In the Matter of the Personal Restraint of: Damien Arthur Wilson

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedApril 6, 2021
Docket37237-5
StatusPublished

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Bluebook
In the Matter of the Personal Restraint of: Damien Arthur Wilson, (Wash. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

FILED APRIL 6, 2021 In the Office of the Clerk of Court WA State Court of Appeals, Division III

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION THREE

In the Matter of the Personal Restraint of ) ) No. 37237-5-III DAMIEN ARTHUR WILSON, ) ) Petitioner. ) PUBLISHED OPINION )

SIDDOWAY, A.C.J. — It is settled Washington law that if an inmate files a personal

restraint petition (PRP) challenging the finding of an infraction and identifies a

procedural error that might entitle him to a new hearing, the Department of Corrections

(DOC) need not await the outcome of the PRP; it may offer the alternative remedy of

expunging the infraction and providing a new hearing free of the procedural error.

At issue in this appeal is whether DOC may also rehear a disciplinary matter

whose outcome was favorable to Mr. Wilson because it believes the first hearing officer

got it wrong. We hold that collateral estoppel applies and that DOC improperly reheard

the infraction. No. 37237-5-III In re Pers. Restraint of Wilson

We grant Mr. Wilson’s PRP and remand with directions to reinstate two drug

offender sentencing alternative (DOSA) sentences whose revocation he challenges.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In June 2018, Mr. Wilson was convicted of multiple crimes, for which he was

convicted under two 2017 causes.1 The court imposed DOSA sentences that were to be

served concurrently to each other and consecutively to any other sentence.2

The prior November, Mr. Wilson had pleaded guilty to violating conditions of

community custody imposed in his sentence for a 2006 robbery conviction.3 He was

returned to DOC to serve the remainder of the robbery sentence, a status that DOC refers

to as “CCP” (Community Custody Prison).4 His DOSA sentences imposed in 2018

would be served consecutive to the remainder of his 2006 sentence.

In July 2018, Mr. Wilson signed a prison drug offender sentencing alternative

agreement and agreed to follow the rules set forth in a substance use disorder treatment

1 Response of DOC (Resp.), Ex. 1, attachments (att.) B, C. Our record in this matter consists of Mr. Wilson’s PRP, a response that this court requested from DOC (Resp.), Mr. Wilson’s reply (Reply), a reply brief filed by counsel for Mr. Wilson after our Acting Chief Judge referred the PRP to a panel and granted Mr. Wilson’s motion to appoint counsel (Reply Br.), and DOC’s supplemental response brief (Suppl. Resp.). 2 Resp., Ex. 1, att. B at 3, att. C at 3. 3 Resp., Ex. 1, att. D at 2. 4 Resp., Ex. 1, att. D at 1-2.

2 No. 37237-5-III In re Pers. Restraint of Wilson

participation requirements document.5 No start date for treatment was identified. That

section of the requirements document had a marginal notation, “To be determined.”6 Mr.

Wilson claims he was informed by DOC personnel that he would not have to participate

in prison-based substance use disorder treatment until he began serving his DOSA

sentences. They told him it was currently uncertain the order in which he would serve his

sentences.7

In September 2018, Mr. Wilson’s counselor provided him with DOC-generated

start date and earned release date information that indicated he began serving the

remainder of his 2006 sentence in October 2017, and would begin serving his DOSA

sentence in June 2020, once the 2006 sentence was completed.8

On January 22, 2019, Mr. Wilson was admitted to a prison-based substance abuse

disorder program, apparently as the result of a January 1, 2019 revision to DOC policy

580.655.9 The cover sheet to the revision characterized it as including “[m]ajor

5 Resp., Ex. 3, att. A at 16-17, 19-20. 6 Resp., Ex. 3, att. A at 16; Reply, Ex. 1, at 3. 7 Reply, Ex. 1, at 3. 8 PRP, Ex. B at 1; Reply, Ex. 1, at 3-4. 9 Resp., Ex. 3, att. A at 9; Suppl. Resp., Ex. 2, at 2.

3 No. 37237-5-III In re Pers. Restraint of Wilson

changes.”10 It included the admonition, “Read carefully!”11 For the first time, the policy

provided:

I. The Department has established procedures for the Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA) program for offenders sentenced to DOSA per RCW 9.94A.660 to include the recommended level of care for Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment within available resources. II. An offender is considered an active participant in the DOSA program: A. During total/partial confinement while serving the DOSA sentence or when a past or future DOSA sentence is served during the confinement period, and B. While in the community during the time the DOSA community custody cause is being served.

Suppl. Resp., Ex. 2, at 2 (emphasis added). Mr. Wilson’s first documented

participation in the program was on January 25, 2019, when prison records

indicate he participated in “Community Member Handbook review, pages 77-

93.”12

The day before that handbook review, on January 24, an envelope containing

Suboxone strips was recovered from the prison mailroom.13 The envelope was addressed

10 Suppl. Resp., Ex. 2, at 1. 11 Id. 12 Resp., Ex. 3, att. A at 29. 13 Id. at 43.

4 No. 37237-5-III In re Pers. Restraint of Wilson

to an offender named Terry Eastman.14 A confidential informant reported that Mr.

Wilson was involved in the attempted delivery, which was corroborated by recorded

phone calls between Mr. Wilson and his mother.15

On February 12, DOC informed Mr. Wilson he was required to sign a new version

of DOC’s “Prison Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative Agreement,” with revision date

January 1, 2019. Unlike the agreement he had signed in 2018, this agreement said, “I

acknowledge that the Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA) program is the total

sentence, from the date of sentencing to the completion/closure of community

supervision, including the recommended level of care for substance use disorder

treatment. I am considered an active participant in the DOSA program . . . [d]uring

total/partial confinement while serving the DOSA sentence or when a past or future

DOSA sentence is served during that confinement period.”16 The agreement implied, and

Mr. Wilson claims he was told, that if he refused to sign his DOSA sentences would be

revoked (even though he was not currently serving them) and he would be sanctioned for

“refusing to program.”17 He signed the forms to avoid the threatened sanctions.18

14 Id. 15 Id. 16 Id. at 18; Reply, Ex. 1, at 3-4. 17 Reply, Ex. 1, at 4-5. 18 Id.

5 No. 37237-5-III In re Pers. Restraint of Wilson

On March 21, 2019, Mr. Wilson admitted his involvement in delivery of the

Suboxone to Mr. Eastman in January.19 He was charged the next day with a serious

infraction, infraction 603, for introducing or transferring any unauthorized drug or drug

paraphernalia, in violation of WAC 137-25-030(1) (Category A, 603).20 On March 31,

2019, he was found guilty and mandatory sanctions were imposed.21 They included the

loss of fee-based recreation days, good conduct time, store privileges, denial of

attendance at special events, urinalysis/breath alcohol testing, removal from waiting lists

for work/other program assignments and loss of housing assignment.22

On April 2, 2019, Mr. Wilson was terminated from the substance use disorder

treatment program.23 This led to notice of a DOSA reclassification hearing to be

conducted on July 1, 2019, for a different serious infraction: “Noncompliance with the

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