On Appeal, Winston Secures the Right to Due Process for a Wisconsin Prison Inmate

Winston associate Madison Haueisen argued and won a major victory before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit for our client who resides in a Wisconsin prison and alleged that his right to due process was violated when the prison 1) confiscated $10,000 from his prisoner fund account and deemed it contraband before holding a hearing 2) prevented him from presenting evidence at his disciplinary hearing, and 3) conspired to subject him to a biased tribunal. Our victory preserves our client’s right to a jury trial on his civil rights claims.

Our client helped a fellow inmate file a successful civil rights lawsuit against their Wisconsin correctional facility. The fellow inmate, grateful for our client’s help, gave him $10,000 of his damages award. The prison’s security director seized the funds, claiming they were the product of an illegal business arrangement.

Following a disciplinary hearing, where our client was not allowed to present evidence, our client’s funds were permanently seized, and he was sentenced to 180 days in disciplinary separation.

Our client then filed a pro se complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin alleging that his right to due process had been violated under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Fourteenth Amendment. He alleged that the security director withheld evidence acted as a biased decision-maker, and should have recused himself from the hearing because he was the investigating officer.

After denying most of our client’s claims at the screening stage, the district court denied the remainder on summary judgment. Our client appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and we were appointed as pro bono counsel.

On the most significant claim, that our client had been denied his right to a hearing before an impartial decision-maker, the appeals court ruled in his favor, reversing the district court’s grant of summary judgment.

The appeals court also ruled that that district court erred in finding that the security director was entitled to qualified immunity on any due process claims.

Stating that the district court abused its discretion in denying our client’s motion to amend his complaint and reinstate the hearing officer as a defendant, the appeals court reinstated our client’s claims and remanded for appropriate discovery. 

Finally, the appeals court found the district court also abused its discretion by excluding as hearsay inflammatory statements made by the hearing officer before and after the disciplinary hearing.

“We are extremely gratified that the appeals court has rectified these blatant breaches of our client’s right to due process and demonstrated that people who are incarcerated deserve the same respect and justice as anyone else in our country. We look forward to zealously representing our client before the district court, including at trial,” said Haueisen.

In addition to Madison Haueisen, the Winston team that secured this appellate victory for our client included Katy Preston.

Read the appeals court ruling here.

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