18-d-2 Written Notice Requirement

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

18-D-2. Written Notice Requirement

Under Wolff v. McDonnell, you have the right to receive notice of (know about) the charges against you at least twenty-four hours before your disciplinary hearing is scheduled to begin. ¹²⁵ An oral (spoken) explanation of the charges is not enough.¹²⁶ The charges must be in writing, and they must be clear enough to allow you to prepare your defense. ¹²⁷ At least one court has found that a prisoner was denied due process because although he was given notice twenty-four hours in advance, he was only allowed to review the actual written charges five hours in advance of his hearing.¹²⁸ With only five hours to study the twelve charges against him, the prisoner had to rely largely on his memory to gather evidence and prepare his defense. This put him at a huge disadvantage.¹²⁹ The purpose of the twenty-four hour notice requirement is to give you a fair chance to prepare your defense by informing you of the specific nature of the charges. ¹³⁰

New York law gives you even more rights than you have under Wolff. In New York, you still have the right to receive written notice of the charges at least twenty-four hours before the hearing. ¹³¹ Unlike Wolff v. McDonnell, which did not require the notice to have any particular content, ¹³² New York requires the notice to contain the date, time, place, and nature of the allegation (including information about what you did and what rule you violated).¹³³ If more than one inmate was involved in the incident, the specific role played by each inmate must be included.¹³⁴ If you do not speak English, you have the right to translations of the notice of the charges and...