U.N.I.O.N.
United for No Injustice, Oppression or Neglect

TWO UNION CURRENT CALLS TO ACTION

Keep the judges informed of whether or not callous bureaucrats have responded to your pleas for help. The three judge panel is currently making decisions which will determine everyone's future. You can't just write to them one time and then stop communicating or they will assume that your problem got handled. Don't expect a reply but just know that their decisions will include your experiences. When people aren't writing to them, they assume everyone is happy . Name the names, the date, places and times, and make sure you file complaints with the County Grand Juries as well, they are separate from the prison system and we have had good luck with them stepping in when enough complaints arrive on any specific prison. Honorable JudgeThelton E. Henderson United States District Court 450 Golden Gate Avenue San Francisco, California 94102 Dear Honorable Judge Henderson     Senior District Court Honorable Judge Lawrence K. Karlton (LKK) 501 I Street, Suite. 4-200 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 930-4000 Fax: 916-491-3934 Dear Honorable Judge Karlton if you go to this link, the flyer below should print out for you on a 8.5 x ll piece of paper, distribute these widely. http://www.1union1.com/UNION_rally_flyer_black_white.html If for any reason this does not print out clearly for you, please email rightor1@yahoo.com. Every browser is different. A crowd is needed next Fri May 30 at 10:30 am in San Francisco to prove that people do care about the inhumane conditions and want a prison cap. We need to rally in the Plaza area of the Federal Building at 450 Golden Gate Ave where the final hearing will be held to decide if a prison cap will be imposed or if the industry will just be expanded with no relief . to limit the number of people who are in prison right now. The proposed reforms deal with the future. CDCr has a bad record of compliance with the Judges' orders. The punishers are making the noise to stop releases and expand the failed prison industry. They are out-shouting our side of the argument. Prison reform involves showing up to important hearings a few times a year to prove that families and friends of prisoners are not too stupid to organize, which is what everyone in power thinks. The Amtrak comes just three blocks away and even if you stay all day, the trains and buses run late. Plan to stay until at least 5 pm in the event that the hearing itself runs over. Don't be late to congregate in the morning as we have a permit to carry signs in the Plaza area of the Courthouse and have invited the media so we can have a voice before the hearings begin Afterward, we may all go down to Fisherman's Wharf to have an inexpensive meal together and discuss our future organizing efforts. There is no way that legislators who are purchased into office with the votes and dollars of law enforcement labor unions are going to change the laws except by the force of initiative campaigns done by we, the people. Make certain that you are posting about the issues beneath the articles at the news sites, there should be hundreds of posts out there if you want to give voice to prison reform issues, silence feeds the cockroaches and it's a bad decision for those who are desperate for reform. -------------------------- Ride info Driver from Palmdale is looking for three to share gas expenses Driver from Sacramento/Elk Grove has room for three to share expenses Rider from San Jose with wheelchair needs a ride, will share gas

UNION, P.O. Box 340371, Sacramento, Ca 95834 email rightor1@yahoo.com Web www.1union1.com

