BackThe Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the Iowa Citizens’ Aide/Ombudsman may conduct a sworn interview of a former Department of Corrections (DOC) administrative law judge (ALJ) who ordered an assaultive prisoner to forfeit twice as much earned time as DOC policy allowed.
DOC had refused to allow the interview after arguing that the Ombudsman lacked the authority to ask questions about an ALJ’s thought processes. The Supreme Court ruled that a common-law “mental-process privilege” does exist, but decided that the privilege was void in this particular case because the Ombudsman had made “a strong showing of … improper behavior” by DOC officials involved in the inmate’s discipline.
Ombudsman Ruth Cooperrider said her office plans to proceed with a sworn interview of the former ALJ so it can complete its investigation of the discipline issued against the prisoner. “It is vitally important that administrative law judges in the State of Iowa act fairly and independently, and in this case, we have concerns on both counts,” Cooperrider said. “I’m pleased that the Supreme Court recognized our role to foster government accountability.”
Source: Office of the State of Iowa Citizens' Aide/Ombudsman
The complete version of the press release is available here.
