Wheway v. WardenWheway v. Warden
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These consolidated appeals involve two out-of-state parolees who, after transferring to Connecticut for parole supervision pursuant to the Uniform Act for Out-of-State Parolee Supervision,
In the first case, the petitioner, James L. Wheway, Jr., was convicted of robbery in Mississippi. On October 23, 1980, he was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment with execution suspended after seven years to be followed by five years probation. On April 19, 1982, Mississippi authorities granted parole and transferred Wheway’s parole supervision to Connecticut pursuant to the Uniform Act and Mississippi Code Annotated § 47-7-71.* 2 On June 5,1984, police arrested
Because of his Mississippi parole violation detainer, Wheway is classified as a maximum security prisoner for the duration of his Connecticut sentence. Thus classified, he is ineligible by reason of the prison’s rules for any early release programs, including furloughs, work release or home release. If the out-of-state parole violation detainer were not pending, Wheway would have been eligible for work release and home release in April, 1989, but as a maximum security prisoner he will not be eligible for release until April 19, 1991.
Wheway attempted to have either a parole hearing in Mississippi or a parole hearing in Connecticut, pursuant to
On November 13,1987, Wheway filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Wheway alleged, inter alia, that he had a right to an immediate parole revocation hearing on the Mississippi parole violation detainer because his liberty interest in the conditions and length of his confinement would otherwise be violated.
In the second case, the petitioner, John A. Graham, was convicted and imprisoned in Ohio. In February, 1982, Ohio authorities granted him parole and in August, 1982, transferred Graham’s parole supervision to Connecticut pursuant to the Uniform Act. See footnote 1, supra. On February 14, 1983, police arrested Graham and charged him with crimes in Connecticut. On March 4, 1983, Ohio authorities declared the petitioner to be a parole violator and issued a warrant for his arrest that remains lodged against him as a detainer. On November 19, 1983, Graham was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment based upon his convictions for the Connecticut crimes. Without disposing of the alleged parole violation, he is unable to qualify for prison programs involving reduced levels of security.
On October 27, 1986, Graham filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The petition alleged, inter alia, the right to an immediate parole revocation hearing either in Connecticut or Ohio. On February 4,1988, the habeas court, Santos, J., denied Graham’s petition. Graham appealed to the Appellate Court where the matter was consolidated with the Wheway appeal. We thereafter transferred both matters to ourselves pursuant to
I
In Wheway, the warden first claims that the trial court is without authority to quash, dismiss, strike or otherwise issue an order with respect to an out-of-state
With respect to this issue, the habeas court concluded “that it has the authority to dismiss the detainer lodged if it appears that the detainer itself is subject to dismissal in Mississippi or if it violates the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution.” The habeas court relied upon this court’s decision in Remick v. Lopes, 203 Conn. 494, 525 A.2d 502 (1987), in reaching its conclusion. Remick involved the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (IAD),
The IAD also provides that failure to comply with the agreement’s speedy trial provisions can nullify the effect of the detainer: “If the appropriate authority shall refuse or fail to accept temporary custody of said person, or in the event that an action on the indictment, information or complaint on the basis of which the detainer has been lodged is not brought to trial within the period provided . . . the appropriate court of jurisdiction where the indictment, information or complaint has been pending shall enter an order dismissing the same with prejudice, and any detainer based thereon shall cease to be of any force or effect.” (Emphasis added.)
The United States Supreme Court, however, in Carchman v. Nash, 473 U.S. 716, 105 S. Ct. 3401, 87 L. Ed. 2d 516 (1985), concluded that detainers based upon probation or parole violation warrants are not
“A probation-violation detainer, however, generally . . . will be based on the prisoner’s commission of the crimes that resulted in his conviction and incarceration in the sending State. Because the convictions conclusively establish the probation-violation, see Morrisey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. [471, 490, 92 S. Ct. 2593, 33 L. Ed. 2d 484 (1972)] (parole revocation hearing), the probation-violation charge will not be unsubstantiated. Thus, the abuses that in part motivated the adoption of the [IAD] generally do not occur in the context of probation-violation detainers.” Carchman v. Nash, supra, 730-31. We find the Carchman rationale persuasive and conclude, therefore, that neither Remick, •the IAD, nor the Uniform Act serves as a basis for the habeas court’s order conditionally quashing the Mississippi detainer and that it was therefore without authority to do so.
