Jones v. Cross, No. 10-3392 (7th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseThe prisoner, serving 30 years for drug trafficking, assaulted a guard. The Bureau of Prisons suspended its disciplinary process while the FBI investigated. After the U.S. Attorney decided not to file criminal charges, the Unit Disciplinary Committee referred the matter to a Detention Hearing Officer, who viewed a surveillance video and heard one witness and found the prisoner guilty. A magistrate concurred and imposed a loss of 14 days of good conduct time. The district court denied a habeas corpus petition. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, rejecting due process arguments. Regulations establishing a time frame for the release of the incident report and the initial hearing are advisory and do not create a constitutionally-protected interest; delays did not create a significant hardship or prejudice. The testimony of a witness, released from prison before the hearing, would not have changed the outcome. Because intent is not an element of prison assault, a self-defense argument was irrelevant and the prisoner's inability to present evidence about his own injuries was not prejudicial. The prison was not required to grant the prisoner access to surveillance tapes, which could compromise security.
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