State Ex Rel. Staples v. Department of Health & Social Services

This case raises the issue of the procedural safeguards that must be employed in prison disciplinary proceedings, pursuant to sec. HSS 803.86, Wis. Adm. Code, when the principal evidence against the accused is the written statement of an unidentified informant.

This case arises from a prison disciplinary proceeding at the Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution which determined that William Staples had stabbed another inmate on December 22, 1980. In January, 1981, Staples filed a pro se, handwritten petition for a writ of certio-rari. No return to the writ was ever ordered. On March 17, 1982,…