Even apart from the habeas court’s ultimate conclusion, the warden challenges the court’s predicate conclusion that
The petitioner’s claim that he has a statutory right to an immediate parole revocation hearing under the foregoing statute overlooks that fact that he is not a person “confined . . . pursuant to the provisions of
In response to the petitioner’s claim that he is entitled to serve the balance of the Mississippi sentence in Connecticut and in further response to his claim to an immediate parole revocation hearing, we observe that
II
In his cross appeal, Wheway first argues that the habeas court erred in failing to conclude that his constitutionally protected liberty interests in his conditions of confinement were violated by his classification as
The habeas court found that at the Connecticut Correctional Institution at Somers, conditions of confinement involving the granting of furloughs, work release, home release, education release, home visits, etc., are governed by the Inmate Handbook of Regulations and Programs. The granting or denial of the various types of furloughs is entirely discretionary with prison authorities.
In Moody v. Daggett, 429 U.S. 78, 97 S. Ct. 274, 50 L. Ed. 2d 236 (1976), a federal parolee who was imprisoned for federal crimes committed while he was on parole filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He claimed a violation of his constitutionally protected liberty interest by reason of his being denied a prompt hearing on his pending parole revocation. The court concluded that the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment did not mandate an immediate parole revocation hearing. Id., 86. The Moody v. Daggett rationale was thereafter extended to circumstances similar to those found here, i.e., to parole violation warrants lodged as detainers by one state with prison authorities of another state. See Heath v. United States Parole Commission, 788 F.2d 85 (2d Cir. 1986).
The Moody court established the further proposition that not every state action that carries adverse consequences for prison inmates automatically implicates or effectuates a due process right. Prison classification and eligibility for various rehabilitation programs, wherein prison officials have full discretion to control those conditions of confinement, do not create a statutory or constitutional entitlement sufficient to invoke due process. Moody v. Daggett, supra, 88-89 n.9; see also Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S. 215, 96 S. Ct. 2532, 49 L. Ed. 2d 451, reh. denied, 429 U.S. 24, 97 S. Ct.
Because the prison authorities have full discretion to grant or deny the early release programs that would relieve Wheway from his confinement, he does not have a legitimate statutory or constitutional entitlement sufficient to invoke due process considerations. Moody v. Daggett, supra, 88 n.9. We have recently so held under similar circumstances in Asherman v. Meachum, 213 Conn. 38, 48-49, 566 A.2d 663 (1989).
Wheway finally claims that his parole violation detainer is not a “true” detainer, is not entitled to comity, and therefore should be stricken from his record. Specifically, he claims that since the Mississippi authorities have neither taken custody of him nor revoked his parole, the request for comity “has been totally abused by Mississippi.” Wheway furnishes no authority for this unique claim nor does our research disclose any legal basis for such a claim. Accordingly, we find it to be without merit. See Moody v. Daggett, supra, 80 n.2; see also Carchman v. Nash, supra, 719.
Ill
In Graham, the petitioner argues on appeal that the trial court erred: (1) in following Moody v. Daggett, supra, and holding that he had no right to a parole revocation hearing until his Connecticut sentence was con-
Ohio Administrative Code § 5120:1-1-19 provides in pertinent part: “(2) The hearing for a releasee who has been convicted in a state other than the State of Ohio, and is being returned as a violator, shall be held within a reasonable period of time after his return to confinement within the boundaries of the state of Ohio.” (Emphasis added.)
It is clear that Ohio, like Mississippi and Connecticut, follows Moody. Ohio authorities delay the final revocation hearing until the intervening sentence is completed and the parolee is returned to Ohio. Here, the Ohio authorities, like their Mississippi counterparts in Wheway, have not requested the return of the parole violator before the expiration of his Connecticut sentence. Also, as in Wheway, Connecticut authorities have not given and do not currently plan to consent to the parole violator’s return to the receiving state until his term of imprisonment in Connecticut expires. Ohio authorities, like their Mississippi counterparts in Wheway, ask only that the necessary arrangements be made for the transfer of the parole violator when Connecticut is willing to release him from its custody.
Like Wheway, Graham also argues that he has an absolute right to have his out-of-state sentence run concurrently with his Connecticut sentence. We are equally unpersuaded. Ohio Revised Code Annotated § 2967.15 provides that “[a] convict who has been conditionally pardoned or a prisoner who has been paroled, who in the judgment of the adult parole authority, has violated the conditions of his pardon or parole shall be declared a violator. In such case, the time from the date of the declared violation of his pardon or parole to the date he becomes available for return to the institution shall not be counted as a part of time or sentence served. ” (Emphasis added.) “As has been pointed out many times, the period during which one is at large as a parole violator is not credited on one’s sentence. Cline v. Haskins, (1964), 175 Ohio St. 480, [196 N.E.2d 440,] 26 O.O. 2d 91; Smouse v. Perini, (1968), 16 Ohio St. (2d) 13, [242 N.E.2d 340,] 45 O.O. (2d) 261.” Hignite v. Cardwell, 22 Ohio St. 2d 146, 147, 258 N.E.2d 443 (1970). “A parole violator, in Ohio, does not begin to serve the continuation of his sentence until he is returned to a penal institution under order of the parole board.” Stepp v. Lutz, 348 F.2d 466, 467 (6th Cir. 1965).
