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The guides created by the Prisoner Advocacy Network are not intended to give legal advice, but rather general legal information. No attorney-client relationship is created by using any information in the guides. You should consult an attorney for legal advice specific to your situation. When putting together the guides we did our best to give useful and accurate information because we know that people who are currently or formerly incarcerated often have difficulty getting legal information. However, the laws change frequently and are subject to differing interpretations. Prisoner Advocacy Network does not have the resources to make changes to this material every time the law changes. If you use this information, it is your responsibility to make sure that the law has not changed and applies to your particular situation. Most of the materials you need should be available in a law library. We encourage the use of this material, please share the guides with your loved ones and networks, we ask that you credit Prisoner Advocacy Network. © 2020 by Prisoner Advocacy Network. RESALE OF THIS MATERIAL IS PROHIBITED. Please email pan@nlgsf.org for any questions that you may have.
The guides created by the Prisoner Advocacy Network are not intended to give legal advice, but rather general legal information. No attorney-client relationship is created by using any information in the guides. You should consult an attorney for legal advice specific to your situation. When putting together the guides we did our best to give useful and accurate information because we know that people who are currently or formerly incarcerated often have difficulty getting legal information. However, the laws change frequently and are subject to differing interpretations. Prisoner Advocacy Network does not have the resources to make changes to this material every time the law changes. If you use this information, it is your responsibility to make sure that the law has not changed and applies to your particular situation. Most of the materials you need should be available in a law library. We encourage the use of this material, please share the guides with your loved ones and networks, we ask that you credit Prisoner Advocacy Network. © 2020 by Prisoner Advocacy Network. RESALE OF THIS MATERIAL IS PROHIBITED. Please email pan@nlgsf.org for any questions that you may have.
BACKGROUND: NON-DESIGNATED PROGRAMMING FACILITY (NDPF)
In 2017, CDCR launched its "Non-Designated Programming Facilities" (NDPFs) policy and in 2018 began "merging yards" or "integrating yards" and forcing people to house together regardless of if they were designated for a Sensitive Needs Yard (SNY) or the General Population (GP). CDCR historically separated people designated as SNY those it designated as GP (mainline) for a reason: to protect people who would face retaliation or potential harm. When the yards "merge" or are "integrated" people have a high likelihood of being stabbed, raped, killed, or otherwise victimized. CDCR has “integrated” some entire prisons and certain yards, including yards for people on the mental health caseload (focusing on the Enhanced Outpatient Program "EOP" level), all Level I (firehouses, camps, and MSFs), most Level II, and some Level III yards. In the years since NDPF began, countless riots have shaken up prisons up and down the state, with dozens of people hospitalized — and some left dead.
When people refuse these unsafe and potentially deadly housing assignments, they are disciplined and often transferred to higher security prisons where they lose access to time outside of the cell, and programs and work that entitle them to time credits. The NDPF policy is disrupting the program access CDCR claimed NDPF would increase. In short, NDPF is violating people’s right to safety and other rights.
CDCR’s NDPF policy is causing horrific violence. Violence in NDPF yards does not occur solely because of negligence on the part of prison staff. Much of the violence is caused intentionally in settings known as “Gladiator Fights.” These officer-staged fights are referred to euphemistically as “Incremental Release.” People who are known to be dangerous to each other are released from their cells simultaneously, with the knowledge and expectation that violence will result. CDCR continues to ignore warnings from incarcerated people that violence will break out.
Deaths
Lawsuits
For those incarcerated people who cite safety concerns and reject the NDPF policy and involuntary move on to merged yards, the consequences include disciplinary write-ups, loss of program access, and solitary confinement – all of which impact parole eligibility and release. CDCR is currently facing over 47 lawsuits, including Samaneigo v. Diaz (2:19-cv-02606-TLN-KJN). In this case, 27-year-old Mr. Samaniego’s attorney describes how officers’ failure to protect him from a known danger, and failure to intervene when the predicted attack occurred result in him being stabbed to the point of permanent paralysis and quadriplegia and being wheelchair bound for life. The NDPF policy causes numerous civil rights violations including failure to protect, excessive force, failing to intervene, failing to provide medical care retaliation, due process violations, generating false documents, improper classification, denial of court access, property deprivation without just compensation, and more.
Media Coverage
A few local media outlets have covered NDPF, including the Sacramento Bee and San Francisco’s KALW, but much of the coverage of the violence in California prisons has detailed the violence without explaining why it’s happening. For example, most of those articles describing riots and injuries at prisons don’t explain that yards have recently merged that bring incarcerated people into contact with people that pose a threat to them. There’s a huge need for a story that connects CDCR’s negligent policy with the ongoing violence hurting people in the criminal justice system."
