Court Opinion

ID: 9465942
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:00:54.191342+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:27.733869
License: Public Domain

BOWNES, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The interpretation given to Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 566, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974), by my brethren allows the hearing to become a meaningless charade. It invites the prison disciplinary board to exclude, without reason or explanation, any testimony by an inmate witness unless the accused can allege with particularity why such witness will not pose a security risk. Ordinarily, the facts necessary to underpin a finding that prison security would be adversely affected should a particular witness testify will be solely within the knowledge of prison officials, not prison inmates. The majority requires that the plaintiff prove a negative in a setting that, by its nature, severely limits his access to the facts. I do not think that Wolff permits, let alone mandates, such a distortion of due process. The Supreme Court specifically stated:
We are also of the opinion that the 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. Ordinarily, the right to present evidence is basic to a fair hearing; but the unrestricted right to call witnesses from the prison population carries obvious potential for disruption and for interference with the swift punishment that in individual cases may be essential to carrying out the correctional program of the institution. We should not be too ready to exercise oversight and put aside the judgment of prison administrators. It may be that an individual threatened with serious sanctions would normally be entitled to present witnesses and relevant documentary evidence; but here we must balance the inmate’s interest in avoiding loss of good time against the needs of the prison, and some amount of flexibility and accommodation is required. Prison officials must have the necessary discretion to keep the hearing within reasonable limits and to refuse to call witnesses that may *997create a risk of reprisal or undermine authority, as well as to limit access to other inmates to collect statements or to compile other documentary evidence. Although we do not prescribe it, it would be useful for the Committee 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. Any less flexible rule appears untenable as a constitutional matter, at least on the record made in this case. The operation of a correctional institution is at best an extraordinarily difficult undertaking. Many prison officials, on the spot and with the responsibility for the safety of inmates and staff, are reluctant to extend the unqualified right to call witnesses; and in our view, they must have the necessary discretion without being subject to unduly crippling constitutional impediments. There is this much play in the joints of the Due Process Clause, and we stop short of imposing a more demanding rule with respect to witnesses and documents.
Id. at 566-67, 94 S.Ct. at 2979-80.
My brethren have taken the sentence, “Although we do not prescribe it, it would be useful for the committee 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[ ]” and converted it into a positive holding that a disciplinary board need not state its reasons for refusing to call a witness. This is contrary to both the letter and the spirit of Wolff.
I interpret Wolff to mean that the disciplinary board has some residual duty to explain', albeit briefly, why witnesses were hot allowed to testify.1 Certainly, the Supreme Court did not hold that, unless a witness could factually support an allegation “that the inmate’s requests were denied for reasons not having to do with institutional security or correctional goals,” majority opinion at p. 4, his complaint should be dismissed for failure to state a cause of action.
Plaintiff alleged in regard to his first hearing that his request to call witnesses or submit statements was denied without reason. After his second hearing, plaintiff stated in his complaint that the witness whom he wanted to call did not pose a security risk because he was in segregation. This, despite the majority’s characterization as conclusory, was a statement of fact that, to me at least, makes some sense. What was conclusory was the denial of the request as being “irrelevant” by the chairman of the disciplinary board.
As pointed out in Hayes v. Walker, 555 F.2d 625, 630 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 959, 98 S.Ct. 491, 54 L.Ed.2d 320 (1977), “a limited review of the broad discretion exercised by prison officials is essential.” Such review is effectively eliminated by requiring the plaintiff, who is usually pro se, to frame a complaint with “supportive facts” demonstrating that the prison officials abused their discretion in refusing, without a brief statement of reasons, to allow a witness to testify.
Moreover, the cases cited by the majority for the proposition that there be a factual underpinning to the complaint can also be used as contrary authority. In Kadar Corp. v. Milbury, 549 F.2d 230, 233 (1977), we said: “While a complaint need only set out ‘a generalized statement of facts’, there must be enough information ‘to outline the elements of the pleaders’ claim.” It is clear here what the claim is. In O’Brien v. DiGrazia, 544 F.2d 543, 546 n.3, we cited to Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80, which held:
In appraising the sufficiency of the complaint we follow, of course, the accepted rule that a complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.
Since this is a pro se complaint, it is not held to the standards of one drafted by an attorney. Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520-21, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972). *998The sufficiency of a complaint is thus, in the final analysis, left to the eyes of the beholder. In my eyes, at least, it does not appear “beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.” Conley v. Gibson, supra, at 45 —46, 78 S.Ct. at 102.
I am not alone in my view that the disciplinary board should give some sort of reason as to why allowing an inmate witness to testify would entail security problems. In Hayes v. Walker, supra, 555 F.2d 625, the Seventh Circuit rejected as conclusory and inadequate under Wolff the following statement by prison officials for refusing to allow plaintiff’s requested witnesses to testify
The Committee moves the motion for witnesses be denied for the following reasons: The residents requested would be placed in highly compromising positions with regard to possible retribution from other residents and to call resident witnesses could prove hazardous to both witnesses and institutional security.
Id. at 628-29. The court recognized that the right to call witnesses was a limited one, and that broad discretion rested with the prison officials. But it held that the discretion was not unbounded.
If we were to allow broad unsupported findings as were offered in the present case to support as Institutional Adjustment Committee’s decision, a prisoner’s limited right to call witnesses could be arbitrarily denied in any case and thereby •be rendered meaningless. This court would be unable to exercise even limited review of such broad findings. Thus, if a proposed witness is not to be called, support for that decision and not just a broad conclusion should be reflected in the record. Prison officials should look at each proposed witness and determine whether or not he should be allowed to testify.
Id. at 630.
The Second Circuit in Cardaropoli v. Norton, 523 F.2d 990, 996 (2d Cir. 1975), cited Wolff as support for the holding:
At the hearing, the prisoner must be permitted to call witnesses and present documentary evidence; however, the hearing officer retains discretion “to keep the hearing within reasonable limits . . .” Wolff v. McDonnell, supra, 418 U.S. at 566, 94 S.Ct. at 2980.
(emphasis added).
I think the proper approach here is the same one followed in Hayes v. Walker, supra, 550 F.2d 625, which also considered the dismissal of a prisoner’s complaint for failure to state a cause of-action. The case was remanded for a determination as to whether the prison officials- “properly barred plaintiff from calling any witnesses or presenting any documentary evidence by way of affidavits.” Id. at 630. This puts the burden where it properly belongs and does not saddle the plaintiff with the almost impossible task of factually outlining why allowing a witness to testify would not constitute a threat to prison security.
The result reached by the majority is not mandated by Wolff and is forbidden by the due process clause of the Constitution.
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.

. But see Walker v. Hughes, 558 F.2d 1247, 1259 (6th Cir. 1977).