RIGOBERTO MEJIA VS. NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
A-0710-13T4
Rigoberto Mejia, who is serving a mandatory-minimum state prison term of forty years, appeals from a cumulative sanction of three-and-one-half-years in administrative segregation for throwing bodily fluids on two corrections officers and related offenses. Although he has been released from restrictive custody, the court reverses the sanctions imposed, determining that the regulation allowing a hearing officer unfettered discretion in deciding whether or not to consider the enumerated sanctioning factors is not permissible. The court also expresses concern over the mental health treatment provided to Mejia, whose first language is not English, as well as the fact that Mejia's administrative appeal, written in Spanish, was initially affirmed without translation.
