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"content": "\u003cp>San Franciscans woken up early Saturday by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018356/the-tornado-warning-is-over-heres-why-it-was-issued\">a tornado warning\u003c/a> might have hoped it was just a bad dream, but even though a twister never touched down in the city, destructive winds and rain weren’t a passing nightmare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crews are still clearing downed trees and repairing damage after the storm, which produced gusts of up to 80 mph through Golden Gate Park and the Richmond District, according to the National Weather Service. The Department of Public Works is fielding more than 350 reports of fallen and damaged trees on city streets, and the Recreation and Parks Department estimates that up to 100 more were downed throughout its parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golden Gate Park and the Mission District were hit particularly hard, according to department spokespeople.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About 50 to 100 trees fell across the whole park system, and about half of those at least were in the west end of Golden Gate Park,” said Tamara Aparton, the parks department’s communications director. “It was a really violent storm in the west end, and it knocked down a lot of really big trees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was some damage to the outer paddock of the park’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11495697/whats-with-the-bison-in-golden-gate-park\">beloved bison pasture\u003c/a>, but Aparton said the inner paddock remained intact, and all of the bison were safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Richmond District, water seeped into the gym at George Washington High School after a rooftop skylight was damaged, according to San Francisco school district spokesperson Laura Dudnick. On Monday, she said the facilities team was working to repair and clean the space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12018590\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12018590\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A San Francisco Parks and Recreation worker wraps red caution tape around a tree stump by the bison paddock in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Dec. 16, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On the other side of the city, crews have been clearing hard-hit streets and sidewalks in the Mission District. Fallen street trees broke windows, wrecked cars and landed on some buildings, and the Department of Public Works is also handling damaged fencing and pavement, spokesperson Rachel Gordon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utility infrastructure was also damaged in the storm, which had 100,000 customers without power at its peak, according to PG&E. The company did not yet have a tally of the damage on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No injuries have been reported to either the public works or parks department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12018025 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0666-1020x679.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to many downed trees in the Mission, an entire cluster near San Jose Avenue between Noe Valley and Bernal Heights came down at once, causing a road closure on Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The big culprit really is wind and then saturated ground,” she said. “If the ground is really wet, there’s not a lot for the roots to grip onto, so they’re more vulnerable to damage, and [that’s] when large limbs come down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the total number of downed trees in this storm wasn’t unusually high, city officials said their cleanup would take at least a few more days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have no magic wand to make the fallen trees and the branches disappear,” Gordon told KQED. “There are real people who are going out to pick them up and move them away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said crews had been out before dawn and late into the night clearing trees. When a full tree falls, it needs to be chopped into smaller pieces before it can be moved, while trees that are still partially standing have to be chipped away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have gotten the major incidents cleared, but we still have asked for a little bit of patience,” Gordon said. “It might take several more days at least to get all of the green waste picked up and cleared away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"headline": "No Tornado in SF, But Crews Are Still Working to Clear Hundreds of Downed Trees",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Franciscans woken up early Saturday by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018356/the-tornado-warning-is-over-heres-why-it-was-issued\">a tornado warning\u003c/a> might have hoped it was just a bad dream, but even though a twister never touched down in the city, destructive winds and rain weren’t a passing nightmare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crews are still clearing downed trees and repairing damage after the storm, which produced gusts of up to 80 mph through Golden Gate Park and the Richmond District, according to the National Weather Service. The Department of Public Works is fielding more than 350 reports of fallen and damaged trees on city streets, and the Recreation and Parks Department estimates that up to 100 more were downed throughout its parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golden Gate Park and the Mission District were hit particularly hard, according to department spokespeople.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About 50 to 100 trees fell across the whole park system, and about half of those at least were in the west end of Golden Gate Park,” said Tamara Aparton, the parks department’s communications director. “It was a really violent storm in the west end, and it knocked down a lot of really big trees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was some damage to the outer paddock of the park’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11495697/whats-with-the-bison-in-golden-gate-park\">beloved bison pasture\u003c/a>, but Aparton said the inner paddock remained intact, and all of the bison were safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Richmond District, water seeped into the gym at George Washington High School after a rooftop skylight was damaged, according to San Francisco school district spokesperson Laura Dudnick. On Monday, she said the facilities team was working to repair and clean the space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12018590\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12018590\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241216_SFStormCleanup_GC-9-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A San Francisco Parks and Recreation worker wraps red caution tape around a tree stump by the bison paddock in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Dec. 16, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On the other side of the city, crews have been clearing hard-hit streets and sidewalks in the Mission District. Fallen street trees broke windows, wrecked cars and landed on some buildings, and the Department of Public Works is also handling damaged fencing and pavement, spokesperson Rachel Gordon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utility infrastructure was also damaged in the storm, which had 100,000 customers without power at its peak, according to PG&E. The company did not yet have a tally of the damage on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No injuries have been reported to either the public works or parks department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to many downed trees in the Mission, an entire cluster near San Jose Avenue between Noe Valley and Bernal Heights came down at once, causing a road closure on Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The big culprit really is wind and then saturated ground,” she said. “If the ground is really wet, there’s not a lot for the roots to grip onto, so they’re more vulnerable to damage, and [that’s] when large limbs come down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the total number of downed trees in this storm wasn’t unusually high, city officials said their cleanup would take at least a few more days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have no magic wand to make the fallen trees and the branches disappear,” Gordon told KQED. “There are real people who are going out to pick them up and move them away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said crews had been out before dawn and late into the night clearing trees. When a full tree falls, it needs to be chopped into smaller pieces before it can be moved, while trees that are still partially standing have to be chipped away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have gotten the major incidents cleared, but we still have asked for a little bit of patience,” Gordon said. “It might take several more days at least to get all of the green waste picked up and cleared away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> on Monday announced the details of a plan aimed at making it easier for Californians to land high-paying jobs, regardless of whether they went to college — and said he wants to invest $100 million to help implement the proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dubbed the Master Plan for Career Education, Newsom’s blueprint calls for a number of new tools and policies, including making it easier for people without college degrees to get state jobs and earn college credits for things like military service and volunteer work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said the plan, introduced at a news conference at Redding’s Shasta College, recognizes that the path to a stable career can run through a four-year degree program but can also come through non-college experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is around the recognition that we need to create a framework where you can get the benefit of a life well lived that does not include some fancy degree,” Newsom said. “Everybody is included in this agenda.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said the state has already implemented portions of the plan, including removing the college degree requirement for nearly 30,000 state jobs; he plans to double that number by next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan unveiled Monday also calls for the creation of career passports — essentially a digital tool that lays out someone’s academic records, skills and credentials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12015489 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/112124-Gavin-Fresno-City-Presser-LV_CM_03-copy-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will offer employers an easy place to see a verified record of someone’s abilities. Newsom said the goal of the career passport is to shift hiring practices toward valuing skills over degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a state of mind that was missing as it relates to those who don’t have the desire, need or capacity \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/perspectives/201601138272/opting-out-of-a-four%e2%80%90year-college\">to imagine a four-year college degree\u003c/a> or even a two-year associate’s degree,” Newsom said. “Those that just want to have a vibrant and outstanding career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new master plan also calls for expanding an existing program that makes it easier for veterans, members of the military and some others to get college credits for their experience, such as skills learned during military training or volunteer work. Newsom said the economic impacts would be “immediate and substantial,” saving beneficiaries more than $26,000 in immediate college costs and offering more than $160,000 in benefits over a person’s lifetime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that while some colleges already offer credit for prior experience, his plan would create a statewide system that could benefit 250,000 Californians, including 30,000 veterans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom also wants to create a statewide “planning and coordinating collaborative” that would connect schools, workforce training providers and employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> on Monday announced the details of a plan aimed at making it easier for Californians to land high-paying jobs, regardless of whether they went to college — and said he wants to invest $100 million to help implement the proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dubbed the Master Plan for Career Education, Newsom’s blueprint calls for a number of new tools and policies, including making it easier for people without college degrees to get state jobs and earn college credits for things like military service and volunteer work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said the plan, introduced at a news conference at Redding’s Shasta College, recognizes that the path to a stable career can run through a four-year degree program but can also come through non-college experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is around the recognition that we need to create a framework where you can get the benefit of a life well lived that does not include some fancy degree,” Newsom said. “Everybody is included in this agenda.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said the state has already implemented portions of the plan, including removing the college degree requirement for nearly 30,000 state jobs; he plans to double that number by next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan unveiled Monday also calls for the creation of career passports — essentially a digital tool that lays out someone’s academic records, skills and credentials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will offer employers an easy place to see a verified record of someone’s abilities. Newsom said the goal of the career passport is to shift hiring practices toward valuing skills over degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a state of mind that was missing as it relates to those who don’t have the desire, need or capacity \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/perspectives/201601138272/opting-out-of-a-four%e2%80%90year-college\">to imagine a four-year college degree\u003c/a> or even a two-year associate’s degree,” Newsom said. “Those that just want to have a vibrant and outstanding career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new master plan also calls for expanding an existing program that makes it easier for veterans, members of the military and some others to get college credits for their experience, such as skills learned during military training or volunteer work. Newsom said the economic impacts would be “immediate and substantial,” saving beneficiaries more than $26,000 in immediate college costs and offering more than $160,000 in benefits over a person’s lifetime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that while some colleges already offer credit for prior experience, his plan would create a statewide system that could benefit 250,000 Californians, including 30,000 veterans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom also wants to create a statewide “planning and coordinating collaborative” that would connect schools, workforce training providers and employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "berkeley-defends-tsunami-evacuations-amid-concerns-warnings",
"title": "Berkeley Defends Tsunami Evacuations Amid Concerns of ‘Crying Wolf’ With Warnings",
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"content": "\u003cp>When a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the Humboldt County coast this month, and federal forecasters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016827/pair-of-large-earthquakes-rattle-northern-california-and-trigger-tsunami-warning\">warned that a tsunami would arrive\u003c/a> in the Bay Area within 80 minutes, officials throughout the region scrambled to respond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several cities and counties warned residents they should head for higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley went further. Guided by \u003ca href=\"https://maps.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/informationwarehouse/ts_evacuation/\">an inundation map\u003c/a> from the California Geological Survey representing the worst-case flooding impacts from a potential tsunami, the city issued a mandatory evacuation order for areas along its bay shore. Emergency speakers blared warnings. Police and fire personnel cleared people from the waterfront. Schools and businesses, including some outside the danger zone, emptied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But just as all these steps were completed, the National Tsunami Warning Center — which had forecast a tsunami of at least 3 feet — canceled the alert when it became apparent there was no threat anywhere along the coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Berkeley officials are defending the aggressiveness of their response to the Dec. 5 alert while saying they’d like to see \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017058/how-confusion-over-californias-tsunami-warning-shows-limits-us-forecasting\">improvements in how tsunami warnings are handled\u003c/a> in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12016878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12016878 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542.jpg\" alt=\"People look out over a railing into an open space.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People watch for signs of a tsunami from an overlook point at Brickyard Cove in Berkeley on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The city recognizes that the evacuation order raised concerns about “over-alerting and crying wolf,” Sarah Lana, Berkeley’s emergency manager, said in an interview last week. “I know that some people are concerned that the tsunami didn’t come, and we recognize that it’s a very significant impact to people, to their families, to their businesses, to do a big evacuation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a question that has taken on renewed importance for emergency response officials after San Franciscans were jolted awake by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018356/the-tornado-warning-is-over-heres-why-it-was-issued\">a tornado warning\u003c/a> on Saturday morning — the Bay Area’s second wireless emergency alert in as many weeks. That warning again left many wondering how they were supposed to respond to such an unfamiliar alert for the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Regardless of the final determination of what kind of storm it was, residents were understandably anxious to receive an alert about something we don’t associate with our region,” the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/SF_emergency/status/1868087841802338321/photo/1\">said in a statement\u003c/a>. “Heightening the concern is the fact that this is the second WEA in the past two weeks for hazards with low probability like tornados and tsunamis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12018468 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/241122-StormHitsBayArea-04-BL-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lana said several factors came together to prompt Berkeley’s tsunami evacuation order, including that the National Tsunami Warning Center had issued its highest level of alert and that the state’s inundation map showed a serious threat to West Berkeley. The location of the earthquake, about 225 miles northwest of the Golden Gate, was also crucial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This earthquake was so close, relatively speaking, to the Bay Area that the processes for measuring and confirming this tsunami were just not fast enough for us to be able to wait on taking action,” Lana said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Places such as San Francisco, San Mateo County, Alameda County and the city of Fremont warned residents to head for higher ground after the tsunami warning but did not roll out widespread evacuation orders like Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lana said it’s important for emergency officials to be able to act even “with not all the information they need.” That means trusting guidance from federal and state sources about potential threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ve been working very hard on providing guidance that we can implement quickly when the time comes. And that’s what we opted to do,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the aftermath, Lana said she’s talked to federal officials about the need for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016934/qa-imperfect-science-behind-tsunami-warnings\">more precise warnings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have expressed those concerns to our partners at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,” she said. “I think this is a place where we just need to be able to support our government scientists and making the changes that we all want to make and they also want to make.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lana said the city will continue to lean toward the side of caution to keep residents safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important that if we have the potential for people to be in danger and that we have that information, that we act quickly,” Lana said. “And hopefully, it’s for just a warning that doesn’t materialize. But, you know, one of these days, it’s not going to be a warning. It’s going to be a real thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Berkeley officials also said they’d like to see improvements in how tsunami warnings are handled. The city’s aggressive response was based on a broad federal warning and a 'worst-case' state inundation map.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the Humboldt County coast this month, and federal forecasters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016827/pair-of-large-earthquakes-rattle-northern-california-and-trigger-tsunami-warning\">warned that a tsunami would arrive\u003c/a> in the Bay Area within 80 minutes, officials throughout the region scrambled to respond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several cities and counties warned residents they should head for higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley went further. Guided by \u003ca href=\"https://maps.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/informationwarehouse/ts_evacuation/\">an inundation map\u003c/a> from the California Geological Survey representing the worst-case flooding impacts from a potential tsunami, the city issued a mandatory evacuation order for areas along its bay shore. Emergency speakers blared warnings. Police and fire personnel cleared people from the waterfront. Schools and businesses, including some outside the danger zone, emptied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But just as all these steps were completed, the National Tsunami Warning Center — which had forecast a tsunami of at least 3 feet — canceled the alert when it became apparent there was no threat anywhere along the coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Berkeley officials are defending the aggressiveness of their response to the Dec. 5 alert while saying they’d like to see \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017058/how-confusion-over-californias-tsunami-warning-shows-limits-us-forecasting\">improvements in how tsunami warnings are handled\u003c/a> in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12016878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12016878 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542.jpg\" alt=\"People look out over a railing into an open space.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241205_Tsunami-Warning_DMB_0542-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People watch for signs of a tsunami from an overlook point at Brickyard Cove in Berkeley on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The city recognizes that the evacuation order raised concerns about “over-alerting and crying wolf,” Sarah Lana, Berkeley’s emergency manager, said in an interview last week. “I know that some people are concerned that the tsunami didn’t come, and we recognize that it’s a very significant impact to people, to their families, to their businesses, to do a big evacuation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a question that has taken on renewed importance for emergency response officials after San Franciscans were jolted awake by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018356/the-tornado-warning-is-over-heres-why-it-was-issued\">a tornado warning\u003c/a> on Saturday morning — the Bay Area’s second wireless emergency alert in as many weeks. That warning again left many wondering how they were supposed to respond to such an unfamiliar alert for the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Regardless of the final determination of what kind of storm it was, residents were understandably anxious to receive an alert about something we don’t associate with our region,” the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/SF_emergency/status/1868087841802338321/photo/1\">said in a statement\u003c/a>. “Heightening the concern is the fact that this is the second WEA in the past two weeks for hazards with low probability like tornados and tsunamis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lana said several factors came together to prompt Berkeley’s tsunami evacuation order, including that the National Tsunami Warning Center had issued its highest level of alert and that the state’s inundation map showed a serious threat to West Berkeley. The location of the earthquake, about 225 miles northwest of the Golden Gate, was also crucial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This earthquake was so close, relatively speaking, to the Bay Area that the processes for measuring and confirming this tsunami were just not fast enough for us to be able to wait on taking action,” Lana said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Places such as San Francisco, San Mateo County, Alameda County and the city of Fremont warned residents to head for higher ground after the tsunami warning but did not roll out widespread evacuation orders like Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lana said it’s important for emergency officials to be able to act even “with not all the information they need.” That means trusting guidance from federal and state sources about potential threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ve been working very hard on providing guidance that we can implement quickly when the time comes. And that’s what we opted to do,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the aftermath, Lana said she’s talked to federal officials about the need for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016934/qa-imperfect-science-behind-tsunami-warnings\">more precise warnings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have expressed those concerns to our partners at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,” she said. “I think this is a place where we just need to be able to support our government scientists and making the changes that we all want to make and they also want to make.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lana said the city will continue to lean toward the side of caution to keep residents safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important that if we have the potential for people to be in danger and that we have that information, that we act quickly,” Lana said. “And hopefully, it’s for just a warning that doesn’t materialize. But, you know, one of these days, it’s not going to be a warning. It’s going to be a real thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Though it might not look like it based on the gray rain clouds gathering outside your window Monday morning, this week’s weather is expected to be a brief reprieve from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017880/bay-area-braces-quadruple-threat-rain-wind-surf-king-tides\">the Bay Area’s rainy fall\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a fairly weak storm passes through on Monday, the Bay Area will have dry, and even some sunny, weather through the end of the work week. This weekend, a stronger rain system is on the horizon, threatening to complicate last-minute holiday shopping and travel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Light rain began in the North Bay early Monday and is traveling south to San Francisco and the South Bay. Meteorologists say it won’t bring rainfall totals anywhere near the records broken last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Higher-elevation areas of the North Bay could get up to three-quarters of an inch, while just up to a quarter of an inch is expected elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Showers should start to taper off in the evening, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Crystal Oudit. Enjoy the week of dry, slightly warmer weather, she recommended, since the Bay Area could be getting a gray, wet Christmas this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/1868525828914794860\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does look like rain’s going to return, possibly Saturday into the weekend, and then we do see a signal for a chance for wet weather for the week of Christmas,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too soon to make out many specifics about this weekend’s storm, Oudit said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12018406 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/470133176_916398103956314_89174337297673206_n-1020x765.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the incoming system looks stronger than Monday’s scattered showers, but it doesn’t look set up to rival last weekend’s heavy rain and strong winds — including a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018406/tornado-hits-santa-cruz-county\">tornado in Santa Cruz County\u003c/a> and San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018356/the-tornado-warning-is-over-heres-why-it-was-issued\">first citywide tornado warning\u003c/a> — or November’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015275/another-strong-storm-to-slam-california-raising-flood-risk-in-north-bay\">double atmospheric rivers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Weather Service is forecasting “unsettled and wet weather,” and although Oudit said it’s not yet being categorized as an atmospheric river, this is the season for those particularly wet events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the North Bay, what we have in our forecast from Saturday to Monday [is] anywhere between 2 to 3 1/2 inches,” she said. “At higher terrain, you can see up to 4 inches.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There could be some gusty winds, but no concerning speeds are expected so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After Northern California was slammed by an intense storm last weekend, Monday’s light rain will be followed by dry, even sunny, weather until a stronger rain system on the horizon.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Though it might not look like it based on the gray rain clouds gathering outside your window Monday morning, this week’s weather is expected to be a brief reprieve from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017880/bay-area-braces-quadruple-threat-rain-wind-surf-king-tides\">the Bay Area’s rainy fall\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a fairly weak storm passes through on Monday, the Bay Area will have dry, and even some sunny, weather through the end of the work week. This weekend, a stronger rain system is on the horizon, threatening to complicate last-minute holiday shopping and travel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Light rain began in the North Bay early Monday and is traveling south to San Francisco and the South Bay. Meteorologists say it won’t bring rainfall totals anywhere near the records broken last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>“It does look like rain’s going to return, possibly Saturday into the weekend, and then we do see a signal for a chance for wet weather for the week of Christmas,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too soon to make out many specifics about this weekend’s storm, Oudit said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the incoming system looks stronger than Monday’s scattered showers, but it doesn’t look set up to rival last weekend’s heavy rain and strong winds — including a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018406/tornado-hits-santa-cruz-county\">tornado in Santa Cruz County\u003c/a> and San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018356/the-tornado-warning-is-over-heres-why-it-was-issued\">first citywide tornado warning\u003c/a> — or November’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015275/another-strong-storm-to-slam-california-raising-flood-risk-in-north-bay\">double atmospheric rivers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Weather Service is forecasting “unsettled and wet weather,” and although Oudit said it’s not yet being categorized as an atmospheric river, this is the season for those particularly wet events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the North Bay, what we have in our forecast from Saturday to Monday [is] anywhere between 2 to 3 1/2 inches,” she said. “At higher terrain, you can see up to 4 inches.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There could be some gusty winds, but no concerning speeds are expected so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Warning: This story contains graphic language, and descriptions of violence and suicide. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen Lili Steele got home from work on that hot, humid evening in August 2021, she expected to find her husband, Sgt. Kevin Steele, sitting at his desk working on his book. The couple had moved to a rural area near Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks after Steele had taken a leave of absence from his job as an investigator in a high-security prison in Folsom, California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Writing the book, Lili said, “was his new job.” The manuscript chronicled Steele’s decade at the prison, where he had become increasingly frustrated with a system he came to see as corrupt and antithetical to his deep Christian faith. His project had an ominous working title: \u003cem>The Thin Line Blurs…How to Kill a Cop…Betrayal\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the 56-year-old wasn’t at his desk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lili called Steele’s phone and found it ringing on the kitchen counter. She started to panic; she knew her husband had been struggling. Months earlier, he’d told her that he was haunted by a “trailer of dead people.” Some were soldiers he’d served alongside in Iraq who hadn’t made it home. The rest were from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/facility-locator/sac/\">California State Prison, Sacramento\u003c/a>, known colloquially as New Folsom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was Ronnie Price, the 65-year-old whose arms were shackled behind his back when correctional officers slammed him to the ground, fatally injuring him. There was Luis Giovanny Aguilar, the young man who’d been stabbed to death by two other incarcerated men in full view of officers. Finally, and perhaps most painfully, there was his friend, officer Valentino Rodriguez Jr., who’d died of a fentanyl overdose six days after blowing the whistle on fellow officers for alleged misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kevin, you didn’t kill those people, you tried to help,” Lili remembers telling her husband. “You followed the protocol, the chain of command. You told the people in charge. It’s up to them to carry the ball now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After searching the house, Lili walked from the open garage across their driveway to a red storage shed. That’s where she found her husband already dead. Steele had hanged himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recording of the 911 call, the dispatcher can be heard asking Lili if her husband had been sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No,” she sobbed. “He’s been dealing with a lot of stuff from his work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Considered in isolation, Steele’s suicide might have been chalked up to one man’s struggle, but the timing — less than a year after the death of his friend Rodriguez, who worked in the same elite unit — points at something larger. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/onourwatch\">A multiyear KQED investigation and an eight-part podcast called On Our Watch\u003c/a> found a persistent code of silence among New Folsom officers that went largely unchecked by prison leadership and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). An exclusive analysis of hundreds of internal use-of-force records, dozens of leaked documents and videos, and interviews with current and former CDCR officers revealed a culture of cover-ups that enabled the abuse of incarcerated people, officer-on-officer harassment and at least two homicides at the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017610\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017610\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An armed correctional officer looks from a window of the Short Term Restricted Housing (STRH) unit entrance at California State Prison, Sacramento, also known as New Folsom, on April 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson said in an email that CDCR “maintains a zero-tolerance policy on code of silence” and that the agency “is fundamentally reforming its approach to addressing allegations of staff misconduct to enhance staff accountability and improve transparency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past year and a half the agency declined KQED’s multiple requests to interview New Folsom’s outgoing warden, Jeff Lynch, and the head of the agency, Secretary Jeff Macomber, who served as the warden there from 2013 to 2016. The agency also did not respond to a request to speak with Jason Schultz, who was appointed acting warden in November. CDCR representatives have repeatedly declined to answer questions about the high rate of use of force at New Folsom. They said they could not comment on specific allegations made by Steele and Rodriguez before their deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a trove of written and recorded materials left behind by the two officers and obtained by KQED details their fear of retribution and sense of despair as they tried to expose misconduct in their institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Outlier\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Steele started off as a true believer. Hired by CDCR in 2001, he was initially assigned to San Quentin before transferring to New Folsom in 2008. Sprawled along the American River just outside Sacramento, the prison houses about 2,200 people, many of whom have mental health needs or have been convicted of the most serious crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working as a correctional officer appealed to the sense of duty and service Steele had enjoyed in his Air Force career, while also promising good benefits and opportunities for advancement. The sergeant’s brother, Michael, said he liked to claim that nobody “worked harder than a Steele.” If his shift started at five in the morning, he’d arrive at four. Each day on his way into New Folsom, Steele walked past the Gothic green tower of the adjoining old Folsom prison (made famous by Johnny Cash) carrying his lunch in a clear plastic bag through the checkpoint of the newer facility. Once he clocked in, “he didn’t stop moving,” said Steele’s colleague, retired correctional officer Annette Eichhorn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prison leadership entrusted Steele with a lot of responsibilities, from drug testing officers to leading annual trainings. In 2015, he was promoted to prosecution coordinator in the Investigative Services Unit (ISU). Known among officers and incarcerated people as the “squad,” the specialized team serves as the police force for the prison, investigating crimes committed by prisoners and complaints against staff, including for excessive use of force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017609\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017609\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The East Gate of old Folsom Prison in Sacramento, where Johnny Cash played in 1968. New Folsom, which was initially administered by old Folsom’s warden, opened in 1986. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Officers can lawfully use their hands, batons and even the weight of their bodies to subdue prisoners who resist, or ignore their commands. They can deploy less lethal weapons like pepper spray and foam bullets to stop fights or break up riots. If someone’s life is in danger, officers can respond with deadly force. In general, force has to be proportional to the threat, and cannot be used after a threat has been subdued, or as retaliation or punishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even among high-security prisons, where violent encounters with staff are most common, New Folsom stands out: It had the highest overall use-of-force rate of any California state prison from 2009 through 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://academic.oup.com/jrssig/article-abstract/21/5/16/7803753?redirectedFrom=fulltext\">according to an in-depth analysis of CDCR reports published by researchers\u003c/a> at University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with KQED. CDCR has not yet posted all the data for this year, but numbers released so far show that use-of-force rates at New Folsom remain the highest in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/HT2gx/8/\" width=\"800\" height=\"580\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New Folsom has been even more of an outlier when it comes to the most serious cases — those in which officers use deadly force or badly injure incarcerated people. KQED’s exclusive analysis of investigative records from 2014 through 2019 revealed that New Folsom had three times as many of these cases as any other prison in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/GLkYl/9/\" width=\"800\" height=\"900\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A CDCR spokesperson told KQED last year that she took issue with KQED’s analysis of general use-of-force data, but the agency did not respond to further detailed requests for clarification and questions regarding these findings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warden Jeff Lynch appeared unaware of an unusual level of officer violence at New Folsom. Asked about it during a media tour of the facility in April 2023, he said use-of-force rates at his prison were “probably pretty similar” to other high-security facilities in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over the years, Steele had raised grave concerns about officer violence to prison leadership. It was part of his job to collect the statements of prisoners who’d been injured by guards, and he’d noticed a troubling pattern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017606\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017606\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An officer escorts a prisoner to a cell in the Short Term Restricted Housing unit at California State Prison, Sacramento, also known as New Folsom, on April 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A cover-up\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On Sept. 16, 2016, Steele interviewed 65-year-old Ronnie Price as he lay handcuffed on a gurney in the hallway of the UC Davis Medical Center with visible trauma to his face that included missing teeth and a broken jaw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his unfinished book, Steele wrote that he expected to find a “combative, disruptive and quarrelsome inmate,” but instead found Price “pleasant and amicable.” Steele recalled Price telling him that officers had tried to force him to move to the cell of an active gang member, which Price feared would mean trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recording of the interview acquired by KQED, Price told Steele that during the escort he passively resisted officers, who then shackled his feet together. His hands were already chained behind his back. As they walked him through the rotunda of the housing unit — an area not covered by surveillance cameras — Price said an officer stepped on the chain between his ankles, causing him to fall face-first onto the cement floor. Price told Steele that as he raised his head to spit out his bloody teeth, “Somebody grabbed my head and slammed it into the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017608\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-12017608\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED-1020x1275.