Avant v. Clifford

In Avant v. Clifford, 67 N.J. 496, 341 A.2d 629 (1975), the Court itemized and discussed sequentially the critical due process guarantees which must be afforded an inmate facing "grievous loss." Avant noted that in addition to minimal constitutional protections, the New Jersey Supreme Court also has broad supervisory review authority over administrative agencies such as the Department and has extended protections beyond "naked constitutional right" in order to "insure procedural fairness in the administrative process." Id. at 520, 341 A.2d 629. The first such requirement is "notice." As the Court said in Avant, both the holdings of the United States Supreme Court, see, e.g., Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S. Ct. 2963, 41 L. Ed. 2d 935 (1974), and the standards adopted by the Department itself require "that written notice . . . be given to the disciplinary action defendant in order to inform him of the charges and to enable him to marshal the facts and prepare a defense." Avant, supra, 67 N.J. at 525, 341 A.2d 629;