State ex rel. Curtis v. Litscher

The Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) (defendant) contracted with a private prison in Whiteville, Tennessee (Whiteville) for Whiteville to house Wisconsin’s prisoners. In November 1999, seven inmates at Whiteville (plaintiffs) were accused of participating in a riot and hostage incident. A Whiteville employee who witnessed the incident served as the hearing examiner at a disciplinary hearing, and the inmates were found guilty and penalized with varying periods of disciplinary segregation. Before the inmates could serve their disciplinary segregation, review hearings occurred during which the DOC decided to transfer the inmates to a Supermax facility in Wisconsin. At the Supermax facility, the inmates were placed in administrative confinement. Both the transfer and confinement decisions were based to some degree on findings of what occurred during the Whiteville incident. The inmates appealed the Whiteville disciplinary decision to the warden, who denied the appeals. The inmates also sought review of the disciplinary hearing through a Wisconsin administrative procedure, but the DOC posited that the procedure was not available to Whiteville inmates. Two inmates were denied judicial review in Tennessee courts on the ground that the inmates were then residents of Wisconsin. The seven inmates jointly filed a petition for writ of certiorari in a Wisconsin trial court, challenging the disciplinary hearing and subsequent decisions. The inmates argued that the DOC and Whiteville had violated their own procedures and due process by selecting a biased hearing examiner. The trial court issued an order invalidating the Whiteville disciplinary decision and requiring new review hearings at which the Whiteville findings could not be considered. The DOC appealed, arguing that judicial review was unavailable and the prisoners’ due-process rights had not been violated.