Court Opinion

ID: 9482150
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:42:02.366555+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:48.093820
License: Public Domain

BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge,
with whom Circuit Judge MURNAGHAN and Circuit Judge SPROUSE join, dissenting:
I fully subscribe to the following principle of constitutional law: “A substantial liberty from legal restraint is at stake when the State makes decisions regarding parole or probation.” Greenholtz v. Nebraska Penal Inmates, 442 U.S. 1, 18, 99 S.Ct. 2100, 2109, 60 L.Ed.2d 668 (1979) (Powell, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Indeed, we have previously decided that Virginia prisoners have a liberty interest entitling them to the minimum requirements of procedural due process in parole release proceedings. Franklin v. Shields, 569 F.2d 784, 800 (4th Cir.1978) (en banc). Criteria adopted by the Virginia Parole Board guiding its parole decisions included “the prisoner’s institutional experience.” Franklin, 569 F.2d at 791-92 n. 29. On remand it should not be difficult to determine whether a prisoner’s possession of contraband is a factor that the parole board would typically consider.
For reasons adequately stated in the panel opinion in Gaston v. Taylor, 918 F.2d 25 (4th Cir.1990), I would vacate the summary judgment granted by the district court and remand for further proceedings.