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED-1020x1275.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED-800x1000.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED-1228x1536.jpg 1228w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED.jpg 1374w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prison portrait of Ronnie Price, who died in 2016 as a result of injuries caused by correctional staff. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Price family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The next day, Price died of a pulmonary embolism related to his injuries, according to the coroner’s report. Steele attended the autopsy and then contacted his bosses. “I was very specific when I advised the administration and my supervisor that I believed that staff were responsible for the death of Inmate Price,” he writes in his book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Internal documents obtained by KQED through a public records request show that officers wrote the incident up to make it look like Price posed an active threat, claiming that he’d “spun to his left, and lunged forward breaking free” of the escort and that “immediate force” was used “to overcome” resistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after lengthy investigations by the FBI and CDCR, five officers and a sergeant would lose their jobs, and three of them would be convicted of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11929335/former-new-folsom-officer-sentenced-to-more-than-12-years-in-federal-prison-for-inmates-death\">federal charges related to excessive force and efforts to cover up the truth about Price’s death\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is exceedingly rare for officers to be disciplined for injuring people in California prisons, but Steele believed the Price cover-up was not an isolated incident. Over the next year, he reported at least two more incidents in which officers’ version of events failed to explain the severe injuries of the men he spoke to. Joel Uribe and Ramiro Navarro, independently made strikingly similar allegations in their use-of-force interviews with Steele: During separate escorts, officers had stopped in an area not covered by surveillance cameras and badly beat them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Please don’t think I’m exaggerating,” said Uribe, 50, who’s still in prison but no longer at New Folsom. “They really wanted to have me killed.” Uribe told KQED he was targeted because staff wrongly suspected that he had helped provoke an attack on an officer. Navarro, 56, said in a phone interview from prison that officers punched and hit him with a metal tool. He told Steele the last thing he remembered before he “passed out” was an officer kicking him in the head. Both men were in restraints for the escort, according to case documents, and denied provoking the officers’ assaults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017607\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12017607\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-800x1029.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1029\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-800x1029.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-1020x1312.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-160x206.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-1194x1536.jpg 1194w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-1592x2048.jpg 1592w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-1920x2471.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-scaled.jpg 1990w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CDCR medical form indicating Ronnie Price’s injuries. Obtained from CDCR via public records request.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But an officer claimed in his report that Uribe “spun around” and struck out with a walking cane, at which point the officer used “immediate physical force to overcome resistance, subdue an attack and effect custody.” A supervisor wrote that after Navarro “aggressively swung his head” in an attempt to headbutt them, officers used “the minimal amount of physical force needed to place Navarro in a prone position.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Documents show that Uribe suffered a concussion, broken ribs, and a face laceration; he told KQED he still has hearing loss in one of his ears. Navarro’s ribs were also broken, and doctors inserted a chest tube to drain blood from around his lung, reports show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite internal investigations and formal complaints made by Uribe and Navarro, no officers were ever disciplined. Instead, documents show that both prisoners were written up for the incidents; each said they were sent to solitary confinement for a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In all, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11977062/4-foul-play-s2-new-folsom\">a dozen men who were incarcerated at New Folsom told KQED\u003c/a> that officers had used force as retaliation for causing trouble, submitting complaints or even attempting suicide, which triggers a protocol that means extra work for officers. Many of these men had filed formal grievances, but to little effect. Internal reports documenting serious use-of-force incidents at New Folsom from 2014 through 2021 show that, aside from the case involving Price, only one other incident resulted in discipline for an officer, who CDCR fired for using a prohibited chokehold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Steele, many CDCR employees chose not to speak up. Four current and former correctional officers — who asked KQED for anonymity because they feared for their job security or physical safety — said that it was well known that some officers would beat up incarcerated people. Each said they witnessed at least one of these beatings firsthand, but did not report misconduct due to fear of retaliation from their fellow officers or supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m sorry that we were too fearful to do the right thing when we were there,” said one retired officer. “But to live under that kind of fear, I can’t explain to you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8-DcbCqgpc\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sgt. Kevin Steele conducted use-of-force interviews with incarcerated people; subjects’ faces were redacted by the agency. Edited from video footage obtained from CDCR via public records request. (Annie Fruit/KQED)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The rookie\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In late 2018, correctional officer Valentino Rodriguez walked into the ISU office for his first day on the job. Steele writes in his book that the 28-year-old was “fresh-faced and eager to overachieve.” Rodriguez had stopped by Adalberto’s Mexican Food that morning to pick up breakfast burritos for the whole team — an office tradition by which new members would gain acceptance into the squad. But as the morning wore on, the offering was ignored; to Steele this was a deliberate snub, and he’d see it as an omen of what was to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017605\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 683px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017605\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"683\" height=\"854\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-04-KQED.jpg 683w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-04-KQED-160x200.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valentino Rodriguez Jr. with his mother Erma Rodriguez at his graduation from CDCR’s officer academy in Galt, California, May 1, 2015. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rodriguez family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Officers often wait years to get tapped for the squad. Rodriguez had earned kudos as a sharp report writer and a hard worker, but he was relatively inexperienced. Some in the unit thought he’d “skipped the line,” according to officers’ later testimony in a disciplinary hearing. They began calling Rodriguez “half-patch,” suggesting he hadn’t fully earned the special black and green badge of the ISU uniform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contrast, Steele welcomed the new guy. In his book, he describes thanking Rodriguez for the food that first day and taking an extra burrito home “so as not to waste his act of kindness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two men worked in different divisions of the squad — Steele was in Criminal Prosecution while Rodriguez had been assigned to Security and Investigations — but Steele always had a positive word for the younger officer. “You inspire me!” Steele texted him on more than one occasion. Sometimes, on the weekends, they’d carpool to law enforcement seminars where they could brush up on the latest drug interdiction tools or California’s prison gangs. And Steele became a lifeline for Rodriguez when he needed advice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the coldness from Rodriguez’s closest teammates soon turned to open hostility, according to KQED’s review of text messages in Rodriguez’s phone. One officer in particular, Daniel Garland, taunted him regularly. He called him “fag,” and told him to “sukadik” on a group chat. Garland did not agree to speak to KQED for this story, but his attorney said her client’s actions did not rise to the level of harassment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s direct supervisor, Sgt. David Anderson, who was on some of the text threads, did not intervene (Anderson later told investigators “I should have stepped in,” according to public documents). Rodriguez complained in a text to another officer that Anderson would bad-mouth Steele and other senior officers in front of his subordinates, and then threaten to throw Rodriguez off the squad if he said anything. Rodriguez told his fiancée, Mimy, that his supervisor once put his hands around Rodriguez’s neck and told him he could “make it look like an accident.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anderson, who was promoted to lieutenant in 2022, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. He told investigators that he treated Rodriguez the same as everyone else, and did not believe the young officer had been offended by what he characterized as “banter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017604\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1005px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017604\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1005\" height=\"670\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-02-KQED.jpg 1005w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1005px) 100vw, 1005px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rodriguez in the office at his family’s business early in his career, dressed for work at San Quentin State Prison. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rodriguez family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>CDCR has a “zero tolerance” policy for discriminatory language and harassment. But in reviewing 80 cases of officer discrimination going back to 2015, KQED found that misconduct rarely led to firing, even in instances that involved unwanted touching or threatening a subordinate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid the violence and chaos of a maximum security prison, where trust is essential for officers’ safety, Rodriguez didn’t feel his team had his back. He complained to a friend over text that his colleagues refused to help him with an arrest, and that they disparaged him in front of prisoners; he said that the only person he trusted was Steele.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele was only partially aware of what was going on with Rodriguez, but he later told investigators that he noticed his friend would duck into the bathroom nearly every day before his shift. When Steele asked if he was OK, Rodriguez confided that his stress was so intense he often had to vomit before he went into the ISU. Steele recalled Rodriguez saying, “They just never stop teasing me. They don’t ever stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite this, Rodriguez continued to seek his colleagues’ approval — texting the group about his efforts to lose weight or a big drug bust he pulled off. Rodriguez’s father, Valentino Rodriguez Sr., told KQED he now regrets raising his son to be so eager to please and quick to forgive.[aside postID=news_11973330 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/oow_webbanner0122.png']Much later, Rodriguez would tell prison leaders that — from small things like playing video games on duty to planting drugs and weapons on prisoners in order to claim overtime for a bust — his team had been rife with misconduct. But at the time, he said nothing of this to Steele or anyone else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez kept another secret, too. He had struggled with opioid addiction in college before successfully kicking the habit in rehab. Mimy said that sometime during his stint at New Folsom he relapsed. By late 2019, the relentless harassment by his peers and the everyday violence he witnessed inside the prison walls was starting to pile up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, just before the Christmas holiday, a brutal murder in the prison would help tip Rodriguez past his breaking point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would also shake Steele’s faith in the institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A killing in B8\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On Dec. 12, 2019, 29-year-old Luis Giovanny Aguilar sat watching television in a common area of B8, a highly restricted unit reserved for people who were considered especially violent or dangerous. Aguilar — whose prison nickname was “Raskal” — had a reputation among officers for being “mouthy.” About a week earlier, on the way out of the shower back into the unit, he had kicked an officer in the chest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On surveillance footage leaked to KQED, Aguilar appeared unbothered as a group of officers brought two other men out of their cells and chained them to individual desks — Cody Taylor, a white man with a tattoo down his face, and Anthony Rodriguez, a heavyset Latino man with glasses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017603\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1494px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017603\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/10_05_08.95Aguilar.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1494\" height=\"753\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/10_05_08.95Aguilar.jpg 1494w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/10_05_08.95Aguilar-800x403.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/10_05_08.95Aguilar-1020x514.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/10_05_08.95Aguilar-160x81.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1494px) 100vw, 1494px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luis Giovanny Aguilar, chained to his chair inside a high-security unit at New Folsom prison just moments before his death on Dec. 12, 2019. This still shot is from CDCR security camera footage that was leaked to KQED.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This was supposed to be the most secure type of unit in the state. All the men had been strip-searched before stepping out of their cells. Their handcuffs were attached to a chain at their waists, and their feet were shackled together. Once seated, their ankles were also locked to the metal chairs they sat in. Overlooking the three men, a control booth officer sat behind a large window with a less lethal launcher, which fires foam rounds, and a deadly Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As soon as the officers filed out of the room, Taylor and Anthony Rodriguez got to work on their cuffs with tiny metal tools they had smuggled past the guards. They quickly escaped their restraints, headed up the stairs and retrieved makeshift weapons from beneath a cell door. Then they ran back down the stairs and attacked Aguilar, stabbing his upper chest, torso and head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assault lasted more than a minute. The control booth officer fired a few foam rounds, one of which hit Taylor, but the projectiles did not stop the attack. By the time officers entered the unit with guns drawn, Aguilar was unresponsive on the floor. He was taken to the on-site medical unit where he was pronounced dead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017602\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017602\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1789\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-800x559.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-1020x713.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-1536x1074.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-2048x1432.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-1920x1342.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A makeshift knife that was used in the attempted murder that was carried out by Cody Taylor, Anthony Rodriguez and Dion Green two months before the murder of Luis Giovanny Aguilar. This screenshot of CDCR’s evidence photograph was leaked to KQED.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That same day, another incarcerated man in the unit claimed responsibility for the murder. Self-described prison gang “shot-caller” Dion Green told investigators he’d ordered Anthony Rodriguez and Taylor to kill Aguilar because it was gang “business,” and passed them the weapons under the door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the incident, Steele and Officer Rodriguez both had roles to play. Steele’s job was to help facilitate the prosecution of the three men. With Green’s confession and the whole thing caught on surveillance video, it appeared to be a straightforward case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But something about the murder didn’t sit right with Steele. In his book, he describes poring over the video footage “from start to finish innumerable times” to try to understand how it had happened. Given the extensive security protocols in B8, this kind of attack should not have been possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017600\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017600\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An incarcerated person is cuffed at his ankles to a desk during a group therapy session at California State Prison, Sacramento, also known as New Folsom, on April 13, 2023. These are similar to the ankle restraints used in the B8 unit. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez, meanwhile, was assigned to write a report explaining the gang connections of the murder, and to attend the autopsy, which was gruesome. “Skull was full of blood,” he wrote in an update to Steele in which he detailed more than 50 stab wounds to Aguilar’s back, head and heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez had seen violence and death before, but the images of dead bodies from this and other autopsies were getting harder to shake off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017601\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12017601\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/PHOTO-of-Val-Jr-reasons-to-leave-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A picture of a redacted note saved on Valentino Rodriguez’s phone from January 2020, shortly before he took a leave of absence for work-related stress. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Valentino Rodriguez Sr.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to take this stuff home. It will feed the ghost,” he texted his supervisor, Anderson, in early January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But his work had already crept into his home and relationship. Mimy was increasingly upset about the long hours Rodriguez worked at the prison, and how even after his shift he was often withdrawn, irritable or too tired to talk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Valentino, we’re your family,” Mimy told him. “We love you. You know, if something happens to you, that job is just gonna replace you, but we can’t replace you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few weeks after the B8 murder, Rodriguez walked into Steele’s office and announced he was resigning. In his book, Steele writes that he tried to convince the young officer to stay — he had too much talent to waste — but Rodriguez was adamant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the chief deputy warden convinced Rodriguez to take a leave of absence for work-related stress, according to public documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez returned home that day and sat down next to Mimy on their living room couch. Even though he hadn’t quit, he told her his career as a correctional officer was over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is my identity,” she remembers him saying. “I feel like I’ve given up on everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hints and allegations\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Steele had little time to ruminate on his friend’s absence. As the COVID-19 pandemic slammed into all aspects of prison life in spring of 2020, Steele was tasked with helping prisoners appear in court, which now took place over Zoom. This put him in regular contact with the three men who’d been charged with Aguilar’s murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele writes in his book that on separate occasions, as they waited for court to begin or some technical glitch to be resolved, both “shot-caller” Dion Green and Cody Taylor, one of the two stabbers, dropped hints that there was more to the murder than Steele knew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men’s insinuations added to some troubling evidence Steele had already come across, according to his book. Just two months before the murder, the same three men had carried out an almost identical attack on another incarcerated man, nearly killing him; yet after that incident, the suspects hadn’t been put in separate housing, as CDCR protocol dictates. Given this violent history, officers should have been on high alert, yet Taylor and his co-assailant, Anthony Rodriguez, had again slipped their cuffs when they killed Aguilar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SSuhezQmsM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Criminal justice reporter Sukey Lewis’ demonstration of the double-locking mechanism on the handcuffs that were generally used around the prisoners’ ankles, and how a ‘black box’ device works\u003c/i>. (Sukey Lewis and Maha Sanad/KQED)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was especially surprising to Steele because the men were wearing “black boxes” over their restraints — tamper-resistant hard plastic shells that cover the cuffs’ keyhole and, when applied properly, are nearly impossible to escape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele also stumbled across an unusual incident while looking at archived surveillance footage: It showed Taylor loose in the B8 common room a week before the Aguilar murder, running up the stairs to retrieve something from beneath Green’s cell door. As Steele watched the video, he waited for officers to sound the alarm or enter the unit, but they didn’t. He notes in his book that this apparent “practice-run” wasn’t reported or documented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, Taylor, who’d already pleaded guilty to the murder, sent a letter to the warden making a stunning claim: Officers had played a role in the killing. Steele was assigned to follow up. In a recording of that interview, which was leaked to KQED, Taylor told Steele that B8 officers had agreed not to fully lock his and Anthony Rodriguez’s cuffs, allowing the men to circumvent the tamper-proof black boxes, and to instruct the control booth officer not to use deadly force. In Taylor’s telling, officers facilitated the attack on Aguilar because he had assaulted one of their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tar6yJvCMpM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sgt. Kevin Steele interviewed Cody Taylor on July 3, 2020, about his allegations that officers enabled the murder of Luis Giovanny Aguilar. This video was edited from CDCR footage that was leaked to KQED. (Annie Fruit/KQED)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Anthony Rodriguez did not agree to speak to Steele, Green did. In a recorded interview that was leaked to KQED, Green echoed Taylor’s allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Aguilar] would be alive today if it wasn’t for the assistance and\u003cbr>\nthe help of your staff,” Green told Steele.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR stated that it is “working with outside law enforcement agencies on this case” and could not comment. In court filings, attorneys for CDCR staff members have denied allegations that officers were involved in the killing. An FBI agent said in a phone call last year that they were investigating the case, but a spokesperson declined to officially confirm or deny the agency’s involvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele shared Taylor and Green’s allegations with New Folsom’s warden, Jeff Lynch, with the chief deputy warden, and with his own supervisor, according to correspondence that was leaked to KQED and obtained through public records requests. Steele also sent the videos of his interviews and suggested giving Taylor and Green polygraph tests. The warden thanked Steele and told him New Folsom’s internal affairs lieutenant, Brandon Strohmaier, “will be chatting with you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point, prison administrators forwarded these allegations to CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs in Sacramento, and to the FBI, which looks into allegations of civil rights abuses by law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But months passed, and Steele saw few signs that anyone had picked up the threads of his investigation. No one else came to interview Taylor or Green, and it appears no one followed up on Steele’s suggestion to polygraph them, according to documents, interviews with the men themselves and confidential sources familiar with the investigation. Early on, a handful of officers who were on duty the day of the murder were reassigned to the mailroom, but they weren’t suspended or banned from the facility (a way to limit officers’ access to the prison while they’re under criminal suspicion).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017599\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017599\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keys and handcuffs hang from the belt of a correctional officer in the Short Term Restricted Housing unit at California State Prison, Sacramento, also known as New Folsom prison, on April 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs often moves slowly, but emails obtained by KQED show this case was uniquely delayed, and a special agent was not assigned until a year after the murder, according to a report by the inspector general of prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Steele started to feel the blowback for digging into the case. In his book, he describes being excluded from conversations in the ISU, and how, in the solitary unit where Taylor and Green were being held, officers who’d formerly been helpful began to display “agitation and unrest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps most disturbing to Steele was that Green’s and Taylor’s allegations, which he’d passed up the chain of command in confidence, began circulating among prisoners — a sign, he thought, that his fellow officers were trying to undermine his work and endanger Taylor and Green.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a leak coming from someone,” Steele wrote in a follow-up email to the warden. This time, Lynch’s response was even more laconic: “Thank u.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Superhero\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While on leave, Valentino Rodriguez had been working for his dad at the family pool business, writing bids for installation and repair. Even though he was still a correctional officer on paper, he was trying to leave the world of the prison behind. But the long-term effects of his years at New Folsom persisted. He wrestled with mounting depression and anxiety. He sought help from a therapist, but had trouble sharing his struggles with those closest to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One afternoon that summer, Steele called. Rodriguez was at his dad’s house for a barbecue, and his father remembers that he disappeared for a couple of hours. He came back saying Steele had uncovered evidence that officers had a hand in the Aguilar murder, and that Steele had reported it up the chain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re starting to treat him like they treated me,” Rodriguez Sr. remembers his son telling him. “He’s scared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele had also been encouraging Rodriguez to report the misconduct he’d witnessed, according to Mimy. But Rodriguez was nervous about what would happen to him and his family if he came forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mimy said her fiancé became increasingly fearful and reluctant to leave the house even to walk their dogs. He placed obstacles next to the front door so he could hear anyone trying to get in. He slept with his gun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is everything okay?” Mimy remembers asking him. “Who are you nervous about coming? What is going on?” Rodriguez never said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mimy tried to distract him with planning their upcoming wedding. She felt if they could just get through this year, they’d be able to put New Folsom behind them and start a family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a few weeks before the ceremony, Rodriguez started a casual text conversation with Strohmaier, the ISU’s internal affairs lieutenant, about his upcoming marriage and other personal matters. Then Rodriguez let loose with a series of long texts describing his misery in the squad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That team is broken,” he wrote. “There is shit they do, say, or don’t do that could cause everyone from the Warden down to get the boot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017958\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeff Lynch, warden at New Folsom prison, during a press tour on April 13, 2023. He is set to retire December 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear why Rodriguez chose this moment to share his grievances with the person who fielded internal complaints at New Folsom, but Strohmaier eventually forwarded the messages to the warden, who asked Rodriguez to come talk to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twelve days after his wedding, Rodriguez walked back through the gates of New Folsom to expose the brotherhood of officers he’d once protected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warden Jeff Lynch would later testify that in this meeting, Rodriguez told him the ISU was a “dysfunctional environment” that had driven him from the job and ruined his health. He also warned Lynch that he’d seen ISU officers — the institution’s police — breaking the law by planting drugs and weapons to get overtime. Lynch testified that he’d listened intently, and then asked him to write up his allegations in a formal memo. Rodriguez said he’d think about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mimy said that when her new husband came home, he looked like a weight had been lifted. “He felt confident that the warden was going to help,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017597\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12017597\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/super-hero-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/super-hero-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/super-hero-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/super-hero.jpg 931w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photograph of final messages between Rodriguez and Steele just hours before Rodriguez’s death. Rodriguez did not seek medical treatment for the health issue he describes, so it is unclear what exactly happened. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Valentino Rodriguez Sr.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The following week, while Lynch was still waiting for Rodriguez’s memo, he ordered a search of the ISU for the contraband Rodriguez had mentioned. According to Lynch’s testimony, the search didn’t turn up anything concerning. But it did have an effect — now, the whole team knew someone had talked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele texted Rodriguez the next day to show his support: “I appreciate, admire and respect you!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just hope that i am not mentioned at all to anyone,”\u003cbr>\nRodriguez texted back. “It took a lot out of me to re-live the truth…So much pain and fear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dude you are my superhero,” Steele responded. “Stay strong! I got you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Rodriguez was already spiraling. That evening, while Mimy was at dinner with friends, Rodriguez texted her to say he’d heard from two people at New Folsom who knew about his meeting with the warden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Which means it’s out now that i told on the team,” he wrote. “Tomorrow they want me to write a memo and i don’t know what ima do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Mimy got home an hour later, she saw a light coming from the guest bathroom. There she found her husband of 19 days slumped against the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s his job,” she told a responding police officer. “This is all because of his job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coroner’s report notes that drug paraphernalia was next to Rodriguez’s body and classifies his death as an accident. The report also describes the scene — a wedding photo of Rodriguez and Mimy on the mantle and a stack of gifts in the corner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele found out about Rodriguez’s death through social media reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his book, Steele compares Rodriguez to the New Testament figure Timothy, who was beaten to death by a pagan mob after speaking out against them. “In many ways,” he wrote, “young Valentino, like Timothy, would remain courageous and committed to the truth all the way till the end.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017596\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017596\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An altar made by Mimy Rodriguez for her late husband, Officer Valentino Rodriguez, sits on a shelf at her home in Sacramento on Nov. 6, 2023. Rodriguez loved ketchup and wore Giorgio Armani cologne. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Flight and fight\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The memorial mass was held under a large oak tree at the Catholic grammar school in West Sacramento. Valentino Rodriguez Sr., weighed down by grief, noticed a trim man with piercing blue eyes making his way forward through the receiving line. While he’d heard a lot about Steele, this was the first time they’d met in person. As Rodriguez Sr. remembers, Steele grabbed his shoulders and said, “If you need me for anything, I can help you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back at the prison that day, Steele taped pictures of Rodriguez up in the window of his office. He wanted the officers who’d harassed his friend to know he held them responsible, Steele later told Rodriguez’s father. The squad, in turn, shunned Steele and went so far as to file a complaint against him, which didn’t go anywhere, according to public records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warden Lynch sent out an email forbidding anyone in the ISU from speaking to the Rodriguez family. Even though the move could have been preventive — in the event of an investigation into the harassment of Rodriguez, CDCR policy would not allow staff to talk about the case — Steele saw the directive as an attempt at self-protection. Adding to Steele’s disappointment, the warden never called Rodriguez’s family to offer condolences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when Rodriguez Sr., heartbroken and craving answers, reached out to Steele with texts and photos of his son as a boy, Steele wrote back. The two men began texting and talking on the phone nearly every day — discovering their shared Christian faith, their love for antique cars and their sorrow over the loss of Rodriguez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez Sr. drew a direct line between his son’s overdose and New Folsom. In one of their telephone conversations, he even asked Steele if someone at the prison could have provided the fentanyl that killed him (KQED found no evidence to substantiate his concern). Steele urged Rodriguez Sr. to file a complaint with CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs and gave him a contact at the FBI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017595\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017595\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valentino Rodriguez Sr. stands in a warehouse at his West Sacramento pool business on Nov. 30, 2023, where his son Valentino Rodriguez Jr. worked while on leave from New Folsom before his untimely death. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While Steele told Rodriguez Sr. he could trust those agencies to do the right thing, his book reveals that he had his doubts. Years earlier, the Ronnie Price case had taught him that officers were capable of conspiracy and silence. The apathy he perceived in the wake of Aguilar’s homicide now appeared to be evidence of a dark and willful blindness. And the warden’s apparent focus on damage control rather than human suffering following a young officer’s death broke something inside him. Steele wondered if there were any limits to the corruption he felt closing in around him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lili said that, though he tried to hide it from her, her husband was afraid. “He literally would open up the door and look around the corner,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele wasn’t the first whistleblower to feel like he had a target on his back. Over the years, officers who have reported misconduct have found “rat” written on their windshield, received threatening phone calls, been left with no backup in dangerous situations and even been followed home at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele had come forward internally, but he’d also been in touch with the FBI, according to text messages given to KQED. He’d passed along evidence he’d gathered regarding Aguilar’s murder and shared his suspicions that officers were somehow culpable. Steele believed that without him, any potential federal investigation would have few witnesses. Steele told Rodriguez Sr. that he had no idea how far CDCR would go to keep him quiet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so, Steele crafted an exit strategy. In January, he and Lili packed up their belongings and moved across the country to Miller County, Missouri, where Steele had spent time in the Air Force. His plan was to run through his vacation and sick days and then retire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017594\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017594\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2238\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-800x700.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-1020x892.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-160x140.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-1536x1343.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-2048x1791.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-1920x1679.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin Steele served in the US Air Force Reserve for 21 years before retiring as a master sergeant in April 2016. He deployed twice to Iraq and was commended for his service. \u003ccite>(US Air Force)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Steele couldn’t resist firing off a couple of parting shots at New Folsom’s warden and CDCR — two incendiary memos alleging in detail the mistreatment of incarcerated people and officers’ role in the Aguilar murder. He included Rodriguez’s claims about ISU misconduct, and questioned Warden Lynch’s actions as a leader.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Addressing Lynch directly, he wrote: “You should consider the very likely possibility that during YOUR superintendence of [New Folsom], more staff will be charged for criminal activity than any other institution within the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A month after Steele had left the state, a notice, which was leaked to KQED, was posted at the front gate of New Folsom: Sgt. Kevin Steele was banned from prison grounds. While he had no plans to return, it stung.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was crushed,” Lili remembers. Steele told her, “I would have died for that department.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele had trouble adapting to his new life in the Ozarks. He applied for a couple jobs and interviewed well, but didn’t get them. Lili said he suspected someone at the prison had somehow interfered, though as far as she knew, prison officials still thought they were in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele still woke up before 4 a.m., but now he had nowhere to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘My Thoughts’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On March 15, 2021, Steele sent Rodriguez Sr. a link to \u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertsamaha/the-prison-guard-who-couldnt-escape-prison\">a Buzzfeed article about a correctional officer at High Desert State Prison in Northern California who had reported misconduct\u003c/a>, only to find his colleagues turning on him. The officer was found dead by apparent suicide in 2011. Among some notes with messages for his family was one that read, “I told the truth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The actual number of suicides among CDCR’s 30,000 officers is unknown; the agency said it doesn’t track those deaths out of respect for employees’ privacy. But KQED has been able to confirm that at least 30 officers who had worked for CDCR died by suicide from 2020 through 2023. Steele dealt with this firsthand; he’d counseled an officer who was struggling with thoughts of suicide and even interrupted a prison employee trying to asphyxiate themselves in a garage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017640\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017640\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">These badges represent the 30 CDCR correctional officers who took their own lives from 2020 through 2023. