JULY 2022
Following my denial of single-cell status at the May 31, 2022 Unit Classification Committee
(UCC) meeting, I filed a 602 against Capt. Beam alleging staff misconduct for his retaliatory
action to deny me single-cell status. On June 9, 2022, I was called into the Program Office by
Sgt. Cervantes who asked me if I had safety concerns on Ayard. I told him no. He then asked me
if I had safety concerns if someone was placed in my cell. I said yes, I did. Sgt. Cervantes
then asked me if I was classified as single-cell and I replied that was what the 602 was about.
He asked me again if I was officially single-cell and I said no. Sgt. Cervantes then said he
would put someone in my cell that very day. I told him, and the two other officers in the room,
that if he did that I would file a staff misconduct 602 against him for retaliation of my 602
safety concern, staff misconduct 602 against Capt. Beam. Sgt. Cervantes became upset and he told
me to leave so I did.
It is important to note that new regulations implemented by the CDCR related to 602 appeals, now called grievances, require outside review of any 602 which imposes severe financial penalties against officers found guilty of staff misconduct. Of course, there is always a loophole, and in this case that loophole is what is called a letter of reprimand. These letters are undesirable for any officer looking to advance in his or her career. See 15 CCR § 3486 et seq.; 15 CCR § 3391 et seq.
Regardless of these legal issues, as of this update, Sgt. Cervantes has not put an inmate into my cell. This seems to show, as do the other results in my prison experience, that if you push back enough, they will push elsewhere. This doesn't mean I am safe or even out of the woods, it simply means that by holding to what is right, eventually good will overcome evil.
On June 16, 2022, I had a telephonic hearing with the Mammoth Court about my request for the transcripts of Martha and Chelsea's supplemental interview with Detective Rutkowski. I was told at that hearing that I needed to amend and refile my motion because it was confusing as to what exactly I was seeking, and whether it was actually a court exhibit or not. Well, I filed a new motion for postconviction discovery pursuant to Penal Code § 1054.9 and I laid out specifically what I was looking for and I directed the court's attention to Chelsea's testimony at the trial. On November 4, 2009, Mr. Graham had asked Chelsea during redirect about her previous inconsistent statements. He asked her pointedly, "And so is it fair to say that you did not tell the truth about telling your friends about what happened? Is that fair to say?"
Chelsea replied, "That is," so Mr. Graham asked her just a bit later, "Were you trying to protect your friends?" Chelsea replied, "Yes." Then a bit further along in his redirect Mr. Graham asked Chelsea, "Who were you hanging out with just before you ran away?" Chelsea said, """Tyler Clarke and Leif Medrud." To which Mr. Graham asked, "And of those two, who did you tell about any kind of sexual abuse by Mr. Harris?" Chelsea responded, "Neither of them at that time, until after I told Alex Ellis."" So Mr. Graham followed up by asking, "I just want to make sure we're clear. Did you tell any of your friends prior to June 26th of '07 about sexual abuse?" Chelsea replied, "No."
I believe it is self-evident that Chelsea said she lied about telling her friends throughout the criminal action and then doubled down by telling the jury, and Mr. Graham, that she did not tell anyone about sexual abuse until after telling her caseworker, Alex Ellis, just minutes after saying she had lied before when she said she did tell her friends but she didn't want to admit that to authorities because she didn't want to get them involved.
Well, "those boys" were involved and they made statements which were in direct conflict with Chelsea's statements. Specifically, Chelsea had testified at the trial on November 4, 2009 that she told Tyler that I had touched her inappropriately yet at an interview conducted on November 6, 2009, after Chelsea's testimony, Tyler said that Chelsea had told him she had been raped. Even though Chelsea at trial would not use the word "rape" during her testimony and in fact, she got seriously mad when Ms. Hankel questioned her about having told anyone she had been raped. Chelsea actually yelled in the courtroom at Ms. Hankel, "I never said rape."