Graham’s last claim is that the trial court has the authority to and should strike the detainer from his record. We examined and rejected this same claim in Wheway, supra, and for the reasons discussed therein we again conclude that the trial court is without such authority.
In the first case, the judgment is reversed as to the issues on the appeal and the case is remanded to the trial court with direction to deny the petition; the judgment is affirmed as to the issues on the cross appeal.
In the second case, the judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other justices concurred.
Notes
“[Connecticut General Statutes] Sec. 54-132. definitions. As used in
“Sec. 54-133. interstate compact for parolee supervision, (a) The governor is authorized and directed to execute a compact on behalf of the state of Connecticut with any of the United States legally joining therein in the form substantially as follows: A compact entered into by and among the contracting states, signatories hereto, with the consent of the Congress of the United States of America, granted by an act entitled ‘An act granting the consent of Congress to any two or more states to enter into agreements or compacts for cooperative effort and mutual assistance in the prevention of crime and for other purposes.’ The contracting states solemnly agree: (1) That it shall be competent for the duly constituted judicial and administrative authorities of a state party to this compact (herein called ‘sending state’), to permit any person convicted of an offense within such state and placed on probation or released on parole to reside in any other state party to this compact (herein called ‘receiving state‘), while on probation or parole, if (a) such person is in fact a resident of, or has his family residing within, and is able to obtain employment within, the receiving state; (b) though such person is not a resident of the receiving state and has no family residing therein, the receiving state consents to allow him to reside therein; provided, before such permission shall be granted, opportunity shall be granted to the receiving state to investigate the home and prospective employment of such person; a resident of the receiving state, within the meaning of this section, being construed to be one who has been an actual inhabitant of such state continuously for more than one year prior to his coming to the sending state and who has not resided within the sending state more than six continuous months immediately preceding the commission of the offense for which he has been convicted; (2) that each receiving state shall assume the duties of visitation of and supervision over probationers or parolees of any sending state and in the exercise of such duties will be governed by the same standards that prevail for its own probationers and parolees; (3) that duly accredited officers of a sending state may, at all times, enter a receiving state and there apprehend and retake any person on probation or parole, and for that purpose no formalities shall be required other than establishing the authority of the officer and the identity of the person to be retaken; all legal requirements to obtain extradition of fugitives from justice are being expressly waived on the part of the states party hereto, as to such persons and the decision of the sending state to retake a person on probation or parole to be conclusive upon and not reviewable within the receiving state; provided, if, at the time when a state shall seek to retake a probationer or parolee, there shall be pending against him within the receiving state any criminal charge, or he shall be suspected of having committed within such state a criminal offense, he shall not be retaken without the consent of the receiving state until discharged from prosecution or from imprisonment for such offense; (4) that the duly accredited officers of the sending state shall be permitted to transport prisoners being retaken through any and all states parties to this compact, without interference; (5) that the governor or each contracting state may designate an officer who, acting jointly with like officers of other contracting states, if and when appointed, shall promulgate such rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary to more effectively carry out the terms of this compact; (6) that this compact shall become operative immediately upon its execution by any state as between it and any other state or states so executing and, when executed, it shall have the full force and effect of law within such state, the form of execution to be in accordance with the laws of the executing state; (7) that this compact shall continue in force and remain binding upon each executing state until renounced by it, that the duties and obligations hereunder of a renouncing state shall continue as to parolees or probationers residing therein at the time of withdrawal until they shall be retaken or finally discharged by the sending state and that renunciation of this compact shall be by the same authority which executed it, by the sending of six months’ notice in writing of its intention to withdraw from the compact to each other state party hereto. Whenever the duly constituted judicial and administrative authorities in a sending state shall determine that incarceration of a probationer or reincarceration of a parolee is necessary or desirable, said officials may direct that the incarceration or reincarceration be in a prison or other correctional institution within the territory of the receiving state, such receiving state to act in that regard solely as agent for the sending state.
“(b) If any section, sentence, subdivision or clause of this section is for any reason held invalid or to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this section.
