Brandon v. State, Department of Corrections

938 P.2d 1029, 1997 Alas. LEXIS 78, 1997 WL 299177
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedJune 6, 1997
DocketS-6983
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 938 P.2d 1029 (Brandon v. State, Department of Corrections) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brandon v. State, Department of Corrections, 938 P.2d 1029, 1997 Alas. LEXIS 78, 1997 WL 299177 (Ala. 1997).

Opinions

OPINION

MATTHEWS, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

Richard Brandon, a state prisoner serving a long sentence, was transferred to a prison in Arizona. He contends that the transfer interferes with his rehabilitation because his family will not be able to visit him in Arizona. The question presented by this case is whether the superior court had jurisdiction to hear his administrative appeal from the transfer decision of the Department of Corrections (DOC). Our answer is “yes.”

II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

Richard Brandon is serving a twenty-five-year sentence for a 1990 conviction. Due to overcrowding in Alaska prisons DOC implemented a population management plan. As part of this plan, DOC contracted with the Corrections Corporation of America to house about 200 Alaska inmates at the Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence, Arizona.

DOC selected inmates for transfer by asking for volunteers and then “going through its records and finding inmates who fit two broad categories.” One of the categories was “inmates with seven and one-half or more years to serve.” Brandon was selected under this category.

Initially, Brandon was incarcerated at the Spring Creek Correctional Center. On November 28,1994, Brandon was given notice of a classification hearing concerning “[pjossible transfer to an institution outside Alaska.” A classification hearing was held November 30, 1994. Hearing Officer Donald Nelson recommended transfer while acknowledging that Brandon’s family was in Alaska and made weekly visits. Superintendent Larry Kinche-loe subsequently approved the recommendation.

On December 15, 1994, Brandon appealed to DOC Commissioner Larry McKinistry. In this appeal, Brandon claimed: (1) the hearing was illegal because only two hearing officers were present; (2) the outcome of the hearing was predetermined; (3) fair consideration was not given to the rehabilitative nature of family visits; and (4) the hearing [1031]*1031officers erred in finding that rehabilitation would not be adversely affected by the transfer. On December 19 the appeal was returned as premature because the central classification office had not yet notified Brandon of the transfer. On that same day, Chief Classification Officer Robert P. Spinde informed Brandon that due to a possible error in providing notice of the hearing, Brandon would be given forty-eight hours to submit further relevant information.

On January 1, 1995, Brandon filed an appeal from DOC’s December 19 decision with the superior court. The appeal claimed that the December 15 appeal to the DOC commissioner was “arbitrarily rejected.” The appeal listed various due process violations.

On January 3 Brandon was given notice of his transfer to the Arizona prison. On January 8 Brandon submitted an appeal similar to the December 15 appeal to the DOC deputy commissioner. On January 10 this appeal was denied. It appears that no appeal of this denial was filed; rather, the superior court continued to work from the original January 1 appeal.

DOC moved to dismiss the appeal claiming the court lacked jurisdiction. It argued that the court did not have jurisdiction to review this type of decision in an administrative appeal because the decision to transfer Brandon was not made in an “adjudicative” proceeding or in a proceeding that produced a record capable of review.

On January 20 Brandon was transferred. On February 8 the superior court granted DOC’s motion to dismiss the appeal, finding that the court lacked jurisdiction because the decision to transfer “was not made in the course of an adjudicative proceeding which produced a record capable of review.”

Brandon appeals this decision, claiming that the superior court erred in granting the motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The issues of statutory interpretation involved in this appeal are reviewed under a substitution of judgment standard. Longwith v. State, Dep’t of Natural Resources, 848 P.2d 257, 260 n. 5 (Alaska 1992). Constitutional issues present questions of law and are to be reviewed de novo. Keane v. Local Boundary Comm’n, 893 P.2d 1239, 1241 (Alaska 1995).

IV. DISCUSSION

Alaska Statute 22.10.020(d) states, “The superior court has jurisdiction in all matters appealed to it from a[n] ... administrative agency when appeal is provided by law.” We have previously stated that neither the Administrative Procedure Act, AS 44.62.010-.650, nor any other statutory provision provides for an appeal from a DOC administrative decision. Owen v. Matsumoto, 859 P.2d 1308, 1309 (Alaska 1993). Thus AS 22.10.020(d) does not confer jurisdiction on the superior court to hear this appeal.

However, we have held that administrative appeals are proper from certain DOC determinations even when not authorized by statute. See Hertz v. Carothers, 784 P.2d 659, 660 (Alaska 1990). For example, “an inmate [has] a right to judicial review of major disciplinary proceedings when issues of constitutional magnitude are raised.” Id. at 660; Department of Corrections v. Kraus, 759 P.2d 539, 540 (Alaska 1988); McGinnis v. Stevens, 543 P.2d 1221, 1236 n. 45 (Alaska 1975). In Owen, we explicitly declined to hold that “judicial review of DOC administrative decisions is limited to disciplinary action.” 859 P.2d at 1310. Instead we stated that “[a]ny alleged violation of fundamental constitutional rights must be afforded judicial review.” Id. Thus, it is clear that the superi- or court has jurisdiction to hear an administrative appeal of a DOC action involving constitutional issues.

In Kraus, we listed several reasons for allowing appellate review of DOC disciplinary decisions. These included the fact that the review would be based on the tape recording of the proceedings, rather than de novo reception of evidence, which is characteristic of appeals, and that appellate review is less expensive and time consuming than other avenues of judicial oversight. Finally, we stated a clear preference for reviewing administrative agencies’ adjudicative decisions by means of an appeal. 759 P.2d at [1032]*1032540. Therefore an administrative appeal is appropriate where there is an alleged violation of fundamental constitutional rights in an adjudicative proceeding producing a record capable of review. Owen, 859 P.2d at 1310.

Brandon argues that the classification hearing was an adjudicative proceeding producing a record reviewable on administrative appeal. Brandon further asserts that the classification decision involved a fundamental constitutional right.

A. Is There a Fundamental Constitutional Right Involved?

Brandon asserts a fundamental right to rehabilitation under the Alaska Constitution.

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Bluebook (online)
938 P.2d 1029, 1997 Alas. LEXIS 78, 1997 WL 299177, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brandon-v-state-department-of-corrections-alaska-1997.