Court Opinion

ID: 9689786
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:46:54.0892+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:52.247850
License: Public Domain

ANN WALSH BRADLEY, J.
¶ 23. (dissenting). Spriggie Hensley sought to constitutionally challenge the facial validity of administrative rules. Apparently, *628his First Amendment challenge had merit. As the majority opinion explains, that constitutional challenge has been rendered moot by the implementation of an emergency administrative rule suspending the very rule challenged by Hensley.1 This emergency suspension was the result of a class action lawsuit filed in federal court, challenging the same administrative rule on First Amendment grounds.2
¶ 24. Having asserted a meritorious constitutional challenge, this case now only involves the question of what procedural route a prisoner must take in a limited circumstance — when a prisoner raises a constitutional challenge to the facial validity of an administrative rule. I conclude that Wis. Stat. § 227.40(1) is controlling because it more specifically applies to a facial challenge to an administrative rule. Because of the interplay between the PLRA's exhaustion requirements and the Department of Corrections' (DOC) complaint procedure, a conclusion to the contrary would lead to an absurd result. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
¶ 25. This case involves the collision of two statutory provisions. On the one hand, the PLRA requires exhaustion of administrative remedies prior to bringing an action in circuit court regarding "prison or jail conditions." Wis. Stat. § 801.02(7)(b). On the other hand, Wis. Stat. § 227.40(1) states that "the exclusive means of judicial review of the validity of a rule shall be an action for declaratory judgment as to the validity of such rule brought in the circuit court for Dane County." Wis. Stat. § 227.40(1) (emphasis added). Under that *629statute, exhaustion of administrative remedies is expressly not required. Id.
¶ 26. There is an inevitable overlap between these two statutes where a prisoner seeks to challenge the facial validity of a rule relating to prison or jail conditions, as in the case at hand. I agree with the majority that we are to determine which statute is more specific. However, I disagree with the majority as to which aspect of the statutes we are to examine to determine that specificity: the specificity in a prisoner's challenge to a condition of confinement under the PLRA or the specificity in a challenge to the facial validity of a rule under § 227.40(1).
¶ 27. The majority concludes that Wisconsin's PLRA trumps Wis. Stat. § 227.40(1) on the grounds that the PLRA is more specific because it is confined to challenges to prison conditions, whereas § 227.40(1) encompasses all rules promulgated by a Wisconsin administrative agency. While the majority correctly notes that Wis. Stat. § 227.40(1) broadly applies to any administrative agency's rules, it also fails to note thát it quite specifically applies to a challenge to the facial validity of a rule. Likewise, while the majority accurately explains that the PLRA applies to any action by a prisoner relating to the conditions of confinement, it ignores that the PLRA quite generally applies to a broad array of challenges: facial challenges to administrative rules, challenges to the application of administrative rules, and challenges relating to conduct or action of DOC personnel, unrelated to administrative rules.
¶ 28. I believe that we should focus on the application of Wis. Stat. § 227.40(1) to facial challenges addressing the validity of a rule. Ultimately, in resolving the conflict between the PLRA and § 227.40(1) in *630this case, we are asked to determine which procedure is to be employed in a specific type of challenge. As a result, I believe the nature of that challenge, rather than the substance of the challenge, should be determinative.
¶ 29. I am compelled in this conclusion because a conclusion to the contrary would lead to an absurd result. In interpreting and harmonizing statutes, we are to avoid an interpretation which would lead to an absurd result. Peters v. Menard, Inc., 224 Wis. 2d 174, 189, 589 N.W.2d 395 (1999).
¶ 30. Wisconsin Admin. Code ch. DOC 310, which sets forth the inmate complaint procedure that the majority would have an inmate exhaust, requires the filing of a complaint within 14 days of "the occurrence giving rise to the complaint." Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 310.09(3) (Apr. 1998).3 Presumably, where an inmate seeks to challenge an administrative rule on its face, rather than as applied, "the occurrence giving rise to the complaint" is the promulgation of the challenged rule. Thus, there is no administrative remedy — as a matter of right — to address a facial challenge to a DOC rule after the initial two weeks of the rule's existence. Such a limitation to a constitutional facial challenge is absurd.
¶ 31. Asa result of the majority's decision, a prisoner has only two weeks from the date that the rule is enacted to file a complaint facially challenging the constitutionality of the rule. Such a time limit would require that notice of the enactment be given with relative lightning speed to the prisoners. Such speed is *631often inconsistent with the realities of prison administration.
¶ 32. Likewise, inconsistent with reality is the requirement that a prisoner challenge the facial validity of a rule within two weeks of its enactment even if a prisoner is not placed in the prison system until years after the enactment. As a result of the majority's decision, absent the good graces of the prison administration to allow for a late filing, there is no avenue, whatsoever, for a person imprisoned more than two weeks after the enactment of the rule to raise a constitutional challenge addressing the facial validity of a rule. This means that meritorious challenges to unconstitutional rules can be forever foreclosed if raised outside the two-week window of opportunity. I do not believe the legislature intended such an absurd result.
¶ 33. While the inmate complaint system is capable of addressing an "as applied" challenge to an administrative rule, to the extent that the DOC complaint procedure forecloses all facial challenges that a prisoner seeks to bring after the initial 14 days of the rule's existence, the system is wholly inadequate to address such a challenge. Because Wis. Stat. § 227.40(1) specifically applies to facial challenges to the validity of an administrative rule and because it does not require exhaustion and therefore does not suffer from the same infirmities as the procedure under the PLRA, I conclude that it should be controlling.
¶ 34. I am authorized to state that Chief Justice SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON joins this dissent.

 See Wis. Admin. Reg. No. 543,4 (Mar. 2001).

 See Aiello v. Litscher, 104 F. Supp. 2d 1068 (W.D. Wis. 2000).

 Wisconsin Admin. Code §DOC 310.09(3) also provides that an institution examiner "may accept a late complaint for good cause." Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 310.09(3) (Apr. 1998).