BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A federal appellate court said Tuesday that Ohio did not violate inmate Alvin Jones' rights when it kept him in solitary during its probe of Lucasville guard Robert Vallandingham's murder.
Mr. Jones is still in prison, serving his original 10-25-year sentence for aggravated robbery.
His civil rights suit sought compensation for about 30 months in solitary, saying it was excessive and violated his 14th Amendment right to due process.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati rejected his argument 3-0, saying Ohio had good reasons for its decisions. However, the judges split 2-1 on the question of whether 2 1/2 years in solitary imposed an "atypical and significant" hardship compared with "the ordinary incidents of prison life."
Mr. Jones was suspected of helping prisoner James Were murder Officer Vallandingham during the 1993 uprising.
Mr. Were was convicted, but special prosecutor Mark Piepmeier recalled Tuesday that evidence was mixed whether Mr. Were also was a hands-on killer.
During those months after the uprising, Mr. Jones was in solitary at Mansfield Correctional Institution, to which he and 128 other Lucasville prisoners were transferred.
He was kept in solitary because of his possible role in the uprising and later because he was a murder suspect.
In December 1995, Mr. Piepmeier told state officials he was dropping his probe of Mr. Jones' involvement in the Vallandingham murder.
That's when the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction charged Mr. Jones with violating the administrative prison rule that prohibits criminal conduct.
In January 1996, the state held a two-day hearing and concluded that Mr. Jones helped strangle Officer Vallandingham.
Mr. Jones was returned to solitary.
His suit challenges only the period before that hearing.
Judges Gilbert S. Merritt and Cornelia G. Kennedy said administrative segregation -- solitary -- is not so unusual that it violates an inmate's liberty interest.
Also, they said, Ohio law allows indefinite solitary confinement and it is not "atypical" for an inmate to be kept in solitary while his role in prison violence is investigated.
Judge Ronald Lee Gilman concluded that 30 months in solitary is rare and it deprived Mr. Jones of such liberty and freedoms that were available to other inmates.
However, he was not dumped and forgotten, Judge Gilman said, and the state had good reason to keep him in solitary during that period.
