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Four women were carried away on stretchers. 13 women sued, saying the operation was retaliation for complaints of sexual abuse. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>California is taking steps to shield its coastline, as the Trump administration moves to increase offshore oil drilling.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Orange County officials have declared coastal erosion along the county’s coastline \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/oc-transportation-agency-board-declares-coastal-erosion-emergency\">an emergency.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://snapjudgment.org/episode/we-are-jane-doe-e2-operation-breakdown/\">Inside a mass use-of-force incident at women’s prison\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s the summer of 2024, and Antoinette Yancey, who’s incarcerated at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, said a sergeant named Isidro Arroyo came up to her. “And he said to me, the PREA, the staff assaults, the complaints and all the 602s, all of that stuff needs to stop,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>PREA complaints are those related to sexual abuse under the Prison Rape Elimination Act.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Yancy is on the Inmate Advisory council, which mediates issues between incarcerated people and staff. She said Arroyo’s demand came with a threat— if the complaints didn’t stop. “I’m going to lock you guys down, take all your privileges, and this is gonna continue until the complaints stop,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At least four other women said to KQED or in legal filings that they’d been warned to stop reporting sexual assault. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation didn’t answer questions about this incident and denied requests to interview Arroyo.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>About a month later, on the morning of August 2, Yancey and the other women at the facility, including Irene Avalos, were getting ready for the day when officers said they were going to search the entire housing unit. More than 150 women were marched into the dining hall, where they waited for hours, without food, medication or water. “Just a rude awakening. They came and just told us to get up, get out,” Avalos said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Through surveillance footage and KQED speaking to a dozen women who were there that day about what happened, they described chaos. Around 12:20 in the afternoon, dozens of officers in protective gear streamed into the cafeteria and formed a line. Sara Toledo was there. “We don’t know what’s happening. So we just see a bunch of officers. They’re forming like a big scrimmage line against us,” she said. The captain told Arroyo to “put them down with gas.” The line of officers began spraying the women with chemical agents. “As soon as the first spray hit, we all started running away,” Toledo said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eventually, one by one, the women’s hands were zip-tied behind their backs and they are taken outside to the yard, where the officers form a half circle around them. Footage shows one prisoner stood up to sit by another woman. Then officers deploy another round of chemical blast grenades and tear gas, throwing them at random at the group of restrained women.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eventually, four women were carried away on stretchers. 13 women sued CDCR over injuries they suffered that day. Their lawsuit also said the operation was retaliation for complaints of sexual abuse. The state admitted no fault, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077737/california-agrees-to-1-9m-settlement-in-prison-use-of-force-case\">settled for $1.9 million. \u003c/a>CDCR looked into what happened that day, and it resulted in the largest disciplinary action related to a single incident in the state’s history, but left key questions unanswered.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Newsom signs laws to better protect California’s coastline\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Governor Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/29/as-trump-targets-public-lands-governor-newsom-expands-free-state-parks-access-announces-record-conservation-progress-and-signs-legislation-protecting-californias-coast-and-wildlife/\">signed a package of bills\u003c/a> aimed at protecting California’s coast, wildlife and outdoor access. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of the bills aims to help protect California’s coast from potential expanded offshore oil drilling. It would prohibit existing infrastructure or leases to be used for new federal offshore oil and gas leases. It also requires the State Lands Commission to consider additional factors when approving an offshore lease renewal. Another would help minimize conflicts between people and wild animals. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The governor also signed bills aiming to increase access to the outdoors. That includes making the California State Parks Library Pass a permanent program. This allows Californians with a library card access to free day-use entry passes to over 200 state parks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/oc-transportation-agency-board-declares-coastal-erosion-emergency\">OC Transportation Agency board declares coastal erosion emergency\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Orange County Transportation Authority board on Monday declared coastal erosion conditions an emergency, allowing the agency to speedily replenish sand at San Clemente’s disappearing beaches in an effort to protect the coastal rail line.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The agency plans to place 690,000 cubic yards of sand across North Beach, Mariposa Point and San Clemente State Beach. The efforts will create between 80 and 130 feet of additional dry beach. By declaring the coastal erosion an emergency, the agency can waive normal bidding and contracting requirements.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/transportation/train-disruptions-san-clemente-coastal-rail-future\">Erosion and landslides\u003c/a> along the iconic rail corridor from South Orange County to the San Diego County line have caused several disruptions since 2021. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/powerful-el-nino-newsom-california-preparedness\">state of emergency\u003c/a> last week in preparation for the El Niño storm, which is expected to severely impact California’s coast.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>O.C. Supervisor Katrina Foley said red tape has hindered the agency’s ability to proactively protect beaches. “By aligning OCTA with the County and State’s declarations of emergency, we can potentially advance approximately 690,000 cubic yards of sand along San Clemente years ahead of schedule to restore our beaches while protecting our coastal communities and rail corridor,” Foley said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Through surveillance footage and KQED speaking to a dozen women who were there that day about what happened, they described chaos. Around 12:20 in the afternoon, dozens of officers in protective gear streamed into the cafeteria and formed a line. Sara Toledo was there. “We don’t know what’s happening. So we just see a bunch of officers. They’re forming like a big scrimmage line against us,” she said. The captain told Arroyo to “put them down with gas.” The line of officers began spraying the women with chemical agents. “As soon as the first spray hit, we all started running away,” Toledo said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Eventually, one by one, the women’s hands were zip-tied behind their backs and they are taken outside to the yard, where the officers form a half circle around them. Footage shows one prisoner stood up to sit by another woman. Then officers deploy another round of chemical blast grenades and tear gas, throwing them at random at the group of restrained women.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Eventually, one by one, the women’s hands were zip-tied behind their backs and they are taken outside to the yard, where the officers form a half circle around them. Footage shows one prisoner stood up to sit by another woman. Then officers deploy another round of chemical blast grenades and tear gas, throwing them at random at the group of restrained women.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Eventually, four women were carried away on stretchers. 13 women sued CDCR over injuries they suffered that day. Their lawsuit also said the operation was retaliation for complaints of sexual abuse. The state admitted no fault, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077737/california-agrees-to-1-9m-settlement-in-prison-use-of-force-case\">settled for $1.9 million. \u003c/a>CDCR looked into what happened that day, and it resulted in the largest disciplinary action related to a single incident in the state’s history, but left key questions unanswered.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Eventually, four women were carried away on stretchers. 13 women sued CDCR over injuries they suffered that day. Their lawsuit also said the operation was retaliation for complaints of sexual abuse. The state admitted no fault, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077737/california-agrees-to-1-9m-settlement-in-prison-use-of-force-case\">settled for $1.9 million. \u003c/a>CDCR looked into what happened that day, and it resulted in the largest disciplinary action related to a single incident in the state’s history, but left key questions unanswered.\u003c/p>\n"
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"text": "Newsom signs laws to better protect California’s coastline",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Newsom signs laws to better protect California’s coastline\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Governor Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/29/as-trump-targets-public-lands-governor-newsom-expands-free-state-parks-access-announces-record-conservation-progress-and-signs-legislation-protecting-californias-coast-and-wildlife/\">signed a package of bills\u003c/a> aimed at protecting California’s coast, wildlife and outdoor access. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Governor Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/29/as-trump-targets-public-lands-governor-newsom-expands-free-state-parks-access-announces-record-conservation-progress-and-signs-legislation-protecting-californias-coast-and-wildlife/\">signed a package of bills\u003c/a> aimed at protecting California’s coast, wildlife and outdoor access. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One of the bills aims to help protect California’s coast from potential expanded offshore oil drilling. It would prohibit existing infrastructure or leases to be used for new federal offshore oil and gas leases. It also requires the State Lands Commission to consider additional factors when approving an offshore lease renewal. Another would help minimize conflicts between people and wild animals. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>One of the bills aims to help protect California’s coast from potential expanded offshore oil drilling. It would prohibit existing infrastructure or leases to be used for new federal offshore oil and gas leases. It also requires the State Lands Commission to consider additional factors when approving an offshore lease renewal. Another would help minimize conflicts between people and wild animals. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The governor also signed bills aiming to increase access to the outdoors. That includes making the California State Parks Library Pass a permanent program. This allows Californians with a library card access to free day-use entry passes to over 200 state parks.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The governor also signed bills aiming to increase access to the outdoors. That includes making the California State Parks Library Pass a permanent program. This allows Californians with a library card access to free day-use entry passes to over 200 state parks.\u003c/p>\n"
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"attrs": {
"text": "OC Transportation Agency board declares coastal erosion emergency",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/oc-transportation-agency-board-declares-coastal-erosion-emergency\">OC Transportation Agency board declares coastal erosion emergency\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/oc-transportation-agency-board-declares-coastal-erosion-emergency\">OC Transportation Agency board declares coastal erosion emergency\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Orange County Transportation Authority board on Monday declared coastal erosion conditions an emergency, allowing the agency to speedily replenish sand at San Clemente’s disappearing beaches in an effort to protect the coastal rail line.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Orange County Transportation Authority board on Monday declared coastal erosion conditions an emergency, allowing the agency to speedily replenish sand at San Clemente’s disappearing beaches in an effort to protect the coastal rail line.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The agency plans to place 690,000 cubic yards of sand across North Beach, Mariposa Point and San Clemente State Beach. The efforts will create between 80 and 130 feet of additional dry beach. By declaring the coastal erosion an emergency, the agency can waive normal bidding and contracting requirements.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The agency plans to place 690,000 cubic yards of sand across North Beach, Mariposa Point and San Clemente State Beach. The efforts will create between 80 and 130 feet of additional dry beach. By declaring the coastal erosion an emergency, the agency can waive normal bidding and contracting requirements.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/transportation/train-disruptions-san-clemente-coastal-rail-future\">Erosion and landslides\u003c/a> along the iconic rail corridor from South Orange County to the San Diego County line have caused several disruptions since 2021. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/powerful-el-nino-newsom-california-preparedness\">state of emergency\u003c/a> last week in preparation for the El Niño storm, which is expected to severely impact California’s coast.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/transportation/train-disruptions-san-clemente-coastal-rail-future\">Erosion and landslides\u003c/a> along the iconic rail corridor from South Orange County to the San Diego County line have caused several disruptions since 2021. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/powerful-el-nino-newsom-california-preparedness\">state of emergency\u003c/a> last week in preparation for the El Niño storm, which is expected to severely impact California’s coast.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>O.C. Supervisor Katrina Foley said red tape has hindered the agency’s ability to proactively protect beaches. “By aligning OCTA with the County and State’s declarations of emergency, we can potentially advance approximately 690,000 cubic yards of sand along San Clemente years ahead of schedule to restore our beaches while protecting our coastal communities and rail corridor,” Foley said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Incarcerated Women Detail Devastating Use-of-Force Incident | KQED",
"description": "Here are the morning's top stories on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 Inside a mass use-of-force incident at women's prison It's the summer of 2024, and Antoinette Yancey, who’s incarcerated at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, said a sergeant named Isidro Arroyo came up to her. "And he said to me, the PREA, the staff assaults, the complaints and all the 602s, all of that stuff needs to stop," she said. PREA complaints are those related to sexual abuse under the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Yancy is on the Inmate Advisory council, which mediates issues between incarcerated people and staff.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, September 30, 2026\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>In August of 2024, at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, \u003ca href=\"https://snapjudgment.org/episode/we-are-jane-doe-e2-operation-breakdown/\">a mass use-of-force incident\u003c/a> took place. Four women were carried away on stretchers. 13 women sued, saying the operation was retaliation for complaints of sexual abuse. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>California is taking steps to shield its coastline, as the Trump administration moves to increase offshore oil drilling.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Orange County officials have declared coastal erosion along the county’s coastline \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/oc-transportation-agency-board-declares-coastal-erosion-emergency\">an emergency.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://snapjudgment.org/episode/we-are-jane-doe-e2-operation-breakdown/\">Inside a mass use-of-force incident at women’s prison\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s the summer of 2024, and Antoinette Yancey, who’s incarcerated at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, said a sergeant named Isidro Arroyo came up to her. “And he said to me, the PREA, the staff assaults, the complaints and all the 602s, all of that stuff needs to stop,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>PREA complaints are those related to sexual abuse under the Prison Rape Elimination Act.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Yancy is on the Inmate Advisory council, which mediates issues between incarcerated people and staff. She said Arroyo’s demand came with a threat— if the complaints didn’t stop. “I’m going to lock you guys down, take all your privileges, and this is gonna continue until the complaints stop,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At least four other women said to KQED or in legal filings that they’d been warned to stop reporting sexual assault. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation didn’t answer questions about this incident and denied requests to interview Arroyo.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>About a month later, on the morning of August 2, Yancey and the other women at the facility, including Irene Avalos, were getting ready for the day when officers said they were going to search the entire housing unit. More than 150 women were marched into the dining hall, where they waited for hours, without food, medication or water. “Just a rude awakening. They came and just told us to get up, get out,” Avalos said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Through surveillance footage and KQED speaking to a dozen women who were there that day about what happened, they described chaos. Around 12:20 in the afternoon, dozens of officers in protective gear streamed into the cafeteria and formed a line. Sara Toledo was there. “We don’t know what’s happening. So we just see a bunch of officers. They’re forming like a big scrimmage line against us,” she said. The captain told Arroyo to “put them down with gas.” The line of officers began spraying the women with chemical agents. “As soon as the first spray hit, we all started running away,” Toledo said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eventually, one by one, the women’s hands were zip-tied behind their backs and they are taken outside to the yard, where the officers form a half circle around them. Footage shows one prisoner stood up to sit by another woman. Then officers deploy another round of chemical blast grenades and tear gas, throwing them at random at the group of restrained women.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eventually, four women were carried away on stretchers. 13 women sued CDCR over injuries they suffered that day. Their lawsuit also said the operation was retaliation for complaints of sexual abuse. The state admitted no fault, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077737/california-agrees-to-1-9m-settlement-in-prison-use-of-force-case\">settled for $1.9 million. \u003c/a>CDCR looked into what happened that day, and it resulted in the largest disciplinary action related to a single incident in the state’s history, but left key questions unanswered.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Newsom signs laws to better protect California’s coastline\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Governor Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/29/as-trump-targets-public-lands-governor-newsom-expands-free-state-parks-access-announces-record-conservation-progress-and-signs-legislation-protecting-californias-coast-and-wildlife/\">signed a package of bills\u003c/a> aimed at protecting California’s coast, wildlife and outdoor access. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of the bills aims to help protect California’s coast from potential expanded offshore oil drilling. It would prohibit existing infrastructure or leases to be used for new federal offshore oil and gas leases. It also requires the State Lands Commission to consider additional factors when approving an offshore lease renewal. Another would help minimize conflicts between people and wild animals. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The governor also signed bills aiming to increase access to the outdoors. That includes making the California State Parks Library Pass a permanent program. This allows Californians with a library card access to free day-use entry passes to over 200 state parks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/oc-transportation-agency-board-declares-coastal-erosion-emergency\">OC Transportation Agency board declares coastal erosion emergency\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Orange County Transportation Authority board on Monday declared coastal erosion conditions an emergency, allowing the agency to speedily replenish sand at San Clemente’s disappearing beaches in an effort to protect the coastal rail line.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The agency plans to place 690,000 cubic yards of sand across North Beach, Mariposa Point and San Clemente State Beach. The efforts will create between 80 and 130 feet of additional dry beach. By declaring the coastal erosion an emergency, the agency can waive normal bidding and contracting requirements.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/transportation/train-disruptions-san-clemente-coastal-rail-future\">Erosion and landslides\u003c/a> along the iconic rail corridor from South Orange County to the San Diego County line have caused several disruptions since 2021. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/powerful-el-nino-newsom-california-preparedness\">state of emergency\u003c/a> last week in preparation for the El Niño storm, which is expected to severely impact California’s coast.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>O.C. Supervisor Katrina Foley said red tape has hindered the agency’s ability to proactively protect beaches. “By aligning OCTA with the County and State’s declarations of emergency, we can potentially advance approximately 690,000 cubic yards of sand along San Clemente years ahead of schedule to restore our beaches while protecting our coastal communities and rail corridor,” Foley said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-agrees-to-1-9m-settlement-in-prison-use-of-force-case",
