Opinion ID: 782566
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Term of Administrative Segregation

Text: 29 Having determined that this action may proceed under § 1983, we turn to Ramirez's argument that the District Court also erred in dismissing his Due Process challenge to his disciplinary sentence. Liberally interpreted, Ramirez's pro se complaint and objections to the Magistrate Judge's report and recommendation alleged that the disciplinary and appeals boards denied his request to examine adverse witnesses in violation of his Due Process rights. Ramirez's objections also alleged that prison officials added things to his appeal to mask the procedural errors committed at the disciplinary hearing. The District Court held that because inmates have no constitutional right to a prison grievance system, the actions of the prison officials in reviewing his internal appeal cannot create liability under § 1983. 30 The Due Process clause provides prisoners two separate sources of protection against unconstitutional state disciplinary actions. First, a prisoner may challenge a disciplinary action which deprives or restrains a state-created liberty interest in some unexpected manner. Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 483-84, 115 S.Ct. 2293, 132 L.Ed.2d 418 (1995). Ramirez's claimed loss of a liberty interest in the processing of his appeals does not satisfy this standard, because inmates lack a separate constitutional entitlement to a specific prison grievance procedure. Mann v. Adams, 855 F.2d 639, 640 (9th Cir.1988). Accordingly, Ramirez's claim lacks the necessary constitutional foundation, and thus does not extend his confinement in an unexpected manner. 31 Second, a prisoner may challenge a state action which does not restrain a protected liberty interest, but which nonetheless imposes some atypical and significant hardship on the inmate in relation to the ordinary incidents of prison life. Sandin, 515 U.S. at 484, 115 S.Ct. 2293; Keenan v. Hall, 83 F.3d 1083, 1088 (9th Cir.1996). If the hardship is sufficiently significant, then the court must determine whether the procedures used to deprive that liberty satisfied Due Process. Sandin, 515 U.S. at 484, 115 S.Ct. 2293; Keenan, 83 F.3d at 1089. 32 There is no single standard for determining whether a prison hardship is atypical and significant, and the condition or combination of conditions or factors ... requires case by case, fact by fact consideration. Keenan, 83 F.3d at 1089. Three guideposts cited in Sandin's analysis, however, provide a helpful framework: 1) whether the challenged condition mirrored those conditions imposed upon inmates in administrative segregation and protective custody, and thus comported with the prison's discretionary authority; 2) the duration of the condition, and the degree of restraint imposed; and 3) whether the state's action will invariably affect the duration of the prisoner's sentence. Sandin, 515 U.S. at 486-87, 115 S.Ct. 2293; Keenan, 83 F.3d at 1089. 33 In the present case, the District Court did not consider whether Ramirez's disciplinary segregation imposed an atypical and significant hardship warranting additional Due Process protections during his hearing. Although we cannot determine from the present record whether his administrative segregation imposed such a burden, we note that Ramirez's objections included allegations that his segregated unit was overcrowded and violent, and that the isolation severed ties to his family. Ramirez also alleged that during his segregation, he was made a patient of [ ] psychiatric programs. Most significantly, Ramirez was segregated for a period of two years, and the length of confinement cannot be ignored in deciding whether the confinement meets constitutional standards. Keenan, 83 F.3d at 1089 (quoting Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678, 686, 98 S.Ct. 2565, 57 L.Ed.2d 522 (1978)). We therefore remand the issue of Ramirez's segregation for application of the Sandin factors, and a determination, if necessary, of whether Ramirez was provided the process due. Id.