In
LaChance v. Commissioner of Correction, decided November 27, the SJC concluded that more procedural safeguards are required for inmates being held in segregated confinement for a significant period of time. The court said, in part:
We conclude that LaChance's ten-month administrative segregation in the SMU on awaiting action status, during which he had the benefit of only informal status reviews, was unlawful. ...
We conclude that LaChance's ten-month placement in the SMU constituted the sort of "atypical and significant hardship" that triggers a right to procedural safeguards....
We conclude that an inmate confined to administrative segregation on awaiting action status, whether such confinement occurs in an area designated as an SMU, a DSU, or otherwise, is entitled, as a matter of due process, to notice of the basis on which he is so detained; a hearing at which he may contest the asserted rationale for his confinement; and a posthearing written notice explaining the reviewing authority's classification decision. ... Although we leave it to the DOC to promulgate regulations that reflect the balance of these interests, we conclude that in no circumstances may an inmate be held in segregated confinement on awaiting action status for longer than ninety days without a hearing.