"title": "California Agrees to $1.9 Million Settlement in Prison Use-of-Force Case",
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"headTitle": "California Agrees to $1.9 Million Settlement in Prison Use-of-Force Case | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has agreed to pay $1.9 million to settle a lawsuit filed by 13 women who say correctional officers injured them during a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004368/like-a-war-zone-prison-officers-used-unprecedented-force-in-august-attack-incarcerated-women-say\">mass use-of-force incident\u003c/a> at the Central California Women’s Facility in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaintiffs say they suffered seizures, respiratory distress and long-term vision problems after officers used batons, physical force and chemical agents on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I couldn’t breathe. My lungs were on fire … I thought I was going to die,” plaintiff Wisdom Muhammad said in a recent interview at her home in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The women received settlements ranging from $200,000 to $50,000 each, based on the severity of their injuries, according to their attorney Robert Chalfant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sexual abuse of inmates, excessive force, cruel and unusual punishment, retaliation, those things need to stop,” Chalfant said. “And the only way those things stop is through lawsuits and forcing the payment of large amounts of money so that people take notice of what’s happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email, CDCR spokesperson Mary Xjimenez said the agency has reviewed the incident and has taken corrective action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 41 staff members were found to have violated policy, making it one of the largest disciplinary actions issued against \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-department-of-corrections-and-rehabilitation\">CDCR\u003c/a> staff in a single incident, according to CDCR. Punishment ranged from transfers to termination, CDCR said, but the department has not yet responded to a public records request for disciplinary documents related to the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993411\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1742px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993411\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1742\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed.jpg 1742w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed-800x612.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed-1020x781.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed-160x122.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed-1536x1175.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1742px) 100vw, 1742px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Incarcerated people stand together in a yard at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, Madera County. \u003ccite>(Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004477/incarcerated-women-say-officers-used-unprecedented-force-in-august-attack\">Aug. 2, 2024\u003c/a>, incident began when officers removed more than 150 women from their cells and locked them in the dining hall while staff conducted a large-scale search of their cells. As temperatures in the Chowchilla facility climbed to more than 100 degrees and time wore on, the women began to ask for water, food and medication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prison officials have said that the incarcerated population “became disruptive.” Officers used physical force, batons and chemical agents to “stop the incident,” according to a review from the Office of the Inspector General.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complaint claims the women were complying with the officers’ orders and that the force was excessive and unnecessary. It also alleges that some women were denied or delayed medical care after being injured, leaving them with lasting physical and psychological harm.[aside postID=news_12004368 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility-1020x816.jpg']A total of 109 incarcerated persons were medically evaluated, CDCR said, and three were transported to an outside medical facility for a short time. In the wake of the incident, CDCR also said it made mental health staff and resources available to those affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staff were also retrained after the incident on how to respond to alarms and on the appropriate use of force, according to CDCR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The women involved in the suit have a broader claim about this incident as well, that it was retaliation for sexual assault complaints that they had filed against correctional staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The women’s prison in Chowchilla has been plagued by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11786495/metoo-behind-bars-new-records-shed-light-on-sexual-abuse-inside-state-womens-prisons\">reports of sexual assault for years\u003c/a>. In one high-profile case, at least 22 women accused correctional officer Gregory Rodriguez of sexual abuse dating back to 2014. The state ultimately paid millions of dollars to settle those claims. Rodriguez was criminally charged and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022075/former-guard-california-womens-prison-found-guilty-59-counts-sexual-abuse\">sentenced to 224 years\u003c/a> in prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, an \u003ca href=\"https://www.oig.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Staff-Misconduct-Monitoring-Report-January-June-2025.pdf\">audit \u003c/a>by the Office of Inspector General found that at least 279 women had sued the department, accusing at least 83 prison employees of sexual misconduct. The audit describes “a wave” of lawsuits filed by currently and formerly incarcerated people alleging staff sexual assault, harassment and misconduct. In response to the lawsuits, the department approved 402 investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating allegations of sexual abuse and staff misconduct at California women’s prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12003275\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12003275\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into staff sexual abuse allegations at two women’s prisons in Chowchilla and Chino, following a series of lawsuits and similar abuses at federal facilities like FCI Dublin, which was closed due to widespread misconduct. \u003ccite>(J. David Ake/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the settlement reached this past week, CDCR did not agree to any policy changes or other non-monetary terms, and did not admit to wrongdoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Department’s focus remains on the safety, security, and well-being of both the incarcerated population and staff,” Xjimenez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another class action lawsuit tied to the Aug. 2 incident is still pending. That case, known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70350459/1/pc-hooper-v-de-la-cruz/\">Hooper v. State of California\u003c/a>, raises similar claims that medical care was delayed or denied and that the use of force was excessive and retaliatory. It is set to go to mediation in May, according to court filings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR said it could not comment on pending litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chalfant said that many of his clients were scared to come forward. The incarcerated woman told him that correctional officers continued to reference the lawsuit and retaliate against them by writing them up for minor infractions and searching their belongings up to the day of the settlement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If individuals’ rights are violated in state prisons, lawyers are going to take those cases,” Chalfant said. “[These women] don’t lose their constitutional rights when [they] go into a prison facility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California will pay $1.9 million to settle a lawsuit alleging corrections officers used excessive force, batons and chemical agents on women at the Central California Women’s Facility, causing serious injuries, raising concerns about retaliation. ",
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"title": "California Agrees to $1.9 Million Settlement in Prison Use-of-Force Case | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has agreed to pay $1.9 million to settle a lawsuit filed by 13 women who say correctional officers injured them during a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004368/like-a-war-zone-prison-officers-used-unprecedented-force-in-august-attack-incarcerated-women-say\">mass use-of-force incident\u003c/a> at the Central California Women’s Facility in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaintiffs say they suffered seizures, respiratory distress and long-term vision problems after officers used batons, physical force and chemical agents on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I couldn’t breathe. My lungs were on fire … I thought I was going to die,” plaintiff Wisdom Muhammad said in a recent interview at her home in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The women received settlements ranging from $200,000 to $50,000 each, based on the severity of their injuries, according to their attorney Robert Chalfant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sexual abuse of inmates, excessive force, cruel and unusual punishment, retaliation, those things need to stop,” Chalfant said. “And the only way those things stop is through lawsuits and forcing the payment of large amounts of money so that people take notice of what’s happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email, CDCR spokesperson Mary Xjimenez said the agency has reviewed the incident and has taken corrective action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 41 staff members were found to have violated policy, making it one of the largest disciplinary actions issued against \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-department-of-corrections-and-rehabilitation\">CDCR\u003c/a> staff in a single incident, according to CDCR. Punishment ranged from transfers to termination, CDCR said, but the department has not yet responded to a public records request for disciplinary documents related to the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993411\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1742px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993411\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1742\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed.jpg 1742w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed-800x612.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed-1020x781.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed-160x122.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed-1536x1175.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1742px) 100vw, 1742px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Incarcerated people stand together in a yard at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, Madera County. \u003ccite>(Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12004477/incarcerated-women-say-officers-used-unprecedented-force-in-august-attack\">Aug. 2, 2024\u003c/a>, incident began when officers removed more than 150 women from their cells and locked them in the dining hall while staff conducted a large-scale search of their cells. As temperatures in the Chowchilla facility climbed to more than 100 degrees and time wore on, the women began to ask for water, food and medication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prison officials have said that the incarcerated population “became disruptive.” Officers used physical force, batons and chemical agents to “stop the incident,” according to a review from the Office of the Inspector General.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complaint claims the women were complying with the officers’ orders and that the force was excessive and unnecessary. It also alleges that some women were denied or delayed medical care after being injured, leaving them with lasting physical and psychological harm.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A total of 109 incarcerated persons were medically evaluated, CDCR said, and three were transported to an outside medical facility for a short time. In the wake of the incident, CDCR also said it made mental health staff and resources available to those affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staff were also retrained after the incident on how to respond to alarms and on the appropriate use of force, according to CDCR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The women involved in the suit have a broader claim about this incident as well, that it was retaliation for sexual assault complaints that they had filed against correctional staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The women’s prison in Chowchilla has been plagued by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11786495/metoo-behind-bars-new-records-shed-light-on-sexual-abuse-inside-state-womens-prisons\">reports of sexual assault for years\u003c/a>. In one high-profile case, at least 22 women accused correctional officer Gregory Rodriguez of sexual abuse dating back to 2014. The state ultimately paid millions of dollars to settle those claims. Rodriguez was criminally charged and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022075/former-guard-california-womens-prison-found-guilty-59-counts-sexual-abuse\">sentenced to 224 years\u003c/a> in prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, an \u003ca href=\"https://www.oig.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Staff-Misconduct-Monitoring-Report-January-June-2025.pdf\">audit \u003c/a>by the Office of Inspector General found that at least 279 women had sued the department, accusing at least 83 prison employees of sexual misconduct. The audit describes “a wave” of lawsuits filed by currently and formerly incarcerated people alleging staff sexual assault, harassment and misconduct. In response to the lawsuits, the department approved 402 investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating allegations of sexual abuse and staff misconduct at California women’s prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12003275\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12003275\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/USDeptofJusticeGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into staff sexual abuse allegations at two women’s prisons in Chowchilla and Chino, following a series of lawsuits and similar abuses at federal facilities like FCI Dublin, which was closed due to widespread misconduct. \u003ccite>(J. David Ake/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the settlement reached this past week, CDCR did not agree to any policy changes or other non-monetary terms, and did not admit to wrongdoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Department’s focus remains on the safety, security, and well-being of both the incarcerated population and staff,” Xjimenez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another class action lawsuit tied to the Aug. 2 incident is still pending. That case, known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70350459/1/pc-hooper-v-de-la-cruz/\">Hooper v. State of California\u003c/a>, raises similar claims that medical care was delayed or denied and that the use of force was excessive and retaliatory. It is set to go to mediation in May, according to court filings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR said it could not comment on pending litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chalfant said that many of his clients were scared to come forward. The incarcerated woman told him that correctional officers continued to reference the lawsuit and retaliate against them by writing them up for minor infractions and searching their belongings up to the day of the settlement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If individuals’ rights are violated in state prisons, lawyers are going to take those cases,” Chalfant said. “[These women] don’t lose their constitutional rights when [they] go into a prison facility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "complaints-about-californias-hellishly-hot-prison-cells-have-been-mounting-for-years",
"title": "Complaints About California’s Hellishly Hot Prison Cells Have Been Mounting for Years",
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"headTitle": "Complaints About California’s Hellishly Hot Prison Cells Have Been Mounting for Years | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As climate change exacerbates the risks of extreme heat across California, the state’s prison officials plan to embark on a $38 million pilot program to figure out how to keep their prison cells cool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes after years of complaints from prisoners about dangerous temperatures during the state’s brutal summer heat waves, warnings by advocates that the problem will only get worse as the planet warms and the death of an incarcerated woman last year during California’s hottest month on record — which officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation insist was unrelated to the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But don’t expect the prisons to become air conditioned anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pilot, approved by the Legislature this year amid a budget deficit, is a limited test of cooling systems and new insulation over the next four years at just three of the department’s 31 prisons. Results of the test are not expected until mid-2029.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The corrections department has pointed to the pilot as a step toward addressing the heat problem as it faces pressure from activists, lawmakers and judges to do more. Critics say it falls short, since it only applies to parts of facilities that house about 8,000 of California’s 91,000 inmates and does not require any future concrete action. The department is currently required in a federal court case to protect inmates with mental illness from heat risks, and uses a decades-old protocol to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With temperatures in some prisons reaching 95 degrees each summer, some prisoners’ advocates say the only safe solution to protect all prisoners is to install air conditioning statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Extreme heat poses a serious health risk to all in CDCR,” said Lily Harvey, senior staff attorney at the Prison Law Office, which represents inmates in several federal class-action court cases covering health care in state prisons. “Air-conditioned housing units are the only effective way to protect against that risk.”[aside postID=news_11993408 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1322060041_qed-1020x781.jpg']But department attorneys have pushed back, arguing in court that some facilities in more temperate areas might not need air conditioning. They have \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/green/wp-content/uploads/sites/176/2025/06/Climate-and-the-Impact-on-CDCR.pdf\">put the price tag\u003c/a> of “statewide implementation of effective air cooling mechanisms” at $6 billion, but have refused to provide a cost breakdown of that figure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Department officials declined to be interviewed for this story. Instead, in response to a detailed list of questions, department spokesperson Mary Xjimenez sent a written statement saying the heat problem can’t be solved statewide by installing air conditioning alone. For facilities that will need air conditioning, the department will also have to fix corroded roofs and other structural issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pilot will test different ways — air conditioning, insulation, or some combination of the two — to reduce indoor prison temperatures to 78 degrees at Kern Valley State Prison, Central California Women’s Facility and the California State Prison in Los Angeles County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most prisons currently rely on fans or evaporative cooling units (known commonly as swamp coolers), that have limited effectiveness when temperatures near triple digits. Xjimenez said the department will use the results of the pilot “to recommend a statewide strategy for scaling air cooling in a timely, efficient and cost-effective manner.” She pointed to $246 million worth of cooling improvements the department has started at five prisons over the past five years, though not all cover the cells where prisoners are housed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054782\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054782\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guard towers outside Kern Valley State Prison, one of three state facilities that will operate the cooling test, on Nov. 15, 2022. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters via CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, officials point to what they call their successful heat protocol, required by the court, which they use to monitor inmates who are most at risk of heat illness. From May to October, staff at every prison must record indoor and outdoor temperatures daily, move at-risk inmates indoors and, on the hottest days, check on them every few hours for signs of heat stroke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a monitor for the federal courts this year found gaping holes in its usage, calling consistent implementation of the rules “elusive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At half of the 14 prisons he toured, monitor Matthew Lopes found staff who were unaware of the protocol. He questioned the accuracy of officers’ temperature logs at two prisons; at three, he found broken or missing thermometers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some prison officials “commendably” go out of their way to ease conditions during heat waves, he wrote, others are “failing to approach compliance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘There’s really no reprieve’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Extreme heat is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/climate-change/2024/09/california-extreme-heat-population-growth-inland-communities/\">warping life for all Californians\u003c/a>, but state prisoners will be hit especially hard. Many are housed in inland or desert environments where temperatures are slated to rise more than the statewide average over the next few decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were 182 days last year in which at least one of the state’s 31 prisons was experiencing weather hotter than 90 degrees — amounting to half the year, according to a June CDCR report. On 46 days last year, at least one prison was hotter than 95 degrees indoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12054785\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatChartCM1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1220\" height=\"678\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatChartCM1.png 1220w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatChartCM1-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatChartCM1-672x372.png 672w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatChartCM1-1038x576.png 1038w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1220px) 100vw, 1220px\">Cal/OSHA only recently began \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2024/06/extreme-heat-california-workplace-rules/\">requiring indoor workplaces to be lower than 87 degrees\u003c/a> and to provide cooling areas that are no hotter than 82 degrees, but \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2024/04/workplace-safety-california-indoor-heat-prisons/\">correctional facilities \u003c/a>were exempted because of how much it would cost the state to comply. Some experts recommend cooling homes to at most 78 degrees during heat waves to avoid health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR instituted its summer heat protocol under federal court order after \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-05-mn-1789-story.html\">three inmates died in their cells of hyperthermia\u003c/a> at the California Medical Facility psychiatric prison in Vacaville in 1991. The men, all in their 30s, had been taking psychotropic medications to treat mental illness, which elevate patients’ body temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/family-resources/2022/09/02/cdcr-and-cchcs-extreme-heat-prevention-and-response-efforts/\">the protocol\u003c/a>, prison staff are required to share a list of inmates who take heat-sensitive medications every summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When outdoor temperatures reach 90 degrees, they are supposed to activate Stage 1, moving heat-sensitive inmates indoors. When indoor temperatures reach 90 degrees, they call Stage 2, giving those inmates more access to showers and ice. Indoor temperatures of 95 degrees should trigger Stage 3, during which medical staff are mandated to check on inmates every two hours to monitor for signs of heat illness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even outside the cells, heat affects every corner of prison life, the court-appointed monitor Lopes has found.[aside postID=news_12022075 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/ChowchillaWomensPrisonGetty-1020x680.jpg']Heat forces staff to shuffle counseling to less private spaces, disrupts group therapy and when inmates are forced inside during heat alerts, they sometimes lose out on programs and recreation time to stay in even hotter cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One prisoner at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco declined to take an antipsychotic medication urged by his psychiatrist because he didn’t want to lose his maintenance job over heat concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their housing units, there’s little inmates can do other than take showers and scoop ice when officers provide it. Concrete, uninsulated cells can be as much as 21 degrees hotter than common areas, the department \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/green/wp-content/uploads/sites/176/2025/06/Climate-and-the-Impact-on-CDCR.pdf\">has noted\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inmates may keep a personal fan in their cells; it’s available for $27 from the commissary. An inmate with no family support would have to work a minimum-wage prison job for about 4 weeks to afford one, estimates Bharat Venkat, a UCLA anthropologist who has researched the effects of heat on incarcerated people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawrence Cox, an advocate with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, spent years incarcerated in Calipatria State Prison, in the Imperial County desert and California State Prison Solano, in Vacaville. He and his cellmate would wet their bedsheets in the sink to try to keep cool, but with little ventilation, the cell only became more humid, and he developed heat rashes that he said left lasting marks on his skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have never sweated so much, continuously, all day, just simply by sitting there,” he said. “There’s really no reprieve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The heat protocol’s success depends on who’s on shift. Over the years, the monitor has found inconsistent record-keeping and compliance, according to thousands of pages of court records reviewed by CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though some facilities are testing digital temperature use, most prison staff maintain outdoor and indoor records on paper, in handwritten logs. A department spokesperson said supervisors are required to verify those records daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reviewing logs from the Central California Women’s Facility in Madera County obtained through a public records request, CalMatters found days in which prison staff did not record any indoor temperatures. Two days in 2022 the same indoor temperature was recorded at one of the facility’s housing units every three hours for the entire day, in the same handwriting.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A death at California’s largest women’s prison\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Every summer, incarcerated women at the Chowchilla prison flood the phone lines of community advocacy groups and attorneys’ offices, raising alarms about hot conditions. About 2,000 women are incarcerated across 15 housing units at the facility, which opened in 1990.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every summer from 2020 through 2024, Chowchilla saw at least seven days that reached or surpassed 105 degrees; last summer set a record at 28 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chowchilla, where imprisoned California woman died during heat wave, sees triple digits every year\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-N9qjd\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/N9qjd/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"516\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adrienne Boulware, who had been incarcerated there for about a decade by 2024, told her family each summer that the prison’s evaporative cooling units weren’t working, said her daughter Michaela Nelson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were usually worried about her every summer,” Nelson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even driving through the Central Valley to visit Boulware felt “treacherous” because of the heat, Nelson said. The family had helped her buy a fan for her cell, and she took showers to cool off, but in phone calls to her daughters in the summer of 2024, Boulware described the prison as “hot as hell.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boulware raised Nelson and three siblings in Sacramento. She was serving a 15 years-to-life sentence for second-degree murder in the 2011 beating death of a man she and another woman argued with in an abandoned car wash in north Sacramento. Nelson said her mother had been steadily repaying her debt to society, taking classes and running a Bible study. In recent years Boulware had started going to parole hearings, so her family was hoping for her release. Nelson, a home care worker in Georgia, planned to move back to California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like much of the state, Chowchilla was three days into a searing two-week heat wave during last year’s long Independence Day weekend when Boulware, 47, collapsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054792\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054792\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla in 2008. \u003ccite>(Tomas O’Valle/Fresno Bee via Reuters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On July 4, when temperatures were as high as 109 degrees outside, the swamp cooler in Boulware’s building was “blowing warm air but was fixed the same day,” CDCR attorney Melissa Bentz wrote in an email later included in court records. Staff placed coolers of ice water and “large industrial floor fans” in the housing units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On July 5, outside temperatures reached 108. A lieutenant at the prison told the Madera County Sheriff’s Office that Boulware, who court records say was prescribed the mood stabilizer lithium, was “outside in the yard most of the day,” according to a coroner’s report. After they returned inside, dorm-mates found Boulware on the floor of the shower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers were unsure if she was having a seizure or overdose. She was given four rounds of Narcan and taken to a hospital in Merced, where she died early the next morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C9yChJSSSO3/?hl=en\">public outcry\u003c/a> in the days that followed, department spokespeople downplayed the role of heat in Boulware’s death, telling reporters it “appears to be the result of an ongoing medical condition and not heat-related.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A toxicology report showed fentanyl was found in her blood. The Madera County coroner this year listed the cause of death as undetermined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say it can often be \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-extreme-heat-deaths-show-climate-change-risks/#nt=0000017c-3247-d42d-adfd-32ef494d0000-showMedia-title-promoSuperLeadSmall-1col-enhancement\">hard to identify heat as a cause\u003c/a> in deaths and medical events, especially when people have other health conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates and Boulware’s family believe her death was preventable. Records show the department itself suspected heat from the beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In prison staff’s first phone call to Boulware’s family before she was taken to the hospital on July 5, Nelson said, they told her sister she had suffered a heat stroke. In an email to plaintiffs’ attorneys and the court monitor a few days after the death, a prison medical provider wrote that the causes of death were listed as loss of consciousness, seizures, “heat stroke and possible overdose.” The email was included in court records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An alarmed plaintiffs’ attorney, Steven Fama, wrote to the court monitor on July 8 asking for an investigation. Citing Boulware’s prison medical records, Fama noted her body temperature was 41.5 degrees Celsius when she arrived at the hospital — 106.7 degrees Fahrenheit, eight degrees higher than the normal human body temperature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also raised more questions: Why, he wrote, was an inmate who was prescribed the heat-sensitive medication lithium “outside all day” during a triple-digit heat wave?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson said her family is still waiting for an answer. They also haven’t received her mother’s belongings — years of letters, photographs, everything the family bought her from the prison commissary and her mother’s Bible. Asked by CalMatters for comment, CDCR said it is following department procedures for returning Boulware’s belongings. Officials declined to comment on her death, deferring to the coroner’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard to not know,” Nelson said. “It’s always better to know than to just be wondering, wondering if she suffered, and how things could have been different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Increasing pressure on the state\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Seven months after Boulware died, in February of this year, court-appointed prison monitor Matthew Lopes wrote that her death was a “tragic reminder of the very real harm that can result from failing to properly monitor and treat patients on heat-sensitive medication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But corrections department attorneys urged him not to include that in his report evaluating CDCR’s heat protocol. In court records, staff attorney Nick Weber called it “charged language,” noting that, as of this spring, the coroner had not yet documented an official cause of death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Boulware’s death a year ago, advocates have used the incident to demand that CDCR do more to protect incarcerated people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, activists pleaded with the Cal/OSHA standards board to adopt a promised new workplace standard for state prisons. They argued that many prison inmates work in the facilities, whether in kitchens, facility maintenance, or as part of state programs that place inmates in jobs with private contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any new rule would require a drafting and public hearings process which can take years. Spokespeople for both the department and the Cal/OSHA board said they are in “discussions” about a rule, but no public process has begun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox’s group, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1424\">sponsored a bill\u003c/a> this year that would have forced the state to lower temperatures in all the prisons and require digitized, live temperature monitoring. The bill sailed through state Assembly committees and didn’t garner any official opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with the corrections department estimating it would cost between $10 billion and $20 billion to make the changes, author Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez said she knew it would be a tough sell amid a budget deficit. Rodriguez, a Democrat from Chino, agreed to hold it and revisit it next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she’s encouraged by the pilot program the department is starting, but wants to keep the legislation alive so officials don’t lose urgency to address the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Managing litigation costs is a factor when we consider infrastructure projects,” she said of the potential cost of installing air conditioning across prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, in a class action federal court case on medical care in California prisons, plaintiffs representing virtually every prisoner in the state have sought to bring heat issues before a judge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ve pointed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/15/texas-AC-prison-heat-summer/\">a case in Texas\u003c/a> in which a judge ruled in March that the lack of systemwide air conditioning there violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department has objected to the comparison. Unlike Texas, attorneys for the CDCR wrote in June, California prisons have experienced “very few sentinel events (such as deaths) among its patient population directly related to extreme heat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in California, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar has expressed interest in the issue, and directed the department to provide the plaintiffs data on the matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to say this very clearly, this is a medical issue,” he said in a June conference with attorneys on all sides. “This is a big issue, that’s only going to get bigger with the passage of time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/09/california-prison-heat-death-pilot/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After years of complaints from inmates and advocates about hot temperatures inside prison cells, California is finally embarking on a plan to cool some cells. But it’s only a test, and it will only help a fraction of inmates.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As climate change exacerbates the risks of extreme heat across California, the state’s prison officials plan to embark on a $38 million pilot program to figure out how to keep their prison cells cool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes after years of complaints from prisoners about dangerous temperatures during the state’s brutal summer heat waves, warnings by advocates that the problem will only get worse as the planet warms and the death of an incarcerated woman last year during California’s hottest month on record — which officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation insist was unrelated to the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But don’t expect the prisons to become air conditioned anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pilot, approved by the Legislature this year amid a budget deficit, is a limited test of cooling systems and new insulation over the next four years at just three of the department’s 31 prisons. Results of the test are not expected until mid-2029.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The corrections department has pointed to the pilot as a step toward addressing the heat problem as it faces pressure from activists, lawmakers and judges to do more. Critics say it falls short, since it only applies to parts of facilities that house about 8,000 of California’s 91,000 inmates and does not require any future concrete action. The department is currently required in a federal court case to protect inmates with mental illness from heat risks, and uses a decades-old protocol to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With temperatures in some prisons reaching 95 degrees each summer, some prisoners’ advocates say the only safe solution to protect all prisoners is to install air conditioning statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Extreme heat poses a serious health risk to all in CDCR,” said Lily Harvey, senior staff attorney at the Prison Law Office, which represents inmates in several federal class-action court cases covering health care in state prisons. “Air-conditioned housing units are the only effective way to protect against that risk.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But department attorneys have pushed back, arguing in court that some facilities in more temperate areas might not need air conditioning. They have \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/green/wp-content/uploads/sites/176/2025/06/Climate-and-the-Impact-on-CDCR.pdf\">put the price tag\u003c/a> of “statewide implementation of effective air cooling mechanisms” at $6 billion, but have refused to provide a cost breakdown of that figure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Department officials declined to be interviewed for this story. Instead, in response to a detailed list of questions, department spokesperson Mary Xjimenez sent a written statement saying the heat problem can’t be solved statewide by installing air conditioning alone. For facilities that will need air conditioning, the department will also have to fix corroded roofs and other structural issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pilot will test different ways — air conditioning, insulation, or some combination of the two — to reduce indoor prison temperatures to 78 degrees at Kern Valley State Prison, Central California Women’s Facility and the California State Prison in Los Angeles County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most prisons currently rely on fans or evaporative cooling units (known commonly as swamp coolers), that have limited effectiveness when temperatures near triple digits. Xjimenez said the department will use the results of the pilot “to recommend a statewide strategy for scaling air cooling in a timely, efficient and cost-effective manner.” She pointed to $246 million worth of cooling improvements the department has started at five prisons over the past five years, though not all cover the cells where prisoners are housed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054782\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054782\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guard towers outside Kern Valley State Prison, one of three state facilities that will operate the cooling test, on Nov. 15, 2022. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters via CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, officials point to what they call their successful heat protocol, required by the court, which they use to monitor inmates who are most at risk of heat illness. From May to October, staff at every prison must record indoor and outdoor temperatures daily, move at-risk inmates indoors and, on the hottest days, check on them every few hours for signs of heat stroke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a monitor for the federal courts this year found gaping holes in its usage, calling consistent implementation of the rules “elusive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At half of the 14 prisons he toured, monitor Matthew Lopes found staff who were unaware of the protocol. He questioned the accuracy of officers’ temperature logs at two prisons; at three, he found broken or missing thermometers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some prison officials “commendably” go out of their way to ease conditions during heat waves, he wrote, others are “failing to approach compliance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘There’s really no reprieve’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Extreme heat is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/climate-change/2024/09/california-extreme-heat-population-growth-inland-communities/\">warping life for all Californians\u003c/a>, but state prisoners will be hit especially hard. Many are housed in inland or desert environments where temperatures are slated to rise more than the statewide average over the next few decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were 182 days last year in which at least one of the state’s 31 prisons was experiencing weather hotter than 90 degrees — amounting to half the year, according to a June CDCR report. On 46 days last year, at least one prison was hotter than 95 degrees indoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12054785\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatChartCM1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1220\" height=\"678\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatChartCM1.png 1220w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatChartCM1-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatChartCM1-672x372.png 672w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatChartCM1-1038x576.png 1038w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1220px) 100vw, 1220px\">Cal/OSHA only recently began \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2024/06/extreme-heat-california-workplace-rules/\">requiring indoor workplaces to be lower than 87 degrees\u003c/a> and to provide cooling areas that are no hotter than 82 degrees, but \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2024/04/workplace-safety-california-indoor-heat-prisons/\">correctional facilities \u003c/a>were exempted because of how much it would cost the state to comply. Some experts recommend cooling homes to at most 78 degrees during heat waves to avoid health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR instituted its summer heat protocol under federal court order after \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-05-mn-1789-story.html\">three inmates died in their cells of hyperthermia\u003c/a> at the California Medical Facility psychiatric prison in Vacaville in 1991. The men, all in their 30s, had been taking psychotropic medications to treat mental illness, which elevate patients’ body temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/family-resources/2022/09/02/cdcr-and-cchcs-extreme-heat-prevention-and-response-efforts/\">the protocol\u003c/a>, prison staff are required to share a list of inmates who take heat-sensitive medications every summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When outdoor temperatures reach 90 degrees, they are supposed to activate Stage 1, moving heat-sensitive inmates indoors. When indoor temperatures reach 90 degrees, they call Stage 2, giving those inmates more access to showers and ice. Indoor temperatures of 95 degrees should trigger Stage 3, during which medical staff are mandated to check on inmates every two hours to monitor for signs of heat illness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even outside the cells, heat affects every corner of prison life, the court-appointed monitor Lopes has found.