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In response to \u003ca href=\"https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/publications/officer-health-and-wellness-results-from-the-california-correctional-office\">a 2017 UC Berkeley survey of CDCR officers\u003c/a>, 1 in 10 said they had suicidal thoughts. That’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/ss/ss7101a1.htm\">more than twice the national average reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/a>. A CDCR spokesperson wrote in an email that the department is “committed to promoting the mental health and wellbeing” of its employees, who have access to a number of interventions and services including chaplains and therapists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele did speak to a chaplain, but, like a lot of officers, he was wary of mental health professionals, fearing that if he sought help the institution would use it against him. Instead, Lili said, her husband “self-medicated” with alcohol to get to sleep at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April of 2021, Steele got some news that buoyed his spirits. Daniel Garland, one of the officers who’d mistreated Rodriguez, had been banned from the institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, it seemed to Rodriguez Sr. and Steele that their efforts to hold someone accountable for Rodriguez’s death were finally starting to bear fruit. They expected to see more repercussions for everyone who’d harassed Rodriguez, or known about it and done nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017593\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12017593\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-KEVIN-STEELE-03-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-KEVIN-STEELE-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-KEVIN-STEELE-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-KEVIN-STEELE-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-KEVIN-STEELE-03-KQED.jpg 1507w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The red storage shed where Sgt. Kevin Steele was found deceased on August 20, 2021. Photo obtained from the Sheriff’s Dept. in Miller County, Mo., via public records request.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Justice is beginning to simmer!” Steele texted Rodriguez Sr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But four months later, on Aug. 20, 2021, Steele called up Rodriguez Sr. in a rage. He’d just received a call from CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs to schedule an interview about the Aguilar murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It had been 20 months since Aguilar was killed, over a year since Steele passed on evidence that officers might be involved, and eight months since Steele sent his explosive memo to the warden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez Sr. remembers Steele venting: “Why are they just wrapping this up? All of a sudden they’re in a hurry?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than an hour later, a home security camera captured Steele walking out of his open garage. The footage, obtained by KQED through a public records request, shows him crossing the driveway toward his shed at 5:23 p.m. dressed in an orange T-shirt and shorts. He’s holding one end of a blue nylon rope in his hand. The other end of the rope is looped around his neck. He reaches the shed door and passes out of view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017592\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1246px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017592\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/MyThoughtsRedactedScreenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1246\" height=\"742\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/MyThoughtsRedactedScreenshot.jpg 1246w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/MyThoughtsRedactedScreenshot-800x476.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/MyThoughtsRedactedScreenshot-1020x607.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/MyThoughtsRedactedScreenshot-160x95.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1246px) 100vw, 1246px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A screenshot of the note found on Steele’s computer. KQED redacted the names of the CDCR officials in Steele’s note to protect their privacy. Obtained from the Sheriff’s Dept. in Miller County, Mo. via public records request.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The next day, Lili found a document on the home computer titled “My Thoughts.” It read, in part:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lili is my angel, my light and my survivor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an apparent reference to the time of day that Jesus died on the cross, he wrote, “I know what time it is … it is the 9th hour and no one is here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“CDCR killed me, I told the truth and shielded the truth… These barbarians killed Valentino and I.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter included a list of names of CDCR officials he held responsible for his and his friend’s deaths. Under the list were the note’s final three words: “Cowards and Bandits!”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Aftermath\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Shortly after Steele’s death, CDCR internal affairs agents finally conducted their first interviews with the officers who had been implicated in the death of Luis Giovanny Aguilar — nearly two years after his murder. They never interviewed Green, the shot caller, or the men who stabbed Aguilar, according to a confidential source familiar with the investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), a state-level prison watchdog, rated the department’s handling of the case “poor.” In a report, the OIG faulted the agency for “unnecessary” delays and poor interview techniques “that failed to elicit the details of each officers’ involvement and knowledge of events and failed to ask follow-up questions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report shows that CDCR ultimately sustained allegations that one officer failed to respond to alarms the day Aguilar was stabbed. The officer in the control booth was disciplined for not having his Mini-14 rifle on him during the attack. Each got a temporary 5% pay cut. A third officer was given the heaviest punishment, a temporary 10% pay cut, for recording the murder footage on his phone and sharing it with a colleague.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017591\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12017591\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-LUIS-GIOVANNY-AGUILAR-01-KQED-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-LUIS-GIOVANNY-AGUILAR-01-KQED-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-LUIS-GIOVANNY-AGUILAR-01-KQED-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-LUIS-GIOVANNY-AGUILAR-01-KQED.jpg 898w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The last time that Luis Giovanny Aguilar saw his mother, Ma Rosario Zaragoza, in Tijuana, Mexico, 2018. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Aguilar family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>An ongoing lawsuit filed by Aguilar’s mother against Warden Lynch and the officers in the B8 unit alleges staff either conspired to kill her son, or at the very least failed to protect him. In court filings, lawyers for CDCR have denied that prison staff were involved in the homicide. The FBI declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Garland, along with an officer who’d used the N-word and other derogatory language in the office, was fired. Two more ISU team members were given lengthy pay cuts for calling Rodriguez half-patch and failing to report misconduct; they both work at different prisons now. (All four officers have submitted appeals to state court, which are pending.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New Folsom remains a violent place; four incarcerated people were killed at the prison this year, three at the hands of other prisoners, and one after being restrained by officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lynch is retiring this month. Jason Schultz, who worked at New Folsom from 2008 through 2020, was named acting warden in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Steele’s suicide in 2021, CDCR has made some important changes; last year, Governor Gavin Newsom introduced the “California Model” of prison management, which borrows its ethos of reintegration and emotional well-being from the Norwegian approach to incarceration. Officers at certain prisons, including New Folsom, now wear body cameras. And CDCR put in place a new process for reviewing grievances against staff, which the department says will “ensure complaints are properly, fairly and thoroughly reviewed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, despite months of KQED’s attempts to get answers, no one from the agency would address the underlying question raised by the deaths of Steele and Rodriguez: How successful can any reforms be if officers remain afraid to report misconduct, and if the few who come forward risk being marginalized and ignored?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Uncontestable’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When a person in state custody takes their own life, an independent panel reviews the circumstances and makes a determination about how it could have been prevented. But there is no such accounting of the circumstances surrounding officer suicides. In a 2023 interview, Stephen Walker, who advocates for mental health resources on behalf of the correctional officers’ union, told KQED that if these deaths were happening in any other occupation, “there would be a mass public outcry calling for an investigation into what is happening and what is at the root of this many people losing their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017590\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017590\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mimy Rodriguez holds a framed wedding photo of herself and her late husband, Officer Valentino Rodriguez, at her home in Sacramento, Calif., on Nov. 6, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After Rodriguez and Steele died, the state insurance fund sent each of their widows instructions on how to receive survivor benefits. There were two options: The simpler path was to sign a form stating that the men’s deaths were unrelated to their jobs. Neither woman could bring herself to sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The alternative was to argue that their husbands had died as a direct result of working in the prison. Initially, those claims were denied, and Lili and Mimy had to go through the painful process of documenting their husbands’ decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A doctor who reviewed Rodriguez’s medical records on behalf of the state found that his drug use was related to depression, anxiety and panic attacks stemming from his job at New Folsom. “This claim appears to be uncontestable,” he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mimy Rodriguez cried when she received a letter from the state saying that her husband’s death “was the result of his employment” at New Folsom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lili Steele’s claim was also granted: A workers’ compensation review of Steele’s writings and an interview with Lili found that psychological strain from his job at the prison contributed to his suicide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The claim, Lili said, was her way of saying, “I know what you people did to him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can dial 988 [U.S.] to reach the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is a collaboration between KQED, the \u003ca href=\"https://projects.scpr.org/california-reporting-project/\">California Reporting Project\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californianewsroom\">California Newsroom\u003c/a>, and was made possible in part by support from \u003ca href=\"https://www.calendow.org\">The California Endowment\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lead editor: \u003ca href=\"https://www.markbetancourt.com/\">Mark Betancourt\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Data analysis: Amanda Glazer, PhD Candidate at UC Berkeley Statistics; Jeremy Sanchez Rue, Associate Professor of Practice at UC Berkeley Journalism.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Additional research by students at \u003ca href=\"https://journalism.berkeley.edu/programs/mj/investigative-reporting/\">Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program\u003c/a>: Julietta Bisharyan, Laura Fitzgerald, William Jenkins, Cayla Mihalovich, Armon Owlia, Kathleen Quinn, Elizabeth Santos, Vera Watt and Junyao Yang. Additional support from UC Berkeley Journalism’s David Barstow.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "'How to Kill a Cop': Death, Despair and Corruption in California's Most Violent Prison | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Warning: This story contains graphic language, and descriptions of violence and suicide. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hen Lili Steele got home from work on that hot, humid evening in August 2021, she expected to find her husband, Sgt. Kevin Steele, sitting at his desk working on his book. The couple had moved to a rural area near Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks after Steele had taken a leave of absence from his job as an investigator in a high-security prison in Folsom, California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Writing the book, Lili said, “was his new job.” The manuscript chronicled Steele’s decade at the prison, where he had become increasingly frustrated with a system he came to see as corrupt and antithetical to his deep Christian faith. His project had an ominous working title: \u003cem>The Thin Line Blurs…How to Kill a Cop…Betrayal\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the 56-year-old wasn’t at his desk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lili called Steele’s phone and found it ringing on the kitchen counter. She started to panic; she knew her husband had been struggling. Months earlier, he’d told her that he was haunted by a “trailer of dead people.” Some were soldiers he’d served alongside in Iraq who hadn’t made it home. The rest were from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/facility-locator/sac/\">California State Prison, Sacramento\u003c/a>, known colloquially as New Folsom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was Ronnie Price, the 65-year-old whose arms were shackled behind his back when correctional officers slammed him to the ground, fatally injuring him. There was Luis Giovanny Aguilar, the young man who’d been stabbed to death by two other incarcerated men in full view of officers. Finally, and perhaps most painfully, there was his friend, officer Valentino Rodriguez Jr., who’d died of a fentanyl overdose six days after blowing the whistle on fellow officers for alleged misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kevin, you didn’t kill those people, you tried to help,” Lili remembers telling her husband. “You followed the protocol, the chain of command. You told the people in charge. It’s up to them to carry the ball now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After searching the house, Lili walked from the open garage across their driveway to a red storage shed. That’s where she found her husband already dead. Steele had hanged himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recording of the 911 call, the dispatcher can be heard asking Lili if her husband had been sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No,” she sobbed. “He’s been dealing with a lot of stuff from his work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Considered in isolation, Steele’s suicide might have been chalked up to one man’s struggle, but the timing — less than a year after the death of his friend Rodriguez, who worked in the same elite unit — points at something larger. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/onourwatch\">A multiyear KQED investigation and an eight-part podcast called On Our Watch\u003c/a> found a persistent code of silence among New Folsom officers that went largely unchecked by prison leadership and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). An exclusive analysis of hundreds of internal use-of-force records, dozens of leaked documents and videos, and interviews with current and former CDCR officers revealed a culture of cover-ups that enabled the abuse of incarcerated people, officer-on-officer harassment and at least two homicides at the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017610\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017610\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/020_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An armed correctional officer looks from a window of the Short Term Restricted Housing (STRH) unit entrance at California State Prison, Sacramento, also known as New Folsom, on April 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson said in an email that CDCR “maintains a zero-tolerance policy on code of silence” and that the agency “is fundamentally reforming its approach to addressing allegations of staff misconduct to enhance staff accountability and improve transparency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past year and a half the agency declined KQED’s multiple requests to interview New Folsom’s outgoing warden, Jeff Lynch, and the head of the agency, Secretary Jeff Macomber, who served as the warden there from 2013 to 2016. The agency also did not respond to a request to speak with Jason Schultz, who was appointed acting warden in November. CDCR representatives have repeatedly declined to answer questions about the high rate of use of force at New Folsom. They said they could not comment on specific allegations made by Steele and Rodriguez before their deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a trove of written and recorded materials left behind by the two officers and obtained by KQED details their fear of retribution and sense of despair as they tried to expose misconduct in their institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Outlier\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Steele started off as a true believer. Hired by CDCR in 2001, he was initially assigned to San Quentin before transferring to New Folsom in 2008. Sprawled along the American River just outside Sacramento, the prison houses about 2,200 people, many of whom have mental health needs or have been convicted of the most serious crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working as a correctional officer appealed to the sense of duty and service Steele had enjoyed in his Air Force career, while also promising good benefits and opportunities for advancement. The sergeant’s brother, Michael, said he liked to claim that nobody “worked harder than a Steele.” If his shift started at five in the morning, he’d arrive at four. Each day on his way into New Folsom, Steele walked past the Gothic green tower of the adjoining old Folsom prison (made famous by Johnny Cash) carrying his lunch in a clear plastic bag through the checkpoint of the newer facility. Once he clocked in, “he didn’t stop moving,” said Steele’s colleague, retired correctional officer Annette Eichhorn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prison leadership entrusted Steele with a lot of responsibilities, from drug testing officers to leading annual trainings. In 2015, he was promoted to prosecution coordinator in the Investigative Services Unit (ISU). Known among officers and incarcerated people as the “squad,” the specialized team serves as the police force for the prison, investigating crimes committed by prisoners and complaints against staff, including for excessive use of force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017609\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017609\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/258_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The East Gate of old Folsom Prison in Sacramento, where Johnny Cash played in 1968. New Folsom, which was initially administered by old Folsom’s warden, opened in 1986. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Officers can lawfully use their hands, batons and even the weight of their bodies to subdue prisoners who resist, or ignore their commands. They can deploy less lethal weapons like pepper spray and foam bullets to stop fights or break up riots. If someone’s life is in danger, officers can respond with deadly force. In general, force has to be proportional to the threat, and cannot be used after a threat has been subdued, or as retaliation or punishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even among high-security prisons, where violent encounters with staff are most common, New Folsom stands out: It had the highest overall use-of-force rate of any California state prison from 2009 through 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://academic.oup.com/jrssig/article-abstract/21/5/16/7803753?redirectedFrom=fulltext\">according to an in-depth analysis of CDCR reports published by researchers\u003c/a> at University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with KQED. CDCR has not yet posted all the data for this year, but numbers released so far show that use-of-force rates at New Folsom remain the highest in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/HT2gx/8/\" width=\"800\" height=\"580\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New Folsom has been even more of an outlier when it comes to the most serious cases — those in which officers use deadly force or badly injure incarcerated people. KQED’s exclusive analysis of investigative records from 2014 through 2019 revealed that New Folsom had three times as many of these cases as any other prison in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/GLkYl/9/\" width=\"800\" height=\"900\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A CDCR spokesperson told KQED last year that she took issue with KQED’s analysis of general use-of-force data, but the agency did not respond to further detailed requests for clarification and questions regarding these findings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warden Jeff Lynch appeared unaware of an unusual level of officer violence at New Folsom. Asked about it during a media tour of the facility in April 2023, he said use-of-force rates at his prison were “probably pretty similar” to other high-security facilities in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over the years, Steele had raised grave concerns about officer violence to prison leadership. It was part of his job to collect the statements of prisoners who’d been injured by guards, and he’d noticed a troubling pattern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017606\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017606\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/187_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An officer escorts a prisoner to a cell in the Short Term Restricted Housing unit at California State Prison, Sacramento, also known as New Folsom, on April 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A cover-up\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On Sept. 16, 2016, Steele interviewed 65-year-old Ronnie Price as he lay handcuffed on a gurney in the hallway of the UC Davis Medical Center with visible trauma to his face that included missing teeth and a broken jaw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his unfinished book, Steele wrote that he expected to find a “combative, disruptive and quarrelsome inmate,” but instead found Price “pleasant and amicable.” Steele recalled Price telling him that officers had tried to force him to move to the cell of an active gang member, which Price feared would mean trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recording of the interview acquired by KQED, Price told Steele that during the escort he passively resisted officers, who then shackled his feet together. His hands were already chained behind his back. As they walked him through the rotunda of the housing unit — an area not covered by surveillance cameras — Price said an officer stepped on the chain between his ankles, causing him to fall face-first onto the cement floor. Price told Steele that as he raised his head to spit out his bloody teeth, “Somebody grabbed my head and slammed it into the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017608\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-12017608\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED-1020x1275.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED-1020x1275.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED-800x1000.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED-1228x1536.jpg 1228w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-KQED.jpg 1374w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prison portrait of Ronnie Price, who died in 2016 as a result of injuries caused by correctional staff. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Price family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The next day, Price died of a pulmonary embolism related to his injuries, according to the coroner’s report. Steele attended the autopsy and then contacted his bosses. “I was very specific when I advised the administration and my supervisor that I believed that staff were responsible for the death of Inmate Price,” he writes in his book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Internal documents obtained by KQED through a public records request show that officers wrote the incident up to make it look like Price posed an active threat, claiming that he’d “spun to his left, and lunged forward breaking free” of the escort and that “immediate force” was used “to overcome” resistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after lengthy investigations by the FBI and CDCR, five officers and a sergeant would lose their jobs, and three of them would be convicted of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11929335/former-new-folsom-officer-sentenced-to-more-than-12-years-in-federal-prison-for-inmates-death\">federal charges related to excessive force and efforts to cover up the truth about Price’s death\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is exceedingly rare for officers to be disciplined for injuring people in California prisons, but Steele believed the Price cover-up was not an isolated incident. Over the next year, he reported at least two more incidents in which officers’ version of events failed to explain the severe injuries of the men he spoke to. Joel Uribe and Ramiro Navarro, independently made strikingly similar allegations in their use-of-force interviews with Steele: During separate escorts, officers had stopped in an area not covered by surveillance cameras and badly beat them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Please don’t think I’m exaggerating,” said Uribe, 50, who’s still in prison but no longer at New Folsom. “They really wanted to have me killed.” Uribe told KQED he was targeted because staff wrongly suspected that he had helped provoke an attack on an officer. Navarro, 56, said in a phone interview from prison that officers punched and hit him with a metal tool. He told Steele the last thing he remembered before he “passed out” was an officer kicking him in the head. Both men were in restraints for the escort, according to case documents, and denied provoking the officers’ assaults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017607\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12017607\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-800x1029.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1029\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-800x1029.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-1020x1312.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-160x206.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-1194x1536.jpg 1194w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-1592x2048.jpg 1592w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-1920x2471.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-Ronnie-Price-7219-Form-KQED-scaled.jpg 1990w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CDCR medical form indicating Ronnie Price’s injuries. Obtained from CDCR via public records request.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But an officer claimed in his report that Uribe “spun around” and struck out with a walking cane, at which point the officer used “immediate physical force to overcome resistance, subdue an attack and effect custody.” A supervisor wrote that after Navarro “aggressively swung his head” in an attempt to headbutt them, officers used “the minimal amount of physical force needed to place Navarro in a prone position.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Documents show that Uribe suffered a concussion, broken ribs, and a face laceration; he told KQED he still has hearing loss in one of his ears. Navarro’s ribs were also broken, and doctors inserted a chest tube to drain blood from around his lung, reports show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite internal investigations and formal complaints made by Uribe and Navarro, no officers were ever disciplined. Instead, documents show that both prisoners were written up for the incidents; each said they were sent to solitary confinement for a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In all, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11977062/4-foul-play-s2-new-folsom\">a dozen men who were incarcerated at New Folsom told KQED\u003c/a> that officers had used force as retaliation for causing trouble, submitting complaints or even attempting suicide, which triggers a protocol that means extra work for officers. Many of these men had filed formal grievances, but to little effect. Internal reports documenting serious use-of-force incidents at New Folsom from 2014 through 2021 show that, aside from the case involving Price, only one other incident resulted in discipline for an officer, who CDCR fired for using a prohibited chokehold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Steele, many CDCR employees chose not to speak up. Four current and former correctional officers — who asked KQED for anonymity because they feared for their job security or physical safety — said that it was well known that some officers would beat up incarcerated people. Each said they witnessed at least one of these beatings firsthand, but did not report misconduct due to fear of retaliation from their fellow officers or supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m sorry that we were too fearful to do the right thing when we were there,” said one retired officer. “But to live under that kind of fear, I can’t explain to you.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/d8-DcbCqgpc'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/d8-DcbCqgpc'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Sgt. Kevin Steele conducted use-of-force interviews with incarcerated people; subjects’ faces were redacted by the agency. Edited from video footage obtained from CDCR via public records request. (Annie Fruit/KQED)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The rookie\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In late 2018, correctional officer Valentino Rodriguez walked into the ISU office for his first day on the job. Steele writes in his book that the 28-year-old was “fresh-faced and eager to overachieve.” Rodriguez had stopped by Adalberto’s Mexican Food that morning to pick up breakfast burritos for the whole team — an office tradition by which new members would gain acceptance into the squad. But as the morning wore on, the offering was ignored; to Steele this was a deliberate snub, and he’d see it as an omen of what was to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017605\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 683px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017605\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"683\" height=\"854\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-04-KQED.jpg 683w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-04-KQED-160x200.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valentino Rodriguez Jr. with his mother Erma Rodriguez at his graduation from CDCR’s officer academy in Galt, California, May 1, 2015. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rodriguez family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Officers often wait years to get tapped for the squad. Rodriguez had earned kudos as a sharp report writer and a hard worker, but he was relatively inexperienced. Some in the unit thought he’d “skipped the line,” according to officers’ later testimony in a disciplinary hearing. They began calling Rodriguez “half-patch,” suggesting he hadn’t fully earned the special black and green badge of the ISU uniform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contrast, Steele welcomed the new guy. In his book, he describes thanking Rodriguez for the food that first day and taking an extra burrito home “so as not to waste his act of kindness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two men worked in different divisions of the squad — Steele was in Criminal Prosecution while Rodriguez had been assigned to Security and Investigations — but Steele always had a positive word for the younger officer. “You inspire me!” Steele texted him on more than one occasion. Sometimes, on the weekends, they’d carpool to law enforcement seminars where they could brush up on the latest drug interdiction tools or California’s prison gangs. And Steele became a lifeline for Rodriguez when he needed advice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the coldness from Rodriguez’s closest teammates soon turned to open hostility, according to KQED’s review of text messages in Rodriguez’s phone. One officer in particular, Daniel Garland, taunted him regularly. He called him “fag,” and told him to “sukadik” on a group chat. Garland did not agree to speak to KQED for this story, but his attorney said her client’s actions did not rise to the level of harassment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s direct supervisor, Sgt. David Anderson, who was on some of the text threads, did not intervene (Anderson later told investigators “I should have stepped in,” according to public documents). Rodriguez complained in a text to another officer that Anderson would bad-mouth Steele and other senior officers in front of his subordinates, and then threaten to throw Rodriguez off the squad if he said anything. Rodriguez told his fiancée, Mimy, that his supervisor once put his hands around Rodriguez’s neck and told him he could “make it look like an accident.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anderson, who was promoted to lieutenant in 2022, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. He told investigators that he treated Rodriguez the same as everyone else, and did not believe the young officer had been offended by what he characterized as “banter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017604\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1005px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017604\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1005\" height=\"670\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-02-KQED.jpg 1005w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-VALENTINO-RODRIGUEZ-JR-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1005px) 100vw, 1005px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rodriguez in the office at his family’s business early in his career, dressed for work at San Quentin State Prison. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rodriguez family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>CDCR has a “zero tolerance” policy for discriminatory language and harassment. But in reviewing 80 cases of officer discrimination going back to 2015, KQED found that misconduct rarely led to firing, even in instances that involved unwanted touching or threatening a subordinate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid the violence and chaos of a maximum security prison, where trust is essential for officers’ safety, Rodriguez didn’t feel his team had his back. He complained to a friend over text that his colleagues refused to help him with an arrest, and that they disparaged him in front of prisoners; he said that the only person he trusted was Steele.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele was only partially aware of what was going on with Rodriguez, but he later told investigators that he noticed his friend would duck into the bathroom nearly every day before his shift. When Steele asked if he was OK, Rodriguez confided that his stress was so intense he often had to vomit before he went into the ISU. Steele recalled Rodriguez saying, “They just never stop teasing me. They don’t ever stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite this, Rodriguez continued to seek his colleagues’ approval — texting the group about his efforts to lose weight or a big drug bust he pulled off. Rodriguez’s father, Valentino Rodriguez Sr., told KQED he now regrets raising his son to be so eager to please and quick to forgive.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Much later, Rodriguez would tell prison leaders that — from small things like playing video games on duty to planting drugs and weapons on prisoners in order to claim overtime for a bust — his team had been rife with misconduct. But at the time, he said nothing of this to Steele or anyone else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez kept another secret, too. He had struggled with opioid addiction in college before successfully kicking the habit in rehab. Mimy said that sometime during his stint at New Folsom he relapsed. By late 2019, the relentless harassment by his peers and the everyday violence he witnessed inside the prison walls was starting to pile up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, just before the Christmas holiday, a brutal murder in the prison would help tip Rodriguez past his breaking point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would also shake Steele’s faith in the institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A killing in B8\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On Dec. 12, 2019, 29-year-old Luis Giovanny Aguilar sat watching television in a common area of B8, a highly restricted unit reserved for people who were considered especially violent or dangerous. Aguilar — whose prison nickname was “Raskal” — had a reputation among officers for being “mouthy.” About a week earlier, on the way out of the shower back into the unit, he had kicked an officer in the chest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On surveillance footage leaked to KQED, Aguilar appeared unbothered as a group of officers brought two other men out of their cells and chained them to individual desks — Cody Taylor, a white man with a tattoo down his face, and Anthony Rodriguez, a heavyset Latino man with glasses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017603\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1494px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017603\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/10_05_08.95Aguilar.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1494\" height=\"753\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/10_05_08.95Aguilar.jpg 1494w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/10_05_08.95Aguilar-800x403.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/10_05_08.95Aguilar-1020x514.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/10_05_08.95Aguilar-160x81.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1494px) 100vw, 1494px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luis Giovanny Aguilar, chained to his chair inside a high-security unit at New Folsom prison just moments before his death on Dec. 12, 2019. This still shot is from CDCR security camera footage that was leaked to KQED.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This was supposed to be the most secure type of unit in the state. All the men had been strip-searched before stepping out of their cells. Their handcuffs were attached to a chain at their waists, and their feet were shackled together. Once seated, their ankles were also locked to the metal chairs they sat in. Overlooking the three men, a control booth officer sat behind a large window with a less lethal launcher, which fires foam rounds, and a deadly Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As soon as the officers filed out of the room, Taylor and Anthony Rodriguez got to work on their cuffs with tiny metal tools they had smuggled past the guards. They quickly escaped their restraints, headed up the stairs and retrieved makeshift weapons from beneath a cell door. Then they ran back down the stairs and attacked Aguilar, stabbing his upper chest, torso and head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assault lasted more than a minute. The control booth officer fired a few foam rounds, one of which hit Taylor, but the projectiles did not stop the attack. By the time officers entered the unit with guns drawn, Aguilar was unresponsive on the floor. He was taken to the on-site medical unit where he was pronounced dead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017602\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017602\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1789\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-800x559.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-1020x713.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-1536x1074.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-2048x1432.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_3947-Tinkerbell-1920x1342.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A makeshift knife that was used in the attempted murder that was carried out by Cody Taylor, Anthony Rodriguez and Dion Green two months before the murder of Luis Giovanny Aguilar. This screenshot of CDCR’s evidence photograph was leaked to KQED.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That same day, another incarcerated man in the unit claimed responsibility for the murder. Self-described prison gang “shot-caller” Dion Green told investigators he’d ordered Anthony Rodriguez and Taylor to kill Aguilar because it was gang “business,” and passed them the weapons under the door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the incident, Steele and Officer Rodriguez both had roles to play. Steele’s job was to help facilitate the prosecution of the three men. With Green’s confession and the whole thing caught on surveillance video, it appeared to be a straightforward case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But something about the murder didn’t sit right with Steele. In his book, he describes poring over the video footage “from start to finish innumerable times” to try to understand how it had happened. Given the extensive security protocols in B8, this kind of attack should not have been possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017600\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017600\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/046_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An incarcerated person is cuffed at his ankles to a desk during a group therapy session at California State Prison, Sacramento, also known as New Folsom, on April 13, 2023. These are similar to the ankle restraints used in the B8 unit. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez, meanwhile, was assigned to write a report explaining the gang connections of the murder, and to attend the autopsy, which was gruesome. “Skull was full of blood,” he wrote in an update to Steele in which he detailed more than 50 stab wounds to Aguilar’s back, head and heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez had seen violence and death before, but the images of dead bodies from this and other autopsies were getting harder to shake off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017601\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12017601\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/PHOTO-of-Val-Jr-reasons-to-leave-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A picture of a redacted note saved on Valentino Rodriguez’s phone from January 2020, shortly before he took a leave of absence for work-related stress. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Valentino Rodriguez Sr.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to take this stuff home. It will feed the ghost,” he texted his supervisor, Anderson, in early January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But his work had already crept into his home and relationship. Mimy was increasingly upset about the long hours Rodriguez worked at the prison, and how even after his shift he was often withdrawn, irritable or too tired to talk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Valentino, we’re your family,” Mimy told him. “We love you. You know, if something happens to you, that job is just gonna replace you, but we can’t replace you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few weeks after the B8 murder, Rodriguez walked into Steele’s office and announced he was resigning. In his book, Steele writes that he tried to convince the young officer to stay — he had too much talent to waste — but Rodriguez was adamant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the chief deputy warden convinced Rodriguez to take a leave of absence for work-related stress, according to public documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez returned home that day and sat down next to Mimy on their living room couch. Even though he hadn’t quit, he told her his career as a correctional officer was over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is my identity,” she remembers him saying. “I feel like I’ve given up on everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hints and allegations\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Steele had little time to ruminate on his friend’s absence. As the COVID-19 pandemic slammed into all aspects of prison life in spring of 2020, Steele was tasked with helping prisoners appear in court, which now took place over Zoom. This put him in regular contact with the three men who’d been charged with Aguilar’s murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele writes in his book that on separate occasions, as they waited for court to begin or some technical glitch to be resolved, both “shot-caller” Dion Green and Cody Taylor, one of the two stabbers, dropped hints that there was more to the murder than Steele knew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men’s insinuations added to some troubling evidence Steele had already come across, according to his book. Just two months before the murder, the same three men had carried out an almost identical attack on another incarcerated man, nearly killing him; yet after that incident, the suspects hadn’t been put in separate housing, as CDCR protocol dictates. Given this violent history, officers should have been on high alert, yet Taylor and his co-assailant, Anthony Rodriguez, had again slipped their cuffs when they killed Aguilar.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/9SSuhezQmsM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/9SSuhezQmsM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Criminal justice reporter Sukey Lewis’ demonstration of the double-locking mechanism on the handcuffs that were generally used around the prisoners’ ankles, and how a ‘black box’ device works\u003c/i>. (Sukey Lewis and Maha Sanad/KQED)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was especially surprising to Steele because the men were wearing “black boxes” over their restraints — tamper-resistant hard plastic shells that cover the cuffs’ keyhole and, when applied properly, are nearly impossible to escape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele also stumbled across an unusual incident while looking at archived surveillance footage: It showed Taylor loose in the B8 common room a week before the Aguilar murder, running up the stairs to retrieve something from beneath Green’s cell door. As Steele watched the video, he waited for officers to sound the alarm or enter the unit, but they didn’t. He notes in his book that this apparent “practice-run” wasn’t reported or documented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, Taylor, who’d already pleaded guilty to the murder, sent a letter to the warden making a stunning claim: Officers had played a role in the killing. Steele was assigned to follow up. In a recording of that interview, which was leaked to KQED, Taylor told Steele that B8 officers had agreed not to fully lock his and Anthony Rodriguez’s cuffs, allowing the men to circumvent the tamper-proof black boxes, and to instruct the control booth officer not to use deadly force. In Taylor’s telling, officers facilitated the attack on Aguilar because he had assaulted one of their own.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/tar6yJvCMpM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/tar6yJvCMpM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Sgt. Kevin Steele interviewed Cody Taylor on July 3, 2020, about his allegations that officers enabled the murder of Luis Giovanny Aguilar. This video was edited from CDCR footage that was leaked to KQED. (Annie Fruit/KQED)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Anthony Rodriguez did not agree to speak to Steele, Green did. In a recorded interview that was leaked to KQED, Green echoed Taylor’s allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Aguilar] would be alive today if it wasn’t for the assistance and\u003cbr>\nthe help of your staff,” Green told Steele.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR stated that it is “working with outside law enforcement agencies on this case” and could not comment. In court filings, attorneys for CDCR staff members have denied allegations that officers were involved in the killing. An FBI agent said in a phone call last year that they were investigating the case, but a spokesperson declined to officially confirm or deny the agency’s involvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele shared Taylor and Green’s allegations with New Folsom’s warden, Jeff Lynch, with the chief deputy warden, and with his own supervisor, according to correspondence that was leaked to KQED and obtained through public records requests. Steele also sent the videos of his interviews and suggested giving Taylor and Green polygraph tests. The warden thanked Steele and told him New Folsom’s internal affairs lieutenant, Brandon Strohmaier, “will be chatting with you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point, prison administrators forwarded these allegations to CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs in Sacramento, and to the FBI, which looks into allegations of civil rights abuses by law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But months passed, and Steele saw few signs that anyone had picked up the threads of his investigation. No one else came to interview Taylor or Green, and it appears no one followed up on Steele’s suggestion to polygraph them, according to documents, interviews with the men themselves and confidential sources familiar with the investigation. Early on, a handful of officers who were on duty the day of the murder were reassigned to the mailroom, but they weren’t suspended or banned from the facility (a way to limit officers’ access to the prison while they’re under criminal suspicion).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017599\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017599\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/214_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keys and handcuffs hang from the belt of a correctional officer in the Short Term Restricted Housing unit at California State Prison, Sacramento, also known as New Folsom prison, on April 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs often moves slowly, but emails obtained by KQED show this case was uniquely delayed, and a special agent was not assigned until a year after the murder, according to a report by the inspector general of prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Steele started to feel the blowback for digging into the case. In his book, he describes being excluded from conversations in the ISU, and how, in the solitary unit where Taylor and Green were being held, officers who’d formerly been helpful began to display “agitation and unrest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps most disturbing to Steele was that Green’s and Taylor’s allegations, which he’d passed up the chain of command in confidence, began circulating among prisoners — a sign, he thought, that his fellow officers were trying to undermine his work and endanger Taylor and Green.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a leak coming from someone,” Steele wrote in a follow-up email to the warden. This time, Lynch’s response was even more laconic: “Thank u.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Superhero\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While on leave, Valentino Rodriguez had been working for his dad at the family pool business, writing bids for installation and repair. Even though he was still a correctional officer on paper, he was trying to leave the world of the prison behind. But the long-term effects of his years at New Folsom persisted. He wrestled with mounting depression and anxiety. He sought help from a therapist, but had trouble sharing his struggles with those closest to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One afternoon that summer, Steele called. Rodriguez was at his dad’s house for a barbecue, and his father remembers that he disappeared for a couple of hours. He came back saying Steele had uncovered evidence that officers had a hand in the Aguilar murder, and that Steele had reported it up the chain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re starting to treat him like they treated me,” Rodriguez Sr. remembers his son telling him. “He’s scared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele had also been encouraging Rodriguez to report the misconduct he’d witnessed, according to Mimy. But Rodriguez was nervous about what would happen to him and his family if he came forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mimy said her fiancé became increasingly fearful and reluctant to leave the house even to walk their dogs. He placed obstacles next to the front door so he could hear anyone trying to get in. He slept with his gun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is everything okay?” Mimy remembers asking him. “Who are you nervous about coming? What is going on?” Rodriguez never said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mimy tried to distract him with planning their upcoming wedding. She felt if they could just get through this year, they’d be able to put New Folsom behind them and start a family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a few weeks before the ceremony, Rodriguez started a casual text conversation with Strohmaier, the ISU’s internal affairs lieutenant, about his upcoming marriage and other personal matters. Then Rodriguez let loose with a series of long texts describing his misery in the squad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That team is broken,” he wrote. “There is shit they do, say, or don’t do that could cause everyone from the Warden down to get the boot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017958\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230_KQED_NewFolsomPrisonSacramento_04132023-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeff Lynch, warden at New Folsom prison, during a press tour on April 13, 2023. He is set to retire December 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear why Rodriguez chose this moment to share his grievances with the person who fielded internal complaints at New Folsom, but Strohmaier eventually forwarded the messages to the warden, who asked Rodriguez to come talk to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twelve days after his wedding, Rodriguez walked back through the gates of New Folsom to expose the brotherhood of officers he’d once protected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warden Jeff Lynch would later testify that in this meeting, Rodriguez told him the ISU was a “dysfunctional environment” that had driven him from the job and ruined his health. He also warned Lynch that he’d seen ISU officers — the institution’s police — breaking the law by planting drugs and weapons to get overtime. Lynch testified that he’d listened intently, and then asked him to write up his allegations in a formal memo. Rodriguez said he’d think about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mimy said that when her new husband came home, he looked like a weight had been lifted. “He felt confident that the warden was going to help,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017597\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12017597\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/super-hero-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/super-hero-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/super-hero-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/super-hero.jpg 931w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photograph of final messages between Rodriguez and Steele just hours before Rodriguez’s death. Rodriguez did not seek medical treatment for the health issue he describes, so it is unclear what exactly happened. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Valentino Rodriguez Sr.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The following week, while Lynch was still waiting for Rodriguez’s memo, he ordered a search of the ISU for the contraband Rodriguez had mentioned. According to Lynch’s testimony, the search didn’t turn up anything concerning. But it did have an effect — now, the whole team knew someone had talked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele texted Rodriguez the next day to show his support: “I appreciate, admire and respect you!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just hope that i am not mentioned at all to anyone,”\u003cbr>\nRodriguez texted back. “It took a lot out of me to re-live the truth…So much pain and fear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dude you are my superhero,” Steele responded. “Stay strong! I got you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Rodriguez was already spiraling. That evening, while Mimy was at dinner with friends, Rodriguez texted her to say he’d heard from two people at New Folsom who knew about his meeting with the warden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Which means it’s out now that i told on the team,” he wrote. “Tomorrow they want me to write a memo and i don’t know what ima do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Mimy got home an hour later, she saw a light coming from the guest bathroom. There she found her husband of 19 days slumped against the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s his job,” she told a responding police officer. “This is all because of his job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coroner’s report notes that drug paraphernalia was next to Rodriguez’s body and classifies his death as an accident. The report also describes the scene — a wedding photo of Rodriguez and Mimy on the mantle and a stack of gifts in the corner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele found out about Rodriguez’s death through social media reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his book, Steele compares Rodriguez to the New Testament figure Timothy, who was beaten to death by a pagan mob after speaking out against them. “In many ways,” he wrote, “young Valentino, like Timothy, would remain courageous and committed to the truth all the way till the end.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017596\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017596\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-30-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An altar made by Mimy Rodriguez for her late husband, Officer Valentino Rodriguez, sits on a shelf at her home in Sacramento on Nov. 6, 2023. Rodriguez loved ketchup and wore Giorgio Armani cologne. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Flight and fight\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The memorial mass was held under a large oak tree at the Catholic grammar school in West Sacramento. Valentino Rodriguez Sr., weighed down by grief, noticed a trim man with piercing blue eyes making his way forward through the receiving line. While he’d heard a lot about Steele, this was the first time they’d met in person. As Rodriguez Sr. remembers, Steele grabbed his shoulders and said, “If you need me for anything, I can help you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back at the prison that day, Steele taped pictures of Rodriguez up in the window of his office. He wanted the officers who’d harassed his friend to know he held them responsible, Steele later told Rodriguez’s father. The squad, in turn, shunned Steele and went so far as to file a complaint against him, which didn’t go anywhere, according to public records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warden Lynch sent out an email forbidding anyone in the ISU from speaking to the Rodriguez family. Even though the move could have been preventive — in the event of an investigation into the harassment of Rodriguez, CDCR policy would not allow staff to talk about the case — Steele saw the directive as an attempt at self-protection. Adding to Steele’s disappointment, the warden never called Rodriguez’s family to offer condolences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when Rodriguez Sr., heartbroken and craving answers, reached out to Steele with texts and photos of his son as a boy, Steele wrote back. The two men began texting and talking on the phone nearly every day — discovering their shared Christian faith, their love for antique cars and their sorrow over the loss of Rodriguez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez Sr. drew a direct line between his son’s overdose and New Folsom. In one of their telephone conversations, he even asked Steele if someone at the prison could have provided the fentanyl that killed him (KQED found no evidence to substantiate his concern). Steele urged Rodriguez Sr. to file a complaint with CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs and gave him a contact at the FBI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017595\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017595\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231130-OnOurWatch-25-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valentino Rodriguez Sr. stands in a warehouse at his West Sacramento pool business on Nov. 30, 2023, where his son Valentino Rodriguez Jr. worked while on leave from New Folsom before his untimely death. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While Steele told Rodriguez Sr. he could trust those agencies to do the right thing, his book reveals that he had his doubts. Years earlier, the Ronnie Price case had taught him that officers were capable of conspiracy and silence. The apathy he perceived in the wake of Aguilar’s homicide now appeared to be evidence of a dark and willful blindness. And the warden’s apparent focus on damage control rather than human suffering following a young officer’s death broke something inside him. Steele wondered if there were any limits to the corruption he felt closing in around him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lili said that, though he tried to hide it from her, her husband was afraid. “He literally would open up the door and look around the corner,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele wasn’t the first whistleblower to feel like he had a target on his back. Over the years, officers who have reported misconduct have found “rat” written on their windshield, received threatening phone calls, been left with no backup in dangerous situations and even been followed home at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele had come forward internally, but he’d also been in touch with the FBI, according to text messages given to KQED. He’d passed along evidence he’d gathered regarding Aguilar’s murder and shared his suspicions that officers were somehow culpable. Steele believed that without him, any potential federal investigation would have few witnesses. Steele told Rodriguez Sr. that he had no idea how far CDCR would go to keep him quiet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so, Steele crafted an exit strategy. In January, he and Lili packed up their belongings and moved across the country to Miller County, Missouri, where Steele had spent time in the Air Force. His plan was to run through his vacation and sick days and then retire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017594\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017594\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2238\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-800x700.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-1020x892.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-160x140.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-1536x1343.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-2048x1791.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/100605-F-1108H-322-1920x1679.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin Steele served in the US Air Force Reserve for 21 years before retiring as a master sergeant in April 2016. He deployed twice to Iraq and was commended for his service. \u003ccite>(US Air Force)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Steele couldn’t resist firing off a couple of parting shots at New Folsom’s warden and CDCR — two incendiary memos alleging in detail the mistreatment of incarcerated people and officers’ role in the Aguilar murder. He included Rodriguez’s claims about ISU misconduct, and questioned Warden Lynch’s actions as a leader.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Addressing Lynch directly, he wrote: “You should consider the very likely possibility that during YOUR superintendence of [New Folsom], more staff will be charged for criminal activity than any other institution within the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A month after Steele had left the state, a notice, which was leaked to KQED, was posted at the front gate of New Folsom: Sgt. Kevin Steele was banned from prison grounds. While he had no plans to return, it stung.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was crushed,” Lili remembers. Steele told her, “I would have died for that department.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele had trouble adapting to his new life in the Ozarks. He applied for a couple jobs and interviewed well, but didn’t get them. Lili said he suspected someone at the prison had somehow interfered, though as far as she knew, prison officials still thought they were in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele still woke up before 4 a.m., but now he had nowhere to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘My Thoughts’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On March 15, 2021, Steele sent Rodriguez Sr. a link to \u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertsamaha/the-prison-guard-who-couldnt-escape-prison\">a Buzzfeed article about a correctional officer at High Desert State Prison in Northern California who had reported misconduct\u003c/a>, only to find his colleagues turning on him. The officer was found dead by apparent suicide in 2011. Among some notes with messages for his family was one that read, “I told the truth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The actual number of suicides among CDCR’s 30,000 officers is unknown; the agency said it doesn’t track those deaths out of respect for employees’ privacy. But KQED has been able to confirm that at least 30 officers who had worked for CDCR died by suicide from 2020 through 2023. Steele dealt with this firsthand; he’d counseled an officer who was struggling with thoughts of suicide and even interrupted a prison employee trying to asphyxiate themselves in a garage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017640\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017640\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0848-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">These badges represent the 30 CDCR correctional officers who took their own lives from 2020 through 2023. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In response to \u003ca href=\"https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/publications/officer-health-and-wellness-results-from-the-california-correctional-office\">a 2017 UC Berkeley survey of CDCR officers\u003c/a>, 1 in 10 said they had suicidal thoughts. That’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/ss/ss7101a1.htm\">more than twice the national average reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/a>. A CDCR spokesperson wrote in an email that the department is “committed to promoting the mental health and wellbeing” of its employees, who have access to a number of interventions and services including chaplains and therapists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele did speak to a chaplain, but, like a lot of officers, he was wary of mental health professionals, fearing that if he sought help the institution would use it against him. Instead, Lili said, her husband “self-medicated” with alcohol to get to sleep at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April of 2021, Steele got some news that buoyed his spirits. Daniel Garland, one of the officers who’d mistreated Rodriguez, had been banned from the institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, it seemed to Rodriguez Sr. and Steele that their efforts to hold someone accountable for Rodriguez’s death were finally starting to bear fruit. They expected to see more repercussions for everyone who’d harassed Rodriguez, or known about it and done nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017593\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12017593\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-KEVIN-STEELE-03-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-KEVIN-STEELE-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-KEVIN-STEELE-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-KEVIN-STEELE-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-KEVIN-STEELE-03-KQED.jpg 1507w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The red storage shed where Sgt. Kevin Steele was found deceased on August 20, 2021. Photo obtained from the Sheriff’s Dept. in Miller County, Mo., via public records request.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Justice is beginning to simmer!” Steele texted Rodriguez Sr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But four months later, on Aug. 20, 2021, Steele called up Rodriguez Sr. in a rage. He’d just received a call from CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs to schedule an interview about the Aguilar murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It had been 20 months since Aguilar was killed, over a year since Steele passed on evidence that officers might be involved, and eight months since Steele sent his explosive memo to the warden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez Sr. remembers Steele venting: “Why are they just wrapping this up? All of a sudden they’re in a hurry?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than an hour later, a home security camera captured Steele walking out of his open garage. The footage, obtained by KQED through a public records request, shows him crossing the driveway toward his shed at 5:23 p.m. dressed in an orange T-shirt and shorts. He’s holding one end of a blue nylon rope in his hand. The other end of the rope is looped around his neck. He reaches the shed door and passes out of view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017592\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1246px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017592\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/MyThoughtsRedactedScreenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1246\" height=\"742\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/MyThoughtsRedactedScreenshot.jpg 1246w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/MyThoughtsRedactedScreenshot-800x476.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/MyThoughtsRedactedScreenshot-1020x607.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/MyThoughtsRedactedScreenshot-160x95.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1246px) 100vw, 1246px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A screenshot of the note found on Steele’s computer. KQED redacted the names of the CDCR officials in Steele’s note to protect their privacy. Obtained from the Sheriff’s Dept. in Miller County, Mo. via public records request.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The next day, Lili found a document on the home computer titled “My Thoughts.” It read, in part:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lili is my angel, my light and my survivor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an apparent reference to the time of day that Jesus died on the cross, he wrote, “I know what time it is … it is the 9th hour and no one is here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“CDCR killed me, I told the truth and shielded the truth… These barbarians killed Valentino and I.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter included a list of names of CDCR officials he held responsible for his and his friend’s deaths. Under the list were the note’s final three words: “Cowards and Bandits!”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Aftermath\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Shortly after Steele’s death, CDCR internal affairs agents finally conducted their first interviews with the officers who had been implicated in the death of Luis Giovanny Aguilar — nearly two years after his murder. They never interviewed Green, the shot caller, or the men who stabbed Aguilar, according to a confidential source familiar with the investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), a state-level prison watchdog, rated the department’s handling of the case “poor.” In a report, the OIG faulted the agency for “unnecessary” delays and poor interview techniques “that failed to elicit the details of each officers’ involvement and knowledge of events and failed to ask follow-up questions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report shows that CDCR ultimately sustained allegations that one officer failed to respond to alarms the day Aguilar was stabbed. The officer in the control booth was disciplined for not having his Mini-14 rifle on him during the attack. Each got a temporary 5% pay cut. A third officer was given the heaviest punishment, a temporary 10% pay cut, for recording the murder footage on his phone and sharing it with a colleague.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017591\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12017591\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-LUIS-GIOVANNY-AGUILAR-01-KQED-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-LUIS-GIOVANNY-AGUILAR-01-KQED-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-LUIS-GIOVANNY-AGUILAR-01-KQED-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241113-OOW-LUIS-GIOVANNY-AGUILAR-01-KQED.jpg 898w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The last time that Luis Giovanny Aguilar saw his mother, Ma Rosario Zaragoza, in Tijuana, Mexico, 2018. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Aguilar family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>An ongoing lawsuit filed by Aguilar’s mother against Warden Lynch and the officers in the B8 unit alleges staff either conspired to kill her son, or at the very least failed to protect him. In court filings, lawyers for CDCR have denied that prison staff were involved in the homicide. The FBI declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Garland, along with an officer who’d used the N-word and other derogatory language in the office, was fired. Two more ISU team members were given lengthy pay cuts for calling Rodriguez half-patch and failing to report misconduct; they both work at different prisons now. (All four officers have submitted appeals to state court, which are pending.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New Folsom remains a violent place; four incarcerated people were killed at the prison this year, three at the hands of other prisoners, and one after being restrained by officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lynch is retiring this month. Jason Schultz, who worked at New Folsom from 2008 through 2020, was named acting warden in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Steele’s suicide in 2021, CDCR has made some important changes; last year, Governor Gavin Newsom introduced the “California Model” of prison management, which borrows its ethos of reintegration and emotional well-being from the Norwegian approach to incarceration. Officers at certain prisons, including New Folsom, now wear body cameras. And CDCR put in place a new process for reviewing grievances against staff, which the department says will “ensure complaints are properly, fairly and thoroughly reviewed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, despite months of KQED’s attempts to get answers, no one from the agency would address the underlying question raised by the deaths of Steele and Rodriguez: How successful can any reforms be if officers remain afraid to report misconduct, and if the few who come forward risk being marginalized and ignored?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Uncontestable’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When a person in state custody takes their own life, an independent panel reviews the circumstances and makes a determination about how it could have been prevented. But there is no such accounting of the circumstances surrounding officer suicides. In a 2023 interview, Stephen Walker, who advocates for mental health resources on behalf of the correctional officers’ union, told KQED that if these deaths were happening in any other occupation, “there would be a mass public outcry calling for an investigation into what is happening and what is at the root of this many people losing their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017590\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017590\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/231106-OnOurWatch-35-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mimy Rodriguez holds a framed wedding photo of herself and her late husband, Officer Valentino Rodriguez, at her home in Sacramento, Calif., on Nov. 6, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After Rodriguez and Steele died, the state insurance fund sent each of their widows instructions on how to receive survivor benefits. There were two options: The simpler path was to sign a form stating that the men’s deaths were unrelated to their jobs. Neither woman could bring herself to sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The alternative was to argue that their husbands had died as a direct result of working in the prison. Initially, those claims were denied, and Lili and Mimy had to go through the painful process of documenting their husbands’ decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A doctor who reviewed Rodriguez’s medical records on behalf of the state found that his drug use was related to depression, anxiety and panic attacks stemming from his job at New Folsom. “This claim appears to be uncontestable,” he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mimy Rodriguez cried when she received a letter from the state saying that her husband’s death “was the result of his employment” at New Folsom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lili Steele’s claim was also granted: A workers’ compensation review of Steele’s writings and an interview with Lili found that psychological strain from his job at the prison contributed to his suicide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The claim, Lili said, was her way of saying, “I know what you people did to him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can dial 988 [U.S.] to reach the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is a collaboration between KQED, the \u003ca href=\"https://projects.scpr.org/california-reporting-project/\">California Reporting Project\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californianewsroom\">California Newsroom\u003c/a>, and was made possible in part by support from \u003ca href=\"https://www.calendow.org\">The California Endowment\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lead editor: \u003ca href=\"https://www.markbetancourt.com/\">Mark Betancourt\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Data analysis: Amanda Glazer, PhD Candidate at UC Berkeley Statistics; Jeremy Sanchez Rue, Associate Professor of Practice at UC Berkeley Journalism.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Additional research by students at \u003ca href=\"https://journalism.berkeley.edu/programs/mj/investigative-reporting/\">Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program\u003c/a>: Julietta Bisharyan, Laura Fitzgerald, William Jenkins, Cayla Mihalovich, Armon Owlia, Kathleen Quinn, Elizabeth Santos, Vera Watt and Junyao Yang. Additional support from UC Berkeley Journalism’s David Barstow.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "BONUS: 'More Work to Be Done' | S2: New Folsom",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sukey and Julie have some news and updates about Valentino Rodriguez Sr., Mimy Rodriguez and some of the key players at New Folsom prison. We also share a recent conversation with an attorney who has been involved in the legal fight for disability rights in California state prisons for decades. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC7898353184\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mental health resources\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you are currently in crisis, you can dial 988 [U.S.] to reach the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SAMHSA National Help Line\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://988lifeline.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.nami.org/help\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Helpline\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/programs/prevention-and-wellness/mental-health-substance-abuse/index.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">US Health and Human Services\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://warmline.org/warmdir.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Warmline Directory\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://journalism.berkeley.edu/programs/mj/investigative-reporting/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Investigative Reporting Program\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism was a key partner in making Season 2 of On Our Watch.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The records obtained for this project are part of the\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://projects.scpr.org/california-reporting-project/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> California Reporting Project\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a coalition of news organizations in California. If you have tips or feedback about this series please reach out to us at \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"mailto:onourwatch@kqed.org\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">onourwatch@kqed.org\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi, everyone. We’re back this week with a special bonus episode of On Our Watch. If you’re a new listener to the podcast, welcome. But this episode won’t make a lot of sense. So I suggest you go back to episode one of the season and start from the beginning of what became a really epic journey to trace the footsteps of two whistleblowers at New Folsom Prison. For those of you who’ve been following along, we have some news to share. And we got our hands on some really interesting new tapes where you can hear from some of the key figures at New Folsom who never agreed to speak to us for the podcast. Later in the episode, we’re also going to talk to a lawyer who’s played a big part in state reforms, including helping get body cameras into some California prisons. My co-reporter for this series, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Julie Small:\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, is with me today so we can talk about what all these developments mean. Hey, Julie. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi, Sukey. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">First of all, we want to share that we’ve been writing an article about Sergeant Kevin Steele and Correctional Officer Valentino Rodriguez, which you can check out on KQED.org, or click the link in the show notes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are some really interesting tidbits in there which will be totally new to even listeners of the podcast. A video of Steele and some of the evidence that we relied on for our reporting. And it’s a summation of the findings that we came to as a result of two years of investigation in a format where you can really review what those findings are and see what the implications are and really understand the journey of Sergeant Kevin Steele and Valentino Rodriguez Jr. How they affected each other and what that led them to do. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. And the other big news that we have to share is about the warden, Jeff Lynch. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right. CDCR announced Warden Jeff Lynch is retiring this month. This is the guy who Steele blamed for failure of leadership at New Folsom Prison and who Val Senior blamed for not protecting his son. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, prison officials wouldn’t comment on Lynch’s retirement, but it is interesting timing I think. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We now know who’s replacing Lynch. Well, what do you think about the incoming warden? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. So CDCr just named this new acting warden. And this is a man named Jason Shultz. He used to work at New Folsom from 2008 to 2020. He’s also spent time at the California health care facility in Stockton and California State Prison Solano. He’s a pretty well known actor in New Folsom, and he was, in fact, the head of the facility where the Ronnie Price incident happened, the captain of that facility. So for listeners, if you’ll remember from episode four, Ronnie Price is the man who told Steel that he had been tripped by officers and his face was smashed and pretty severely. And then he died the next day of a pulmonary embolism. It was a really big deal there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, that case eventually resulted in criminal conviction of three officers who tried to cover up the excessive force. And you know, that this guy was, you know, involved with that unit. That’s that’s very interesting. