduced to Level I in the event the inmate is terminated from a work program for cause, refuses to participate in a recommended program such as SATP, commits felony offenses, or has serious disciplinary offenses. When an inmate loses levels, property items which the inmate is no longer authorized to have are removed from the facility. The first time an inmate is removed from Level II or III to Level I, unauthorized items purchased by the inmate at the canteen such as televisions, sound equipment, and large appliances are stored for the inmate at the facility and returned to the inmate when the inmate advances back to a level at which they are authorized. However, if the inmate is returned to Level I a second time or fails to advance to Level II at the earliest possible time, these items are removed from the facility. When an item is removed from the facility, the inmate has the choice of having the item mailed to an address of the inmate's choosing at the inmate's expense or with the approval of the warden at the expense of the facility, donating the item to charity, having the property picked up by an authorized person, or having the property delivered to a local address by the facility upon the approval of the warden. At the time IMPP 11-101 was implemented on January 1, 1996, all inmates currently incarcerated were placed at Level III, the highest level available. At this level, the inmates enjoyed the same privileges that existed prior to implementation of IMPP 11-101. The petitioner contends that as the result of his nonparticipation in the SATP, he was made subject to IMPP 11-101 and reduced to Level I, with the result being that certain privileges and property that he had been allowed were taken away. He contends that this violated due process. As we have already noted, the petitioner did not raise this argument before the district court. Instead, he argued that subjecting him to IMPP 11-101 was an ex post facto application which he appears to have abandoned. Ordinarily, issues not raised before the trial court cannot be raised on appeal. Ripley v. Tolbert, 260 Kan. 491, Syl. ¶ 6, 921 P.2d 1210 (1996). However, we have recognized an exception to this rule where consideration of the issue is necessary to serve the ends of justice or to prevent the denial of fundamental rights. See State v. Bell, 258 Kan. 123, 126, 899 P.2d 1000 (1995). As the due process issue raised in the petitioner's appeal is an important one, we now address it. The first step in this analysis is to determine whether the petitioner's property interests were infringed upon. The petitioner contends that when he was reduced to Level 1, his personal property was confiscated. The Court of Appeals has held that when inmates are afforded the opportunity to possess personal property, they enjoy a protected interest in that property that cannot be infringed upon without due process. Bryant v. Barbara, 11 Kan. App.2d 165, 167-68, 717 P.2d 522, rev. denied 239 Kan. 693 (1986). This reasoning is sound, in that once an inmate owns certain property, the ownership of that property may not be taken from him or her without due process of law. However, there is a difference between the inmate's ownership rights in the property and the inmate's right to possess the property while in prison. Under IMPP 11-101, when an inmate is reduced to Level I so that certain property which is in his or her possession may no longer be possessed by the inmate in prison, the property is not taken from his or her ownership. Instead, if this reduction to Level I is the first for the inmate, the property is stored at the institution until the inmate has either regained a level or failed to advance. If the inmate does regain a level, the inmate receives the property back. Otherwise, in every other case where the reduction to Level I is not the first such reduction for the inmate, the property must leave the institution. However, this does not deny the inmate ownership of the property. Instead, the inmate has the choice of having the item mailed to an address of the inmate's choosing at the inmate's expense or with the approval of the warden at the expense of the facility, donating the item to charity, having the property picked up by an authorized person, or having the property delivered to a local address by the facility upon the approval of the warden. Courts have held that where an inmate has been allowed to send property the inmate owns but is not allowed to possess in prison from the institution to an address of his or her own choosing, the inmate has not been deprived of the property so as to implicate the due process clause. See Williams v. Meese, 926 F.2d 994, 998 (10th Cir. 1991); Pryor-El v. Kelly, 892 F. Supp. 261, 271 (D.D.C. 1995). Thus, although the petitioner was not allowed possession of the property in the case at hand, he did not lose ownership of the property, and therefore there was no taking sufficient to implicate due process. Next, this court must address whether the restrictions imposed by IMPP 11-101 infringed upon the protected liberty interest of the petitioner. The first question in this analysis is whether the petitioner had a liberty interest in being allowed to possess certain property or enjoy certain activities and status available to him at Level III but denied at Level I. In Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 132 L. Ed.2d 418, 115 S. Ct. 2293 (1995), the United States Supreme Court held that while states may under certain circumstances create liberty interests, these interests will be generally limited to freedom from restraint which imposes an atypical and significant hardship on the inmate in relation to the ordinary incidents of prison life. See Murphy v. Nelson, 260 Kan. 589, 600-01, 921 P.2d 1225 (1996). The restrictions imposed at Level I do not impose an atypical or significant hardship on the petitioner in relation to the ordinary incidents of prison life. While the petitioner is denied the use of certain personal electronic equipment, this does not impose a significant hardship. Nor do the restrictions on purchases at the canteen or the types of purchases and personal property allowed constitute an atypical hardship. While Level I has a restriction on visitation, the United States Supreme Court has held that the denial of prison access to a particular visitor is well within the terms of confinement ordinarily contemplated by a prison sentence. See Kentucky Dept. of Corrections v. Thompson, 490 U.S. 454, 461, 104 L. Ed.2d 506, 109 S. Ct. 1904 (1989). Also, while Level I imposes some incentive pay restrictions, it has been held that an inmate does not have a constitutionally protected interest in employment. See Templeman v. Gunter, 16 F.3d 367, 370 (10th Cir. 1994). It is true that the test for whether a restriction is a significant hardship is not whether such restriction would violate due process on its own. See Sandin, 515 U.S. at 486. However, neither the restrictions on visitation or incentive pay constitute a significant or an atypical hardship on an inmate which would not have been contemplated in his or her original sentence. As a result, the application of IMPP 11-101 to the petitioner does not violate due process. Affirmed. MCFARLAND, C.J., dissenting.