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Heat forces staff to shuffle counseling to less private spaces, disrupts group therapy and when inmates are forced inside during heat alerts, they sometimes lose out on programs and recreation time to stay in even hotter cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One prisoner at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco declined to take an antipsychotic medication urged by his psychiatrist because he didn’t want to lose his maintenance job over heat concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their housing units, there’s little inmates can do other than take showers and scoop ice when officers provide it. Concrete, uninsulated cells can be as much as 21 degrees hotter than common areas, the department \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/green/wp-content/uploads/sites/176/2025/06/Climate-and-the-Impact-on-CDCR.pdf\">has noted\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inmates may keep a personal fan in their cells; it’s available for $27 from the commissary. An inmate with no family support would have to work a minimum-wage prison job for about 4 weeks to afford one, estimates Bharat Venkat, a UCLA anthropologist who has researched the effects of heat on incarcerated people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawrence Cox, an advocate with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, spent years incarcerated in Calipatria State Prison, in the Imperial County desert and California State Prison Solano, in Vacaville. He and his cellmate would wet their bedsheets in the sink to try to keep cool, but with little ventilation, the cell only became more humid, and he developed heat rashes that he said left lasting marks on his skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have never sweated so much, continuously, all day, just simply by sitting there,” he said. “There’s really no reprieve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The heat protocol’s success depends on who’s on shift. Over the years, the monitor has found inconsistent record-keeping and compliance, according to thousands of pages of court records reviewed by CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though some facilities are testing digital temperature use, most prison staff maintain outdoor and indoor records on paper, in handwritten logs. A department spokesperson said supervisors are required to verify those records daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reviewing logs from the Central California Women’s Facility in Madera County obtained through a public records request, CalMatters found days in which prison staff did not record any indoor temperatures. Two days in 2022 the same indoor temperature was recorded at one of the facility’s housing units every three hours for the entire day, in the same handwriting.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A death at California’s largest women’s prison\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Every summer, incarcerated women at the Chowchilla prison flood the phone lines of community advocacy groups and attorneys’ offices, raising alarms about hot conditions. About 2,000 women are incarcerated across 15 housing units at the facility, which opened in 1990.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every summer from 2020 through 2024, Chowchilla saw at least seven days that reached or surpassed 105 degrees; last summer set a record at 28 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chowchilla, where imprisoned California woman died during heat wave, sees triple digits every year\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-N9qjd\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/N9qjd/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"516\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adrienne Boulware, who had been incarcerated there for about a decade by 2024, told her family each summer that the prison’s evaporative cooling units weren’t working, said her daughter Michaela Nelson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were usually worried about her every summer,” Nelson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even driving through the Central Valley to visit Boulware felt “treacherous” because of the heat, Nelson said. The family had helped her buy a fan for her cell, and she took showers to cool off, but in phone calls to her daughters in the summer of 2024, Boulware described the prison as “hot as hell.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boulware raised Nelson and three siblings in Sacramento. She was serving a 15 years-to-life sentence for second-degree murder in the 2011 beating death of a man she and another woman argued with in an abandoned car wash in north Sacramento. Nelson said her mother had been steadily repaying her debt to society, taking classes and running a Bible study. In recent years Boulware had started going to parole hearings, so her family was hoping for her release. Nelson, a home care worker in Georgia, planned to move back to California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like much of the state, Chowchilla was three days into a searing two-week heat wave during last year’s long Independence Day weekend when Boulware, 47, collapsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054792\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054792\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla in 2008. \u003ccite>(Tomas O’Valle/Fresno Bee via Reuters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On July 4, when temperatures were as high as 109 degrees outside, the swamp cooler in Boulware’s building was “blowing warm air but was fixed the same day,” CDCR attorney Melissa Bentz wrote in an email later included in court records. Staff placed coolers of ice water and “large industrial floor fans” in the housing units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On July 5, outside temperatures reached 108. A lieutenant at the prison told the Madera County Sheriff’s Office that Boulware, who court records say was prescribed the mood stabilizer lithium, was “outside in the yard most of the day,” according to a coroner’s report. After they returned inside, dorm-mates found Boulware on the floor of the shower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers were unsure if she was having a seizure or overdose. She was given four rounds of Narcan and taken to a hospital in Merced, where she died early the next morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C9yChJSSSO3/?hl=en\">public outcry\u003c/a> in the days that followed, department spokespeople downplayed the role of heat in Boulware’s death, telling reporters it “appears to be the result of an ongoing medical condition and not heat-related.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A toxicology report showed fentanyl was found in her blood. The Madera County coroner this year listed the cause of death as undetermined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say it can often be \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-extreme-heat-deaths-show-climate-change-risks/#nt=0000017c-3247-d42d-adfd-32ef494d0000-showMedia-title-promoSuperLeadSmall-1col-enhancement\">hard to identify heat as a cause\u003c/a> in deaths and medical events, especially when people have other health conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates and Boulware’s family believe her death was preventable. Records show the department itself suspected heat from the beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In prison staff’s first phone call to Boulware’s family before she was taken to the hospital on July 5, Nelson said, they told her sister she had suffered a heat stroke. In an email to plaintiffs’ attorneys and the court monitor a few days after the death, a prison medical provider wrote that the causes of death were listed as loss of consciousness, seizures, “heat stroke and possible overdose.” The email was included in court records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An alarmed plaintiffs’ attorney, Steven Fama, wrote to the court monitor on July 8 asking for an investigation. Citing Boulware’s prison medical records, Fama noted her body temperature was 41.5 degrees Celsius when she arrived at the hospital — 106.7 degrees Fahrenheit, eight degrees higher than the normal human body temperature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also raised more questions: Why, he wrote, was an inmate who was prescribed the heat-sensitive medication lithium “outside all day” during a triple-digit heat wave?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson said her family is still waiting for an answer. They also haven’t received her mother’s belongings — years of letters, photographs, everything the family bought her from the prison commissary and her mother’s Bible. Asked by CalMatters for comment, CDCR said it is following department procedures for returning Boulware’s belongings. Officials declined to comment on her death, deferring to the coroner’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard to not know,” Nelson said. “It’s always better to know than to just be wondering, wondering if she suffered, and how things could have been different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Increasing pressure on the state\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Seven months after Boulware died, in February of this year, court-appointed prison monitor Matthew Lopes wrote that her death was a “tragic reminder of the very real harm that can result from failing to properly monitor and treat patients on heat-sensitive medication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But corrections department attorneys urged him not to include that in his report evaluating CDCR’s heat protocol. In court records, staff attorney Nick Weber called it “charged language,” noting that, as of this spring, the coroner had not yet documented an official cause of death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Boulware’s death a year ago, advocates have used the incident to demand that CDCR do more to protect incarcerated people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, activists pleaded with the Cal/OSHA standards board to adopt a promised new workplace standard for state prisons. They argued that many prison inmates work in the facilities, whether in kitchens, facility maintenance, or as part of state programs that place inmates in jobs with private contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any new rule would require a drafting and public hearings process which can take years. Spokespeople for both the department and the Cal/OSHA board said they are in “discussions” about a rule, but no public process has begun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox’s group, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1424\">sponsored a bill\u003c/a> this year that would have forced the state to lower temperatures in all the prisons and require digitized, live temperature monitoring. The bill sailed through state Assembly committees and didn’t garner any official opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with the corrections department estimating it would cost between $10 billion and $20 billion to make the changes, author Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez said she knew it would be a tough sell amid a budget deficit. Rodriguez, a Democrat from Chino, agreed to hold it and revisit it next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she’s encouraged by the pilot program the department is starting, but wants to keep the legislation alive so officials don’t lose urgency to address the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Managing litigation costs is a factor when we consider infrastructure projects,” she said of the potential cost of installing air conditioning across prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, in a class action federal court case on medical care in California prisons, plaintiffs representing virtually every prisoner in the state have sought to bring heat issues before a judge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ve pointed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/15/texas-AC-prison-heat-summer/\">a case in Texas\u003c/a> in which a judge ruled in March that the lack of systemwide air conditioning there violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department has objected to the comparison. Unlike Texas, attorneys for the CDCR wrote in June, California prisons have experienced “very few sentinel events (such as deaths) among its patient population directly related to extreme heat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in California, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar has expressed interest in the issue, and directed the department to provide the plaintiffs data on the matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to say this very clearly, this is a medical issue,” he said in a June conference with attorneys on all sides. “This is a big issue, that’s only going to get bigger with the passage of time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/09/california-prison-heat-death-pilot/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "In San Quentin Program, Participants Reckon With Their Pasts and Lobby for Statewide Change",
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"content": "\u003cp>On a recent hot day, in the cool of the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center library, Hugo Campos tells a group of about 10 other incarcerated people the story of his best friend’s death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Motivational posters cover the walls, and three circles of chairs have been set up around tables.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campos reads slowly from a written reflection, telling the circle that when he was a teenager, his close friend — the local ‘weed guy’ — was shot during a drug deal gone bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was a big impact in my life,” Campos said. “I didn’t realize that until I came to prison or until I got to this prompt, honestly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the men nod along and shake their heads when he blames himself. The story is familiar. When he finishes, the facilitator, who is also incarcerated, thanks him for his vulnerability and opens up the conversation for comments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This type of peer counseling session is relatively common at San Quentin these days, where hundreds of volunteers come in every week to help people heal and prepare to reenter society. The prison is so well-known for its rehabilitative culture that Gov. Gavin Newsom last year \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/17/san-quentin-transformation/\">formally renamed it a “rehabilitation center.”\u003c/a> The governor also uses it as the centerpiece for his “California Model,” which focuses on humanizing incarcerated people and normalizing positive interactions between them and the guards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991734\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11991734 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A group of incarcerated people in blue jumpsuits sit in chairs in a circle.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Spanish-speaking group of incarcerated people participate in a Back to the Start program session in the library at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center on June 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Where this program is different from other peer-to-peer counseling groups is what will happen with these written reflections. They’ll be typed up and cataloged. Some will be brought to Sacramento to influence state policies pertaining to childhood social welfare issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We actually then work with the participants to leverage their stories for change, for systems change,” said Dr. Jenny Espinoza, co-founder of the program called \u003ca href=\"https://www.backtothestart.org/\">Back to the Start\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Espinoza and other advocates have identified a need for narratives about child welfare, school discipline, juvenile justice, gun safety — issues that are hard for people in the thick of it to comment on. And they have ready storytellers: men who have been through it all with a lot of free time and a sense of debt to society.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Trying to dismantle the ‘cradle-to-prison pipeline’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For nearly a decade, Espinoza was a primary care doctor at San Quentin before becoming the chief physician and surgeon of California’s prison health care system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she vividly remembers, early in her tenure at the prison, meeting a patient who had Hepatitis C and asking how long he’d had it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He just told me very matter-of-factly that when he was 11, his mother stabbed him with a butter knife in the chest,” Espinoza said. He told her that his aunt then injected him with heroin to numb the pain, and he was treated at the hospital with a blood transfusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991731\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11991731\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jessie Milo reacts as someone reads a story they wrote during the Back to the Start program at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center on June 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She quickly learned about many more incidents of early trauma among her patients at the prison, including failed foster care placements, abuse and abandonment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was the juncture where I wish I could have made a difference,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside her exam room at the prison hospital, she saw other effects of adverse childhood experiences — \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/aces/about/index.html\">referred to clinically as “ACES,”\u003c/a> which include experiences like abuse, neglect and seeing family members with substance-use issues, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more ACES someone has, the greater the likelihood they will experience toxic or prolonged stress during childhood, which can influence brain development, CDC research has shown. ACES are also linked to heart disease, diabetes and mental health issues later in life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991741\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11991741\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An outside view of a large prison facility (San Quentin).\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, on June 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Espinoza said she started the program to influence statewide policies impacting early childhood experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Participants in the program review bills under consideration in the state Legislature, select the policies they believe in and write personal letters to advocate for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Close to 30 participants and facilitators meet every Monday in the library to respond in writing to specific prompts about childhood experiences, read their reflections aloud and process them together as a group. Espinoza and another former prison doctor often sit in on the sessions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991732\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11991732\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hugo Campos (left) speaks to the group after reading a story he wrote during the Back to the Start program at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center on June 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Espinoza said by advocating for criminal justice reform, child welfare, violence prevention and education, Back to the Start is trying to dismantle the “cradle-to-prison pipeline” whereby childhood circumstances, poverty and an entrenched school discipline system often set up certain vulnerable people for incarceration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group has already had one successful lobbying effort. This summer, facilitator Donald Thompson wrote \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/05/08/i-am-serving-a-life-sentence-at-san-quentin-i-know-budget-cuts-will-hurt-foster-youth/\">an op-ed for the \u003cem>San Diego Union-Tribune\u003c/em>\u003c/a> imploring legislators to preserve funding for foster youth. Espinoza believes this and other narratives were part of the reason the funding was restored in the final budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Human, too\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Before the sessions start, as men mill around and sign in, 48-year-old facilitator Edwin Chavez introduces himself to outside visitors. Chavez is tall, with salt-and-pepper hair and a ‘San Quentin News’ badge around his neck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been to the worst of the worst, and to me, San Quentin is not prison,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chavez has been incarcerated for about 30 years and leads the Spanish-speaking group. He said the culture in San Quentin is different from other California prison facilities. Here, he said, guards call him by his name, not his number.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991735\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11991735\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A grey-haired man in a blue prison jumpsuit speaks to other incarcerated people who are sitting next to him on chairs.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Edwin E. Chavez (center) speaks during the Back to the Start program at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center on June 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chavez was a member of Back to the Start’s first cohort last year. He said he grew up in El Salvador during that country’s bloody civil war and understands the trauma that many in the Spanish-speaking group have experienced. Still, he said he learns more from the other men than he ever expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the stories told here never make it out of the library and into the halls of the Capitol, Chavez said, they still make a difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t even know about the word empathy within myself. Self-empathy, self-love, self-compassion,” he said. “That’s what this group has done for me.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A peer counseling program in the prison aims to influence the childhood social welfare policy in California. Participants say the process is also helping them better understand and come to terms with early traumatic experiences that influenced their trajectories.",
