Opinion ID: 384571
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Wetzel's Probability of Success

Text: 25 Wetzel contends that his interest in being transferred is cognizable as a liberty interest for due process purposes and that appellants violated his rights by denying transfer without a hearing. The district court felt that Wetzel raised a substantial question, since it appeared that state statutes, together with appellants' policies and administrative regulations, established a justifiable expectation that one's achievement of medium custody status would be accompanied by a transfer to a medium custody facility. 26 The United States Supreme Court has ... repeatedly held that state statutes may create liberty interests that are entitled to the procedural protections of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Vitek v. Jones, 445 U.S. 480, 482, 100 S.Ct. 1254, 1257, 63 L.Ed.2d 552 (1980). Due process protections must be accorded once a state has granted liberty interests to an inmate ... to insure that the state-created right is not arbitrarily abrogated. Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 557, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 2975, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974). More specifically, the Court has held prison transfers do not implicate the Due Process clause, unless the state law created a right to stay at a particular institution. Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S. 215, 96 S.Ct. 2532, 49 L.Ed.2d 451 (1976). In a companion case, Montayne v. Haymes, 427 U.S. 236, 96 S.Ct. 2543, 49 L.Ed.2d 466 (1976), it was held that Due Process did not require a hearing in order to effect a prison transfer absent some right or justifiable expectation rooted in state law that he would not be transferred except for certain reasons. Montayne v. Haymes, supra, at 242, 96 S.Ct. at 2547. However, in these cases transfers were discretionary with prison authorities, and in neither case did the prisoner possess any right or justifiable expectation that he would not be transferred except for misbehavior or upon the occurrence of other specified events. 27 The State of North Carolina vigorously argues that North Carolina statutes do not establish a right or justifiable expectation of transfer. They note that N.C.G.S. §§ 148-4 and 148-36 provide for inmates to be placed in the custody of the Department of Corrections, which is to designate the place of confinement. Accordingly, these state statutes vest far-reaching discretion in the Department and the administrators thereof. 28 Furthermore, appellants correctly assert that the decision of the district court failed to consider the decision of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Goble v. Bounds, 13 N.C.App. 579, 186 S.E.2d 638 (1972), which was subsequently affirmed by the State Supreme Court in 281 N.C. 307, 188 S.E.2d 347 (1972). Goble involved the interpretation of the particular statutes at issue in this appeal. The court held, inter alia, that a state prisoner has no legal right to the mitigation of his punishment and that the question as to whether a particular inmate is entitled to honor grade status or parole involves policy decisions which should be made by the Department and the Parole Board, not the courts. The court interpreted these statutes as not creating liberty or property interests in parole or honor grade status. Moreover, it is well-settled that the federal courts are bound by the interpretation placed on state statutes by the highest courts of the state. Ferguson v. Manning, 216 F.2d 188 (4th Cir. 1954); Accord: Paine v. Baker, 595 F.2d 197 (4th Cir. 1979), cert. denied 444 U.S. 925, 100 S.Ct. 263, 62 L.Ed.2d 181 (1979). (specifically upholding decision in Goble v. Bounds, supra.) 29 The district court found that the denial of transfer implicated due process because it hindered Wetzel's chances to obtain parole. It is clear that the mere existence of a parole system does not give an inmate a sufficient expectation of release such as to necessitate due process protections which unlike the situation of a parole revocation does require such protection. The extent of protection accorded an inmate in the decision as to whether to grant an inmate parole is dependent upon state law. Greenholtz v. Nebraska Penal Inmates, 442 U.S. 1, 99 S.Ct. 2100, 60 L.Ed.2d 668 (1979). The state argues that the state statutes, as interpreted by the North Carolina Supreme Court in Goble v. Bounds, supra, do not establish a property or liberty interest in one's grade or eligibility for parole. Consequently, appellants assert that Meachum dictates that no due process rights are implicated and questions of assignment and custody level should be left to the discretion of prison officials. Cooper v. Riddle, 540 F.2d 731 (4th Cir. 1976). 30 Wetzel, however, emphasizes N.C.G.S. § 148-22 which directs the Department of Corrections to provide for the prisoners' correction and return to the community as soon as practicable; N.C.G.S. § 148-36 authorizing the Department to adopt regulations in order to classify prison facilities and to devise programs designed to facilitate proper treatment of inmates on an individualized basis; and N.C.G.S. § 143B-261 which expressly provides that rehabilitation is a goal of incarceration. Wetzel argues that these state statutes created a right to expect that appellants would assess the individual inmate's needs in order to effectively make an effort to rehabilitate such inmate. 31 Additionally, Wetzel stresses that N.C.G.S. § 148-36 mandates that prisoners be placed in the appropriate facility considering applicable custodial and correctional goals. He argues that the classification system creates an expectation that he will be housed in an appropriate facility and because he is a medium custody prisoner, Central Prison, the state's only maximum security unit, is inappropriate by definition. 32 Furthermore, Wetzel contends the appellants admitted, though unwritten, a policy of automatically transferring prisoners when their respective status was changed, to a facility with a commensurate classification. This, he asserts, was a valid basis for his legitimate expectation of transfer. The question is thus raised as to whether such unwritten regulations and prison policies create a liberty interest in transfer. The resolution of this issue is not readily apparent from the cases cited by the parties. There has been no definitive ruling by the United States Supreme Court and the lower courts are in disagreement as to the proper resolution thereof. Accordingly, it is premature to assert that Wetzel has demonstrated a clear likelihood of success. 33
34 Wetzel contends that he is being treated in an arbitrary and capricious manner which violates equal protection and substantive due process rights which arise under the Fourteenth Amendment. The basis of this claim is that the prison administrators have followed a general practice in transferring a prisoner to medium facility upon the inmates receipt of a medium custody security classification. 35 Wetzel appears to argue that we should adopt a strict scrutiny analysis, but fails to identify either the suspect category or the fundamental right involved which would justify such analysis. Even under a rational basis test, he asserts that the prison administrators cannot justify their actions in failing to facilitate his transfer to a medium security unit. 36 The reasons advanced by the Department of Corrections, supra, p. 287, delineate the motivation behind the decision to retain Wetzel at Central Prison. While we do not reach the ultimate merits of this appeal, it would appear that Wetzel has not demonstrated that such reasons are irrational considering legitimate penological goals of the State of North Carolina. Accordingly, Wetzel has not demonstrated a likelihood of success under the theories of equal protection and substantive due process.