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, it is. It is really interesting. And I don’t know much more, you know, about, you know, why he got this position or if he’ll end up being the permanent warden there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right. And we did check in with some of our sources who said that this guy is you know, he follows the rules. He’s worked hard. But, you know, he’s a company man. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So anyway, that’s kind of what we know so far about the acting warden. Now, I know, Julie, you talked to Val Senior recently as well. How does Val Senior feel about the warden’s retirement? And also just how is he doing in general? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Well, in general, like right after the podcast came out, Val Senior, he felt relief for the first time since his son’s death. You know, he got a lot of he felt like he was finally doing something. He got a lot of sympathetic emails and text messages, but he feels that CDCR is not holding the right people accountable. There were some disciplinary actions taken against some of the lower level people involved, other officers. But the warden, he is getting to retire and go on with his life. Meanwhile, Val Senior, you know, continues to suffer. This is not over for him. It will never be over. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay. And what about what about Valentino’s widow, Mimy? You know, how’s she doing? Have you talked to her recently? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have talked to her recently. You know, she reached out to me, actually, and, you know, wanted to see what, if anything, had happened since the podcast came out. She is, you know, picking up her life, putting it back together. She has gone back to school, which before she couldn’t concentrate well enough to stay in in her courses. She’s finishing up an undergraduate degree. She she has made a decision, though, that she was going to go into corrections and now she is not because of everything that she and her husband, Valentino, went through and her loss of Valentino. She may still do something in the law, but she seems to becoming interested in making the criminal justice system work better. But it’s really a struggle for her still. You know, she’s still in shock. You know, she’s said that this was not what her life was supposed to be. You know, she should never have ended up here. This was not the way it was supposed to go. She married the love of her life, and days later, he was dead. And it’s hard. It’s hard. How do you move on from that? And. And she doesn’t really even have people to talk to about it because how do you talk to somebody about such a profound loss and with so many questions surrounding it still? So she holds a lot of it in I think. What about some of the incarcerated people that you interviewed? Have you checked in with any of them? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I’ve been in touch with a number of people. You know, Joel Uribe, who listeners will remember from episode four of the podcast, who was, you know, injured in the use of force incident with officers. And he is looking at a potential release date next year and getting ready for that. He’s really excited about that. And one of the things that he’s doing is getting the tattoos removed from his face. Um if listeners remember, this was something that his mom was like a really hard ass with him about and was like, I won’t, you know, see your face. I won’t look at your face while you have those tattoos on it. So I was in touch with Joel. He’s getting those tattoos, you know, starting the process of that. And he said he’s going to do a video call with me as well when he gets them removed so I can see the his new face that he hopes to present to the outside world. Yeah. You know, he is also a little fearful, I think, about something out of prison, like it just is difficult. He’s been kind of in and out of prison for most of his life, and so you get so conditioned to experience there. So I think he’s really excited for that, hoping to get out even sooner. And also, you know, has some trepidation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Well, I mean, that’s totally understandable that he would have trepidation. What have you been hearing about what’s been going on in New Folsom? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, you know, it was another deadly year there. There were four people that were killed by homicide. CDCR only released very thin information about these incidents. But we do know that one of them was the result of a use of force. This man died after being restrained by officers. And, you know, overall, preliminary numbers that have been posted show that the rates of use of force at New Folsom remain the highest in the state. So sounds like much the same. Now, CDCR says, you know, they they declined to speak to us. We asked them again for an interview with the head of CDCR, the secretary with the outgoing warden, with the incoming warden. They declined all of those requests, but they did send us an email in which they, again, really doubled down on their statement that they’re really trying to reform things and that they don’t tolerate a code of silence and that they are really committed to officer accountability. They did not once again respond to any questions about use of force. And I asked them to at least explain why they wouldn’t talk about use of force. And they also wouldn’t talk about why they wouldn’t talk about use of force. So that continues to be a frustration just in terms of getting information about an issue that’s really, you know, I think high public interest and importance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So that’s the latest that we’ve heard, you know, from CDCR officially. But thanks to our lawsuit that’s forced them to produce more documents and recordings, we did recently get something really fascinating. They sent us the interrogation tapes from that internal affairs investigation into Valentino’s harassment. Listeners will remember he really struggled in the investigative services unit because his fellow officers could be quite cruel to him. And he finally told the warden about all this misconduct he said he’d witnessed just six days before his death. So after he died, the Office of Internal Affairs talked to those officers and to higher ups at New Folsom, ostensibly to get to the bottom of things. And that’s what these tapes are from. And it was really interesting to hear from some of the players who never agreed to speak to us for the podcast. We’re going to start with someone we’ve been interested in talking to for a while. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, Gina Jones. I called her up and she told me to never call her at that number again. I reached her, but she was like, I have nothing to say to you. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So can you remind listeners, you know, who is Gina Jones and what was her role? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Well, Jones was the second in command at New Folsom, just under Warden Lynch. During our reporting, it was hard to pin down her role exactly in everything that transpired. For listeners, you’ll remember Jones is the person who convinced Valentino to go out on stress leave instead of resigning completely from the department. They had this consequential meeting in which, according to Mimy, Valentino, broke down to her and divulged all the harassment he’d been experiencing, as well as misconduct that he’d witnessed from his colleagues. Here she is talking about that meeting. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gena Jones:\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> J-O-N-E-S, Chief Deputy Warden, CSP Sacramento. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just a note, you’ll hear some redactions that CDCR made in these tapes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When you met with Officer Rodriguez, was anybody else in that meeting? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No, it was just he and I. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And you said it was in ISU? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And and you described in that meeting you talked about [REDACTED]. And and and that the issues that he was having, as you mentioned, that he had some issues with with crime scenes and autopsies, you know, issues related to the work in ISU, that was that the source of his problem? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes. I mean, he never said anything other than just cumulatively it was getting to be too much and he couldn’t handle the stress and he wasn’t sleeping. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All right. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So Jones really makes it sound like the only thing bothering Valentino was this kind of persistent violence and brutality at New Folsom, which is really different from what we heard from Mimy, who said that Valentino came home really in despair and told her that he’d broken down in front of the chief deputy warden about everything. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, And here’s what Jones says about, you know, the harassment and whether or not she knew anything about that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Was there anything said during the meeting about Officer Rodriguez being treated inappropriately by other ISU staff? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Absolutely not. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So just based on questions I’ve asked you to this point, is there anything that I haven’t asked you about this matter that you think is important for me to know? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Um there’s been a lot of scuttle going on. Obviously, the situation is pretty taxing. I apologize. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you need to take a break that’s fine. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Can I? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Yes. Let’s do that. Time is 1513. I’m going to pause the recording and we’re going to take a quick break. Okay. We’re back on the record. Time is 1514. Just for the record, Chief Jones, did I ask you any questions about the case while we were on break? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No you did not. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay. You were getting ready to say something. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, there’s there’s a lot a lot going on and it’s very unfortunate on what happened to this young man. At no time was I ever made aware of any allegation of staff misconduct, inappropriate behavior for this kid. I had a great working relationship with this young man. I was very fond of him and his work. He had a very good work ethic. When I talked to him that day, you know, he was very concerned, you know, he because he enjoyed his job. So he felt like he was letting himself down. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So we’ve just heard Jones kind of make these pretty strong statements, you know, about what she knew and she didn’t know. And also, you know, about her personal care for Valentino. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, it’s strange. She is so emphatic about not knowing anything about the harassment or anything else. And she sounds like she has some emotion about Valentino’s death. But if Valentino told her about the harassment he was getting, as he had said he did as his supervisor, she was required to investigate any allegations of misconduct. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. And I think there are a few other things that are kind of concerning about this exchange. You know, the Office of Internal Affairs investigator doesn’t even ask her about the allegations regarding planted drugs or weapons. And it’s potentially, you know, potentially they did ask her about it and it’s redacted. But if even so, if they did ask her about it, they really moved away from it very quickly because the entire interview is quite short. And we do know from testimony in front of the state personnel board that Jones was there for that search that happened that happened the day before Valentino died. So it just kind of raises questions about why they don’t ask the questions that I think we would ask or that they should ask if they were really kind of concerned and probing for where the failures were along the way. You know, next up, let’s get into some of the tape about this other guy who had a key role in the story, who didn’t agree to talk to us. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, this guy was the internal affairs sergeant, then he moved up to Lieutenant. I now know that he is working actually for the Office of Internal Affairs at headquarters. So he has since promoted. And he had a had a really kind of key role in how this whole thing played out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay. Yeah. He is another person I actually spoke to on the phone, but who refused to talk to me. He said something like, “Why would I talk to you?” Anyway, this was the guy Valentino finally vented to in the text messages, pages of them that are really painful and make these huge allegations, including that everyone from the warden on down could get fired based on what Valentino knew and what he had witnessed. The same series of texts triggered that final conversation with the warden. So here’s what Strohmaier says about that conversation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And, uh, back in approximately September of 2020. Did he describe some mistreatment that that he he alleged by other ISU staff? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He did.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs: \u003c/b>Can you just describe what he told you in that text? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, the text was extremely long. I’m sure you’ve seen it. I read about half of it. He was talking about how he was pretty much being picked on [redacted]. Any little, called names. He was his anxiety was so high that he was throwing up in the restroom for you know being in the bathroom for hours at a time. Vomiting. He didn’t like going to work. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Julie It’s interesting because Strohmaier sounds of two minds in this interview. Remember, he’s the one who took action and passed Valentino’s allegations on to the warden. But in this interview, he doesn’t really want to own that. Like he claims he only read half of Valentino’s texts. And there’s something else like he definitely fudges some things in this interview. For example, he says he forwarded these texts to the warden right away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Asked if I could call and set up a meeting with the warden to um, because he want to let him know what’s going on in the unit. When I got the phone, I immediately called Jeff Lynch. He said, “No problem I’ll send uh \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gena Jones:\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who’s the chief deputy to come in for me tomorrow and have him come up here at nine o’clock in the morning.” And that’s what happened. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And we know that is not accurate. Like there was at least another three weeks before he sent these to the warden. And then the meeting happened the next day. So I don’t know if he was just sitting on it or considering whether he wanted to forward it or not, but he did end up forwarding it to the warden. But in this interview, he kind of misrepresents the timing on those things. And then, you know, that fateful meeting happens. Here’s what Strohmaier says about the meeting. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mr. Lynch said, “Well, depending on what you tell me, there’s no guarantee no one’s going to get in trouble.” We sat down for about an hour. He went over every little thing that he pretty much said in the text. Reiterated to Mr. Lynch while he took notes, every allegation Rodriguez made, Lynch would write it down and say, “was there a supervisor present?” And he would pretty much say yes [redacted]. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You said you observed Warden Lynch taking notes. Do you know what happened to those notes? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I do not know. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This was another point where my jaw kind of dropped when I was first listening to these tapes because Lynch explicitly told OIA that he can’t remember if he wrote notes. Internal Affairs asks him to go take a look for them. He claims he can’t find them. So just the fact that Strohmaier kind of has this very clear memory that he tells Internal Affairs about, of Lynch taking down these meticulous notes and the fact that those were never located just seems like a really big red flag. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. And at the end of the interview, despite everything that transpired, he sings the praises of the Investigative Services Unit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anything else that’s come to mind about the things I should know about what’s what, you know, related to the topics that we discussed? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Not really, I really I mean, I looked at it as, I mean, I think that was the best ISU unit in the state, you know? And we’ve been told, I mean, there’s all your agents here that uh I get it. There might have been a conflict and maybe locker room gossip talk, you know, who knows? And it’s true. They never did it in front of me they’re not stupid enough to do it in front of their supervisor. But, I don’t know. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, it’s kind of incredible, right? Okay. Last but not least at all, we also did get the Office of Internal Affairs interview with the warden with Lynch, in which he answers questions about that final meeting that he had with Valentino shortly before he died. And I’m not going to play that much of it because it’s honestly like he doesn’t say very much that’s new and it just didn’t have that much value. But I’m going to play you a little bit here just so you can kind of hear the tone of it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So you mentioned earlier that he had he had talked about making statements have been made that would violate the EEO policy. And you’ve given me a couple examples that would clearly violate that. Were there any others that he brought up that you recall? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeff Lynch: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The awkward silence is me thinking so I apologize. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No that’s okay. That’s okay. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeff Lynch: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m sure there were. It’s just not coming right to me. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay. All right. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. He gave a pretty sanitized version of Valentino’s harassment allegations. And then he describes how he asked Valentino to write a memo. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeff Lynch: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I asked for a written statement. He said he wasn’t willing to provide it, that he didn’t want anybody to get in trouble. I explained to him kind of how we operate, how we work. And I encouraged him to give me a written document, particularly from the perspective of the EEO side of things. He was resistant to do it, but said he would at least consider it. But of course, I never saw it. We waited for it for the, you know, through the weekend and then hopefully to see it maybe the first part of the week. And then obviously the whole thing fell apart after that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Again, most striking is what the investigators don’t push him on. You know, they don’t appear to really question Lynch at all about the choices that he made. You know, his choice not to turn to OIA with those serious allegations of drugs and weapons. You know, the decision to do this search, which exposed Valentino as a whistleblower. They don’t really push him on anything, you know, even about the notes that he clearly, at least should have taken about that meeting. You know, the investigator has this tone that just sounds really deferential. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I think they’re very, very careful with wardens. You know, he’s worked his way up through the ranks. He is the face of CDCR. To do anything that would discredit him. It sort of undermines the whole public image of CDCR. And wardens are very powerful. They really control what goes on inside there. And they also control what information gets out about what happened. He or she decides what gets investigated. And also, even though they’ve changed this process a little bit at CDCR to bring in some more outside influence in looking at allegations, it still comes back to the warden at the end of the day. Even if an outside even outside office, a statewide office says, “yeah, we think there’s a problem here, here, warden, do something about this misconduct.” The warden can say, “I agree and I’m going to discipline them,” or, “I don’t agree,” or, “I do agree, but I’m not going to discipline them.” Still has so much power. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, and it seems like they’re given a lot of power. They’re given so much trust, you know, by the agency. They’re these kind of official representatives of it. So if they are found to be doing wrong or if they are found to, you know, be betraying the public’s trust in any way, it really kind of undermines the entire agency it feels like in a different way than just, you know, if if a line officer does and then is fired or something like that. You were mentioning, you know, some of the changes that CDCR has made. And we’re going to get into that in the next section. We’re going to talk with somebody who’s been involved in prison reform in California for decades, been part of a really important effort. And we’re going to bring you that conversation after the break. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This whole series and our focus on New Folsom in particular began because we noticed this anomaly in the investigative records that we were getting from CDCR. There were so many more of these really serious use of force incidents at this one prison. And one of our first calls to try and understand what these numbers meant was to this law firm, Rosen Bien Galvin & Grunfeld, which has been involved in a class action lawsuit against CDCR since 1994 — 30 years. A result of that have been a number of really widespread reforms ordered by the court that have affected all people in prison, even though the lawsuit is specifically focused on people with disabilities. When we called them up, they said, “We don’t have as many clients at New Folsom, but we have heard about some problems at that prison. And have you guys heard about the two whistleblowers that died there?” That conversation was more than two years and a podcast ago. And so and I wanted to sit down with an attorney with that law firm again to hear what they have been up to and to get their reaction to the series. Here’s that conversation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hello. Thanks so much for coming in, can you please introduce yourself? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My name is \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Penny Godbold\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and I’m an attorney at Rosen Bien Galvin and Grunfeld were a civil rights law firm. And I represent people in prison with disabilities under the Armstrong class action case. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And can you describe in your own words the Armstrong class action case? Like, what is the nature of that litigation that your firm brought against CDCR? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a long standing class action that’s about making prisons physically accessible to people with disabilities and making sure that the people who are incarcerated in the state of California, for example, if they need a wheelchair, that they have a wheelchair, if they need hearing aids, that they have hearing aids. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Can you give me an example of why that would be important and how people’s needs have not been met? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Years ago, the example that came to mind was a case of a person with a disability who was being made to crawl up a flight of stairs in order to have access to the what is now the Board of Parole hearings, in order to be able to argue his case that he should be released on parole. So the state of California has come a long way towards providing basic disability accommodations to people in prison. But there’s still more work to be done. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Is there anything that you heard in the podcast that jumped out at you in terms of recognizing similar themes to what you’ve heard from your clients? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. One of the aspects of the podcast that has really resonated with me is the difficulty people face in coming forward to report problems in prison. There’s a reluctance to believe incarcerated people. And there was a person who was deaf and use sign language to communicate, failed to follow a verbal order that he didn’t hear that was ordered by staff. And that also resulted in a use of force incident. And he complained and there was no accountability action. So we took these reports, declarations to the court and said this is what’s happening in California prisons and something needs to be done to protect the disability rights. And there’s a lot of people out there who have experienced staff misconduct who were willing to eventually talk to us, who were not willing to come forward and report it to CDCR or report it to a federal court, because there’s a very real risk of retaliation. When somebody files a staff complaint in CDCR, one of the first things that happens is that the staff member is notified that a complaint has been filed against them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Can you talk a little bit about the kind of spiral of retaliation that can happen for somebody who makes a complaint against a correctional officer? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What we hear from our clients is if you file a staff complaint about the use of force incident that you were involved in, then you get sucked into a cycle of retaliation that starts with receiving a disciplinary write up for something that happened during the use of force incident itself. Typically, assault on a police officer during the course of the officer using force against you. And that starts a chain reaction of negative consequences for an incarcerated person. You’re moved to segregation. You lose your property, including letters and and photos from family members that mean so much to people. Your hearing aids might get lost in the transfer. And that’s just the common example that we hear people talk about. But there’s a lot of other less obvious forms of retaliation that people share with us. Something like an officer failing to release them from their cell to to receive medication — that can be retaliatory. And the officer might be able to say that’s not retaliation. I just wasn’t able to release them from their cell at that moment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What it took to get people to come forward, to tell those stories was tremendous. I would say it it took years to bring the kind of litigation that prompted the most recent orders by the court. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You mentioned the most recent orders. Let’s get into that. This started from events happening in a particular prison, but it’s gotten bigger than that. Can you walk us through what the impetus of that was? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We initially started hearing about reports of staff misconduct at one particular prison. And what we learned over time through talking to other incarcerated people is that that phenomenon of disability related staff misconduct and staff misconduct generally, it’s of course, not limited to one prison. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I know from my reporting that that particular prison you’re referencing is Richard J. Donovan in San Diego. Can you just tell me a little bit more about the types of incidents that were happening there? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There was an extreme amount of force being used and force that was resulting in broken bones and serious bodily injury. And in fact, the Department of Corrections convened a strike team and the strike team went down there and found that there were very serious problems and filed a report and called for changes at the institution. Those changes were not implemented and that was part of the impetus for the court ordering changes. But CDCR’s own findings were that there was a level of violence being reported at that prison. And in particular, people with disabilities and other vulnerabilities were being impacted, and something needed to be done. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But wait a minute, CDCR came to that decision itself, right, that there were these serious problems? So why weren’t those changes implemented? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s a good question. I think at the end of the day, CDCR headquarters would be responsible for receiving a report like that and implementing changes. And I can’t answer the question about why it wasn’t done. That is the question. But, in terms of the the court orders themselves right now, they extend to six different CDCR institutions that house a large number of people with disabilities. The most significant remedy has been the implementation of body worn cameras and fixed cameras at these six prisons. And almost immediately, we started hearing reports from our class members at the institutions where the cameras were implemented that unreported, serious use of force incidents went way down. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So what’s the latest of what’s going on with the lawsuit? And is there a particular area you’re focusing on now? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the challenges that we’re seeing after implementation of the court orders right now is that there are body worn cameras. There is video evidence at the six prisons. And yet there are a lot of reasons why the video evidence is not preserved or produced for investigations. Video evidence right now under policy is preserved for 90 days. Somebody who’s involved in a staff misconduct incident might want to wait until they’re moved off of a prison yard, particular yard with an officer who they had this problem with. And that might occur after 90 days. So if they wait until they are located somewhere else and then they filed their complaint, the video is lost. So one of the the primary areas where there is a need for significant improvement is extending the preservation time for footage for all footage. Also just attempting to extend the body worn camera requirements statewide. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Is that something that CDCR has indicated any willingness to do to spread to all the institutions? I mean they have been sort of, “No, we’re not going to do this. Yes, we will do it. Okay. We’ll do it at a few prisons.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I want to give CDCR credit for extending camera coverage at four additional prisons that they were not court ordered to have cameras at. That’s significant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Including New Folsom. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes, there were a lot of staff complaints coming out of New Folsom. They so far have been unwilling to extend body worn cameras beyond those four additional prisons. So that’s something that we continue to push on. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the things we found in the podcast was, of course, that the incarcerated person will have this write up on them. And even if what the incident is investigated and even if the officers are found to have engaged in misconduct, the write up of the incarcerated person doesn’t disappear. They continue to pay for the thing that didn’t happen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, that’s one area that we have been working really hard to bring to the court’s attention and to the fact that in the same way that the staff misconduct investigations are not complete reports of what happened, neither are these disciplinary charges that people are found guilty of, and yet it remains in their file and they continue to suffer the consequences of it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right. You know when I step back from this… been reporting on California prisons for almost 20 years and have seen a lot of court orders issued and a lot of evidentiary hearings, and, to prove that court orders are not being followed and subsequent court orders, etc., etc. It can be like the court comes up with a prescription and there’s a new rule, but the spirit of the rule is not followed. I hear this a lot that that CDCR will implement a change, but it’s more like they’re checking off a box. “Yeah, we did this.” But not actually addressing the fundamental underlying problem, which is often a lack of respect and a complete imbalance of power because we are talking about prison and just always assuming the worst of the incarcerated population. Do you have any hope that that will change? The way that prisons are run will actually shift? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am hopeful, but it’s more than can be accomplished through a court ordering additional training. Staff can go sit in a one hour training once a year and learn that they are required to accommodate people with disabilities. But that has to be put into practice throughout the prisons and supervisors need to model how that’s done. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Well, the governor introduced the California model last year. Can you define it? Do you think it’s going to make a difference? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have to say that I do have hope for change. I have learned the art of having hope from my incarcerated clients, because if they can get out of bed in the morning while they’re, you know, locked in a prison cell and facing 20 years in that situation, if they can have hope, then I can have hope. I do see some shortcomings in the way that California has conceived of the California model, which is largely based on taking some principles from these Scandinavian prison systems and implementing them in California. There are significant differences between the systems. The Scandinavian systems hire differently than California does. Just the the role of the officer is perceived of as something totally different in those systems. So I think there’s a lot more work to be done to make that a reality. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you so much for sharing your time with us and your expertise. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, Thanks so much for your work, Penny. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you for having me. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’ve been listening to a bonus episode of On Our Watch from KQED. I’m \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sukey Lewis\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Julie Small\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is my co-reporter. Chris Egusa produced this episode. It was edited by Jen Chien, who is our Head of Podcasts. Original Music by Ramtin Arablouei, including our theme song. Additional music from APM Music and Audio Network. Funding for On Our Watch is provided in part by Arnold Ventures and the California Endowment. Thank you to Katie Sprenger, our Podcast Operations Manager, our Managing Editor of News and Enterprise, Otis R. Taylor Jr., Ethan Toven-Lindsey, our Vice President of News and KQED Chief Content Officer, Holly Kernan. And thanks to all of you for listening. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sukey and Julie have some news and updates about Valentino Rodriguez Sr., Mimy Rodriguez and some of the key players at New Folsom prison. We also share a recent conversation with an attorney who has been involved in the legal fight for disability rights in California state prisons for decades. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC7898353184\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Mental health resources\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you are currently in crisis, you can dial 988 [U.S.] to reach the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SAMHSA National Help Line\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://988lifeline.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.nami.org/help\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Helpline\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/programs/prevention-and-wellness/mental-health-substance-abuse/index.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">US Health and Human Services\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://warmline.org/warmdir.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Warmline Directory\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://journalism.berkeley.edu/programs/mj/investigative-reporting/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Investigative Reporting Program\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism was a key partner in making Season 2 of On Our Watch.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The records obtained for this project are part of the\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://projects.scpr.org/california-reporting-project/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> California Reporting Project\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a coalition of news organizations in California. If you have tips or feedback about this series please reach out to us at \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"mailto:onourwatch@kqed.org\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">onourwatch@kqed.org\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi, everyone. We’re back this week with a special bonus episode of On Our Watch. If you’re a new listener to the podcast, welcome. But this episode won’t make a lot of sense. So I suggest you go back to episode one of the season and start from the beginning of what became a really epic journey to trace the footsteps of two whistleblowers at New Folsom Prison. For those of you who’ve been following along, we have some news to share. And we got our hands on some really interesting new tapes where you can hear from some of the key figures at New Folsom who never agreed to speak to us for the podcast. Later in the episode, we’re also going to talk to a lawyer who’s played a big part in state reforms, including helping get body cameras into some California prisons. My co-reporter for this series, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Julie Small:\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, is with me today so we can talk about what all these developments mean. Hey, Julie. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi, Sukey. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">First of all, we want to share that we’ve been writing an article about Sergeant Kevin Steele and Correctional Officer Valentino Rodriguez, which you can check out on KQED.org, or click the link in the show notes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are some really interesting tidbits in there which will be totally new to even listeners of the podcast. A video of Steele and some of the evidence that we relied on for our reporting. And it’s a summation of the findings that we came to as a result of two years of investigation in a format where you can really review what those findings are and see what the implications are and really understand the journey of Sergeant Kevin Steele and Valentino Rodriguez Jr. How they affected each other and what that led them to do. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. And the other big news that we have to share is about the warden, Jeff Lynch. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right. CDCR announced Warden Jeff Lynch is retiring this month. This is the guy who Steele blamed for failure of leadership at New Folsom Prison and who Val Senior blamed for not protecting his son. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, prison officials wouldn’t comment on Lynch’s retirement, but it is interesting timing I think. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We now know who’s replacing Lynch. Well, what do you think about the incoming warden? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. So CDCr just named this new acting warden. And this is a man named Jason Shultz. He used to work at New Folsom from 2008 to 2020. He’s also spent time at the California health care facility in Stockton and California State Prison Solano. He’s a pretty well known actor in New Folsom, and he was, in fact, the head of the facility where the Ronnie Price incident happened, the captain of that facility. So for listeners, if you’ll remember from episode four, Ronnie Price is the man who told Steel that he had been tripped by officers and his face was smashed and pretty severely. And then he died the next day of a pulmonary embolism. It was a really big deal there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, that case eventually resulted in criminal conviction of three officers who tried to cover up the excessive force. And you know, that this guy was, you know, involved with that unit. That’s that’s very interesting. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, it is. It is really interesting. And I don’t know much more, you know, about, you know, why he got this position or if he’ll end up being the permanent warden there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right. And we did check in with some of our sources who said that this guy is you know, he follows the rules. He’s worked hard. But, you know, he’s a company man. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So anyway, that’s kind of what we know so far about the acting warden. Now, I know, Julie, you talked to Val Senior recently as well. How does Val Senior feel about the warden’s retirement? And also just how is he doing in general? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Well, in general, like right after the podcast came out, Val Senior, he felt relief for the first time since his son’s death. You know, he got a lot of he felt like he was finally doing something. He got a lot of sympathetic emails and text messages, but he feels that CDCR is not holding the right people accountable. There were some disciplinary actions taken against some of the lower level people involved, other officers. But the warden, he is getting to retire and go on with his life. Meanwhile, Val Senior, you know, continues to suffer. This is not over for him. It will never be over. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay. And what about what about Valentino’s widow, Mimy? You know, how’s she doing? Have you talked to her recently? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have talked to her recently. You know, she reached out to me, actually, and, you know, wanted to see what, if anything, had happened since the podcast came out. She is, you know, picking up her life, putting it back together. She has gone back to school, which before she couldn’t concentrate well enough to stay in in her courses. She’s finishing up an undergraduate degree. She she has made a decision, though, that she was going to go into corrections and now she is not because of everything that she and her husband, Valentino, went through and her loss of Valentino. She may still do something in the law, but she seems to becoming interested in making the criminal justice system work better. But it’s really a struggle for her still. You know, she’s still in shock. You know, she’s said that this was not what her life was supposed to be. You know, she should never have ended up here. This was not the way it was supposed to go. She married the love of her life, and days later, he was dead. And it’s hard. It’s hard. How do you move on from that? And. And she doesn’t really even have people to talk to about it because how do you talk to somebody about such a profound loss and with so many questions surrounding it still? So she holds a lot of it in I think. What about some of the incarcerated people that you interviewed? Have you checked in with any of them? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I’ve been in touch with a number of people. You know, Joel Uribe, who listeners will remember from episode four of the podcast, who was, you know, injured in the use of force incident with officers. And he is looking at a potential release date next year and getting ready for that. He’s really excited about that. And one of the things that he’s doing is getting the tattoos removed from his face. Um if listeners remember, this was something that his mom was like a really hard ass with him about and was like, I won’t, you know, see your face. I won’t look at your face while you have those tattoos on it. So I was in touch with Joel. He’s getting those tattoos, you know, starting the process of that. And he said he’s going to do a video call with me as well when he gets them removed so I can see the his new face that he hopes to present to the outside world. Yeah. You know, he is also a little fearful, I think, about something out of prison, like it just is difficult. He’s been kind of in and out of prison for most of his life, and so you get so conditioned to experience there. So I think he’s really excited for that, hoping to get out even sooner. And also, you know, has some trepidation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Well, I mean, that’s totally understandable that he would have trepidation. What have you been hearing about what’s been going on in New Folsom? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, you know, it was another deadly year there. There were four people that were killed by homicide. CDCR only released very thin information about these incidents. But we do know that one of them was the result of a use of force. This man died after being restrained by officers. And, you know, overall, preliminary numbers that have been posted show that the rates of use of force at New Folsom remain the highest in the state. So sounds like much the same. Now, CDCR says, you know, they they declined to speak to us. We asked them again for an interview with the head of CDCR, the secretary with the outgoing warden, with the incoming warden. They declined all of those requests, but they did send us an email in which they, again, really doubled down on their statement that they’re really trying to reform things and that they don’t tolerate a code of silence and that they are really committed to officer accountability. They did not once again respond to any questions about use of force. And I asked them to at least explain why they wouldn’t talk about use of force. And they also wouldn’t talk about why they wouldn’t talk about use of force. So that continues to be a frustration just in terms of getting information about an issue that’s really, you know, I think high public interest and importance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So that’s the latest that we’ve heard, you know, from CDCR officially. But thanks to our lawsuit that’s forced them to produce more documents and recordings, we did recently get something really fascinating. They sent us the interrogation tapes from that internal affairs investigation into Valentino’s harassment. Listeners will remember he really struggled in the investigative services unit because his fellow officers could be quite cruel to him. And he finally told the warden about all this misconduct he said he’d witnessed just six days before his death. So after he died, the Office of Internal Affairs talked to those officers and to higher ups at New Folsom, ostensibly to get to the bottom of things. And that’s what these tapes are from. And it was really interesting to hear from some of the players who never agreed to speak to us for the podcast. We’re going to start with someone we’ve been interested in talking to for a while. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, Gina Jones. I called her up and she told me to never call her at that number again. I reached her, but she was like, I have nothing to say to you. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So can you remind listeners, you know, who is Gina Jones and what was her role? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Well, Jones was the second in command at New Folsom, just under Warden Lynch. During our reporting, it was hard to pin down her role exactly in everything that transpired. For listeners, you’ll remember Jones is the person who convinced Valentino to go out on stress leave instead of resigning completely from the department. They had this consequential meeting in which, according to Mimy, Valentino, broke down to her and divulged all the harassment he’d been experiencing, as well as misconduct that he’d witnessed from his colleagues. Here she is talking about that meeting. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gena Jones:\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> J-O-N-E-S, Chief Deputy Warden, CSP Sacramento. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just a note, you’ll hear some redactions that CDCR made in these tapes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When you met with Officer Rodriguez, was anybody else in that meeting? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No, it was just he and I. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And you said it was in ISU? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And and you described in that meeting you talked about [REDACTED]. And and and that the issues that he was having, as you mentioned, that he had some issues with with crime scenes and autopsies, you know, issues related to the work in ISU, that was that the source of his problem? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes. I mean, he never said anything other than just cumulatively it was getting to be too much and he couldn’t handle the stress and he wasn’t sleeping. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All right. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So Jones really makes it sound like the only thing bothering Valentino was this kind of persistent violence and brutality at New Folsom, which is really different from what we heard from Mimy, who said that Valentino came home really in despair and told her that he’d broken down in front of the chief deputy warden about everything. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, And here’s what Jones says about, you know, the harassment and whether or not she knew anything about that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Was there anything said during the meeting about Officer Rodriguez being treated inappropriately by other ISU staff? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Absolutely not. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So just based on questions I’ve asked you to this point, is there anything that I haven’t asked you about this matter that you think is important for me to know? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Um there’s been a lot of scuttle going on. Obviously, the situation is pretty taxing. I apologize. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you need to take a break that’s fine. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Can I? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. Yes. Let’s do that. Time is 1513. I’m going to pause the recording and we’re going to take a quick break. Okay. We’re back on the record. Time is 1514. Just for the record, Chief Jones, did I ask you any questions about the case while we were on break? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No you did not. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay. You were getting ready to say something. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Gena Jones:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, there’s there’s a lot a lot going on and it’s very unfortunate on what happened to this young man. At no time was I ever made aware of any allegation of staff misconduct, inappropriate behavior for this kid. I had a great working relationship with this young man. I was very fond of him and his work. He had a very good work ethic. When I talked to him that day, you know, he was very concerned, you know, he because he enjoyed his job. So he felt like he was letting himself down. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So we’ve just heard Jones kind of make these pretty strong statements, you know, about what she knew and she didn’t know. And also, you know, about her personal care for Valentino. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, it’s strange. She is so emphatic about not knowing anything about the harassment or anything else. And she sounds like she has some emotion about Valentino’s death. But if Valentino told her about the harassment he was getting, as he had said he did as his supervisor, she was required to investigate any allegations of misconduct. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. And I think there are a few other things that are kind of concerning about this exchange. You know, the Office of Internal Affairs investigator doesn’t even ask her about the allegations regarding planted drugs or weapons. And it’s potentially, you know, potentially they did ask her about it and it’s redacted. But if even so, if they did ask her about it, they really moved away from it very quickly because the entire interview is quite short. And we do know from testimony in front of the state personnel board that Jones was there for that search that happened that happened the day before Valentino died. So it just kind of raises questions about why they don’t ask the questions that I think we would ask or that they should ask if they were really kind of concerned and probing for where the failures were along the way. You know, next up, let’s get into some of the tape about this other guy who had a key role in the story, who didn’t agree to talk to us. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, this guy was the internal affairs sergeant, then he moved up to Lieutenant. I now know that he is working actually for the Office of Internal Affairs at headquarters. So he has since promoted. And he had a had a really kind of key role in how this whole thing played out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay. Yeah. He is another person I actually spoke to on the phone, but who refused to talk to me. He said something like, “Why would I talk to you?” Anyway, this was the guy Valentino finally vented to in the text messages, pages of them that are really painful and make these huge allegations, including that everyone from the warden on down could get fired based on what Valentino knew and what he had witnessed. The same series of texts triggered that final conversation with the warden. So here’s what Strohmaier says about that conversation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And, uh, back in approximately September of 2020. Did he describe some mistreatment that that he he alleged by other ISU staff? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He did.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs: \u003c/b>Can you just describe what he told you in that text? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, the text was extremely long. I’m sure you’ve seen it. I read about half of it. He was talking about how he was pretty much being picked on [redacted]. Any little, called names. He was his anxiety was so high that he was throwing up in the restroom for you know being in the bathroom for hours at a time. Vomiting. He didn’t like going to work. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Julie It’s interesting because Strohmaier sounds of two minds in this interview. Remember, he’s the one who took action and passed Valentino’s allegations on to the warden. But in this interview, he doesn’t really want to own that. Like he claims he only read half of Valentino’s texts. And there’s something else like he definitely fudges some things in this interview. For example, he says he forwarded these texts to the warden right away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Asked if I could call and set up a meeting with the warden to um, because he want to let him know what’s going on in the unit. When I got the phone, I immediately called Jeff Lynch. He said, “No problem I’ll send uh \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gena Jones:\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who’s the chief deputy to come in for me tomorrow and have him come up here at nine o’clock in the morning.” And that’s what happened. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And we know that is not accurate. Like there was at least another three weeks before he sent these to the warden. And then the meeting happened the next day. So I don’t know if he was just sitting on it or considering whether he wanted to forward it or not, but he did end up forwarding it to the warden. But in this interview, he kind of misrepresents the timing on those things. And then, you know, that fateful meeting happens. Here’s what Strohmaier says about the meeting. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mr. Lynch said, “Well, depending on what you tell me, there’s no guarantee no one’s going to get in trouble.” We sat down for about an hour. He went over every little thing that he pretty much said in the text. Reiterated to Mr. Lynch while he took notes, every allegation Rodriguez made, Lynch would write it down and say, “was there a supervisor present?” And he would pretty much say yes [redacted]. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You said you observed Warden Lynch taking notes. Do you know what happened to those notes? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I do not know. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This was another point where my jaw kind of dropped when I was first listening to these tapes because Lynch explicitly told OIA that he can’t remember if he wrote notes. Internal Affairs asks him to go take a look for them. He claims he can’t find them. So just the fact that Strohmaier kind of has this very clear memory that he tells Internal Affairs about, of Lynch taking down these meticulous notes and the fact that those were never located just seems like a really big red flag. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. And at the end of the interview, despite everything that transpired, he sings the praises of the Investigative Services Unit. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anything else that’s come to mind about the things I should know about what’s what, you know, related to the topics that we discussed? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brandon Strohmaier:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Not really, I really I mean, I looked at it as, I mean, I think that was the best ISU unit in the state, you know? And we’ve been told, I mean, there’s all your agents here that uh I get it. There might have been a conflict and maybe locker room gossip talk, you know, who knows? And it’s true. They never did it in front of me they’re not stupid enough to do it in front of their supervisor. But, I don’t know. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, it’s kind of incredible, right? Okay. Last but not least at all, we also did get the Office of Internal Affairs interview with the warden with Lynch, in which he answers questions about that final meeting that he had with Valentino shortly before he died. And I’m not going to play that much of it because it’s honestly like he doesn’t say very much that’s new and it just didn’t have that much value. But I’m going to play you a little bit here just so you can kind of hear the tone of it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So you mentioned earlier that he had he had talked about making statements have been made that would violate the EEO policy. And you’ve given me a couple examples that would clearly violate that. Were there any others that he brought up that you recall? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeff Lynch: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The awkward silence is me thinking so I apologize. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No that’s okay. That’s okay. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeff Lynch: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m sure there were. It’s just not coming right to me. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Special Agent Biggs:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Okay. All right. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. He gave a pretty sanitized version of Valentino’s harassment allegations. And then he describes how he asked Valentino to write a memo. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeff Lynch: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I asked for a written statement. He said he wasn’t willing to provide it, that he didn’t want anybody to get in trouble. I explained to him kind of how we operate, how we work. And I encouraged him to give me a written document, particularly from the perspective of the EEO side of things. He was resistant to do it, but said he would at least consider it. But of course, I never saw it. We waited for it for the, you know, through the weekend and then hopefully to see it maybe the first part of the week. And then obviously the whole thing fell apart after that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Again, most striking is what the investigators don’t push him on. You know, they don’t appear to really question Lynch at all about the choices that he made. You know, his choice not to turn to OIA with those serious allegations of drugs and weapons. You know, the decision to do this search, which exposed Valentino as a whistleblower. They don’t really push him on anything, you know, even about the notes that he clearly, at least should have taken about that meeting. You know, the investigator has this tone that just sounds really deferential. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I think they’re very, very careful with wardens. You know, he’s worked his way up through the ranks. He is the face of CDCR. To do anything that would discredit him. It sort of undermines the whole public image of CDCR. And wardens are very powerful. They really control what goes on inside there. And they also control what information gets out about what happened. He or she decides what gets investigated. And also, even though they’ve changed this process a little bit at CDCR to bring in some more outside influence in looking at allegations, it still comes back to the warden at the end of the day. Even if an outside even outside office, a statewide office says, “yeah, we think there’s a problem here, here, warden, do something about this misconduct.” The warden can say, “I agree and I’m going to discipline them,” or, “I don’t agree,” or, “I do agree, but I’m not going to discipline them.” Still has so much power. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, and it seems like they’re given a lot of power. They’re given so much trust, you know, by the agency. They’re these kind of official representatives of it. So if they are found to be doing wrong or if they are found to, you know, be betraying the public’s trust in any way, it really kind of undermines the entire agency it feels like in a different way than just, you know, if if a line officer does and then is fired or something like that. You were mentioning, you know, some of the changes that CDCR has made. And we’re going to get into that in the next section. We’re going to talk with somebody who’s been involved in prison reform in California for decades, been part of a really important effort. And we’re going to bring you that conversation after the break. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This whole series and our focus on New Folsom in particular began because we noticed this anomaly in the investigative records that we were getting from CDCR. There were so many more of these really serious use of force incidents at this one prison. And one of our first calls to try and understand what these numbers meant was to this law firm, Rosen Bien Galvin & Grunfeld, which has been involved in a class action lawsuit against CDCR since 1994 — 30 years. A result of that have been a number of really widespread reforms ordered by the court that have affected all people in prison, even though the lawsuit is specifically focused on people with disabilities. When we called them up, they said, “We don’t have as many clients at New Folsom, but we have heard about some problems at that prison. And have you guys heard about the two whistleblowers that died there?” That conversation was more than two years and a podcast ago. And so and I wanted to sit down with an attorney with that law firm again to hear what they have been up to and to get their reaction to the series. Here’s that conversation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hello. Thanks so much for coming in, can you please introduce yourself? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My name is \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Penny Godbold\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and I’m an attorney at Rosen Bien Galvin and Grunfeld were a civil rights law firm. And I represent people in prison with disabilities under the Armstrong class action case. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And can you describe in your own words the Armstrong class action case? Like, what is the nature of that litigation that your firm brought against CDCR? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a long standing class action that’s about making prisons physically accessible to people with disabilities and making sure that the people who are incarcerated in the state of California, for example, if they need a wheelchair, that they have a wheelchair, if they need hearing aids, that they have hearing aids. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Can you give me an example of why that would be important and how people’s needs have not been met? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Years ago, the example that came to mind was a case of a person with a disability who was being made to crawl up a flight of stairs in order to have access to the what is now the Board of Parole hearings, in order to be able to argue his case that he should be released on parole. So the state of California has come a long way towards providing basic disability accommodations to people in prison. But there’s still more work to be done. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Is there anything that you heard in the podcast that jumped out at you in terms of recognizing similar themes to what you’ve heard from your clients? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. One of the aspects of the podcast that has really resonated with me is the difficulty people face in coming forward to report problems in prison. There’s a reluctance to believe incarcerated people. And there was a person who was deaf and use sign language to communicate, failed to follow a verbal order that he didn’t hear that was ordered by staff. And that also resulted in a use of force incident. And he complained and there was no accountability action. So we took these reports, declarations to the court and said this is what’s happening in California prisons and something needs to be done to protect the disability rights. And there’s a lot of people out there who have experienced staff misconduct who were willing to eventually talk to us, who were not willing to come forward and report it to CDCR or report it to a federal court, because there’s a very real risk of retaliation. When somebody files a staff complaint in CDCR, one of the first things that happens is that the staff member is notified that a complaint has been filed against them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Can you talk a little bit about the kind of spiral of retaliation that can happen for somebody who makes a complaint against a correctional officer? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What we hear from our clients is if you file a staff complaint about the use of force incident that you were involved in, then you get sucked into a cycle of retaliation that starts with receiving a disciplinary write up for something that happened during the use of force incident itself. Typically, assault on a police officer during the course of the officer using force against you. And that starts a chain reaction of negative consequences for an incarcerated person. You’re moved to segregation. You lose your property, including letters and and photos from family members that mean so much to people. Your hearing aids might get lost in the transfer. And that’s just the common example that we hear people talk about. But there’s a lot of other less obvious forms of retaliation that people share with us. Something like an officer failing to release them from their cell to to receive medication — that can be retaliatory. And the officer might be able to say that’s not retaliation. I just wasn’t able to release them from their cell at that moment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What it took to get people to come forward, to tell those stories was tremendous. I would say it it took years to bring the kind of litigation that prompted the most recent orders by the court. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You mentioned the most recent orders. Let’s get into that. This started from events happening in a particular prison, but it’s gotten bigger than that. Can you walk us through what the impetus of that was? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We initially started hearing about reports of staff misconduct at one particular prison. And what we learned over time through talking to other incarcerated people is that that phenomenon of disability related staff misconduct and staff misconduct generally, it’s of course, not limited to one prison. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I know from my reporting that that particular prison you’re referencing is Richard J. Donovan in San Diego. Can you just tell me a little bit more about the types of incidents that were happening there? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There was an extreme amount of force being used and force that was resulting in broken bones and serious bodily injury. And in fact, the Department of Corrections convened a strike team and the strike team went down there and found that there were very serious problems and filed a report and called for changes at the institution. Those changes were not implemented and that was part of the impetus for the court ordering changes. But CDCR’s own findings were that there was a level of violence being reported at that prison. And in particular, people with disabilities and other vulnerabilities were being impacted, and something needed to be done. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But wait a minute, CDCR came to that decision itself, right, that there were these serious problems? So why weren’t those changes implemented? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s a good question. I think at the end of the day, CDCR headquarters would be responsible for receiving a report like that and implementing changes. And I can’t answer the question about why it wasn’t done. That is the question. But, in terms of the the court orders themselves right now, they extend to six different CDCR institutions that house a large number of people with disabilities. The most significant remedy has been the implementation of body worn cameras and fixed cameras at these six prisons. And almost immediately, we started hearing reports from our class members at the institutions where the cameras were implemented that unreported, serious use of force incidents went way down. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So what’s the latest of what’s going on with the lawsuit? And is there a particular area you’re focusing on now? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the challenges that we’re seeing after implementation of the court orders right now is that there are body worn cameras. There is video evidence at the six prisons. And yet there are a lot of reasons why the video evidence is not preserved or produced for investigations. Video evidence right now under policy is preserved for 90 days. Somebody who’s involved in a staff misconduct incident might want to wait until they’re moved off of a prison yard, particular yard with an officer who they had this problem with. And that might occur after 90 days. So if they wait until they are located somewhere else and then they filed their complaint, the video is lost. So one of the the primary areas where there is a need for significant improvement is extending the preservation time for footage for all footage. Also just attempting to extend the body worn camera requirements statewide. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Is that something that CDCR has indicated any willingness to do to spread to all the institutions? I mean they have been sort of, “No, we’re not going to do this. Yes, we will do it. Okay. We’ll do it at a few prisons.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I want to give CDCR credit for extending camera coverage at four additional prisons that they were not court ordered to have cameras at. That’s significant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Including New Folsom. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yes, there were a lot of staff complaints coming out of New Folsom. They so far have been unwilling to extend body worn cameras beyond those four additional prisons. So that’s something that we continue to push on. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the things we found in the podcast was, of course, that the incarcerated person will have this write up on them. And even if what the incident is investigated and even if the officers are found to have engaged in misconduct, the write up of the incarcerated person doesn’t disappear. They continue to pay for the thing that didn’t happen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, that’s one area that we have been working really hard to bring to the court’s attention and to the fact that in the same way that the staff misconduct investigations are not complete reports of what happened, neither are these disciplinary charges that people are found guilty of, and yet it remains in their file and they continue to suffer the consequences of it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right. You know when I step back from this… been reporting on California prisons for almost 20 years and have seen a lot of court orders issued and a lot of evidentiary hearings, and, to prove that court orders are not being followed and subsequent court orders, etc., etc. It can be like the court comes up with a prescription and there’s a new rule, but the spirit of the rule is not followed. I hear this a lot that that CDCR will implement a change, but it’s more like they’re checking off a box. “Yeah, we did this.” But not actually addressing the fundamental underlying problem, which is often a lack of respect and a complete imbalance of power because we are talking about prison and just always assuming the worst of the incarcerated population. Do you have any hope that that will change? The way that prisons are run will actually shift? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am hopeful, but it’s more than can be accomplished through a court ordering additional training. Staff can go sit in a one hour training once a year and learn that they are required to accommodate people with disabilities. But that has to be put into practice throughout the prisons and supervisors need to model how that’s done. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Well, the governor introduced the California model last year. Can you define it? Do you think it’s going to make a difference? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have to say that I do have hope for change. I have learned the art of having hope from my incarcerated clients, because if they can get out of bed in the morning while they’re, you know, locked in a prison cell and facing 20 years in that situation, if they can have hope, then I can have hope. I do see some shortcomings in the way that California has conceived of the California model, which is largely based on taking some principles from these Scandinavian prison systems and implementing them in California. There are significant differences between the systems. The Scandinavian systems hire differently than California does. Just the the role of the officer is perceived of as something totally different in those systems. So I think there’s a lot more work to be done to make that a reality. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Julie Small:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you so much for sharing your time with us and your expertise. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, Thanks so much for your work, Penny. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Penny Godbold:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you for having me. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sukey Lewis:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’ve been listening to a bonus episode of On Our Watch from KQED. I’m \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sukey Lewis\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Julie Small\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is my co-reporter. Chris Egusa produced this episode. It was edited by Jen Chien, who is our Head of Podcasts. Original Music by Ramtin Arablouei, including our theme song. Additional music from APM Music and Audio Network. Funding for On Our Watch is provided in part by Arnold Ventures and the California Endowment. Thank you to Katie Sprenger, our Podcast Operations Manager, our Managing Editor of News and Enterprise, Otis R. Taylor Jr., Ethan Toven-Lindsey, our Vice President of News and KQED Chief Content Officer, Holly Kernan. And thanks to all of you for listening. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]S[/dropcap]an Mateo County supervisors are attempting a historic feat in the state: removing an elected sheriff via charter amendment and a simultaneous recall vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear whether both have been levied against a California sheriff before, but removing a county’s top law enforcement officer has rarely been successful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County supervisors are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016688/san-mateo-county-will-ask-voters-for-power-to-remove-the-sheriff\">asking voters in March\u003c/a> to give them the temporary authority to remove Sheriff Christina Corpus two years into her first term after “unprecedented complaints.” An \u003ca href=\"https://sanmateocounty.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=13544883&GUID=95923619-2B6F-477A-8684-CD64124A3BAA\">independent investigation\u003c/a> found the hallmarks of her administration weren’t the transparency and accountability she promised voters, but rather “lies, secrecy, intimidation, retaliation, conflicts of interest, and abuses of authority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corpus has remained steadfast that she would not step down, despite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015360/embattled-san-mateo-county-sheriff-faces-mounting-calls-resign\">mounting calls for her to resign\u003c/a> from state and federal lawmakers, so county officials are taking a two-pronged approach to remove her before she’s up for re-election in 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recall elections in the Bay Area have been surprisingly successful in the last two election cycles, including the recalls of three school board members and District Attorney Chesa Boudin in San Francisco in 2022 and this year’s recall of Oakland Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sheng-thao\">Sheng Thao\u003c/a> and Alameda County District Attorney \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/pamela-price\">Pamela Price\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What is interesting about the sheriff is that, historically, recalls haven’t gone after law enforcement officials until now, until the DA recall,” said Joshua Spivak, a senior research fellow at Berkeley Law’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/california-constitution-center/\">California Constitution Center\u003c/a> and author of \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Recall-Elections-Alexander-Hamilton-Newsom/dp/B09DJ1BWN8\">\u003cem>Recall Elections: From Alexander Hamilton to Gavin Newsom\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But sheriffs across the country have largely been spared the wrath of a recall, namely because those campaigns have failed before making it to the ballot or, in some cases, the sheriff resigns before a vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sheriff recalls are actually so rare that it’s pretty hard to come up with a very consistent typology or information about recalls,” said Jessica Pishko, a journalist, attorney and author of \u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707263/the-highest-law-in-the-land-by-jessica-pishko/\">\u003cem>The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike a recall, San Mateo required only a vote by its supervisors to place the amendment on the ballot. If approved by a simple majority of voters, the measure would grant supervisors the authority to remove Corpus with an 80% vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corpus was the first female and first Latina candidate for sheriff in county history. When she was elected in 2022, she became one of the first Latina sheriffs in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corpus did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ousting a sheriff by charter amendment\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2001, then-Attorney General Bill Lockyer \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/opinions/pdfs/01-408.pdf\">issued an opinion \u003c/a>affirming that supervisors in \u003ca href=\"https://www.counties.org/general-information/county-structure-0\">California’s 14 charter counties\u003c/a> — those with greater autonomy over their elections and elected officials — could adopt ordinances allowing for the removal of a sheriff, district attorney or other elected official for cause. The process requires a four-fifths vote by the county board after providing the impacted person written notice and a chance to respond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following year, San Bernardino County, a charter county, did just that, and although its board didn’t try to use its new powers against him, Sheriff Gary Penrod asked a judge for an injunction. He alleged the move was an “unconstitutional ‘removal’ of the constitutionally mandated, elected sheriff” that could also interfere with investigative and prosecutorial functions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A legal battle ensued, ending up at the Fourth District Court of Appeals, where judges found in 2005 that the \u003ca href=\"https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ca-court-of-appeal/1445637.html\">ordinance was constitutional\u003c/a>. They didn’t, however, decide whether the majority board vote to remove the sheriff might violate the \u003ca href=\"https://porac.org/members/peace-officer-bill-of-rights/\">Peace Officers Bill of Rights\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently in 2022, Los Angeles County voters overwhelmingly \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/Los_Angeles_County,_Measure_A,_Removal_of_Sheriff_for_Cause_Amendment_(November_2022)\">approved an identical charter amendment\u003c/a> to allow the board to remove a sheriff. Two years earlier, LA supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-31/supervisors-vote-remove-sheriff-emergency-operations\">removed Sheriff Alex Villanueva\u003c/a> as the head of the county’s emergency operations through a board vote due to several ongoing scandals, including a \u003ca href=\"https://knock-la.com/tradition-of-violence-lasd-gang-history/\">history of deputy gangs inside the department\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board vote ultimately was unnecessary, as Villanueva overwhelmingly lost his re-election bid to an internal challenger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11932401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11932401\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1244809714-scaled-e1668610347274.jpg\" alt=\"Villanueva stands at a podium, his hands hold the sides of the podium and it appears as though he's bracing himself. The outgoing sheriff looks down, seemingly dejected.