So this all led me to file an additional discovery request about the November 6, 2009 interviews of "those boys." I also filed a second motion to disqualify the District Attorney's Office from further participation in my case. In for a penny, in for a pound. Those motions are scheduled to be heard in Mammoth at 9:30 a.m. on September 14, 2022. Stay tuned.
Following these developments, I decided to send a letter to Keith Morrison at Dateline NBC. In that letter I sent my motions and exhibits, as well as my rehabilitation in the CDCR article. I asked him to consider my story as a potential series on Peacock showcasing my wrongful conviction with a transition to an exposé about prison injustices and the need for criminal justice reform.
Well, the mailroom at SVSP did not like that idea apparently, and even though I had attached the required five indigent envelopes to the outside of the letter pursuant to 15 CCR § 3138(b), they refused to mail it. The mailroom didn't send it back to me with the required CDCR 1819 rejection notice either. Instead, I kept receiving cryptic notes on scraps of paper telling me to send $16 or else my letter would not be mailed. This went on for a couple of weeks.
So I got mad. I wrote to the captain in charge of the mailroom. I wrote to the warden. I wrote an emergency 602. All I heard was nothing. As of this update, they still have not replied, they still have my letter, and I am far from done with this issue. You see, I had this same problem a couple of years ago when I tried to do the same thing. Full disclosure, I, and many other inmates do this successfully all the time, but that time a couple of years ago, I was rejected twice. I desperately needed to send out my mail to the Texas Innocence Network so I borrowed 43 "forever" stamps and mailed it out even though I had the right to free indigent mail as an indigent prisoner as described above.
Following the use of the borrowed 43 stamps, I filed a 602 in order to get the stamps returned to me. I was soundly rejected. So I filed a lawsuit in the Monterey County Superior Court and Judge Thomas W. Wills did not give me a chance to argue my positions in rebuttal to the defendant's arguments at a demurrer hearing, thus their demurrer was sustained.
I immediately filed an appeal after I was rejected from objecting to the proposed judgment order. I never heard a word from the court. This was January 4, 2022. So on July 20, 2022, I filed a petition for a writ of mandate in the 6th DCA against the Superior Court of Monterey County. In that petition I asked the Court of Appeal to force the Monterey Court to respond to and adjudicate my appeal. This all seems so crazy. I mean the costs of litigation over 43 stamps seems absurd, yet here I am. Rest assured, the CDCR is going to resist any and all attempts I may make to prove they were wrong, even when they obviously are. It is the old David and Goliath story, but I think I am David, of course.
But I digress, I still have my transfer blocked by an education override and I still have my case in the Northern District Court which is challenging the whole NDPF policy and its effects on me personally. I sent the defendants' attorney a Request for Production of Documents which basically asked for any and all documents related to the creation, adoption, and implementation of the NDPF policy by the CDCR. I further asked for any and all documents related to the CDCR's concerns about the safety and security of prisoners and the prisons in relation to any and all considerations given to particular prisoners who are classified as sex offenders. That discovery is due by August 9, 2022. The court has also told the defendants that they need to file a dispositive motion by that date as well so stay tuned for that update too.
So that pretty much sums things up on a basic level, for now. Feel free to write to me if you have something to say about my case, life in prison, or skiing powder. ;) There is nothing to do in prison these days because the CDCR staff have refused to come to work for quite some time. They have quit. They have retired. They have done whatever is going on on the outside which I get a little taste of from the news on TV. The CDCR calls it short of staff, but whatever it is called, we get no programming.
The Board of Parole Hearings has told me that if I want to parole on August 25, 2027, I must attend self-help groups and yet I cannot attend them because, due to staff shortages, there are no groups, there are no group leaders, and even if there were, there aren't enough officers to run programs.