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"title": "In San Quentin Program, Participants Reckon With Their Pasts and Lobby for Statewide Change | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On a recent hot day, in the cool of the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center library, Hugo Campos tells a group of about 10 other incarcerated people the story of his best friend’s death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Motivational posters cover the walls, and three circles of chairs have been set up around tables.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campos reads slowly from a written reflection, telling the circle that when he was a teenager, his close friend — the local ‘weed guy’ — was shot during a drug deal gone bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was a big impact in my life,” Campos said. “I didn’t realize that until I came to prison or until I got to this prompt, honestly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the men nod along and shake their heads when he blames himself. The story is familiar. When he finishes, the facilitator, who is also incarcerated, thanks him for his vulnerability and opens up the conversation for comments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This type of peer counseling session is relatively common at San Quentin these days, where hundreds of volunteers come in every week to help people heal and prepare to reenter society. The prison is so well-known for its rehabilitative culture that Gov. Gavin Newsom last year \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/17/san-quentin-transformation/\">formally renamed it a “rehabilitation center.”\u003c/a> The governor also uses it as the centerpiece for his “California Model,” which focuses on humanizing incarcerated people and normalizing positive interactions between them and the guards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991734\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11991734 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A group of incarcerated people in blue jumpsuits sit in chairs in a circle.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-59-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Spanish-speaking group of incarcerated people participate in a Back to the Start program session in the library at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center on June 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Where this program is different from other peer-to-peer counseling groups is what will happen with these written reflections. They’ll be typed up and cataloged. Some will be brought to Sacramento to influence state policies pertaining to childhood social welfare issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We actually then work with the participants to leverage their stories for change, for systems change,” said Dr. Jenny Espinoza, co-founder of the program called \u003ca href=\"https://www.backtothestart.org/\">Back to the Start\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Espinoza and other advocates have identified a need for narratives about child welfare, school discipline, juvenile justice, gun safety — issues that are hard for people in the thick of it to comment on. And they have ready storytellers: men who have been through it all with a lot of free time and a sense of debt to society.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Trying to dismantle the ‘cradle-to-prison pipeline’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For nearly a decade, Espinoza was a primary care doctor at San Quentin before becoming the chief physician and surgeon of California’s prison health care system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she vividly remembers, early in her tenure at the prison, meeting a patient who had Hepatitis C and asking how long he’d had it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He just told me very matter-of-factly that when he was 11, his mother stabbed him with a butter knife in the chest,” Espinoza said. He told her that his aunt then injected him with heroin to numb the pain, and he was treated at the hospital with a blood transfusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991731\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11991731\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-23-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jessie Milo reacts as someone reads a story they wrote during the Back to the Start program at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center on June 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She quickly learned about many more incidents of early trauma among her patients at the prison, including failed foster care placements, abuse and abandonment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was the juncture where I wish I could have made a difference,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside her exam room at the prison hospital, she saw other effects of adverse childhood experiences — \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/aces/about/index.html\">referred to clinically as “ACES,”\u003c/a> which include experiences like abuse, neglect and seeing family members with substance-use issues, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more ACES someone has, the greater the likelihood they will experience toxic or prolonged stress during childhood, which can influence brain development, CDC research has shown. ACES are also linked to heart disease, diabetes and mental health issues later in life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991741\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11991741\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An outside view of a large prison facility (San Quentin).\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, on June 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Espinoza said she started the program to influence statewide policies impacting early childhood experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Participants in the program review bills under consideration in the state Legislature, select the policies they believe in and write personal letters to advocate for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Close to 30 participants and facilitators meet every Monday in the library to respond in writing to specific prompts about childhood experiences, read their reflections aloud and process them together as a group. Espinoza and another former prison doctor often sit in on the sessions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991732\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11991732\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-34-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hugo Campos (left) speaks to the group after reading a story he wrote during the Back to the Start program at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center on June 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Espinoza said by advocating for criminal justice reform, child welfare, violence prevention and education, Back to the Start is trying to dismantle the “cradle-to-prison pipeline” whereby childhood circumstances, poverty and an entrenched school discipline system often set up certain vulnerable people for incarceration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group has already had one successful lobbying effort. This summer, facilitator Donald Thompson wrote \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/05/08/i-am-serving-a-life-sentence-at-san-quentin-i-know-budget-cuts-will-hurt-foster-youth/\">an op-ed for the \u003cem>San Diego Union-Tribune\u003c/em>\u003c/a> imploring legislators to preserve funding for foster youth. Espinoza believes this and other narratives were part of the reason the funding was restored in the final budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Human, too\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Before the sessions start, as men mill around and sign in, 48-year-old facilitator Edwin Chavez introduces himself to outside visitors. Chavez is tall, with salt-and-pepper hair and a ‘San Quentin News’ badge around his neck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been to the worst of the worst, and to me, San Quentin is not prison,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chavez has been incarcerated for about 30 years and leads the Spanish-speaking group. He said the culture in San Quentin is different from other California prison facilities. Here, he said, guards call him by his name, not his number.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991735\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11991735\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A grey-haired man in a blue prison jumpsuit speaks to other incarcerated people who are sitting next to him on chairs.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-94-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Edwin E. Chavez (center) speaks during the Back to the Start program at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center on June 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chavez was a member of Back to the Start’s first cohort last year. He said he grew up in El Salvador during that country’s bloody civil war and understands the trauma that many in the Spanish-speaking group have experienced. Still, he said he learns more from the other men than he ever expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the stories told here never make it out of the library and into the halls of the Capitol, Chavez said, they still make a difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t even know about the word empathy within myself. Self-empathy, self-love, self-compassion,” he said. “That’s what this group has done for me.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Incarcerated Women Plead for Help After Central Valley Prison Death Amid Extreme Heat",
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"content": "\u003cp>The Madera County coroner’s office is investigating the death of a woman imprisoned at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla over the weekend as temperatures continue to reach into the triple digits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Coalition for Women Prisoners, an advocacy group for incarcerated women, said the woman suffered from heat-related illness after she had become incoherent and collapsed in a shower while trying to cool off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was heat exhaustion,” CCWP said in a statement, quoting a fellow inmate who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal. “She dropped to the ground and her legs started shaking and wouldn’t stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, however, said the cause of the unnamed woman’s death appears not to be related to heat but rather an ongoing medical condition. CDCR provided no other details other than the woman was transported to an outside medical facility on July 4, and she died on July 6.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are paying special attention to medically vulnerable incarcerated people, and will be providing additional water, ice, cooling areas, and information to our staff and incarcerated population on ways to prevent heat-related illnesses throughout this heat wave,” CDCR spokesperson Mary Xjimenez said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR declined KQED’s request for an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department said its heat protocols include monitoring temperatures every hour when indoor temperatures exceed 90 degrees. People vulnerable to heat are “moved to air-conditioned spaces, fans are used to provide additional cooling capacity, and the incarcerated population is given more access to more frequent showers, water and ice,” Xjimenez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kelly Savage-Rodriguez, a program coordinator with the CCWP, said the group has received dozens of calls from inmates who say CDCR isn’t following that protocol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you’re at high risk or a heat-alert patient, they’re supposed to be monitoring you, which means that every hour they physically check in on you. None of those things are happening,” she said. “You can be compassionate and still have safety and security.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the incarcerated women who reached out to CCWP about the health effects she’s been feeling during the heat wave is Trancita Ponce. “I have a huge migraine and I feel sick and other girls are throwing up,” she said in CCWP’s statement. “Please help us, they’re not doing anything for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, state workplace safety regulators at the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983396/prison-workers-excluded-from-indoor-heat-protections-by-california-regulators\">cut out state prisons and other correctional facilities\u003c/a> from protections for indoor workers during excessive heat events. That includes the tens of thousands of guards, nurses, janitors and other positions, and the nearly 39,000 incarcerated people who have jobs in state prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Central Valley \u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=CAZ302&warncounty=CAC039&firewxzone=CAZ580&local_place1=Chowchilla%20CA&product1=Excessive+Heat+Warning&lat=37.123&lon=-120.2602\">remains under an excessive heat warning\u003c/a> through Saturday morning.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Coroner’s officials are investigating the death at the Central California Women’s Facility, which advocates say was due to heat-related illness.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Madera County coroner’s office is investigating the death of a woman imprisoned at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla over the weekend as temperatures continue to reach into the triple digits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Coalition for Women Prisoners, an advocacy group for incarcerated women, said the woman suffered from heat-related illness after she had become incoherent and collapsed in a shower while trying to cool off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was heat exhaustion,” CCWP said in a statement, quoting a fellow inmate who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal. “She dropped to the ground and her legs started shaking and wouldn’t stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, however, said the cause of the unnamed woman’s death appears not to be related to heat but rather an ongoing medical condition. CDCR provided no other details other than the woman was transported to an outside medical facility on July 4, and she died on July 6.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are paying special attention to medically vulnerable incarcerated people, and will be providing additional water, ice, cooling areas, and information to our staff and incarcerated population on ways to prevent heat-related illnesses throughout this heat wave,” CDCR spokesperson Mary Xjimenez said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR declined KQED’s request for an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department said its heat protocols include monitoring temperatures every hour when indoor temperatures exceed 90 degrees. People vulnerable to heat are “moved to air-conditioned spaces, fans are used to provide additional cooling capacity, and the incarcerated population is given more access to more frequent showers, water and ice,” Xjimenez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kelly Savage-Rodriguez, a program coordinator with the CCWP, said the group has received dozens of calls from inmates who say CDCR isn’t following that protocol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you’re at high risk or a heat-alert patient, they’re supposed to be monitoring you, which means that every hour they physically check in on you. None of those things are happening,” she said. “You can be compassionate and still have safety and security.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the incarcerated women who reached out to CCWP about the health effects she’s been feeling during the heat wave is Trancita Ponce. “I have a huge migraine and I feel sick and other girls are throwing up,” she said in CCWP’s statement. “Please help us, they’re not doing anything for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, state workplace safety regulators at the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983396/prison-workers-excluded-from-indoor-heat-protections-by-california-regulators\">cut out state prisons and other correctional facilities\u003c/a> from protections for indoor workers during excessive heat events. That includes the tens of thousands of guards, nurses, janitors and other positions, and the nearly 39,000 incarcerated people who have jobs in state prisons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Central Valley \u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=CAZ302&warncounty=CAC039&firewxzone=CAZ580&local_place1=Chowchilla%20CA&product1=Excessive+Heat+Warning&lat=37.123&lon=-120.2602\">remains under an excessive heat warning\u003c/a> through Saturday morning.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Prison Officials Aim to Raise Hourly Minimum Wage for Incarcerated Workers — to at Least 16 Cents",
"headTitle": "California Prison Officials Aim to Raise Hourly Minimum Wage for Incarcerated Workers — to at Least 16 Cents | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#correction\">This story contains a correction.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the seven years Lawrence Cox worked as an inmate in California state prisons, he washed kitchen dishes and pans and cleaned urinals and dormitories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox said he was never paid more than 18 cents an hour and was not paid at all for some work assignments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation then deducted about half of his meager earnings to cover court-imposed restitution fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cox was eventually released last year, he was entitled under \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2007/pen/2700-2717.html\">state law\u003c/a> to collect $200, but received no additional compensation for his many years of labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Like a lot of people, I got out with really nothing,” said Cox, 39. He said he was lucky to get financial help from loved ones, but it was still difficult for him to afford housing, transportation and other basic services as he tried to reestablish himself after serving time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/regulations/wp-content/uploads/sites/171/2023/10/NCR-23-11-Inmate-Pay-Rates-Schedules-and-Exceptions.pdf\">Under a recent CDCR proposal\u003c/a>, tens of thousands of incarcerated workers in state prisons would get marginal wage increases, but most would still earn well under $1 per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan calls for doubling the minimum wage — from its current rate of just 8 cents an hour to 16 cents. Incarcerated people with the highest skill levels or in lead positions would earn as much as 74 cents an hour, up from 37 cents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is seeking public comment on the proposed changes through Nov. 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 39,000 incarcerated people have job assignments in state prisons, doing everything from construction and maintenance work to custodial, food and clerical services, among a host of other \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/202120220ACA3_Senate-Appropriations-4.pdf\">jobs\u003c/a>. Some also \u003ca href=\"https://www.calpia.ca.gov/about/\">manufacture\u003c/a> products like office furniture, license plates, cell phone equipment and eyewear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"prisons\"]More than 1,000 incarcerated firefighters across the state would also receive a pay hike. Under the new proposal, they would earn a maximum daily rate ranging between $5.80 to $10.24, about double their current daily rate of $2.90 to $5.13 — which includes an additional $1 per hour when battling active fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR said these wage increases would incentivize incarcerated workers to retain jobs that support their rehabilitation and would give them greater “buying power” for canteen hygiene and food items. It would also provide the state with more firefighting personnel, the agency noted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is the responsibility of CDCR to ensure its inmate population is treated with dignity and has the resources and skills needed to transition back to society. This responsibility extends to fair compensation for jobs performed while incarcerated,” CDCR said in its \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/regulations/wp-content/uploads/sites/171/2023/10/NCR-23-11-Inmate-Pay-Rates-Schedules-and-Exceptions.pdf\">notice\u003c/a> of the regulation changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Increased compensation will also help workers meet restitution-payment requirements for crime victims and save more money for after their release, Tessa Outhyse, a CDCR spokesperson, said in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed regulations would additionally eliminate all unpaid work assignments, Outhyse added, although it would also reduce a majority of full-time job assignments to half-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“CDCR values the contributions of its incarcerated workers and is committed to its mission to prepare people in its custody to successfully return to their communities,” Outhyse said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some living wage advocates have slammed CDCR’s proposed pay increases, calling them grossly insufficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the \u003ca href=\"https://onefairwage.site/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CA_NeedsLivingWage_2304.pdf\">California Living Wage For All Coalition \u003c/a>have questioned how incarcerated people will make more money, even with a wage hike, if their total hours are cut. They also argue that subminimum wages contribute to recidivism, as incarcerated people are often released into abject poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s shameful,” said Cox, who now works as a policy and organizing associate at \u003ca href=\"https://prisonerswithchildren.org\">Legal Services for Prisoners with Children\u003c/a>, an Oakland-based nonprofit. “To continue the practice of exploiting individuals is just deplorable. An increase to 16 cents … I still can’t do anything with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s pay schedule for incarcerated workers has remained largely unchanged for the last 30 years. The state’s hourly pay rate is well below the national average, which was 39 cents in 2017, according to CDCR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates argue the state has the ability to pay incarcerated workers higher wages. They point to the California Prison Industry Authority’s \u003ca href=\"https://jointventureprogram.calpia.ca.gov/workers-wages/\">Joint Venture Program\u003c/a>, which offers incarcerated workers comparable wages to those outside prison. The program boasts \u003ca href=\"https://jointventureprogram.calpia.ca.gov/benefits/\">a 9% recidivism rate\u003c/a>, drastically lower than for CDCR’s general population, although only 13 incarcerated workers are currently participating in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution forbids slavery and involuntary servitude except to punish crime. California’s law contains that \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/constitution/california/article-i/section-6/#:~:text=SEC.,prohibited%20except%20to%20punish%20crime.