“(c)
“Sec. 54-134. DESIGNATION OF ‘compact INSTITUTIONS.’ Every state which adopts
“Sec. 54-135. transfers to other correctional institutions. Persons confined in ‘Compact Institutions’ pursuant to the terms of this com pact shall at all times be subject to the jurisdiction of the sending state and may at any time be removed from said ‘Compact Institution’ for transfer to a prison or other correctional institution within the sending state, for return to probation or parole, for discharge,” or for any other purpose permitted by the laws of the sending state.
“Sec. 54-136. incarceration in receiving state not to affect rights in sending state. All persons confined in a ‘Compact Institution’ pursuant to the provisions of
“Sec. 54-137. reimbursement for expenses. Any receiving state incurring costs or other expenses under
“Sec. 54-138. ratification, regulations.
“[Mississippi Code Annotated] § 47-7-71. uniform act for out-of-state PAROLEE SUPERVISION.
“I. The governor of this state is hereby authorized and directed to execute a compact on behalf of the state of Mississippi with any of the United States legally joining therein in the form substantially as follows:
A Compact
“Entered into by and among the contracting states, signatories hereto, with the consent of the congress of the United States of America, granted by an act entitled ‘An act granting the consent of Congress to any two
(2) or more states to enter into agreements or compacts for cooperative effort and mutual assistance in the prevention of crime and for other purposes.’
“The contracting states solemnly agree:
“(1) That it shall be competent for the duly constituted judicial and administrative authorities of a state party to this compact (herein called ‘sending state’), to permit any person convicted of an offense within such state and placed on probation or released on parole to reside in any other state party to this compact (herein called ‘receiving state’), while on probation or parole, if
“(a) Such person is in fact a resident of or has his family residing within the receiving state and can obtain employment there;
“(b) Though not a resident of the receiving state and not having his family residing there, the receiving state consents to such person being sent there.
“Before granting such permission, opportunity shall be granted to the receiving state to investigate the home and prospective employment of such person.
“A resident of the receiving state, within the meaning of this section, is one who has been an actual inhabitant of such state continuously for more than one (1) year prior to his coming to the sending state and has not resided within the sending state more than six (6) continuous months immediately preceding the commission of the offense for which he has been convicted.
“(2) That each receiving state will assume the duties of visitation of and supervision over probationers or parolees of any sending state and in the exercise of those duties will be governed by the same standards that prevail for its own probationers and parolees.
“(3) That duly accredited officers of a sending state may at all times enter a receiving state and there apprehend and retake any person on probation or parole. For that purpose no formalities will be required other than establishing the authority of the officer and the identity of the person to be retaken. All legal requirements to obtain extradition of fugitives from justice are hereby expressly waived on the part of states party hereto, as to such persons. The decision of the sending state to retake a person on probation or parole shall be conclusive upon and not reviewable within the receiving state: Provided, however, that if at the time when a state seeks to retake a probationer or parolee there should be pending against him within the receiving state any criminal charge, or he should be suspected of having committed within such state a criminal offense, he shall not be retaken without the consent of the receiving state until discharged from prosecution or from imprisonment for such offense.
“(4) That the duly accredited officers of the sending state will be permitted to transport prisoners being retaken through any and all states parties to this compact, without interference.
“(5) That the governor of each state may designate an officer who, acting jointly with like officers of other contracting states, if and when appointed, shall promulgate such rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary to more effectively carry out the terms of this compact.
“(6) That this compact shall become operative immediately upon its execution by any state as between it and any other state or states so executing. When executed it shall have the full force and effect of law within such state, the form of execution to be in accordance with the laws of the executing state.
“(7) That this compact shall continue in force and remain binding upon each executing state until renounced by it. The duties and obligations hereunder of a renouncing state shall continue as to parolees or probationers residing therein at the time of withdrawal until retaken or finally discharged by the sending state. Renunciation of this compact shall be by the same authority which executed it, by sending six (6) months’ notice in writing of its intention to withdraw from the compact to the other state party hereto.
“II. This section may be cited as the uniform act for out-of-state parolee supervision.”
See footnote 1, supra.
“[Connecticut General Statutes] Sec. 54-97. mittimus required, exception. No person may be committed to the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Somers, or a community correctional center without a mittimus signed by the judge or clerk of the court which committed him, declaring the cause of commitment and requiring the warden or community correctional center administrator to receive and keep him in the Correctional Institution, Somers, or the community correctional center, as the case may be, for the period fixed by the judgment of said court or until he is legally discharged; and such mittimus shall be sufficient authority to the officer to commit such person, and to the warden or community correctional center administrator to receive and hold him in custody, except that any community correctional center may receive any person as provided in section 7-135 without such mittimus.”