Court Opinion

ID: 9505547
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 20:06:20.285562+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:04:36.482379
License: Public Domain

RUCKER, Justice,
concurring in result.
In Hasty v. Broglin, 581 N.E.2d 200 (Ind.1988), this Court reiterated "there is no constitutionally protected right to judicial review of individual decisions of the prison disciplinary system." Id. at 201 (citing Riner v. Raines, 274 Ind. 113, 409 N.E.2d 575 (1980). This Court offered the following explanation for such a policy, "The current system of administrative review by policy makers and executive officers within the correction department establishes a fair procedure to resolve disputes, one adequate under due process." Id. Although the current system may be adequate under federal due process standards, I do not believe that it is adequate under the Open Courts provision of the Indiana Constitution. See Mcelntosh v. Melroe Co., a Div. of Clark Equip. Co., Inc., 729 N.E.2d 972, 975 (Ind.2000) (holding that the Open Courts provision of the Indiana Constitution is not equivalent to the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution).
Article 1, Section 12 of the Indiana Constitution provides in part, "All courts shall be open; and every person, for injury done to him in his person, property, or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law." We held in Martin v. Richey, Til N.E.2d 1273 (Ind.1999), that the Open Courts provision provides "a right of access to the courts." Id. at 1288. Although *340this right is not unlimited, see id., I believe that a blanket prohibition of judicial review of disciplinary decisions of penal institutions certainly runs afoul of this provision.
Nonetheless, I agree with the majority that Zimmerman is not entitled to relief. Mandate is an extraordinary remedy viewed with extreme disfavor. State ex rel. Civil City of South Bend v. Court of Appeals of Indiana-Third Dist., 273 Ind. 551, 406 N.E.2d 244, 245 (1980). A defendant must have failed to perform a clear, absolute, and imperative duty imposed by law, and a plaintiff must have a clear and unquestioned right to relief. Id. at 246; State ex rel. Drost v. Newton Superior Court, 275 Ind. 297, 416 N.F.2d 1247, 1250 (1981). According to Indiana Code section 11-11-5-4(4), if the controlled substance that Zimmerman tested positive for came from outside the prison, then the Department of Correction was warranted in restricting his visitation. Because of the factual nature of such an inquiry, it cannot be said that Zimmerman has a clear and unquestioned right to relief. For the foregoing reasons I agree with the result reached by the majority, namely, the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed.