Court Opinion

ID: 9669930
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:11:03.125801+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:01.181789
License: Public Domain

Per Curiam
(on motion for rehearing). When, in our original opinion, we incorporated the minimum due process requirements of Morrissey v. Brewer (1972), 408 U. S. 471, 92 Sup. Ct. 2593, 33 L. Ed. 2d 484, as the standards to be applied in good time revocation hearings, we did so believing federal law required that decision. However, Wolff v. McDonnell (1974), 418 U. S. 539, 94 Sup. Ct. 2963, 41 L. Ed. 2d 935, decided two days prior to our decision in this case, held that the due-process procedures to be afforded the prisoner in a disciplinary proceeding differ from the procedures to be afforded the parolee or probationer in a revocation hearing. Accordingly, we modify our opinion to afford prisoners at prison disciplinary proceedings those rights outlined in Wolff:
*431b1. “ [W] ritten notice of the charges must be given to the disciplinary-action defendant in order to inform him of the charges and to enable him to marshal the facts and prepare a defense. At least a brief period of time after the notice, no less than 24 hours, should be allowed to the inmate to prepare for the appearance before the [impartial hearing body].” (p. 564)
2. “[T]here must be a ‘written statement by the fact-finders as to the evidence relied on and reasons’ for the disciplinary action.” (p. 564)
3. “[T]he inmate facing disciplinary proceedings should be allowed to call witnesses and present documentary evidence in his defense when permitting him to do so will not be unduly hazardous to institutional safety or correctional goals. . . . Although we do not prescribe it, it would be useful for the [impartial hearing body] to state its reason for refusing to call a witness, whether it be for irrelevance, lack of necessity or the hazards presented in individual cases.” (p. 566)
4. “[W]e are not prepared to hold that inmates have a right to either retained or appointed counsel in disciplinary proceedings.
“Where an illiterate inmate is involved, however, or where the complexity of the issue makes it unlikely that the inmate will be able to collect and present the evidence necessary for an adequate comprehension of the case, he should be free to seek the aid of a fellow inmate, or if that is forbidden, to have adequate substitute aid in the form of help from the staff or from a sufficiently competent inmate designated by the staff.” (p. 570)
5. The inmate is also entitled to a neutral hearing officer or tribunal which will be likely to arrive at a decision without the likelihood of arbitrary or capricious action. The Wolff standard is vague in respect to the nature of the tribunal, inasmuch as the court concluded that no issue was raised by the facts concerning the impartiality of the Nebraska procedure. We do not herein attempt to explicate the Wolff standard in this *432regard. Wolff indicates that the tribunal should be neutral and impartial to the extent that its discretion should be circumscribed by established rules. Wolff, by not finding the Nebraska disciplinary tribunal deficient, makes it clear that a due process hearing can be held by a board that is a part of the internal functioning of a correction system.
Since the prisoners involved in this action were afforded no hearing whatsoever, the mandate set forth in the original opinion remains unchanged.
The motion for rehearing is denied without costs.