Dangerfield v. Litscher
Opinion of the Court
ORDER
Wisconsin’s sentencing laws feature a “mandatory release” statute that entitles most prisoners who committed offenses between April 1994 and December 1999 to be paroled after completing two-thirds of their sentences. See Wis. Stat. § 302.11(1) (1996), Wis. Stat. § 302.11(1g)(am). But the two-thirds date
The district court dismissed the prisoners’ claim for failure to state a claim. Citing Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 483-84, 115 S.Ct. 2293, 132 L.Ed.2d 418 (1995), the court noted that the plaintiffs’ procedural due process claim required them to allege interference with some protected liberty or property interest. The court then ruled that denying prisoners the opportunity to participate in programs that potentially shorten either their time in prison or segregation terms does not implicate any liberty interests. The plaintiffs’ placement on administrative segregation without a hearing therefore did not violate due process.
On appeal, the plaintiffs argue that administrative segregation implicates their liberty interest in not having their mandatory release dates extended under § 302.11(2)(b). Administrative tracking, contend the plaintiffs, equals more days in segregation because good conduct cannot win early release, and every two days in segregation equals one day tacked onto a prisoner’s mandatory release date under § 302.11(b). Thus, the plaintiffs reason, they have suffered delayed mandatory release because they were not allowed to participate in the step-program that potentially reduces their time in segregation.
The plaintiffs’ argument is unpersuasive. Prison officials charged the plaintiffs with prison disciplinary infractions punishable by time in segregation. Because disciplinary infractions and segregation time automatically extend prisoners’ mandatory release dates, see Wis. Stat. § 302.11(2)(a) and (b), prison officials concede that constitutional due process guaranteed the plaintiffs a hearing before a disciplinary board. The plaintiffs received such a hearing, after which the board found them guilty and sentenced them to segregation. Absent statutory or regulatory language mandating an early release from segregation, those findings and sentences extinguished for the full segregation term the plaintiffs’ interest in remaining in the general population, just as a trial and conviction extinguishes a defendant’s liberty interest in remaining free from incarceration for the full term of his or her sentence, absent mandatory language like that found in § 302.11(1). See Greenholtz v. Nebraska Penal Inmates, 442 U.S. 1, 7, 99 S.Ct. 2100, 60 L.Ed.2d 668 (1979), Montgomery
AFFIRMED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Alphoncy DANGERFIELD v. Jon E. LITSCHER
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published