\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva details his accomplishments during a press conference at the Hall of Justice where he conceded the election to Robert Luna on Nov. 15, 2022. \u003ccite>(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s charter has similar authority, requiring at least nine of the 11 supervisors to vote in favor of removing a sheriff or other public official for misconduct. A vote was brought against then-Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi in 2012 after he pleaded guilty of one count of misdemeanor false imprisonment of his wife. The city’s ethics commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/73516/does-mirkarimi-have-the-3-votes-he-needs-on-the-board-of-supervisors\">found that Mirkarimi committed official misconduct\u003c/a> and Mayor Ed Lee suspended him. Mirkarimi was ultimately reinstated when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Ross-Mirkarimi-to-keep-job-supes-decide-3934169.php\">only seven supervisors voted in favor\u003c/a> of removing him permanently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Mateo County, Corpus has alleged she believes the board is overstepping its authority by asking voters to approve a charter amendment. An argument filed \u003ca href=\"https://smcacre.gov/media/7598/download?attachment\">against the measure\u003c/a> calls it “an illegal maneuver that will not survive a court challenge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Dec. 2 meeting where the board approved putting the measure up for a special election, Thomas “Tip” Mazzucco, an attorney appearing on behalf of Corpus, asked the board for a delay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of uncertainty about the process. I ask that you continue this matter to protect the sheriff’s rights, because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “This is premature for you to usurp the authority of the voters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Mateo supervisors did not delay, adding the \u003ca href=\"https://smcacre.gov/elections/march-4-2025-special-election\">amendment measure to the March 2025 ballot\u003c/a>, with signatures from U.S. Reps. Anna Eshoo and Kevin Mullin, Supervisor Noelia Corzo and the heads of the two unions representing deputies and sergeants in the San Mateo Sheriff’s Office in favor of her removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eliot Storch, secretary of the San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, said the union is supporting the amendment through its political action committee, \u003ca href=\"https://www.almanacnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Law-Enforcement-Against-Corruption-by-San-Mateo-Deputy-Sheriffs-Association_fppc410_201_09-12-2024.pdf\">Law Enforcement Against Corruption\u003c/a>. He expects people to turn out to vote, even though they just went through a presidential election cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This isn’t something that’s a distant thing in Washington, D.C. This is something right here,” Storch said. “The people who live here and who interact with the sheriff’s office and our deputies and correctional officers, they’re the ones who are affected by this, and so we want them to understand what’s going on, why Sheriff Corpus’ behavior is so bad and why she needs to be removed, and hope that they will then vote accordingly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Storch said people are still “holding out hope” that Corpus “will see the light” and resign before the amendment or recall are put to voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Citing the previous legal challenge out of San Bernardino County, the \u003ca href=\"https://scocablog.com/sheriff-removal-procedures/\">California Constitution Center in 2021\u003c/a> examined the ways counties can remove sheriffs and found a charter amendment with a four-fifths board vote and simultaneous recall is legal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Multiple means of removing a sheriff are not conflicting, or mutually exclusive. So while general law counties must use the state’s existing recall procedure (and are probably limited to that remedy), charter counties… have far greater flexibility to use the recall or some other removal procedure. The bottom line is that California sheriffs are not exempt from removal before their term expires,” the center concluded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that rarely happens, as sheriffs can’t be recalled just for any reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12015628\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 475px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12015628\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/image1-e1732313039320.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"475\" height=\"319\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/image1-e1732313039320.png 475w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/image1-e1732313039320-160x107.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A picture from retired Superior Court Judge LaDoris H. Cordell’s report shows President-elect Donald Trump posing for a photo with San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Executive Director Victor Aenlle on Sept. 13, 2024.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Usually it’s some kind of dereliction of duty, or it has to be a violation of the oath of office, and that’s where a lot of recalls run into trouble,” Pishko said. “Most recalls are either for some kind of failure to investigate crime or the sheriff has lied about corruption. You don’t ever get a recall because the sheriff has been too violent, too tough, or has killed too many people or their officers are committing misconduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her investigation, retired Judge LaDoris Cordell had \u003ca href=\"https://www.smcgov.org/ceo/news/county-supervisors-consider-seeking-sheriffs-immediate-resignation-over-findings\">several sustained findings\u003c/a> against Corpus, including Corpus using racial and homophobic slurs in the workplace; she and her executive team engaging in retaliation and intimidation; and she and former Executive Director Victor Aenlle are in a romantic relationship that creates a conflict of interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Recalling a California sheriff is a rare feat\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>San Mateo supervisors have also announced that a recall campaign against Corpus is underway, which will require about 46,000 signatures to get on the ballot. County officials estimate it wouldn’t be \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016445/san-mateo-county-board-asks-voters-for-authority-to-remove-sheriff-christina-corpus\">until April 2026\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recall campaigns against sheriffs died due to a lack of signatures in both Shasta and Santa Cruz counties in 2012. An \u003ca href=\"https://recallelections.blogspot.com/2013/09/california-high-failure-rate-results-in.html\">analysis of a failed sheriff recall\u003c/a> in Lake County in 2013 found the most common reason signatures were invalidated — 8.6% of all signatures — was because the signee was not registered to vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recall effort against San Francisco’s Mirkarimi was \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Sheriff-Ross-Mirkarimi-recall-in-works-4018582.php#ixzz2BlSRiyKl\">hinted at in 2012\u003c/a> but never materialized, along with one \u003ca href=\"https://voicesofmontereybay.org/2021/02/26/bernal-target-of-recall/\">in Monterey County in 2021\u003c/a>, when Sheriff Steve Bernal chose to retire. Monterey County supervisors censured him over allegations he misused funds but, as a non-charter county, they couldn’t remove him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last time citizens tried to recall a California sheriff was in Sonoma County in 2017. \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/sonoma-county-sheriff-steve-freitas-announces-early-retirement/\">Then-Sheriff Steve Freitas resigned\u003c/a>, citing medical issues, before the deadline for the recall to collect 35,000 valid signatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes sheriffs just resign rather than go through the process,” Pishko said. “If the situation is bad enough, the sheriff will simply resign and then no recall is necessary.”\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside tag='recall-election' label='More Recall Coverage']\u003c/span>A search of newspaper archives found just one successful recall campaign against a California sheriff. In December 1974, Plumas County Sheriff W.C. “Abby” Abernethy “retired” for six days before being sworn in for his sixth term, according to the \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/image/162352450/?match=1&terms=Sheriff%20W.C.%20%E2%80%9CAbby%E2%80%9D%20Abernethy%20recall\">Feather River Bulletin\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. The move allowed him to collect his pension while drawing a salary of $29,346 a year, $178,390 in today’s dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some taxpayers didn’t like the double-dipping, so they gathered the required 500 signatures to put the recall on a 1976 ballot. After 21 years in office, Abernethy was recalled, losing by just 2% of the vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spivak said it’s not surprising that there aren’t many recalls against sheriffs, because of two main reasons. One, there’s only 58 serving in the state at a time, compared to the thousands of people serving on school boards or city councils across the state, so other offices are more likely to face a recall based on sheer numbers alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The other problem is that, because there’s one sheriff, that means they’re elected by the whole county, so you need a lot more signatures,” he said. “You need just an enormous number of signatures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While San Mateo County officials have estimated they need 46,000 signatures to get Corpus’ recall onto a 2026 ballot, Spivak projects they should plan to gather around 54,000 if they want to be successful, as 20% of signatures submitted for recalls typically don’t meet the requirements and are tossed out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Timing of the election also impacts a recall’s success. Spivak said of the more than 1,000 recall elections in the U.S. since he began tracking them in 2011, 67% succeeded on a general or primary election day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spivak said San Mateo is right to use its authority as a charter county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That makes a lot of sense to go with a charter amendment,” he said. “If you can, it’s much easier and a lot less costly.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Supervisors are trying two different ways to remove Sheriff Christina Corpus from office — one has never been successfully used and the other hasn’t happened in nearly half a century.",
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"title": "California Sheriffs Are Rarely Removed From Office. San Mateo Is Trying Anyway | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">S\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>an Mateo County supervisors are attempting a historic feat in the state: removing an elected sheriff via charter amendment and a simultaneous recall vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear whether both have been levied against a California sheriff before, but removing a county’s top law enforcement officer has rarely been successful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County supervisors are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016688/san-mateo-county-will-ask-voters-for-power-to-remove-the-sheriff\">asking voters in March\u003c/a> to give them the temporary authority to remove Sheriff Christina Corpus two years into her first term after “unprecedented complaints.” An \u003ca href=\"https://sanmateocounty.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=13544883&GUID=95923619-2B6F-477A-8684-CD64124A3BAA\">independent investigation\u003c/a> found the hallmarks of her administration weren’t the transparency and accountability she promised voters, but rather “lies, secrecy, intimidation, retaliation, conflicts of interest, and abuses of authority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corpus has remained steadfast that she would not step down, despite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015360/embattled-san-mateo-county-sheriff-faces-mounting-calls-resign\">mounting calls for her to resign\u003c/a> from state and federal lawmakers, so county officials are taking a two-pronged approach to remove her before she’s up for re-election in 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recall elections in the Bay Area have been surprisingly successful in the last two election cycles, including the recalls of three school board members and District Attorney Chesa Boudin in San Francisco in 2022 and this year’s recall of Oakland Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sheng-thao\">Sheng Thao\u003c/a> and Alameda County District Attorney \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/pamela-price\">Pamela Price\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What is interesting about the sheriff is that, historically, recalls haven’t gone after law enforcement officials until now, until the DA recall,” said Joshua Spivak, a senior research fellow at Berkeley Law’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/california-constitution-center/\">California Constitution Center\u003c/a> and author of \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Recall-Elections-Alexander-Hamilton-Newsom/dp/B09DJ1BWN8\">\u003cem>Recall Elections: From Alexander Hamilton to Gavin Newsom\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But sheriffs across the country have largely been spared the wrath of a recall, namely because those campaigns have failed before making it to the ballot or, in some cases, the sheriff resigns before a vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sheriff recalls are actually so rare that it’s pretty hard to come up with a very consistent typology or information about recalls,” said Jessica Pishko, a journalist, attorney and author of \u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707263/the-highest-law-in-the-land-by-jessica-pishko/\">\u003cem>The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike a recall, San Mateo required only a vote by its supervisors to place the amendment on the ballot. If approved by a simple majority of voters, the measure would grant supervisors the authority to remove Corpus with an 80% vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corpus was the first female and first Latina candidate for sheriff in county history. When she was elected in 2022, she became one of the first Latina sheriffs in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corpus did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ousting a sheriff by charter amendment\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2001, then-Attorney General Bill Lockyer \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/opinions/pdfs/01-408.pdf\">issued an opinion \u003c/a>affirming that supervisors in \u003ca href=\"https://www.counties.org/general-information/county-structure-0\">California’s 14 charter counties\u003c/a> — those with greater autonomy over their elections and elected officials — could adopt ordinances allowing for the removal of a sheriff, district attorney or other elected official for cause. The process requires a four-fifths vote by the county board after providing the impacted person written notice and a chance to respond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following year, San Bernardino County, a charter county, did just that, and although its board didn’t try to use its new powers against him, Sheriff Gary Penrod asked a judge for an injunction. He alleged the move was an “unconstitutional ‘removal’ of the constitutionally mandated, elected sheriff” that could also interfere with investigative and prosecutorial functions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A legal battle ensued, ending up at the Fourth District Court of Appeals, where judges found in 2005 that the \u003ca href=\"https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ca-court-of-appeal/1445637.html\">ordinance was constitutional\u003c/a>. They didn’t, however, decide whether the majority board vote to remove the sheriff might violate the \u003ca href=\"https://porac.org/members/peace-officer-bill-of-rights/\">Peace Officers Bill of Rights\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently in 2022, Los Angeles County voters overwhelmingly \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/Los_Angeles_County,_Measure_A,_Removal_of_Sheriff_for_Cause_Amendment_(November_2022)\">approved an identical charter amendment\u003c/a> to allow the board to remove a sheriff. Two years earlier, LA supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-31/supervisors-vote-remove-sheriff-emergency-operations\">removed Sheriff Alex Villanueva\u003c/a> as the head of the county’s emergency operations through a board vote due to several ongoing scandals, including a \u003ca href=\"https://knock-la.com/tradition-of-violence-lasd-gang-history/\">history of deputy gangs inside the department\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board vote ultimately was unnecessary, as Villanueva overwhelmingly lost his re-election bid to an internal challenger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11932401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11932401\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/GettyImages-1244809714-scaled-e1668610347274.jpg\" alt=\"Villanueva stands at a podium, his hands hold the sides of the podium and it appears as though he's bracing himself. The outgoing sheriff looks down, seemingly dejected.\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva details his accomplishments during a press conference at the Hall of Justice where he conceded the election to Robert Luna on Nov. 15, 2022. \u003ccite>(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s charter has similar authority, requiring at least nine of the 11 supervisors to vote in favor of removing a sheriff or other public official for misconduct. A vote was brought against then-Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi in 2012 after he pleaded guilty of one count of misdemeanor false imprisonment of his wife. The city’s ethics commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/73516/does-mirkarimi-have-the-3-votes-he-needs-on-the-board-of-supervisors\">found that Mirkarimi committed official misconduct\u003c/a> and Mayor Ed Lee suspended him. Mirkarimi was ultimately reinstated when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Ross-Mirkarimi-to-keep-job-supes-decide-3934169.php\">only seven supervisors voted in favor\u003c/a> of removing him permanently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Mateo County, Corpus has alleged she believes the board is overstepping its authority by asking voters to approve a charter amendment. An argument filed \u003ca href=\"https://smcacre.gov/media/7598/download?attachment\">against the measure\u003c/a> calls it “an illegal maneuver that will not survive a court challenge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Dec. 2 meeting where the board approved putting the measure up for a special election, Thomas “Tip” Mazzucco, an attorney appearing on behalf of Corpus, asked the board for a delay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of uncertainty about the process. I ask that you continue this matter to protect the sheriff’s rights, because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “This is premature for you to usurp the authority of the voters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Mateo supervisors did not delay, adding the \u003ca href=\"https://smcacre.gov/elections/march-4-2025-special-election\">amendment measure to the March 2025 ballot\u003c/a>, with signatures from U.S. Reps. Anna Eshoo and Kevin Mullin, Supervisor Noelia Corzo and the heads of the two unions representing deputies and sergeants in the San Mateo Sheriff’s Office in favor of her removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eliot Storch, secretary of the San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, said the union is supporting the amendment through its political action committee, \u003ca href=\"https://www.almanacnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Law-Enforcement-Against-Corruption-by-San-Mateo-Deputy-Sheriffs-Association_fppc410_201_09-12-2024.pdf\">Law Enforcement Against Corruption\u003c/a>. He expects people to turn out to vote, even though they just went through a presidential election cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This isn’t something that’s a distant thing in Washington, D.C. This is something right here,” Storch said. “The people who live here and who interact with the sheriff’s office and our deputies and correctional officers, they’re the ones who are affected by this, and so we want them to understand what’s going on, why Sheriff Corpus’ behavior is so bad and why she needs to be removed, and hope that they will then vote accordingly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Storch said people are still “holding out hope” that Corpus “will see the light” and resign before the amendment or recall are put to voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Citing the previous legal challenge out of San Bernardino County, the \u003ca href=\"https://scocablog.com/sheriff-removal-procedures/\">California Constitution Center in 2021\u003c/a> examined the ways counties can remove sheriffs and found a charter amendment with a four-fifths board vote and simultaneous recall is legal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Multiple means of removing a sheriff are not conflicting, or mutually exclusive. So while general law counties must use the state’s existing recall procedure (and are probably limited to that remedy), charter counties… have far greater flexibility to use the recall or some other removal procedure. The bottom line is that California sheriffs are not exempt from removal before their term expires,” the center concluded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that rarely happens, as sheriffs can’t be recalled just for any reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12015628\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 475px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12015628\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/image1-e1732313039320.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"475\" height=\"319\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/image1-e1732313039320.png 475w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/image1-e1732313039320-160x107.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A picture from retired Superior Court Judge LaDoris H. Cordell’s report shows President-elect Donald Trump posing for a photo with San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Executive Director Victor Aenlle on Sept. 13, 2024.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Usually it’s some kind of dereliction of duty, or it has to be a violation of the oath of office, and that’s where a lot of recalls run into trouble,” Pishko said. “Most recalls are either for some kind of failure to investigate crime or the sheriff has lied about corruption. You don’t ever get a recall because the sheriff has been too violent, too tough, or has killed too many people or their officers are committing misconduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her investigation, retired Judge LaDoris Cordell had \u003ca href=\"https://www.smcgov.org/ceo/news/county-supervisors-consider-seeking-sheriffs-immediate-resignation-over-findings\">several sustained findings\u003c/a> against Corpus, including Corpus using racial and homophobic slurs in the workplace; she and her executive team engaging in retaliation and intimidation; and she and former Executive Director Victor Aenlle are in a romantic relationship that creates a conflict of interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Recalling a California sheriff is a rare feat\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>San Mateo supervisors have also announced that a recall campaign against Corpus is underway, which will require about 46,000 signatures to get on the ballot. County officials estimate it wouldn’t be \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016445/san-mateo-county-board-asks-voters-for-authority-to-remove-sheriff-christina-corpus\">until April 2026\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recall campaigns against sheriffs died due to a lack of signatures in both Shasta and Santa Cruz counties in 2012. An \u003ca href=\"https://recallelections.blogspot.com/2013/09/california-high-failure-rate-results-in.html\">analysis of a failed sheriff recall\u003c/a> in Lake County in 2013 found the most common reason signatures were invalidated — 8.6% of all signatures — was because the signee was not registered to vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recall effort against San Francisco’s Mirkarimi was \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Sheriff-Ross-Mirkarimi-recall-in-works-4018582.php#ixzz2BlSRiyKl\">hinted at in 2012\u003c/a> but never materialized, along with one \u003ca href=\"https://voicesofmontereybay.org/2021/02/26/bernal-target-of-recall/\">in Monterey County in 2021\u003c/a>, when Sheriff Steve Bernal chose to retire. Monterey County supervisors censured him over allegations he misused funds but, as a non-charter county, they couldn’t remove him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last time citizens tried to recall a California sheriff was in Sonoma County in 2017. \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/sonoma-county-sheriff-steve-freitas-announces-early-retirement/\">Then-Sheriff Steve Freitas resigned\u003c/a>, citing medical issues, before the deadline for the recall to collect 35,000 valid signatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes sheriffs just resign rather than go through the process,” Pishko said. “If the situation is bad enough, the sheriff will simply resign and then no recall is necessary.”\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>A search of newspaper archives found just one successful recall campaign against a California sheriff. In December 1974, Plumas County Sheriff W.C. “Abby” Abernethy “retired” for six days before being sworn in for his sixth term, according to the \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/image/162352450/?match=1&terms=Sheriff%20W.C.%20%E2%80%9CAbby%E2%80%9D%20Abernethy%20recall\">Feather River Bulletin\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. The move allowed him to collect his pension while drawing a salary of $29,346 a year, $178,390 in today’s dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some taxpayers didn’t like the double-dipping, so they gathered the required 500 signatures to put the recall on a 1976 ballot. After 21 years in office, Abernethy was recalled, losing by just 2% of the vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spivak said it’s not surprising that there aren’t many recalls against sheriffs, because of two main reasons. One, there’s only 58 serving in the state at a time, compared to the thousands of people serving on school boards or city councils across the state, so other offices are more likely to face a recall based on sheer numbers alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The other problem is that, because there’s one sheriff, that means they’re elected by the whole county, so you need a lot more signatures,” he said. “You need just an enormous number of signatures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While San Mateo County officials have estimated they need 46,000 signatures to get Corpus’ recall onto a 2026 ballot, Spivak projects they should plan to gather around 54,000 if they want to be successful, as 20% of signatures submitted for recalls typically don’t meet the requirements and are tossed out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Timing of the election also impacts a recall’s success. Spivak said of the more than 1,000 recall elections in the U.S. since he began tracking them in 2011, 67% succeeded on a general or primary election day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spivak said San Mateo is right to use its authority as a charter county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That makes a lot of sense to go with a charter amendment,” he said. “If you can, it’s much easier and a lot less costly.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Pelosi Undergoes 'Successful' Hip Surgery After Injury on Congressional Trip to Europe",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Updated 12:45 p.m. Saturday:\u003c/strong> After being hospitalized for an injury on a trip to Luxembourg, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi underwent successful hip replacement surgery Saturday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Pelosi’s office says she is “well on the mend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former House Speaker was traveling with a congressional delegation to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her office says she was hurt during what the office calls an official engagement, but did not share further details about the injury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CNN reported that the injuries were sustained after a fall on the stairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelosi expressed gratitude for care she received at the medical center at the Landstuhl Army Base in Germany and at Hospital Kirchberg in Luxembourg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Speaker Pelosi is enjoying the overwhelming outpouring of prayers and well wishes and is ever determined to ensure access to quality health care for all Americans,” her office said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, 8:45 a.m. Friday: \u003c/strong>Former House Speaker \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/nancy-pelosi\">Nancy Pelosi\u003c/a> was hospitalized after an injury during a trip to Luxembourg, her office said Friday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 84-year-old San Francisco congresswoman was traveling with a bipartisan delegation to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge when she was hurt during what the office calls an official engagement, according to a statement from Pelosi spokesperson Ian Krager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No further details about Pelosi’s injury were disclosed. She will not be able to attend the rest of the events during the trip, but she will continue working, according to the statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelosi “is currently receiving excellent treatment from doctors and medical professionals,” Krager said in the statement, adding that she “looks forward to returning home to the U.S. soon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Updated 12:45 p.m. Saturday:\u003c/strong> After being hospitalized for an injury on a trip to Luxembourg, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi underwent successful hip replacement surgery Saturday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Pelosi’s office says she is “well on the mend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former House Speaker was traveling with a congressional delegation to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her office says she was hurt during what the office calls an official engagement, but did not share further details about the injury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CNN reported that the injuries were sustained after a fall on the stairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelosi expressed gratitude for care she received at the medical center at the Landstuhl Army Base in Germany and at Hospital Kirchberg in Luxembourg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Speaker Pelosi is enjoying the overwhelming outpouring of prayers and well wishes and is ever determined to ensure access to quality health care for all Americans,” her office said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, 8:45 a.m. Friday: \u003c/strong>Former House Speaker \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/nancy-pelosi\">Nancy Pelosi\u003c/a> was hospitalized after an injury during a trip to Luxembourg, her office said Friday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 84-year-old San Francisco congresswoman was traveling with a bipartisan delegation to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge when she was hurt during what the office calls an official engagement, according to a statement from Pelosi spokesperson Ian Krager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No further details about Pelosi’s injury were disclosed. She will not be able to attend the rest of the events during the trip, but she will continue working, according to the statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelosi “is currently receiving excellent treatment from doctors and medical professionals,” Krager said in the statement, adding that she “looks forward to returning home to the U.S. soon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Tornado Warning Is Over. Here's Why It Was Issued",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 1:55 p.m. Saturday \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A strong storm brought heavy rain and wind to the Bay Area, causing a short tornado warning early this morning. The National Weather Service said it’s the first time non-coastal parts of San Francisco have ever been under a tornado warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Power was also out in parts of San Francisco’s Outer Sunset and Mission neighborhoods and in parts of Millbrae and Burlingame, according to PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Weather Service received reports of high winds, but the agency hasn’t yet determined whether a tornado touched down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/1867988766289449397\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not unusual for us to issue warnings on storms that are out over the waters that have the potential for water spouts,” meteorologist Dalton Behringer said, adding that it’s rare for the area to see a risk of tornadoes on land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re going to get a tornado, it’s most likely going to be a water spout that comes ashore,” he said. “It kind of looked like that was the case with the storm. And that’s why we issued the tornado warning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behringer said the heaviest part of the storm had passed. There are reports from San Francisco about flooding on ramps, but “thankfully, no widespread river flooding as of yet,” he said early Saturday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The North Bay remains under a flood watch through Sunday, and storms will continue this weekend, including possible lightning strikes and minor coastal flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The NWS has also issued a frost advisory for parts of the North and East Bay, in effect from late Saturday through 9 a.m. Sunday. Temperatures are expected to drop to the low 30s. Cold conditions could be hazardous to sensitive populations such as unhoused individuals, the NWS said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/1868016101629870542\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>“It’s not unusual for us to issue warnings on storms that are out over the waters that have the potential for water spouts,” meteorologist Dalton Behringer said, adding that it’s rare for the area to see a risk of tornadoes on land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re going to get a tornado, it’s most likely going to be a water spout that comes ashore,” he said. “It kind of looked like that was the case with the storm. And that’s why we issued the tornado warning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behringer said the heaviest part of the storm had passed. There are reports from San Francisco about flooding on ramps, but “thankfully, no widespread river flooding as of yet,” he said early Saturday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The North Bay remains under a flood watch through Sunday, and storms will continue this weekend, including possible lightning strikes and minor coastal flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The NWS has also issued a frost advisory for parts of the North and East Bay, in effect from late Saturday through 9 a.m. Sunday. Temperatures are expected to drop to the low 30s. Cold conditions could be hazardous to sensitive populations such as unhoused individuals, the NWS said.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Family at Center of Oakland FBI Raid Backed Thao to Secure Lucrative Contracts, DA Says",
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"headTitle": "Family at Center of Oakland FBI Raid Backed Thao to Secure Lucrative Contracts, DA Says | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>’s embattled recycling company, which has gained notoriety after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11993390/oaklands-federal-subpoena-deadline-is-here-whats-next-in-the-investigation\">FBI raided multiple locations\u003c/a> associated with its owner in June, allegedly supported ousted Mayor Sheng Thao in her 2022 election bid in an attempt to secure lucrative city contracts, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The raid, which also targeted Thao, who was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12012357/sheng-thao-accepts-defeat-in-contentious-oakland-mayoral-recall\">recalled by Oakland voters last month\u003c/a>, spurred months of speculation about her involvement in a probe into a wide web of the city’s political players. In a court filing this week, the DA directly connected Thao, who has repeatedly claimed she is not the target of the FBI’s investigation, to California Waste Solutions’ alleged campaign bribes for the first time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The District Attorney’s office alleges that Mario Juarez, a former Oakland city council candidate who is being charged with grand theft related to Thao’s 2022 campaign, acted as a “conduit” between Thao, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11992073/oakland-fbi-raids-and-straw-donor-probe-spur-allegations-of-corruption\">Cal Waste and another city-contracted company\u003c/a>. The office, which Pamela Price led until she was recalled in November, said in a court filing responding to Juarez’s request that his theft case be thrown out due to vindictive prosecution by Price, who left office on Dec. 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez is accused of writing more than $50,000 worth of bad checks to a marketing company for creating mailers for Thao’s 2022 mayoral campaign. Kwixuan Maloof, the senior assistant district attorney listed on the filing, alleges that Juarez moved money around to avoid paying for the fliers, which targeted Thao’s two biggest opponents, Loren Taylor and Ignacio De La Fuente, in the days before the election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new filing alleges that days before Juarez commissioned the fliers, he received $125,000 from Cal Waste and ABC Security Services, which provides security to City Hall and other city buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992169\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992169\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A California Waste Solutions worker empties recycling bins in the Rockridge neighborhood on April 22, 2020, in Oakland. A campaign finance investigation into the city’s curbside recycling contractor has received renewed attention since the FBI raids. \u003ccite>(Yalonda M. James/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Oct. 17, 2022, Juarez received a $75,000 check from Cal Waste and another for $50,000 from ABC Security on Oct. 20, according to Maloof. Both were deposited into the same bank account that he used to write checks to Butterfly Direct Marketing days later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the days after Thao’s win, the district attorney’s office alleges that Juarez received another $170,000 from ABC Security, Cal Waste and members of the politically connected Duong family that own it. Cal Waste’s headquarters and the home of the company’s founder, David Duong, and his son Andy, were raided by the FBI in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also wrote two checks totaling $7,500 to Thao’s longtime partner, Andre Jones, immediately following the election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These companies have valuable contracts with the city of Oakland and an interest in the election of then-candidate for mayor, Sheng Thao,” the filing says. “Mr. Juarez’s subsequent use and distribution of these funds suggests Defendant Juarez was essentially a conduit for these companies to help the mayor win and preserve and enhance the companies’ access to tax-payer funded contracts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another connection made in the new filing is to Attorney General Rob Bonta, who Maloof says would be reassigned the case if the judge were to find a conflict of interest in the DA’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maloof says Bonta should be disqualified from prosecuting the case based on conflict of interest law because of his close political ties to Juarez. Juarez donated to Bonta’s 2014 and 2018 assembly campaigns, and Bonta helped a now-defunct energy company Juarez co-owned secure a $3.4 million grant from the California Energy Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Monday’s filing connected some dots, there is still a web of other allegations swirling in the ongoing FBI probe.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Here’s a timeline of what’s happened so far:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Questions exploded about the Duongs after three locations they’re affiliated with were targeted in June’s FBI raid. They had already been under investigation by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission and the Oakland Public Ethics Commission since 2019 for an alleged straw donation scheme.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andy Duong and Cal Waste are believed to have used other peoples’ names to illegally donate to local campaigns between 2016 and 2018, according to a probable cause report from the FPPC and Oakland PEC filed in 2021. It cites at least 93 donations, totaling over $76,000, to Thao, Oakland City Councilmembers Rebecca Kaplan and Dan Kalb, and other Oakland politicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11629977\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11629977\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Duong is the founder and CEO of California Waste Solutions and Vietnam Waste Solutions. \u003ccite>(Brian Watt/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Juarez, who has a long history of somewhat shady business dealings, including 12 notices of state and federal tax liens against him since 2008, also quickly became a key player in the probe because of his public falling out with the Duongs — his former business partners — and the grand theft case against him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Dec. 11, the owner of Butterfly Direct Marketing filed a police report accusing Juarez of failing to pay for the product. The DA’s office filed grand theft charges against Juarez in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> who has been a longtime political opponent of Price, pleaded not guilty in April, and his lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case in October. He alleges that Price’s prosecution was retaliatory after he declined to donate to her anti-recall campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His attorney says that in early January, Juarez, members of the Duong family and Price gathered at the address associated with Cal Waste after the funeral of a slain Oakland police officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She explained that as the district attorney for Alameda County, she could help Mr. Juarez, but that to get her help, he would ‘need to show love and support to her,’” the motion says. “Specifically, she wanted $25,000.00 in cash from him to support her campaign against the ongoing recall effort against her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maloof’s response this week disputes that conversation took place and claims that Price’s office actually decided to charge Juarez in August 2023 after receiving the police report in May, but that the case had “somehow fallen through the cracks.” After the victim called to inquire about their progress in January, the office located the file and began the prosecution process, according to Maloof.