Bohn v. Cook, No. 19- cv–01144 (D. Conn. 2019)
Nature of Case: Plaintiff is incarcerated for a non-sexual offense, and based on a police report, Connecticut Department of Correction officials assigned him a sex offender risk score, which impacted his confinement and was a factor in the denial of his parole. Plaintiff never received a hearing in connection with this assignment, and his attempts to resolve the issue through the grievance process were unsuccessful.
Plaintiff brought a federal § 1983 lawsuit, alleging that the classification violated his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights as well as state law claims. State defendants moved to dismiss all claims.
Holding: Connecticut District Court granted Defendants’ motion in part. Eighth Amendment and state law claims were dismissed, but the Court declined to dismiss Plaintiff’s Procedural Due Process claims.
The Court explained that the Plaintiff had pleaded sufficient facts to allege that his classification implicated the “stigma plus” requirement for such a claim, and that he was not provided with the procedural rights to which he was otherwise entitled.