\">same exemption\u003c/a>, which allows CDCR to compel incarcerated people to work, regardless of the wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voters in several states, including Oregon and Alabama, recently approved measures removing\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-california-nevada-constitutions-cd220ed1abfd63c5971ee1394756c7e7\"> involuntary servitude\u003c/a> from their constitutions. However, a proposed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billHistoryClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240ACA8\">constitutional amendment\u003c/a> in California to prohibit involuntary servitude as a punishment to a crime is being considered in the state Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1371\">bill\u003c/a> to require CDCR to adopt a five-year plan to increase incarcerated workers’ wages was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year because of its fiscal impact, estimated at more than $400 million per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SB-1371-VETO.pdf?emrc=bdd649\">argued\u003c/a> that with lower-than-expected revenues, the state must prioritize existing obligations and priorities, such as education and health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca id=\"correction\">\u003c/a>January 29: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that a California constitutional amendment to prohibit all forms of involuntary servitude died in the state Legislature last year. This story has been edited to correct the inaccuracy that the measure is still being considered by the state Legislature.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Tens of thousands of incarcerated workers in California could soon get a slight wage increase, but most would still earn well under $1 an hour.",
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"title": "California Prison Officials Aim to Raise Hourly Minimum Wage for Incarcerated Workers — to at Least 16 Cents | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#correction\">This story contains a correction.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the seven years Lawrence Cox worked as an inmate in California state prisons, he washed kitchen dishes and pans and cleaned urinals and dormitories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox said he was never paid more than 18 cents an hour and was not paid at all for some work assignments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation then deducted about half of his meager earnings to cover court-imposed restitution fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cox was eventually released last year, he was entitled under \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2007/pen/2700-2717.html\">state law\u003c/a> to collect $200, but received no additional compensation for his many years of labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Like a lot of people, I got out with really nothing,” said Cox, 39. He said he was lucky to get financial help from loved ones, but it was still difficult for him to afford housing, transportation and other basic services as he tried to reestablish himself after serving time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/regulations/wp-content/uploads/sites/171/2023/10/NCR-23-11-Inmate-Pay-Rates-Schedules-and-Exceptions.pdf\">Under a recent CDCR proposal\u003c/a>, tens of thousands of incarcerated workers in state prisons would get marginal wage increases, but most would still earn well under $1 per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan calls for doubling the minimum wage — from its current rate of just 8 cents an hour to 16 cents. Incarcerated people with the highest skill levels or in lead positions would earn as much as 74 cents an hour, up from 37 cents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is seeking public comment on the proposed changes through Nov. 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 39,000 incarcerated people have job assignments in state prisons, doing everything from construction and maintenance work to custodial, food and clerical services, among a host of other \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/202120220ACA3_Senate-Appropriations-4.pdf\">jobs\u003c/a>. Some also \u003ca href=\"https://www.calpia.ca.gov/about/\">manufacture\u003c/a> products like office furniture, license plates, cell phone equipment and eyewear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>More than 1,000 incarcerated firefighters across the state would also receive a pay hike. Under the new proposal, they would earn a maximum daily rate ranging between $5.80 to $10.24, about double their current daily rate of $2.90 to $5.13 — which includes an additional $1 per hour when battling active fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR said these wage increases would incentivize incarcerated workers to retain jobs that support their rehabilitation and would give them greater “buying power” for canteen hygiene and food items. It would also provide the state with more firefighting personnel, the agency noted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is the responsibility of CDCR to ensure its inmate population is treated with dignity and has the resources and skills needed to transition back to society. This responsibility extends to fair compensation for jobs performed while incarcerated,” CDCR said in its \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/regulations/wp-content/uploads/sites/171/2023/10/NCR-23-11-Inmate-Pay-Rates-Schedules-and-Exceptions.pdf\">notice\u003c/a> of the regulation changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Increased compensation will also help workers meet restitution-payment requirements for crime victims and save more money for after their release, Tessa Outhyse, a CDCR spokesperson, said in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed regulations would additionally eliminate all unpaid work assignments, Outhyse added, although it would also reduce a majority of full-time job assignments to half-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“CDCR values the contributions of its incarcerated workers and is committed to its mission to prepare people in its custody to successfully return to their communities,” Outhyse said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some living wage advocates have slammed CDCR’s proposed pay increases, calling them grossly insufficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the \u003ca href=\"https://onefairwage.site/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CA_NeedsLivingWage_2304.pdf\">California Living Wage For All Coalition \u003c/a>have questioned how incarcerated people will make more money, even with a wage hike, if their total hours are cut. They also argue that subminimum wages contribute to recidivism, as incarcerated people are often released into abject poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s shameful,” said Cox, who now works as a policy and organizing associate at \u003ca href=\"https://prisonerswithchildren.org\">Legal Services for Prisoners with Children\u003c/a>, an Oakland-based nonprofit. “To continue the practice of exploiting individuals is just deplorable. An increase to 16 cents … I still can’t do anything with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s pay schedule for incarcerated workers has remained largely unchanged for the last 30 years. The state’s hourly pay rate is well below the national average, which was 39 cents in 2017, according to CDCR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates argue the state has the ability to pay incarcerated workers higher wages. They point to the California Prison Industry Authority’s \u003ca href=\"https://jointventureprogram.calpia.ca.gov/workers-wages/\">Joint Venture Program\u003c/a>, which offers incarcerated workers comparable wages to those outside prison. The program boasts \u003ca href=\"https://jointventureprogram.calpia.ca.gov/benefits/\">a 9% recidivism rate\u003c/a>, drastically lower than for CDCR’s general population, although only 13 incarcerated workers are currently participating in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution forbids slavery and involuntary servitude except to punish crime. California’s law contains that \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/constitution/california/article-i/section-6/#:~:text=SEC.,prohibited%20except%20to%20punish%20crime.\">same exemption\u003c/a>, which allows CDCR to compel incarcerated people to work, regardless of the wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voters in several states, including Oregon and Alabama, recently approved measures removing\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-california-nevada-constitutions-cd220ed1abfd63c5971ee1394756c7e7\"> involuntary servitude\u003c/a> from their constitutions. However, a proposed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billHistoryClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240ACA8\">constitutional amendment\u003c/a> in California to prohibit involuntary servitude as a punishment to a crime is being considered in the state Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1371\">bill\u003c/a> to require CDCR to adopt a five-year plan to increase incarcerated workers’ wages was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year because of its fiscal impact, estimated at more than $400 million per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SB-1371-VETO.pdf?emrc=bdd649\">argued\u003c/a> that with lower-than-expected revenues, the state must prioritize existing obligations and priorities, such as education and health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca id=\"correction\">\u003c/a>January 29: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that a California constitutional amendment to prohibit all forms of involuntary servitude died in the state Legislature last year. This story has been edited to correct the inaccuracy that the measure is still being considered by the state Legislature.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Advocates Push Back Against California Prisons' Strip-Search Policy",
"headTitle": "Advocates Push Back Against California Prisons’ Strip-Search Policy | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Renee Espinoza thought her first strip search at the hands of a California correctional officer guard would be her last. It happened during a visit to Centinela State Prison to see her incarcerated husband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months later it happened again. And then again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was the same process each time. I sign a paper saying it’s ok to search me, they escort me to the same locker room,” Renee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before each search, she filled out the so-called Form 888, a requirement for each visitor who consents to an unclothed search. The first search felt procedural and normal, she recalled. On the second search, she noticed the female officers in the room had mirrors and used a flashlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the third search, the correctional officer was more aggressive. “She was asking me to spread my genitals wider. And I’m just like, ‘there’s nothing in there!’ How much wider do you need me to open? How much lower do you need me to bend? What else do you need me to do?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Espinoza shared her story last week with other families of state prisoners who are trying to make sense of a proposed change in search policy at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department, which is facing pressure to stem the flow of drugs and cell phones into prisons, plans to make procedural changes that officials said would be minimal and meant to provide more clarity and consistency about the rights for those being searched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only change these regulations implement is in regard to proposed changes to (the state prison system’s) Form 888, which works to include clarity and consistency with existing language describing the search process and the rights of those being searched. The search process itself will remain unchanged,” wrote Alia Cruz, a spokesperson for the corrections agency, in an email.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Sharon Dolovich, law professor and director, UCLA Prison Law and Policy Program\"]‘All this does is expand the scope of discretion to make it easier to justify … I suspect they are already strip-searching anyone they want.’[/pullquote]But one of the proposed changes in the regulation includes language that suggests correctional officers could have more discretion to perform a strip search. That change would lower the threshold for an officer to request a search from “probable cause” to “reasonable suspicion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates are worried it could lead to unnecessarily invasive interactions between prisoners’ loved ones and correctional officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People who run the visits already have a lot of discretion,” said Sharon Dolovich, a law professor who directs the UCLA Prison Law and Policy Program. “All this does is expand the scope of discretion to make it easier to justify … I suspect they are already strip-searching anyone they want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney Eric Sapp of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an Oakland-based organization, met with families last week ahead of a scheduled public comment hearing on the regulation. He called the proposed change unlawful, inconsistent with other regulations, and said it was “concerning” that the department doesn’t explicitly say whether touching is allowed during unclothed searches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do think it’s unreasonable that they want to change and harmonize those regulations by lowering ‘probable cause’ to ‘reasonable suspicion’ rather than doing the exact opposite,” he said, suggesting that the standard should remain at probable cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruz, the department’s spokesperson, said the proposed regulation is not intended to change the threshold for searches. She said the standards for strip and cavity searches would remain “unchanged” and would continue to be used only after less invasive means.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unclothed searches are completely voluntary unless a search warrant is presented. Unclothed searches are used very sparingly, and only when all other contraband interdiction efforts have been exhausted,” said Cruz. “Contraband interdiction efforts to be used before an unclothed search is proposed includes walk-through metal detectors and hand-held metal detectors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Declining a search has a consequence for prison visitors. It means they would not get to meet their incarcerated loved ones, which in some cases could waste an hours-long drive to an institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why is the prison search policy coming up now?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s corrections agency put forward the proposed policy six months after an Office of Inspector General audit called attention to the flow of contraband into prisons, including during the pandemic when visitor restrictions were in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report found the Department of Corrections had weak contraband prevention efforts in place and ultimately “allowed” the problem to continue. The inspector general urged the department to strengthen oversight of who and what comes into prisons to keep out drugs, including by searching staff more frequently and making more use of narcotic-detecting canines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California state prisons recorded 1,274 overdoses between March 2019 and February 2020. In the following 12 months — after pandemic restrictions took effect — overdoses declined to 796, according to California Correctional Health Care Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the number of overdoses went down, the cases revealed that drugs found their way into prisons even when families couldn’t visit. Some avenues included staff, contractors, official visitors and mail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2021 and 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/contraband-interdiction/\">64 visitors were arrested\u003c/a> across all state prisons for attempting to bring in contraband. In the same year, six prison employees and 46 non-visitors were also arrested, according to the department’s Office of Research. The number of visitors arrested are down from 286 in 2018 and 186 in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drug delivery methods have gotten more outlandish. Recently two men were charged for using \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-09/drones-drug-smuggling-california-prisons#\">drones to drop drugs, vape pens, MP3 players and phones into prison yards\u003c/a> across seven prison facilities, according to the \u003cem>Los Angeles Times\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked to comment on the proposed search changes, Shaun Spillane, a spokesperson for the Inspector General’s office, said there is value in the decision to update policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Although drugs still made it into prisons while visitation was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that the department have an effective search process for people who visit prisons,” Spillane said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California prison visits as a civil right\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The request to update search policies comes in the midst of the Newsom administration’s campaign to make prisons friendlier to families. He signed a law last month that \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1226\">allows prisoners to be housed in facilities closer\u003c/a> to where their children under 18 live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration in 2021 added a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/news/2021/07/30/california-department-of-corrections-and-rehabilitation-to-launch-third-day-of-in-person-visiting-in-august/\">third day of weekly visitation\u003c/a> at all institutions to make family visits more accessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research shows that \u003ca href=\"https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/family-ties-during-imprisonment-do-they-influence-future-criminal#:~:text=Five%20empirical%20studies%20of%20the,disciplinary%20infractions%2C%20and%20lower%20recidivism.\">maintaining close family ties while incarcerated\u003c/a> contributes to positive parole outcomes and lowers the likelihood of recidivism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But families say that with intimidating visitor policies in place, they will feel less inclined to visit. Others say they would refuse a search in protest, even if it means losing their visit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Close connections to loved ones on the outside is the single biggest predictor of success for re-entry, so why wouldn’t the CDCR try to enhance the experience and enhance the ability for people to visit rather than increasingly burden it?” Dolovich, the professor from UCLA, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angel Rice, the wife of a prisoner and advocate at Empowering Women Impacted by Incarceration, said that after COVID-19, the department started giving families more freedom during the holidays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, children and mothers are allowed to make Christmas ornaments and picture frames and decorate gingerbread houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is a small part of them doing something in a positive manner to make us feel like it’s family,” Rice said. “This is the Department of Rehabilitation. And these little events matter. They make a difference as far as preparing them to come home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislature also has advanced a few bills this year to make family ties with prisoners more accessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One, sponsored by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago of Los Angeles, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB958\">would make visitation a civil right for prisoners\u003c/a> and restrict the Department of Corrections’ power to deny a person from visiting. Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/AB-990-PDF.pdf\">vetoed a version of this bill (PDF)\u003c/a> in 2021, on the basis that he thought the legislation could lead to costly litigation from individuals denied visitation for what may be valid security concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, the department is scheduled to hold a public comment hearing about the new search regulations. Advocates have already proposed alternatives to the visitor policy, including raising the standard for an officer to request a strip search, or using non-intrusive technologies instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These proposed changes in particular are unnecessary and dangerous, creating grave potential for abuse and causing undue burdens on visitors,” Sapp wrote in a letter to the department days before the public comment period ends. “We urge that significant changes be made before any regulations in this area are adopted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved, the department will put in a request for good cause, which would enact the policy immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to make prisons a friendlier place for inmate families. An updated strip-search policy has some worried that families will face intrusive encounters during their visits.",