In 2017, CDCR launched its "Non-Designated Programming Facilities" (NDPFs) policy and in 2018 began "merging yards" or "integrating yards" and forcing people to house together regardless of if they were designated for a Sensitive Needs Yard (SNY) or the General Population (GP). CDCR historically separated people designated as SNY those it designated as GP (mainline) for a reason: to protect people who would face retaliation or potential harm. When the yards "merge" or are "integrated" people have a high likelihood of being stabbed, raped, killed, or otherwise victimized. CDCR has “integrated” some entire prisons and certain yards, including yards for people on the mental health caseload (focusing on the Enhanced Outpatient Program "EOP" level), all Level I (firehouses, camps, and MSFs), most Level II, and some Level III yards. In the years since NDPF began, countless riots have shaken up prisons up and down the state, with dozens of people hospitalized — and some left dead.
When people refuse these unsafe and potentially deadly housing assignments, they are disciplined and often transferred to higher security prisons where they lose access to time outside of the cell, and programs and work that entitle them to time credits. The NDPF policy is disrupting the program access CDCR claimed NDPF would increase. In short, NDPF is violating people’s right to safety and other rights.
CDCR’s NDPF policy is causing horrific violence. Violence in NDPF yards does not occur solely because of negligence on the part of prison staff. Much of the violence is caused intentionally in settings known as “Gladiator Fights.” These officer-staged fights are referred to euphemistically as “Incremental Release.” People who are known to be dangerous to each other are released from their cells simultaneously, with the knowledge and expectation that violence will result. CDCR continues to ignore warnings from incarcerated people that violence will break out.
Deaths
- An incarcerated man on an NDPF yard warned corrections officers that he would attack SNY people who had been assigned to his housing unit. The officers ignored his warning. The next day, he brutally murdered two SNY people. Those two could still be alive if CDCR staff had listened to the explicit warnings of the danger facing people forced to live in unsafe housing.
- Suicide rates are rising within California prisons, and the NDPF policy is a factor behind it, as many people fear being killed if moved onto a merged yard.
- Other deaths continue to receive little media coverage, and no mention of NDPF as a cause.
- The Office of the Inspector General’s responded to a Public Records Act request on incidents of violence documents that out of 51 integrations it tracked, 64% resulted in violence.
- In 2018, Norco’s yards merged — and two days later a riot broke out.
- In 2019, almost 400 people rioted at California Correctional Center.
There are countless other riots to keep track of: 4 people hospitalized after riot in Soledad State Prison, December 2018; 10 people hospitalized after riot in Donovan State Prison, February 2019; 3 people hospitalized, 41 people involved in riot in Pleasant Valley State Prison, July 2019; 4 people stabbed in Salinas Valley State Prison in 25-person riot, July 2019; 2 people stabbed in Salinas Valley State Prison riot, August 2019; 6 people hospitalized after 2 riots in 2 days in California Men’s Colony, August 2019 — and much more.
Lawsuits
For those incarcerated people who cite safety concerns and reject the NDPF policy and involuntary move on to merged yards, the consequences include disciplinary write-ups, loss of program access, and solitary confinement – all of which impact parole eligibility and release. CDCR is currently facing over 47 lawsuits, including Samaneigo v. Diaz (2:19-cv-02606-TLN-KJN). In this case, 27-year-old Mr. Samaniego’s attorney describes how officers’ failure to protect him from a known danger, and failure to intervene when the predicted attack occurred result in him being stabbed to the point of permanent paralysis and quadriplegia and being wheelchair bound for life. The NDPF policy causes numerous civil rights violations including failure to protect, excessive force, failing to intervene, failing to provide medical care retaliation, due process violations, generating false documents, improper classification, denial of court access, property deprivation without just compensation, and more.
Media Coverage
A few local media outlets have covered NDPF, including the Sacramento Bee and San Francisco’s KALW, but much of the coverage of the violence in California prisons has detailed the violence without explaining why it’s happening. For example, most of those articles describing riots and injuries at prisons don’t explain that yards have recently merged that bring incarcerated people into contact with people that pose a threat to them. There’s a huge need for a story that connects CDCR’s negligent policy with the ongoing violence hurting people in the criminal justice system."
PAN's RESOURCES
Please refer to the resources below for people inside and outside to use in their complaints and appeals to CDCR to end NDPF.
Guides
WHAT YOU CAN DO
You can call them from prison (800) 700-5952 or write to them at “Office of the Inspector General 10111 Old Placerville Road, Suite 110 Sacramento, CA 95827.”