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He further asserts that Juarez’s bank records, which show him moving money between two accounts for days following his payment to Butterfly Direct Marketing, and his financial dealings with Cal Waste, ABC Security, and Thao’s partner Jones, indicate his “intent to defraud the victim in this check fraud case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12016605 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241015-OAKLANDCHINATOWNTHAORECALL-24-BL-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Duongs and Juarez spearheaded a business venture together in 2022, but they appear to have had a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11993390/oaklands-federal-subpoena-deadline-is-here-whats-next-in-the-investigation\">falling out\u003c/a> amidst the FBI probe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Duong’s daughter, Kristina, registered a company in 2022 called Evolutionary Homes, which was designed to build homes out of shipping containers for unhoused people. Juarez is named as the organizer of the company, which later sought Oakland city contracts and shared an address with Cal Waste in state records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, though, Juarez fell off the Evolutionary Homes’ filings, and things between the business partners appear to sour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, Juarez and the Duongs filed police reports telling very different stories about an encounter at the Cal Waste office. Juarez says he was robbed, while the Duongs assert Juarez threatened them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few weeks later, police responded to a shooting at Juarez’s home, which his lawyer told the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> was an \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-fbi-mario-juarez-19545382.php\">attempt on his life\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case against Juarez, and his relationship with Thao and the Duongs, is thought to be related to the federal probe into Oakland, which drew public attention following June’s FBI raids. Five days later, a federal grand jury subpoenaed city records referencing Cal Waste, Evolutionary Homes, Jones, the 2022 election, and a few other people and businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, it issued a second subpoena asking for much of the same information, as well as some Oakland police records, including reports made against the Duongs since April 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as of Friday, no charges have been filed related to the probe or raids. The judge in Juarez’s case against Alameda County has not issued a decision on whether the case will be dismissed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A court filing this week by the Alameda County district attorney’s office connects ousted Mayor Sheng Thao to California Waste Solutions’ alleged campaign bribes for the first time.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>’s embattled recycling company, which has gained notoriety after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11993390/oaklands-federal-subpoena-deadline-is-here-whats-next-in-the-investigation\">FBI raided multiple locations\u003c/a> associated with its owner in June, allegedly supported ousted Mayor Sheng Thao in her 2022 election bid in an attempt to secure lucrative city contracts, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The raid, which also targeted Thao, who was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12012357/sheng-thao-accepts-defeat-in-contentious-oakland-mayoral-recall\">recalled by Oakland voters last month\u003c/a>, spurred months of speculation about her involvement in a probe into a wide web of the city’s political players. In a court filing this week, the DA directly connected Thao, who has repeatedly claimed she is not the target of the FBI’s investigation, to California Waste Solutions’ alleged campaign bribes for the first time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The District Attorney’s office alleges that Mario Juarez, a former Oakland city council candidate who is being charged with grand theft related to Thao’s 2022 campaign, acted as a “conduit” between Thao, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11992073/oakland-fbi-raids-and-straw-donor-probe-spur-allegations-of-corruption\">Cal Waste and another city-contracted company\u003c/a>. The office, which Pamela Price led until she was recalled in November, said in a court filing responding to Juarez’s request that his theft case be thrown out due to vindictive prosecution by Price, who left office on Dec. 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez is accused of writing more than $50,000 worth of bad checks to a marketing company for creating mailers for Thao’s 2022 mayoral campaign. Kwixuan Maloof, the senior assistant district attorney listed on the filing, alleges that Juarez moved money around to avoid paying for the fliers, which targeted Thao’s two biggest opponents, Loren Taylor and Ignacio De La Fuente, in the days before the election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new filing alleges that days before Juarez commissioned the fliers, he received $125,000 from Cal Waste and ABC Security Services, which provides security to City Hall and other city buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992169\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992169\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/CalWasteSolutionsWorker01-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A California Waste Solutions worker empties recycling bins in the Rockridge neighborhood on April 22, 2020, in Oakland. A campaign finance investigation into the city’s curbside recycling contractor has received renewed attention since the FBI raids. \u003ccite>(Yalonda M. James/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Oct. 17, 2022, Juarez received a $75,000 check from Cal Waste and another for $50,000 from ABC Security on Oct. 20, according to Maloof. Both were deposited into the same bank account that he used to write checks to Butterfly Direct Marketing days later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the days after Thao’s win, the district attorney’s office alleges that Juarez received another $170,000 from ABC Security, Cal Waste and members of the politically connected Duong family that own it. Cal Waste’s headquarters and the home of the company’s founder, David Duong, and his son Andy, were raided by the FBI in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also wrote two checks totaling $7,500 to Thao’s longtime partner, Andre Jones, immediately following the election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These companies have valuable contracts with the city of Oakland and an interest in the election of then-candidate for mayor, Sheng Thao,” the filing says. “Mr. Juarez’s subsequent use and distribution of these funds suggests Defendant Juarez was essentially a conduit for these companies to help the mayor win and preserve and enhance the companies’ access to tax-payer funded contracts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another connection made in the new filing is to Attorney General Rob Bonta, who Maloof says would be reassigned the case if the judge were to find a conflict of interest in the DA’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maloof says Bonta should be disqualified from prosecuting the case based on conflict of interest law because of his close political ties to Juarez. Juarez donated to Bonta’s 2014 and 2018 assembly campaigns, and Bonta helped a now-defunct energy company Juarez co-owned secure a $3.4 million grant from the California Energy Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Monday’s filing connected some dots, there is still a web of other allegations swirling in the ongoing FBI probe.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Here’s a timeline of what’s happened so far:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Questions exploded about the Duongs after three locations they’re affiliated with were targeted in June’s FBI raid. They had already been under investigation by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission and the Oakland Public Ethics Commission since 2019 for an alleged straw donation scheme.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andy Duong and Cal Waste are believed to have used other peoples’ names to illegally donate to local campaigns between 2016 and 2018, according to a probable cause report from the FPPC and Oakland PEC filed in 2021. It cites at least 93 donations, totaling over $76,000, to Thao, Oakland City Councilmembers Rebecca Kaplan and Dan Kalb, and other Oakland politicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11629977\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11629977\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/11/RS27957_IMG_8020-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Duong is the founder and CEO of California Waste Solutions and Vietnam Waste Solutions. \u003ccite>(Brian Watt/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Juarez, who has a long history of somewhat shady business dealings, including 12 notices of state and federal tax liens against him since 2008, also quickly became a key player in the probe because of his public falling out with the Duongs — his former business partners — and the grand theft case against him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Dec. 11, the owner of Butterfly Direct Marketing filed a police report accusing Juarez of failing to pay for the product. The DA’s office filed grand theft charges against Juarez in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> who has been a longtime political opponent of Price, pleaded not guilty in April, and his lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case in October. He alleges that Price’s prosecution was retaliatory after he declined to donate to her anti-recall campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His attorney says that in early January, Juarez, members of the Duong family and Price gathered at the address associated with Cal Waste after the funeral of a slain Oakland police officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She explained that as the district attorney for Alameda County, she could help Mr. Juarez, but that to get her help, he would ‘need to show love and support to her,’” the motion says. “Specifically, she wanted $25,000.00 in cash from him to support her campaign against the ongoing recall effort against her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maloof’s response this week disputes that conversation took place and claims that Price’s office actually decided to charge Juarez in August 2023 after receiving the police report in May, but that the case had “somehow fallen through the cracks.” After the victim called to inquire about their progress in January, the office located the file and began the prosecution process, according to Maloof.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He further asserts that Juarez’s bank records, which show him moving money between two accounts for days following his payment to Butterfly Direct Marketing, and his financial dealings with Cal Waste, ABC Security, and Thao’s partner Jones, indicate his “intent to defraud the victim in this check fraud case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Duongs and Juarez spearheaded a business venture together in 2022, but they appear to have had a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11993390/oaklands-federal-subpoena-deadline-is-here-whats-next-in-the-investigation\">falling out\u003c/a> amidst the FBI probe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Duong’s daughter, Kristina, registered a company in 2022 called Evolutionary Homes, which was designed to build homes out of shipping containers for unhoused people. Juarez is named as the organizer of the company, which later sought Oakland city contracts and shared an address with Cal Waste in state records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, though, Juarez fell off the Evolutionary Homes’ filings, and things between the business partners appear to sour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, Juarez and the Duongs filed police reports telling very different stories about an encounter at the Cal Waste office. Juarez says he was robbed, while the Duongs assert Juarez threatened them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few weeks later, police responded to a shooting at Juarez’s home, which his lawyer told the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> was an \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-fbi-mario-juarez-19545382.php\">attempt on his life\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case against Juarez, and his relationship with Thao and the Duongs, is thought to be related to the federal probe into Oakland, which drew public attention following June’s FBI raids. Five days later, a federal grand jury subpoenaed city records referencing Cal Waste, Evolutionary Homes, Jones, the 2022 election, and a few other people and businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, it issued a second subpoena asking for much of the same information, as well as some Oakland police records, including reports made against the Duongs since April 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as of Friday, no charges have been filed related to the probe or raids. The judge in Juarez’s case against Alameda County has not issued a decision on whether the case will be dismissed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Body camera footage released by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bart\">BART\u003c/a> police on Friday showed an officer shooting at a woman three times last month at the Union City station parking lot. Just over five minutes before the shooting, the traffic stop nearly ended without incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jasmine Gao, 32, survived the shooting. The officer was identified as Nicholas Poblete, who has been with BART for over six years and is currently assigned to its Operations Bureau, the department’s release said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers responded to the station on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12014947/bart-police-shoot-injure-person-at-union-city-station\">the night of Nov. 18\u003c/a> for a report of reckless driving, according to BART’s release, but the body camera footage shows that they determined Gao wasn’t responsible. After the officers began to question her over expired registration, Gao “displayed erratic behavior,” did not comply when officers asked her to get out of her car, then rolled up her window and accelerated forward when an officer reached into the car, the department said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSGnU9yxT-w&rco=1\">The video\u003c/a> shows Gao express several times how fearful she was when police accused her of doing donuts while she was parked in a parking lot. She becomes increasingly agitated as Poblete grows more stern and demands she get out of her car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gao was treated at a hospital and later discharged. BART’s announcement didn’t say how many times Gao had been shot and where other than “in the upper torso.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As with all police shootings, the case has been referred to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office to determine whether Poblete, Gao or an unnamed second officer at the scene should face criminal charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Due to the seriousness of this incident, we have retained an experienced third-party investigator to conduct the internal administrative investigation to ensure an unbiased and objective review,” BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin said in a statement. “BART remains committed to continuous improvement and ensuring the actions of our police officers meet the highest of standards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12018301\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12018301\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1124\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005-1920x1079.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A still from BART Police body-worn camera footage released on Dec. 13, 2024, where an officer fired a gun at an individual before detaining them on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in the Union City Station parking lot. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of BART)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Russell Bloom, BART’s independent police auditor, said his office responded to the scene of the shooting to monitor BART’s investigation, but as of Friday, his office has not received any complaint of misconduct in connection with the shooting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bloom said he’s working with Franklin to ensure the independent auditor’s office has the same access as the third-party investigators that BART police brought in, as it’s “a departure from our standard approach to monitoring investigations conducted by the BPD Internal Affairs Unit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our goal is to ensure that any investigation of this shooting is objective, thorough, fair, and timely,” Bloom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete has been placed on administrative leave during the investigation, BART said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What the body camera shows\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The time code on the body camera when the footage starts reads 9:24 p.m. on Nov. 18 as Poblete stops his SUV behind a dark-colored sedan with tinted windows. An unnamed officer stops his SUV off to the front of the sedan. The parking lot is largely empty, but Poblete leaves his emergency lights flashing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Roll down your back windows, please,” Poblete yells as he walks toward the car and shines a flashlight into the driver’s side window.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sorry, no,” Gao responds, her head poking out of the window. “There’s no one here,” she says as she rolls down the window, saying she was parked because she was talking to a friend on the phone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete tells her they are investigating a complaint of a car matching hers doing donuts in the parking lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know how to do donuts,” she says. “I’m not that good at driving.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a few minutes of back-and-forth — during which the woman says her name is Raisa Gao — the other officer touches Gao’s front driver’s side tire. “Yeah, it’s not hot,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All right. Have a good night, ma’am,” Poblete says as he turns away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sorry,” the other officer says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete takes a few steps away and then turns back, telling Gao that his dispatcher says her registration expired. “I do have to address that,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, no, I just went to the DMV,” Gao says, immediately becoming defensive and flustered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Poblete tries to tell her about her registration being invalid, she repeatedly interrupts and asks whether she can go home nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12014947 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20161217_144416_qed-1020x765.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just nervous because of all the lights,” she says, gesturing to the flashing emergency lights around her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete again asks for her driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t scare me right now,” she says. “I’m really tired.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete’s tone grows more stern as he says that he doesn’t like her interrupting him and that she is required to give him the documents he requested. Gao becomes increasingly flustered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do me a favor, ma’am,” Poblete says. “Because you’re freaking out…”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s because you’re cops,” Gao says, “and I’m just in a parking lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Can you turn off your vehicle and then can I see your keys? Please?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No,” Gao says. “That’s illegal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No, it’s not,” Poblete says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gao then snatches her ID out of Poblete’s hand, and he reaches into the car and grabs Gao by the arm. “Get out of the vehicle,” he says repeatedly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Stop!” The two struggle for about 30 seconds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ma’am, I’m going to pepper spray you,” Poblete says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No! Stop! You’re scaring me!” she says, putting the keys in the ignition as Poblete continues to hold onto her arm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ma’am, I’m going to shoo…” Poblete says as Gao’s window rolls up and she drives away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete fires three times at the car. It stops a short distance away in the same parking lot. Poblete calls in “shots fired,” gets into his SUV, drives closer to Gao’s vehicle, then parks and stands with his door open, gun pointed at Gao.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gao, bleeding as the two officers approach her open car door, cries, “Oh my God! What did you do to me? I’m just a girl!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They cuff her hands behind her back and attempt to give her medical aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re killing me,” she says. “I didn’t even do anything. Why would you hurt me?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A crowd of people begins to gather as Gao yells out for someone to call her mother and rolls on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Stop!” Poblete yells at her. “We’re trying to help you! You keep on moving. You’re gonna keep on bleeding! We’re trying to save your life!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why did you shoot her?” one onlooker yells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More officers arrive as they try to find Gao’s wounds. In the background, people in the crowd yell at officers as they wait for medical help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it does, a paramedic says the handcuffs on Gao need to come off so they can properly treat her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Body camera footage released by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bart\">BART\u003c/a> police on Friday showed an officer shooting at a woman three times last month at the Union City station parking lot. Just over five minutes before the shooting, the traffic stop nearly ended without incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jasmine Gao, 32, survived the shooting. The officer was identified as Nicholas Poblete, who has been with BART for over six years and is currently assigned to its Operations Bureau, the department’s release said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers responded to the station on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12014947/bart-police-shoot-injure-person-at-union-city-station\">the night of Nov. 18\u003c/a> for a report of reckless driving, according to BART’s release, but the body camera footage shows that they determined Gao wasn’t responsible. After the officers began to question her over expired registration, Gao “displayed erratic behavior,” did not comply when officers asked her to get out of her car, then rolled up her window and accelerated forward when an officer reached into the car, the department said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSGnU9yxT-w&rco=1\">The video\u003c/a> shows Gao express several times how fearful she was when police accused her of doing donuts while she was parked in a parking lot. She becomes increasingly agitated as Poblete grows more stern and demands she get out of her car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gao was treated at a hospital and later discharged. BART’s announcement didn’t say how many times Gao had been shot and where other than “in the upper torso.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As with all police shootings, the case has been referred to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office to determine whether Poblete, Gao or an unnamed second officer at the scene should face criminal charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Due to the seriousness of this incident, we have retained an experienced third-party investigator to conduct the internal administrative investigation to ensure an unbiased and objective review,” BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin said in a statement. “BART remains committed to continuous improvement and ensuring the actions of our police officers meet the highest of standards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12018301\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12018301\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1124\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/BartVideo_0005-1920x1079.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A still from BART Police body-worn camera footage released on Dec. 13, 2024, where an officer fired a gun at an individual before detaining them on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in the Union City Station parking lot. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of BART)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Russell Bloom, BART’s independent police auditor, said his office responded to the scene of the shooting to monitor BART’s investigation, but as of Friday, his office has not received any complaint of misconduct in connection with the shooting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bloom said he’s working with Franklin to ensure the independent auditor’s office has the same access as the third-party investigators that BART police brought in, as it’s “a departure from our standard approach to monitoring investigations conducted by the BPD Internal Affairs Unit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our goal is to ensure that any investigation of this shooting is objective, thorough, fair, and timely,” Bloom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete has been placed on administrative leave during the investigation, BART said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What the body camera shows\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The time code on the body camera when the footage starts reads 9:24 p.m. on Nov. 18 as Poblete stops his SUV behind a dark-colored sedan with tinted windows. An unnamed officer stops his SUV off to the front of the sedan. The parking lot is largely empty, but Poblete leaves his emergency lights flashing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Roll down your back windows, please,” Poblete yells as he walks toward the car and shines a flashlight into the driver’s side window.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sorry, no,” Gao responds, her head poking out of the window. “There’s no one here,” she says as she rolls down the window, saying she was parked because she was talking to a friend on the phone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete tells her they are investigating a complaint of a car matching hers doing donuts in the parking lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know how to do donuts,” she says. “I’m not that good at driving.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a few minutes of back-and-forth — during which the woman says her name is Raisa Gao — the other officer touches Gao’s front driver’s side tire. “Yeah, it’s not hot,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All right. Have a good night, ma’am,” Poblete says as he turns away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sorry,” the other officer says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete takes a few steps away and then turns back, telling Gao that his dispatcher says her registration expired. “I do have to address that,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, no, I just went to the DMV,” Gao says, immediately becoming defensive and flustered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Poblete tries to tell her about her registration being invalid, she repeatedly interrupts and asks whether she can go home nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just nervous because of all the lights,” she says, gesturing to the flashing emergency lights around her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete again asks for her driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t scare me right now,” she says. “I’m really tired.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete’s tone grows more stern as he says that he doesn’t like her interrupting him and that she is required to give him the documents he requested. Gao becomes increasingly flustered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do me a favor, ma’am,” Poblete says. “Because you’re freaking out…”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s because you’re cops,” Gao says, “and I’m just in a parking lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Can you turn off your vehicle and then can I see your keys? Please?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No,” Gao says. “That’s illegal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No, it’s not,” Poblete says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gao then snatches her ID out of Poblete’s hand, and he reaches into the car and grabs Gao by the arm. “Get out of the vehicle,” he says repeatedly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Stop!” The two struggle for about 30 seconds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ma’am, I’m going to pepper spray you,” Poblete says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No! Stop! You’re scaring me!” she says, putting the keys in the ignition as Poblete continues to hold onto her arm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ma’am, I’m going to shoo…” Poblete says as Gao’s window rolls up and she drives away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poblete fires three times at the car. It stops a short distance away in the same parking lot. Poblete calls in “shots fired,” gets into his SUV, drives closer to Gao’s vehicle, then parks and stands with his door open, gun pointed at Gao.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gao, bleeding as the two officers approach her open car door, cries, “Oh my God! What did you do to me? I’m just a girl!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They cuff her hands behind her back and attempt to give her medical aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re killing me,” she says. “I didn’t even do anything. Why would you hurt me?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A crowd of people begins to gather as Gao yells out for someone to call her mother and rolls on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Stop!” Poblete yells at her. “We’re trying to help you! You keep on moving. You’re gonna keep on bleeding! We’re trying to save your life!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why did you shoot her?” one onlooker yells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More officers arrive as they try to find Gao’s wounds. In the background, people in the crowd yell at officers as they wait for medical help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it does, a paramedic says the handcuffs on Gao need to come off so they can properly treat her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Tahoe Is Bear Territory. Exhibit A: This Video of 1 Crashing Into a Snowboarder",
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"content": "\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDWMsuAxbin/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\">recent video that went viral\u003c/a> shows a bear and a snowboarder colliding on the snowy slopes of Heavenly Mountain Resort in South \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/lake-tahoe\">Lake Tahoe\u003c/a>. It’s a reminder that in a place like Tahoe — with warm winters, plentiful food and crowds of visitors — run-ins between humans and bears are always a possibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The whole event captured by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/monsterbathz/\">Ekalak Lakshana\u003c/a> starts as a recording of him snowboarding with his friends, only to be interrupted by a large furry animal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few seconds into the video, a black bear emerges on Lakshana’s left as he’s snowboarding down the hill, and then the bear gallops across the slope before running into another snowboarder, Lakshana’s friend Hunter Martinez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thankfully, no one was injured during the whole ordeal. “When I saw the bear coming at me, all I could think was, ‘Today is not the day—you’re not catching me,” Lakshana told \u003ca href=\"https://www.snowboarder.com/news/bear-collides-snowboarder-lake-tahoe\">Snowboarder magazine\u003c/a>. “I’ve seen bears near the slopes before, but never one running right in the middle like this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, a representative for Heavenly noted that wildlife sightings are possible because the resort is on national forest land, but it said such “interactions between our guests and bears are infrequent, as these animals usually move along quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDWMsuAxbin/embed\" width=\"500\" height=\"800\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winter bear sightings at Heavenly — and throughout the region — are common, with similar videos recorded \u003ca href=\"https://www.abc10.com/article/life/animals/black-bear-ski-resort/103-f7abe2f8-91c3-4a15-b8de-8760e4fe20d1\">just a year ago\u003c/a> and another \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/bear-lake-tahoe-caught-on-camera-slope/14321922/\">earlier this year\u003c/a>. And it’s no mystery as to why that is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lake Tahoe is home to one of the densest concentrations of black bears anywhere in the world. “It’s the best black bear habitat in North America,” said Peter Tira, public information officer with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With more people moving into the area and tourists visiting throughout the year, sightings of black bears and human-bear interactions have also become more common, even in the winter when black bears are assumed to hibernate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12018143\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12018143\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of Heavenly gondola of Heavenly ski resort in South Lake Tahoe, California, on Jan. 14, 2024. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Luckily for Lake Tahoe’s black bears, the warmer winter climate and an abundance of food from the human population have made it so that they don’t \u003cem>really\u003c/em> hibernate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hibernation is nature’s response to a lack of food resources,” Tira said. “In places with warmer climates like California and other places, bears will kind of come in and out of hibernation,” he added, saying that some black bears in Lake Tahoe don’t have a biological need to hibernate due to their access to food all year round.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the beginning of winter, when food is scarce and seasonal patterns change, black bears have an interrupted hibernation, or torpor, said Catherine Mendez, executive director at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care. “So it causes them to go seek out food during warmer spells,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12017880 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/241122-StormHitsBayArea-21-BL-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People also tend to bring snacks on the slopes that could attract bears to those areas, especially in the winter. “It’s really easy to forget what you have in your pockets if you accidentally trash on the mountain,” Mendez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the growing human population, food attractants and a warming climate, increased building and development in bear territory is also likely to cause more human-bear interactions. “Habitat encroachment within the basin is a really big issue as we develop more. We are taking up more territory for the bears,” Mendez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black bears aren’t aggressive animals and aren’t known to be dangerous to humans. “They rarely do anything to harm a person. You’re much more likely to be killed by your neighbor’s dog,” said Ann Bryant, executive director at BEAR League, a community-based nonprofit in the Lake Tahoe Basin and Truckee areas that focuses on educating the public on how to coexist with bears.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The world has become too small for every species to have its own private corner to exist. And where we’re having to now share the land, the animals have to share it with us, and we have to share it with them,” Bryant said. “And in a typical landscape like the Tahoe National Forest, where bears belong, this is where they’ve always been. We have to honor that. We have to respect that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few tips on trying to avoid bear encounters in Tahoe are: lock your cars, don’t leave food in them, and make sure to secure your trash. You’ll want to avoid attracting them to any food or smells. Tira also advised the public to do their part to keep bears safe by driving slowly and responsibly in areas where bears might live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDWMsuAxbin/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\">recent video that went viral\u003c/a> shows a bear and a snowboarder colliding on the snowy slopes of Heavenly Mountain Resort in South \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/lake-tahoe\">Lake Tahoe\u003c/a>. It’s a reminder that in a place like Tahoe — with warm winters, plentiful food and crowds of visitors — run-ins between humans and bears are always a possibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The whole event captured by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/monsterbathz/\">Ekalak Lakshana\u003c/a> starts as a recording of him snowboarding with his friends, only to be interrupted by a large furry animal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few seconds into the video, a black bear emerges on Lakshana’s left as he’s snowboarding down the hill, and then the bear gallops across the slope before running into another snowboarder, Lakshana’s friend Hunter Martinez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thankfully, no one was injured during the whole ordeal. “When I saw the bear coming at me, all I could think was, ‘Today is not the day—you’re not catching me,” Lakshana told \u003ca href=\"https://www.snowboarder.com/news/bear-collides-snowboarder-lake-tahoe\">Snowboarder magazine\u003c/a>. “I’ve seen bears near the slopes before, but never one running right in the middle like this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, a representative for Heavenly noted that wildlife sightings are possible because the resort is on national forest land, but it said such “interactions between our guests and bears are infrequent, as these animals usually move along quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDWMsuAxbin/embed\" width=\"500\" height=\"800\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winter bear sightings at Heavenly — and throughout the region — are common, with similar videos recorded \u003ca href=\"https://www.abc10.com/article/life/animals/black-bear-ski-resort/103-f7abe2f8-91c3-4a15-b8de-8760e4fe20d1\">just a year ago\u003c/a> and another \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/bear-lake-tahoe-caught-on-camera-slope/14321922/\">earlier this year\u003c/a>. And it’s no mystery as to why that is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lake Tahoe is home to one of the densest concentrations of black bears anywhere in the world. “It’s the best black bear habitat in North America,” said Peter Tira, public information officer with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With more people moving into the area and tourists visiting throughout the year, sightings of black bears and human-bear interactions have also become more common, even in the winter when black bears are assumed to hibernate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12018143\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12018143\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/SouthLakeTahoeHeavenlySkiGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of Heavenly gondola of Heavenly ski resort in South Lake Tahoe, California, on Jan. 14, 2024. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Luckily for Lake Tahoe’s black bears, the warmer winter climate and an abundance of food from the human population have made it so that they don’t \u003cem>really\u003c/em> hibernate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hibernation is nature’s response to a lack of food resources,” Tira said. “In places with warmer climates like California and other places, bears will kind of come in and out of hibernation,” he added, saying that some black bears in Lake Tahoe don’t have a biological need to hibernate due to their access to food all year round.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the beginning of winter, when food is scarce and seasonal patterns change, black bears have an interrupted hibernation, or torpor, said Catherine Mendez, executive director at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care. “So it causes them to go seek out food during warmer spells,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People also tend to bring snacks on the slopes that could attract bears to those areas, especially in the winter. “It’s really easy to forget what you have in your pockets if you accidentally trash on the mountain,” Mendez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the growing human population, food attractants and a warming climate, increased building and development in bear territory is also likely to cause more human-bear interactions. “Habitat encroachment within the basin is a really big issue as we develop more. We are taking up more territory for the bears,” Mendez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black bears aren’t aggressive animals and aren’t known to be dangerous to humans. “They rarely do anything to harm a person. You’re much more likely to be killed by your neighbor’s dog,” said Ann Bryant, executive director at BEAR League, a community-based nonprofit in the Lake Tahoe Basin and Truckee areas that focuses on educating the public on how to coexist with bears.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The world has become too small for every species to have its own private corner to exist. And where we’re having to now share the land, the animals have to share it with us, and we have to share it with them,” Bryant said. “And in a typical landscape like the Tahoe National Forest, where bears belong, this is where they’ve always been. We have to honor that. We have to respect that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few tips on trying to avoid bear encounters in Tahoe are: lock your cars, don’t leave food in them, and make sure to secure your trash. You’ll want to avoid attracting them to any food or smells. Tira also advised the public to do their part to keep bears safe by driving slowly and responsibly in areas where bears might live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"order": 8
},
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},
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"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"order": 1
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
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"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 9
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"freakonomics-radio": {
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
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"source": "NPR"
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"order": 15
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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