Alaska Prisoner’s Discipline for Violating Invalidated Rule Tossed
by Chuck Sharman
In a letter to PLN dated January 19, 2026, Alaska prisoner Donovan Taylor, 56, provided documentation of a disturbing incident in which he was disciplined for violating a state Department of Corrections (DOC) rule that had been judicially invalidated. Alhough he kept a copy of the relevant ruling in his cell, a guard persisted in charging him with a disciplinary infraction. Taylor then spent 16 days in isolation before another guard serving as hearing officer in his case dismissed the charge.
Taylor filed suit pro se in state Superior Court in March 2024 against DOC Commissioner Jennifer Winkleman and several subordinate officials at Palmer Correctional Facility (PCF). As part of his preparation for that case, he kept a list of identifying information about various officials named in his complaint; all of it was publicly available, Taylor said. He mailed some information to a reporter with KTUU in Anchorage, Johnson Kuhn, placing follow-up calls in December 2024 from PCF.
Guard Sgt. Frank Buzby conducted a shakedown of Taylor’s cell on Christmas Day, finding the list. He also reviewed the calls that Taylor placed to the reporter. Buzby then had Taylor placed in administrative segregation on December 30, 2024, “pending investigation.” A formal disciplinary report followed on January 6, 2025, accusing Taylor of violating Rule 810.01(C)(9), which prohibits prisoners from placing “[c]alls to media representatives that have not been previously authorized and approved through the Department’s Public Information Officer (PIO).”
During the call with the reporter and again when Buzby wrote him up for placing them, Taylor pointed to a 2023 state court ruling invalidating the prohibition against prisoners making unauthorized calls to the media. Nevertheless, Taylor remained in isolation to await a disciplinary hearing—which was twice postponed. Meanwhile, the guard followed up with another incident report on January 14, 2025, summarizing the implied threats to staff in the information that Taylor kept on his list and recommending that his security level be increased.
Taylor was released from isolation at that point because the guard’s investigation was complete. When his disciplinary hearing finally arrived on February 13, 2025, the charge was dismissed and the incident report was directed “straight to the disciplinary archive,” with a note that “[i]t will not appear in the inmate’s case file.” Taylor said that he filed a grievance arguing that Buzby failed to exercise minimal due diligence before filing the bogus charge; all the guard had to do, the prisoner pointed out, was read his copy of the court order that he offered to share. But the grievance was not sustained, and Taylor’s appeal to that decision was also denied.
The case that he cited was filed by prisoner Richard Blevins after the rule took effect in June 2020. The DOC argued that the ban on media calls was reasonably included in a statutory ban on “three-way communication,” especially in light of a companion statutory authority to maintain order in its lockups. However, the trial court noted, the statute banned “three-way calls” and not the more expansive “three-way communication.” That by itself was an impermissible exercise of regulatory authority that the DOC couldn’t exercise without following the provisions of the state Administrative Procedures Act, the trial court said, so the ban on media calls was, too.The provision was thus invalidated in the trial court’s ruling on August 22, 2023. See: Blevins v. Winkleman, Alaska Super. (3rd Jud. Dist. – Anchorage), Case No. 3AN-20-09647.
Taylor’s suit against the DOC remains pending in the same court, with trial anticipated later in 2026. PLN will update developments when it concludes. See: Taylor v. Winkleman, Alaska Super. (3rd Jud. Dist. – Anchorage), Case No. 3PA-24-01800CI.
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Related legal case
Taylor v. Winkleman, Alaska Super. (3rd Jud. Dist. – Anchorage)
| Year | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Cite | Case No. 3PA-24-01800CI |
| Level | State Supreme Court |