Suffice to say, stay out of prison. I am actively writing my next two articles and I will have them done in the next few weeks. The first is Mental Health in the CDCR which kind of came to me while I was watching TV and writing Justice and Mercy in the CDCR, which I have put on the back burner. The other article I am writing is called You're in Prison which is in response to the endless retorts by prison staff to my complaints I make and that is: you're in prison so deal with it. And as you see, I am dealing with it. In this article I will certainly advocate for a change in society that educates people as to just how bad prison really is in an effort to add to the efforts to show it as a deterrent to a possible life of crime. I will also advocate for a realistic path towards success for those marginalized folks who know that prison sucks and yet are caught up in a lifestyle which often leads to prison.
So that's all for now. Take care.
It is important to note that new regulations implemented by the CDCR related to 602 appeals, now called grievances, require outside review of any 602 which imposes severe financial penalties against officers found guilty of staff misconduct. Of course, there is always a loophole, and in this case that loophole is what is called a letter of reprimand. These letters are undesirable for any officer looking to advance in his or her career. See 15 CCR § 3486 et seq.; 15 CCR § 3391 et seq.
Regardless of these legal issues, as of this update, Sgt. Cervantes has not put an inmate into my cell. This seems to show, as do the other results in my prison experience, that if you push back enough, they will push elsewhere. This doesn't mean I am safe or even out of the woods, it simply means that by holding to what is right, eventually good will overcome evil.
On June 16, 2022, I had a telephonic hearing with the Mammoth Court about my request for the transcripts of Martha and Chelsea's supplemental interview with Detective Rutkowski. I was told at that hearing that I needed to amend and refile my motion because it was confusing as to what exactly I was seeking, and whether it was actually a court exhibit or not. Well, I filed a new motion for postconviction discovery pursuant to Penal Code § 1054.9 and I laid out specifically what I was looking for and I directed the court's attention to Chelsea's testimony at the trial. On November 4, 2009, Mr. Graham had asked Chelsea during redirect about her previous inconsistent statements. He asked her pointedly, "And so is it fair to say that you did not tell the truth about telling your friends about what happened? Is that fair to say?"
Chelsea replied, "That is," so Mr. Graham asked her just a bit later, "Were you trying to protect your friends?" Chelsea replied, "Yes." Then a bit further along in his redirect Mr. Graham asked Chelsea, "Who were you hanging out with just before you ran away?" Chelsea said, """Tyler Clarke and Leif Medrud." To which Mr. Graham asked, "And of those two, who did you tell about any kind of sexual abuse by Mr. Harris?" Chelsea responded, "Neither of them at that time, until after I told Alex Ellis."" So Mr. Graham followed up by asking, "I just want to make sure we're clear. Did you tell any of your friends prior to June 26th of '07 about sexual abuse?" Chelsea replied, "No."
I believe it is self-evident that Chelsea said she lied about telling her friends throughout the criminal action and then doubled down by telling the jury, and Mr. Graham, that she did not tell anyone about sexual abuse until after telling her caseworker, Alex Ellis, just minutes after saying she had lied before when she said she did tell her friends but she didn't want to admit that to authorities because she didn't want to get them involved.
Well, "those boys" were involved and they made statements which were in direct conflict with Chelsea's statements. Specifically, Chelsea had testified at the trial on November 4, 2009 that she told Tyler that I had touched her inappropriately yet at an interview conducted on November 6, 2009, after Chelsea's testimony, Tyler said that Chelsea had told him she had been raped. Even though Chelsea at trial would not use the word "rape" during her testimony and in fact, she got seriously mad when Ms. Hankel questioned her about having told anyone she had been raped. Chelsea actually yelled in the courtroom at Ms. Hankel, "I never said rape."
So this all led me to file an additional discovery request about the November 6, 2009 interviews of "those boys." I also filed a second motion to disqualify the District Attorney's Office from further participation in my case. In for a penny, in for a pound. Those motions are scheduled to be heard in Mammoth at 9:30 a.m. on September 14, 2022. Stay tuned.
Following these developments, I decided to send a letter to Keith Morrison at Dateline NBC. In that letter I sent my motions and exhibits, as well as my rehabilitation in the CDCR article. I asked him to consider my story as a potential series on Peacock showcasing my wrongful conviction with a transition to an exposé about prison injustices and the need for criminal justice reform.