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Urgent Call to Action Fax letters or email objections to new celling rules which are a violation of several penal codes and give guards too much power over mental health professionals the rules change notice announced CDCr's intent to adopt, among others, 15CCR 3269(f) the tex of which states.   "in cases where single cell statis us recommended by a clinical staff due to mental health or medical concerns, a classification committee shall make the final determination of an inmate's cell assignment. The classification committee shall consider the clinical recommendations made by the evaluating clinician with assistance from the clincian who participates in the committee and review the inmate's case status based upon clinical recomendation is usually a temporary, short-term measure and must be periodically reviewed, minimally at an inmate's annual review or more frequently at the inmate's or clincian's request.   What the new rules change fails to address or even acknowledge is the very relevant correlation that exists between the adlopted/proposed 15CCR 3269 (f) and the following sections of the penal code.   673.  It shall be unlawful to....inflict any treatment or allow any lack of care whever which would injure or impair the health of the prisoner 2650   The person of a prisoner sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison is under the protection of the law, and any injury to his person, not authorized by law, is punishable in the same manner as if were not convicted or sentenced   2652  It shall be unlawful to inflict any treatment or allow any lack of care whatever which would injure or impair the health of the prisoner   2653 (a) If a physician employed by the CDCr certifies in writing that a particiular medical treatment is required to prevent a violation of  147, 673, 2650 or 2652 or serious and imminent harm to the health of a prisoner, the order for that particular medical treatment may not be modified or canceled by any employee of the department without the approval of the chief medical officer of the institution or the physician in attendance   I have numerous reports of guards, other custody staff committing the following related offenses. Some of these are in federal lawsuits that are waiting to come to court, including Eric's lawsuits, but in hundreds more.   What custody does is 1.   threaten the mentally ill  to charge them $175 a day for every single day that they are on single cell status.  A mentally ill person can easily be led to believe that they can actually do this.   2,  The guards do everything they can to threaten, intimidate, and otherwise aggressively try to manipulate mental-health staff into fraudulently changing the mental health diagnosis.   3.  The guards often remove the "S" suffix that follows the CDC number of those who are to be double-celled in spite of express protests lodged by mental health staff members. The intent here is to possibly get the inmate killed by putting him in the wrong housing area, especially when they are sent out to jails to attend court hearings.    4.  Custody staff often refuses to let mental health staff document their disagreements with adverse committee actions on the CDCr form 128-G pursuant to 15CCR 3375(g)(1)(P)(F)   5.  They transfer mentally ill prisoners to other facilities in retaliation for their refusal to voluntarily waive their medically necessary and doctor-prescribed single cell status, but also in deliberate indifference of their treatment/therapy needs which are prescribed by mental health staff   7.  They forcibly double cell the mentally ill until they act out, resulting in death or harm to themselves. The mentally ill are often a danger to themselves and others but custody manipulates them to help other prisoners "do their time."  They violate moral  ethics by creating predatory circumstances of one inmate against another for recreation.   There is no accountability for custody staff violating penal code 2653, steam-rollering the mental health professionals and disregarding the US Constitution's Eighth Amendment, the Rehabilitation Act of 29 U.S>C 794, Title II of the Americans With Disabilities act of 42 USC 12131 and the various reiteration of the federal authorities that are contained with the California State Constitution. ------------------------------------- We can thank Eric for his great legal work detailed above.  The idea that mental health workers can be ignored by prison guards is outrageous.  Naturally they are not going to want to single cell anyone for the sake of their jobs, but they are unqualified to run over the medical people, yet it happens every day.   Bob has prepared this call to action for us and since the UNION is about the only group of people that ever addresses  what's on the table right now, as many people as possible should fax in a letter. That way when the blood bath begins in a few days, we can know that we did our part to prevent it.   We are nearly out of time on this one, too much to do here, not enough clerical volunteers, but you can still make it.  It is the number of objections that they count.  As you know, I do not call you to the rules change hearings because they do exactly what we want and ignore all common sense and protest. In this case a fax is as good as coming in person but make sure you copy the editors, because the media has no idea what all this means until after the deaths escalate.   When enough of us care to take an action, then others care too.  Otherwise nobody thinks it is important. This is why you cannot be recruiting too many workers to the UNION. -------------------------------- Note from Bob There is an extract of a change pending in the D.O.M. that follows. The full info is on the CDCR web site. There was a lawsuit years ago in CMC on double celling. The case was decided in favor of CDC but with the provision that due to the small size of the cells double celling would be temporary and only then because prisoners spent little time locked in. that has all changed but the cramped cells throughout the system still exist. The American Corrections Association recommends each prisoner have 35 square foot of unencumbered space 7 foot long. For double celling the area is more than double that. For long term incarceration ACA recommends SINGLE celling. The change CDCR is recommending may well be to declare there is no overcrowding since the cells at present ars designated as SINGLE cell occupancy.   As we all know the CDCR cells don't meet the single occupancy let alone double. Please write and if possible attend the hearing May 30. See info below.   Title: Inmate Housing Assignments Section(s): 3269 and Subsections 3315(f)(5)(N)(1) and (2) Notification Date:March 21, 2008 Temporary Effective Date: March 17, 2008 Public Hearing Date: May 30, 2008 It states in part: Inmates shall accept Inmate Housing Assignments (IHAs) as directed by staff. It is the expectation that all inmates double cell, whether being housed in a Reception Center, General Population (GP), an Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU), a Security Housing Unit (SHU), or specialty housing unit. The Reason in part: Historically, it has been a generally accepted practice in the CDCR that inmates are expected to double cell. This policy was reiterated and stipulated via Departmental memorandum dated April 25, 2003, although regulatory language was not correspondingly adopted. In late 2006, several inmates petitioned the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) contending that the memorandum constituted an underground regulation, and the OAL agreed. This matter has since been filed in court. The Department asserts that it would be a serious development should an inmate successfully enjoin the Department in the courts to overturn. IMPLEMENTATION: Immediately. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD Any person may submit written comments about the proposed regulations to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Regulation and Policy Management Branch (RPMB), PO Box 942883, Sacramento, California 94283-0001, by fax to (916) 341-7366 or by e-mail to RPMB@cdcr.ca.gov. All written comments must be received by the close of the public comment period, May 30, 2008, at 5:00 pm. PUBLIC HEARING INFORMATION A public hearing regarding these proposed regulations will be held May 30, 2008, from 9:00 am to 10:00 am, in the Corrections Standards Authority Large Conference Room, 660 Bercut Drive, West Entrance, Sacramento, Ca, 95814. ---------------------------------------- UNION members, it is far more important that we rally in front of the court house on May 30 in San Francisco where all the decisionmakers can hear our views and read our protest signs. You can carry signs about the steam rollering of mental health professionals and abuse of the mentally ill. Judge Lawrence Karlton will be one of the decisionmakers on the new "reform" plan and he's the judge who has all the particulars about the ongoing abuse of the mentally ill. This topic ties in very well with our reasons to rally and support a prison cap to end this terrible overcrowding. Please post beneath this website below and fax a letter to fax to (916) 341-7366 or by e-mail to RPMB@cdcr.ca.gov copy a journalist because CDCr will never admit there was an outcry unless you do. -------------------------------------

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Remember to vote on June 3 and to support the recall of Senator Jeff Denham. If the candidate took donations from law enforcement labor unions, don't vote for them. This will include most of the Republican politicians and many of the Democrats, pay attention, register the poor to vote, and stay active with writing and recruiting new workers. Be relentless, lives depend on your organizing work

Rev. Dr. B. Cayenne Bird
Volunteer Director
P.O. Box 340371
Sacramento, Ca. 95834
 

 Rightor1@yahoo.com