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"description": "Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to make prisons a friendlier place for inmate families. An updated strip-search policy has some worried that families will face intrusive encounters during their visits.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Renee Espinoza thought her first strip search at the hands of a California correctional officer guard would be her last. It happened during a visit to Centinela State Prison to see her incarcerated husband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months later it happened again. And then again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was the same process each time. I sign a paper saying it’s ok to search me, they escort me to the same locker room,” Renee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before each search, she filled out the so-called Form 888, a requirement for each visitor who consents to an unclothed search. The first search felt procedural and normal, she recalled. On the second search, she noticed the female officers in the room had mirrors and used a flashlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the third search, the correctional officer was more aggressive. “She was asking me to spread my genitals wider. And I’m just like, ‘there’s nothing in there!’ How much wider do you need me to open? How much lower do you need me to bend? What else do you need me to do?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Espinoza shared her story last week with other families of state prisoners who are trying to make sense of a proposed change in search policy at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department, which is facing pressure to stem the flow of drugs and cell phones into prisons, plans to make procedural changes that officials said would be minimal and meant to provide more clarity and consistency about the rights for those being searched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only change these regulations implement is in regard to proposed changes to (the state prison system’s) Form 888, which works to include clarity and consistency with existing language describing the search process and the rights of those being searched. The search process itself will remain unchanged,” wrote Alia Cruz, a spokesperson for the corrections agency, in an email.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘All this does is expand the scope of discretion to make it easier to justify … I suspect they are already strip-searching anyone they want.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But one of the proposed changes in the regulation includes language that suggests correctional officers could have more discretion to perform a strip search. That change would lower the threshold for an officer to request a search from “probable cause” to “reasonable suspicion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates are worried it could lead to unnecessarily invasive interactions between prisoners’ loved ones and correctional officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People who run the visits already have a lot of discretion,” said Sharon Dolovich, a law professor who directs the UCLA Prison Law and Policy Program. “All this does is expand the scope of discretion to make it easier to justify … I suspect they are already strip-searching anyone they want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney Eric Sapp of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an Oakland-based organization, met with families last week ahead of a scheduled public comment hearing on the regulation. He called the proposed change unlawful, inconsistent with other regulations, and said it was “concerning” that the department doesn’t explicitly say whether touching is allowed during unclothed searches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do think it’s unreasonable that they want to change and harmonize those regulations by lowering ‘probable cause’ to ‘reasonable suspicion’ rather than doing the exact opposite,” he said, suggesting that the standard should remain at probable cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruz, the department’s spokesperson, said the proposed regulation is not intended to change the threshold for searches. She said the standards for strip and cavity searches would remain “unchanged” and would continue to be used only after less invasive means.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unclothed searches are completely voluntary unless a search warrant is presented. Unclothed searches are used very sparingly, and only when all other contraband interdiction efforts have been exhausted,” said Cruz. “Contraband interdiction efforts to be used before an unclothed search is proposed includes walk-through metal detectors and hand-held metal detectors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Declining a search has a consequence for prison visitors. It means they would not get to meet their incarcerated loved ones, which in some cases could waste an hours-long drive to an institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why is the prison search policy coming up now?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s corrections agency put forward the proposed policy six months after an Office of Inspector General audit called attention to the flow of contraband into prisons, including during the pandemic when visitor restrictions were in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report found the Department of Corrections had weak contraband prevention efforts in place and ultimately “allowed” the problem to continue. The inspector general urged the department to strengthen oversight of who and what comes into prisons to keep out drugs, including by searching staff more frequently and making more use of narcotic-detecting canines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California state prisons recorded 1,274 overdoses between March 2019 and February 2020. In the following 12 months — after pandemic restrictions took effect — overdoses declined to 796, according to California Correctional Health Care Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the number of overdoses went down, the cases revealed that drugs found their way into prisons even when families couldn’t visit. Some avenues included staff, contractors, official visitors and mail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2021 and 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/contraband-interdiction/\">64 visitors were arrested\u003c/a> across all state prisons for attempting to bring in contraband. In the same year, six prison employees and 46 non-visitors were also arrested, according to the department’s Office of Research. The number of visitors arrested are down from 286 in 2018 and 186 in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drug delivery methods have gotten more outlandish. Recently two men were charged for using \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-09/drones-drug-smuggling-california-prisons#\">drones to drop drugs, vape pens, MP3 players and phones into prison yards\u003c/a> across seven prison facilities, according to the \u003cem>Los Angeles Times\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked to comment on the proposed search changes, Shaun Spillane, a spokesperson for the Inspector General’s office, said there is value in the decision to update policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Although drugs still made it into prisons while visitation was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that the department have an effective search process for people who visit prisons,” Spillane said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California prison visits as a civil right\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The request to update search policies comes in the midst of the Newsom administration’s campaign to make prisons friendlier to families. He signed a law last month that \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1226\">allows prisoners to be housed in facilities closer\u003c/a> to where their children under 18 live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration in 2021 added a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/news/2021/07/30/california-department-of-corrections-and-rehabilitation-to-launch-third-day-of-in-person-visiting-in-august/\">third day of weekly visitation\u003c/a> at all institutions to make family visits more accessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research shows that \u003ca href=\"https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/family-ties-during-imprisonment-do-they-influence-future-criminal#:~:text=Five%20empirical%20studies%20of%20the,disciplinary%20infractions%2C%20and%20lower%20recidivism.\">maintaining close family ties while incarcerated\u003c/a> contributes to positive parole outcomes and lowers the likelihood of recidivism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But families say that with intimidating visitor policies in place, they will feel less inclined to visit. Others say they would refuse a search in protest, even if it means losing their visit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Close connections to loved ones on the outside is the single biggest predictor of success for re-entry, so why wouldn’t the CDCR try to enhance the experience and enhance the ability for people to visit rather than increasingly burden it?” Dolovich, the professor from UCLA, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angel Rice, the wife of a prisoner and advocate at Empowering Women Impacted by Incarceration, said that after COVID-19, the department started giving families more freedom during the holidays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, children and mothers are allowed to make Christmas ornaments and picture frames and decorate gingerbread houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is a small part of them doing something in a positive manner to make us feel like it’s family,” Rice said. “This is the Department of Rehabilitation. And these little events matter. They make a difference as far as preparing them to come home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislature also has advanced a few bills this year to make family ties with prisoners more accessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One, sponsored by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago of Los Angeles, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB958\">would make visitation a civil right for prisoners\u003c/a> and restrict the Department of Corrections’ power to deny a person from visiting. Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/AB-990-PDF.pdf\">vetoed a version of this bill (PDF)\u003c/a> in 2021, on the basis that he thought the legislation could lead to costly litigation from individuals denied visitation for what may be valid security concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, the department is scheduled to hold a public comment hearing about the new search regulations. Advocates have already proposed alternatives to the visitor policy, including raising the standard for an officer to request a strip search, or using non-intrusive technologies instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These proposed changes in particular are unnecessary and dangerous, creating grave potential for abuse and causing undue burdens on visitors,” Sapp wrote in a letter to the department days before the public comment period ends. “We urge that significant changes be made before any regulations in this area are adopted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved, the department will put in a request for good cause, which would enact the policy immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "the-state-overturned-her-murder-conviction-but-ice-still-wants-to-deport-her-this-california-woman-is-caught-in-a-legal-tug-of-war",
"title": "California Overturned Her Murder Conviction. ICE Still Wants to Deport Her",
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"content": "\u003cp>On the morning of July 27, 2021, Sandra Castañeda woke with a mixture of elation and dread. She was about to be released from prison after 19 years. What she wanted more than anything was to walk out of the California Institution for Women in Chino and head home for a reunion with her family in Los Angeles. She had imagined this day for so long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a lifer, you want to get out of prison so bad,” she said. “But when it’s there, you freak out,” wondering what freedom will be like, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda, then 39, had spent nearly half of her life behind bars. She’d been sentenced to 40 years to life for murder, even though she didn’t actually kill anyone.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11924388,news_11923465,news_11909454\"]While Castañeda was in prison, California had enacted a series of criminal justice reforms, including one that allowed her to be resentenced. A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles had vacated Castañeda’s murder conviction and ordered her release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Castañeda didn’t walk free. Instead, she was loaded into a white van operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda’s story highlights how noncitizens, even longtime legal residents with green cards like Castañeda, are routinely funneled from state prison into the federal deportation system — even after the convictions that would make them deportable have been overturned. In a clash with state policy, legal records show, ICE and the federal immigration courts are disregarding state reforms that are letting people out of prison and dismissing old convictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the help of others familiar with her case, Castañeda, a woman with a cascade of dark curls and an infectious laugh, explained how that July day unfolded and what it meant — for her, and potentially for thousands of other noncitizens who have had their convictions dismissed.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>From prison to ICE custody\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At 8 a.m., Colby Lenz, an advocate with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, pulled into the parking lot of the prison in Chino, to await Castañeda’s release and give her a ride home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But at 9 a.m. she watched as the guard in the tower opened the prison gate and the white ICE van rolled in. She saw guards walk Castañeda out and load her into the van. Lenz says Castañeda’s friends inside the facility were watching, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of Sandra’s close friends had come as close as they could to this area and were calling out to her,” she said. “They were basically telling her that they loved her, and were certainly distressed at what they were seeing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The van drove Castañeda to the ICE field office in San Bernardino. Lenz followed in her car. By 10 a.m. Castañeda was in a holding cell and Lenz was making urgent calls to Anoop Prasad, an immigration lawyer with the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, who agreed to take on Castañeda’s immigration case pro bono.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939152\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939152\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt='A south Asian man in a green sweater and jeans stands outside an office with \"Advancing Justice\" written on the window.' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anoop Prasad poses for a portrait outside the Asian Law Caucus offices in San Francisco on Aug. 5, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Anoop and I were tag teaming, calling the ICE office,” said Lenz. “We both talked to some of the officers there, trying to convince them that this was not a legal detention.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prasad said he even convinced the LA County District Attorney’s Office, which had originally prosecuted Castañeda, to call ICE and explain that her murder conviction had been vacated. But ICE seemed determined to keep her in custody.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Gang friendships and a shooting\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Castañeda’s original conviction was connected to a murder that took place in 2002, when a teenage girl was shot and killed — and Castañeda was there. But the events of that night are rooted in the early chapters of her story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long before Castañeda was born, her family straddled the border with Mexico. Her grandmother was born in the U.S. Her mother and father were from the Mexican border city of Mexicali. When Castañeda was a little girl, the family spent time in both countries. Eventually her parents settled in LA, leaving her and her older sister with relatives in Mexicali. By the time Castañeda was 9, her parents had separated and her mother had started a new family. But an aunt and uncle in LA brought Castañeda and her sister to the U.S. on green cards, raising them along with their own children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939173\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939173\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-800x888.jpeg\" alt=\"The image of a young Latina girl of kindergarten age wearing a white dress.\" width=\"800\" height=\"888\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-800x888.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-1020x1132.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-160x178.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-1384x1536.jpeg 1384w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-1845x2048.jpeg 1845w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandra Castañeda at her kindergarten graduation. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sandra Castañeda)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That aunt, Virginia Reyes, remembers Castañeda as a quiet kid who didn’t cause trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sandrita was totally calm,” said Reyes in Spanish. “She was not a difficult girl.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reyes and her husband ran a clothing factory in South Central LA, assembling garments for the fashion industry. They called it Sandra’s Fashions. They employed more than 20 workers, Reyes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reyes and her husband put in really long hours, building the business to support the family. That left Castañeda to fend for herself a lot as a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’d leave early, they’d come home real late,” she said. “They’d work seven days a week. So it was always work, work, work, work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being involved with the family business taught her a strong work ethic, Castañeda said. But the uncertain bonds of her childhood also left her yearning for a sense of belonging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In junior high school, Castañeda made friends with some tough kids who were part of a gang. Her aunt tried to protect her by putting her in a Catholic school. But it didn’t help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939177\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939177\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"A Latina girl sips a soft drink with white dress on and long brown hair.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandra Castañeda, age 12, sips a soft drink. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sandra Castañeda)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Castañeda never got in trouble with the law. But that changed on the night of May 10, 2002, when she was 20. Castañeda later testified that she was driving some friends to Taco Bell in her van around midnight, when a guy in the van told her to slow down. Then suddenly, he started firing out the window.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda is cautious when talking about the crime, because, even two decades later, she’s worried about gang retaliation. So KQED has agreed not to use the names of the victims or the names or gang monikers of those involved in the shooting. And Castañeda asked that Prasad, her immigration lawyer, be the one to describe what happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the people in the van thought they saw someone in the neighborhood who was from a rival gang,” Prasad told me. “He asked her to slow down, and she — didn’t really know what was going on — slowed down. The person pulled out a gun and started shooting from the car.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bullets hit two teenagers who were sitting on the front steps of an apartment building in South Central. An 18-year-old was shot in the leg — and he recovered. But the 15-year-old girl beside him was killed. In a panic, Castañeda drove on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She stopped a couple of blocks later,” Prasad recounted. “Police were already there on the scene. And she was the only one who was arrested. Everyone else ran away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda was taken to jail. A California law at the time — known as the felony murder rule — said that if a person dies while a felony is being committed, anyone involved could be found guilty of murder, whether or not they intended or committed the killing. Under the law, prosecutors charged Castañeda with murder because she was driving the van, even though she herself didn’t kill anyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a tough-on-crime era,” said Prasad. “Across the state, anyone who was remotely connected or even present at the scene would [often] get hit with a murder charge … So I think the DA just aggressively prosecuted and used this overly broad theory to charge her with murder.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939247\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11939247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/DFA515F8-B9A7-4799-BA3E-AEFDFEDFD2D3signal-2022-04-22-221307_001.jpeg\" alt=\"A Latina family spanning three generations smile at the camera.\" width=\"720\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/DFA515F8-B9A7-4799-BA3E-AEFDFEDFD2D3signal-2022-04-22-221307_001.jpeg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/DFA515F8-B9A7-4799-BA3E-AEFDFEDFD2D3signal-2022-04-22-221307_001-160x114.