Provide your full name, name of the people in the incident, CDCR # (Inmate, Parolee), Incident Date, Incident Location, Nature of Incident, Describe the nature of your concerns, Action Taken by you (like starting 602 process, telling staff, etc.)Here is what their website says about the complaint process: “The Office of the Inspector General does not conduct investigations; however, our staff work directly with prison administrators to resolve issues at the local level. If your complaint results in an investigation or disciplinary action by the department, it may be subsequently monitored by the Office of the Inspector General. To read our retaliation protection policy, see below. To address your concerns, it may be necessary for us to release your name and correspondence. Before making a complaint to the Office of the Inspector General concerning misconduct by employees of the department, we encourage you to complete the department’s standard investigative, appeals, or grievance procedures. If you think an investigation has been improperly conducted, you may then contact our office…”
Please refer to the resources below for people inside and outside to use in their complaints and appeals to CDCR to end NDPF.
Guides
- Long Version Guide To Filling Out Forms (602s, etc.) in CDCR to End NDPF
- Short Version of Language for 602s
- Guide to Developing NDPF Facts and Declarations
- PAN's White Paper on NDPF
- NDPF Litigation Summary
- Public Officials can contact PAN for a copy of our legal analysis and demand letter that includes testimony from incarcerated people.
- Visits to Officials in the Capitol
- Writing Demand Letters
- Collecting Surveys and Documents
- Obtaining Documents Through Public Records Act Requests
- Memorandum from the Deputy Director of the Institutions Division on Sensitive Needs Yard Placement Considerations (Feb. 19, 2002)
- Memoranda from the Director of Adult Institutions on Inmate Housing Assignment Considerations During Screening and Housing Process (Apr. 14 - Dec. 12, 2017)
- Memorandum from the Director of Adult Institutions on Activation of RJD Correctional Facility Infill on Facility E, Level 2 GP Yard and Level 2 Enhanced Outpatient Program Yard NDPF (Sep. 26, 2016)
- Memorandum from the Director of Adult Institutions on RJD Programming Facility Implementation Level 2 (Nov. 18, 2016)
- Memorandum from the Director of Adult Institutions on RJD Programming Facility Implementation Level 2 (Nov. 18, 2016)
- Memorandum from the Director of Adult Institutions on EOP Yards (Nov. 30, 2017)
- Memoranda on NDPF RJD Programming Implementation (Nov. 21, 2017)
- Memorandum from the Director of Adult Institutions on NDPF Conversion at San Quentin State Prison (Dec. 12, 2017)
- Memorandum from the Director of Adult Institutions on NDPF EOC Programming at California State Prison, Los Angeles County (Apr. 14, 3017)
- Memorandum from the Director of Adult Institutions on NDPF Implementation at San Quentin (Dec. 12, 2017)
- Memorandum from the Director of Adult Institutions on NDPF Expansions for 2018 (Dec. 12, 2017)
- Memorandum on Budgets of Yard by Yard NDPF Population Data
- CDCR FAQs Regarding NDPF (Apr. 2018)
- Memorandum from the Director of Adult Institutions on Plan For Transitioning Minimum Support Facilities to NDPFs (Apr. 26, 2018)
- CDCR FAQs Regarding NDPF (May 2018)
- CDCR FAQs Regarding NDPF (Jun. 21, 2018)
- Memorandum from CDCR on NDPF Expansion for 2018-2019 (Jul. 16, 2018)
- Memorandum on Amended NDPF Expansions for 2018-2019 (Apr. 26, 2018)
- CDCR FAQs Regarding NDPF (Dec. 12, 2017)
- Memorandum on NDPFs Transition Information (Feb. 21, 2019)
- Update to NDPF Integration (Mar. 21, 2019)
- Report on Demographic Data in CDCR in 2018
WHAT YOU CAN DO
- Send PAN Surveys and Documents
- Add Your Name to YJC / 34 United Coalition Demand Letter
- Write Legislators And Ask For Hearing & Audit
- Write State Auditor to File Complaint and Ask for Audit
- Tell Your Story to Journalists
- File “Complaint” and Ask for “Assistance to Resolve Issues At Local Level”
You can call them from prison (800) 700-5952 or write to them at “Office of the Inspector General 10111 Old Placerville Road, Suite 110 Sacramento, CA 95827.”
Provide your full name, name of the people in the incident, CDCR # (Inmate, Parolee), Incident Date, Incident Location, Nature of Incident, Describe the nature of your concerns, Action Taken by you (like starting 602 process, telling staff, etc.)Here is what their website says about the complaint process: “The Office of the Inspector General does not conduct investigations; however, our staff work directly with prison administrators to resolve issues at the local level. If your complaint results in an investigation or disciplinary action by the department, it may be subsequently monitored by the Office of the Inspector General. To read our retaliation protection policy, see below. To address your concerns, it may be necessary for us to release your name and correspondence. Before making a complaint to the Office of the Inspector General concerning misconduct by employees of the department, we encourage you to complete the department’s standard investigative, appeals, or grievance procedures. If you think an investigation has been improperly conducted, you may then contact our office…”
- Attend Teach In
- File A Lawsuit
- Join Advocacy Calls