Well, the mailroom at SVSP did not like that idea apparently, and even though I had attached the required five indigent envelopes to the outside of the letter pursuant to 15 CCR § 3138(b), they refused to mail it. The mailroom didn't send it back to me with the required CDCR 1819 rejection notice either. Instead, I kept receiving cryptic notes on scraps of paper telling me to send $16 or else my letter would not be mailed. This went on for a couple of weeks.
So I got mad. I wrote to the captain in charge of the mailroom. I wrote to the warden. I wrote an emergency 602. All I heard was nothing. As of this update, they still have not replied, they still have my letter, and I am far from done with this issue. You see, I had this same problem a couple of years ago when I tried to do the same thing. Full disclosure, I, and many other inmates do this successfully all the time, but that time a couple of years ago, I was rejected twice. I desperately needed to send out my mail to the Texas Innocence Network so I borrowed 43 "forever" stamps and mailed it out even though I had the right to free indigent mail as an indigent prisoner as described above.
Following the use of the borrowed 43 stamps, I filed a 602 in order to get the stamps returned to me. I was soundly rejected. So I filed a lawsuit in the Monterey County Superior Court and Judge Thomas W. Wills did not give me a chance to argue my positions in rebuttal to the defendant's arguments at a demurrer hearing, thus their demurrer was sustained.
I immediately filed an appeal after I was rejected from objecting to the proposed judgment order. I never heard a word from the court. This was January 4, 2022. So on July 20, 2022, I filed a petition for a writ of mandate in the 6th DCA against the Superior Court of Monterey County. In that petition I asked the Court of Appeal to force the Monterey Court to respond to and adjudicate my appeal. This all seems so crazy. I mean the costs of litigation over 43 stamps seems absurd, yet here I am. Rest assured, the CDCR is going to resist any and all attempts I may make to prove they were wrong, even when they obviously are. It is the old David and Goliath story, but I think I am David, of course.
But I digress, I still have my transfer blocked by an education override and I still have my case in the Northern District Court which is challenging the whole NDPF policy and its effects on me personally. I sent the defendants' attorney a Request for Production of Documents which basically asked for any and all documents related to the creation, adoption, and implementation of the NDPF policy by the CDCR. I further asked for any and all documents related to the CDCR's concerns about the safety and security of prisoners and the prisons in relation to any and all considerations given to particular prisoners who are classified as sex offenders. That discovery is due by August 9, 2022. The court has also told the defendants that they need to file a dispositive motion by that date as well so stay tuned for that update too.
So that pretty much sums things up on a basic level, for now. Feel free to write to me if you have something to say about my case, life in prison, or skiing powder. ;) There is nothing to do in prison these days because the CDCR staff have refused to come to work for quite some time. They have quit. They have retired. They have done whatever is going on on the outside which I get a little taste of from the news on TV. The CDCR calls it short of staff, but whatever it is called, we get no programming.
The Board of Parole Hearings has told me that if I want to parole on August 25, 2027, I must attend self-help groups and yet I cannot attend them because, due to staff shortages, there are no groups, there are no group leaders, and even if there were, there aren't enough officers to run programs.
Suffice to say, stay out of prison. I am actively writing my next two articles and I will have them done in the next few weeks. The first is Mental Health in the CDCR which kind of came to me while I was watching TV and writing Justice and Mercy in the CDCR, which I have put on the back burner. The other article I am writing is called You're in Prison which is in response to the endless retorts by prison staff to my complaints I make and that is: you're in prison so deal with it. And as you see, I am dealing with it. In this article I will certainly advocate for a change in society that educates people as to just how bad prison really is in an effort to add to the efforts to show it as a deterrent to a possible life of crime. I will also advocate for a realistic path towards success for those marginalized folks who know that prison sucks and yet are caught up in a lifestyle which often leads to prison.
So that's all for now. Take care.