18-c Due Process in Prison [details]

• Library: A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual (2020 Edition)

18-C. Due Process in Prison [Details]

Due process means something different in prison than outside. The Constitution only gives you a right to due process when the government tries to take away your "life, liberty, or property." So a court must decide that you had a "liberty interest" at stake before it considers the required "due process" in your disciplinary hearing.⁴ In other words, Fourteenth Amendment due process only applies when prison officials try to take away this recognized interest.

The Supreme Court's decision in Sandin v. Conner⁵ changed the law a lot. During the 1960s and '70s, the Supreme Court had extended constitutional rights to prisoners without limiting them. Sadly, the Sandin decision changed things by limiting when prisoners may petition the courts for these constitutional rights. Sandin v. Conner is important because it sets the minimum standard that all other federal and state courts must follow. States can give prisoners more rights than those in Sandin v. Conner, but they cannot give fewer.

In Sandin v. Conner, a prisoner in Hawaii had a disciplinary proceeding because he used "abusive or obscene language" when trying to stop prison employees from strip searching him. ⁶ The prison disciplinary committee did not let the prisoner present witnesses at the hearing, stating that all witnesses were unavailable. ⁷ They sentenced the prisoner to a thirty-day disciplinary segregation in the Special Holding Unit (SHU) ⁸ and he sought administrative review of the decision. Administrators later dropped the charge, deciding there was no proof. ⁹ In the meantime, however, the prisoner filed a Section 1983 claim, arguing that his civil rights had been violated.

According to the Supreme Court, even if you have a significant, negative change in your confinement, this does not necessarily hurt a liberty interest protected by due process rights (rights dealing with fairness of procedures).¹⁰ If the new conditions are "within the normal limits or range of custody which the conviction has authorized the State to impose," the Due Process Clause will not apply. ¹¹ However, you could still use the Due Process Clause in certain circumstances. The Supreme Court has held that states avoiding some types of confinement can create a protected liberty interest. For that to work in your state, your state must have made...