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Castañeda with her mother, her sister and her sister’s children on a prison visit in 2016. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sandra Castañeda)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Castañeda went on trial. But her aunt didn’t think the police detectives were doing enough to find the actual killer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I tried to be a detective myself,” recalled Reyes. “I went places I never imagined going, trying to track down the person who had done this. I even went to parties, dressing up to look younger. I put up fliers around town with his photo on them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reyes had no luck — until one day, after the trial was over, she says she saw the man at a car wash. She was afraid he would recognize her, but she pulled over and got on the phone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I called the police and I called the lawyer. And they just replied, ‘Oh, the case is closed.’” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. I felt so powerless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The LA Police Department now says the case is still open. But no one else has ever been arrested or prosecuted for the shooting, according to officials at the LA County District Attorney’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda was convicted of second-degree murder and attempted murder. The sentence came with enhancements because a gun was used in the killing, and there was gang involvement: 40 years to life behind bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reyes says when she heard the verdict, she was in shock. Castañeda had no criminal history and insisted she hadn’t planned to hurt anyone. Reyes expected her niece to face punishment, but not more than a couple of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How was it possible that this person was still walking free and Sandra was going to be locked up for so many years?” Reyes wondered.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Coming of age behind bars\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At first when Castañeda went to prison, back in 2003, she was angry. But over time she developed a new perspective on the crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was not a planned situation — it just kind of happened. But I still feel that I did have a part because I was the driver,” she said. “So today I know that back then I had choices. But as a young person, I didn’t know that I did … Today I do understand and I take full responsibility for my part.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In prison, Castañeda sought out peer support groups. She took college courses. She worked in the carpentry, paint and auto shops, learning new skills and finding satisfaction in physical work. She also became a leader in the hospice program, caring for women who were dying in prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got to know who I was as a person, so I’m not bitter at all,” she said. “Prison made me the woman that I am today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda — once a shy child — learned she’s resilient and a go-getter. She learned not to be afraid to speak up for what she believes and to advocate for others.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘[T]here’s always that little hope … ‘\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2018, something happened that Castañeda never expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Legislature \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11685094/not-the-killer-but-charged-with-murder-lawmakers-weigh-changing-felony-murder-law\">dramatically restricted\u003c/a> the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1437\">felony murder rule\u003c/a>, the law that led to her conviction. Lawmakers cited the injustice of a law that disproportionately affected women and people of color. State courts had even questioned whether the old law was constitutional. The reform was part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11714104/jerry-brown-will-leave-lasting-impact-on-criminal-justice-in-california\">broader movement in California\u003c/a> and elsewhere to reduce mass incarceration and over-punishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Castañeda, it meant she could ask a judge to vacate her murder conviction and give her a new sentence. A Stanford University law clinic connected her with a pro bono lawyer who helped her petition for resentencing. The head of the state prison system even wrote a letter of support.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Virginia Reyes, aunt of Sandra Castañeda\"]‘How was it possible that this person was still walking free and Sandra was going to be locked up for so many years?’[/pullquote]Castañeda tried to manage her expectations. As a lifer, she knew she might die in prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But I mean, there’s always that little hope in there, you know? I think as human beings, we want to believe that something good is going to come out,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trying all her options, Castañeda also applied for clemency from Gov. Gavin Newsom. And in Nov. 2020, recognizing her rehabilitation, \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1xG8ED1L6wFFaizn1W5KwboN16e2bniOh\">Newsom commuted her sentence\u003c/a>, making her immediately eligible for parole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, something even bigger happened. In July of 2021, a California judge approved her petition for resentencing and dismissed her murder conviction entirely, giving her a much lesser charge, accessory after the fact. Finally, Castañeda was ordered released. She couldn’t stop crying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was worse than the Llorona,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A green card is a privilege\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s criminal justice system was saying Castañeda could go home and start to build a life as a free woman. But the federal system had a different goal. Under U.S. immigration law, having a green card is a privilege that can be taken away. So if an immigrant who’s not a citizen, even a lawful permanent resident like Castañeda, commits certain crimes, they can lose their legal status and be deported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939179\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939179\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A south Asian man seen from behind talking to a woman through his computer, the woman's face is visible on the screen.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lawyer Anoop Prasad speaks with Sandra Castañeda through a video call, in the Asian Law Caucus offices in San Francisco on Aug. 5, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The list of deportable crimes — known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/aggravated-felonies-overview\">aggravated felonies\u003c/a> — has grown longer over the years. Notably, in the 1990s President Bill Clinton signed two laws that \u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/time-bill-clinton-apologize-immigrants/601579/\">vastly expanded the number\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, advocates note, people can lose their green cards for a laundry list of reasons, like shoplifting, drug charges and failure to appear in court. Yet some of these have actually been decriminalized by states like California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California over the last decade or so has recognized that the lock-’em-up mentality … led to a ballooning of our prison and jail population, but didn’t actually result in safer communities,” said Rose Cahn, attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says the way federal immigration law is enforced should recognize state criminal justice reforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A conviction that’s been dismissed at the state level — where you have DAs of all political stripes saying, ‘Hey, this doesn’t need to be on someone’s record’ — should not be on someone’s record, plain and simple,” said Cahn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s not happening. ICE lawyers are still pushing to deport people like Castañeda, based on convictions that have been reduced or even dismissed. And they’re backed up by rulings in the federal immigration courts that say immigrants are still deportable if their conviction and sentence was reduced, unless the change was “based on a procedural or substantive defect in the underlying criminal proceeding.”[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Sandra Castañeda\"]‘These people are still messing with my life, even though I already paid for my crime.’[/pullquote]The number of people caught in this situation isn’t tracked by any agency, but some immigration experts estimate it affects thousands nationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An ICE spokesperson, who declined to be named, said the agency’s officers make decisions about who to pursue “in a responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement professionals and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland.” And she noted that ICE prosecutors can and do exercise discretion in deciding whether to prosecute individual cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, a sanctuary law prevents police and sheriffs from cooperating in immigration enforcement in most cases. But there’s a broad loophole for prisons. So the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the state prison system, notifies ICE when they take in anyone who’s foreign born, then accommodates ICE requests to interview and take custody of immigrants at the time of their release, documents show. More than 1,600 people were turned over from California prisons to ICE in 2020, according to CDCR data obtained by the ACLU.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their policy is that they will report anyone who’s not born in the U.S. and they will actively work to turn over anyone that ICE says they want to come and arrest … even if the person has been exonerated,” said Prasad. “It’s really just an absurd policy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State prison officials say it’s not their job to decide whether someone’s deportable. They say they simply comply when ICE issues a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ice.gov/features/detainers\">detainer\u003c/a>, a request to hold an incarcerated person for transfer.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Anoop Prasad, immigration lawyer, Asian Law Caucus\"]‘ICE can just say we’re not going to choose to go after and deport these people. We don’t need Congress to even step in here and fix it. It’s just one of those things that the Biden administration can just fix tomorrow.’[/pullquote]“CDCR responds to detainers from all law enforcement agencies including local, state, and federal,” said CDCR spokesperson Vicky Waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, immigrants who’ve served their prison sentences — and even those like Castañeda, who’ve been exonerated of crimes — get caught between the state, which aims to let them rejoin society, and the federal government, which wants to lock them up and deport them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Detained and shipped to Georgia\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Castañeda, all this meant that on the day she was released from prison after serving 19 years — for a murder she herself didn’t commit — a new legal battle was just beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she sat in a holding cell at the ICE field office in San Bernardino that July morning in 2021, agents were trying to figure out where to send her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was on the phone with the deportation officer, and he’s saying, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to find a bed. And if we don’t, I will release her on an ankle monitor,’” said Prasad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 3 p.m. an officer did come and attach an electronic GPS monitor to her ankle, Castañeda said, to release her from detention but keep her under surveillance. She began to think she might be able to go home after all. But the hours ticked by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then he came back and said, ‘Give me your leg. I’m going to cut that off of you.’ And I was like, ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘Because I found you a spot,’” Castañeda recounted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda’s hopes of freedom were dashed. She would be shipped 3,000 miles away from her family, to a facility in Georgia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 9 p.m., Castañeda was transferred to an ICE office in LA. She said she spent much of the night sitting on a hard bench.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 3 a.m., agents drove her to the airport and handed her off to two plainclothes officers who took her on an early morning flight to Atlanta. She still hadn’t been able to talk to her lawyer, Prasad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got a call from her the next day that she was in Georgia,” he said. “I knew it was probably Stewart. And immediately my heart sank a little.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, is operated for ICE by a private prison company called CoreCivic. Detainees and their families have sued repeatedly over \u003ca href=\"https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/immigration-detainees-cite-deplorable-conditions-inside-stewart-facility-in-lawsuit/\">filthy, overcrowded conditions\u003c/a>; in-custody \u003ca href=\"https://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-news/family-detainee-who-hanged-himself-georgia-lockup-suing-ice/QYZReZLtc2uQ930XO9ZfxJ/\">death\u003c/a>; \u003ca href=\"https://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-news/ice-detainees-say-they-were-forced-into-labor-in-ga-file-lawsuit/ECLTIVQNMVE6LKOFKXQBWCCVUA/\">forced labor\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://theintercept.com/2022/07/13/ice-stewart-detention-sexual-misconduct/\">sexual assaults\u003c/a> by medical staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They put me on a plane and sent me to the worst one that they could send me to,” said Castañeda. “It was scary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigration detention is not punishment for a crime. It’s civil detention of people awaiting deportation hearings. But Castañeda found conditions at Stewart a lot worse than a California prison. She was stuck in one room with 23 other people. She didn’t have a job or classes or a routine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of mold in there. Sometimes it’ll be hot. Sometimes it’ll be freezing,” she said. “It’s a bad place to do time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An ICE spokesperson assured KQED the facility has passed inspections and meets ICE detention standards, adding, “ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in the agency’s custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement to KQED, CoreCivic spokesman Ryan Gustin said, “the safety, health and well-being of the individuals entrusted to our care is our top priority.” He added that the company does not “cut corners on care, staff or training” to meet federal standards. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The system … is designed to wear people down’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While Castañeda was adjusting at Stewart, Prasad went into overdrive. He filed briefs in immigration court to try to get her released. But ICE lawyers fought him at every turn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rather than acknowledging that a state court had vacated the conviction, ICE aggressively pursued deportation,” he said.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Anoop Prasad, immigration lawyer, Asian Law Caucus\"]‘The biggest source of deportations in the state right now is our prison system. And these are folks who have been deemed that they should be coming home to their communities.’[/pullquote]And Prasad had a new worry. When Castañeda’s murder conviction was vacated, the judge had given her a lesser charge, accessory after the fact. In most of the country, that’s considered an aggravated felony. However, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled it is not. As long as Castañeda was in California, where the 9th Circuit holds sway, her crime wasn’t grounds for deportation. But she had been sent off to Georgia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Prasad was afraid that, as the weeks turned into months, Castañeda would get so discouraged, so weary of living behind bars, that she’d give up and let ICE deport her. That’s what happens to a lot of immigrants in detention, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The system at every step is designed to wear people down,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Castañeda was not giving up. In fact, she had found a new sense of purpose. During her years in California prisons, she learned advocacy skills. And in Georgia, she wasn’t afraid to speak up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says she challenged guards when they spoke disrespectfully to the detained women. She filed grievances over violations of the Prison Rape Elimination Act. She questioned the COVID protocols, pushed for testing and social-distancing measures when women got sick. And, being bilingual, Castañeda stepped in to advocate for the women who spoke only Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the counselors told me to stop helping those people, that they needed to do things for themself. And I told her, ‘Well, they don’t speak English and … I’m only asking for toilet paper, shampoo,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lenz stayed in touch with Castañeda through video calls. She said Castañeda showed her surgical masks that other detained women had doctored up to read: #freesandra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was kind of embarrassed that they were doing this,” Lenz said. “But it showed that she was part of building more of a collective culture there, a culture of standing up for each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda had spent nearly a year in ICE detention when, finally, she got some welcome news. The California judge who had resentenced Castañeda had reviewed Prasad’s request to revisit her ruling and, “based on legal error,” reduced Castañeda’s sentence even further — to disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor that’s not considered a deportable crime anywhere in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, at her hearing in July 2022, an immigration judge in Georgia ruled Castañeda was not deportable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was thrilled to think she could go free. But she had been on this roller coaster before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was excited and I started feeling like, ‘Oh, my God, do I get happy?’” Castañeda said. “It was just, like, the mixed emotions again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sure enough, ICE’s lawyers said they planned to appeal — and they wanted to keep Castañeda locked up while they did. Weeks went by before she could get a hearing where Prasad asked the judge to release her on bond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the judge made the decision that he was going to give it to me, I just started crying,” she recalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Finally free after 20 years\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Last August, the day that Castañeda had been awaiting for half her life finally arrived. She flew home to LA, where her family surrounded her with hugs at the airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t know if it was reality or dream,” she said. “Even my cousin, he kept looking at me like, ‘It feels like I’m dreaming, Sandra.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939248\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939248\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561156344__AF9A357A-03AB-499D-A66A-46599D37B04E-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"Four women hug at the airport.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandra Castañeda is greeted by her family at LA International Airport on Aug. 4, 2022, after being released from ICE detention. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sandra Castañeda)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Castañeda was 40 and finally free after 20 years behind bars, and she had a lot of catching up to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Coalition for Women Prisoners set Castañeda up in a shared apartment in LA. She was eager to show off the bathroom, “with a door you can close,” and the bedroom that’s all her own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her aunt Virginia Reyes was thrilled to have Sandra home and plied her with homemade enchiladas. But after a few days, Castañeda had a craving for Chicken McNuggets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At McDonald’s, Sandra used her new cellphone to take photos of her meal to send to her friends in state prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They always want to know, ‘What do you eat? What are you doing?’” she said. “Everybody’s so happy for me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Castañeda also had her mind on all the tasks she needed to tackle: getting a Social Security card, signing up for Medi-Cal and applying for a driver’s license, for starters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was something ironic in it. Driving is what got Castañeda into trouble all those years ago. But today regaining her license is one concrete step in reclaiming her life, even while other things remain out of her control, like ICE’s effort to deport her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These people are still messing with my life, even though I already paid for my crime,” she said. “I try not to think about it because it’s just bad energy, you know? So I’m just focused on what I need to do right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s in a reentry program and imagining jobs where she can use her own life experience to counsel other immigrants caught between state criminal reforms and federal deportation policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda hopes eventually to apply for citizenship. “I was 20 years old when I got arrested, so … I didn’t know that it’s so important to be able to get that citizenship if you’re able to,” she said. “Today I know better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pushing the Biden administration to honor state reforms\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>But gaining citizenship depends on remaining a legal U.S. resident. ICE lawyers are still trying to take her green card and get her deported. And they could succeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939185\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939185\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut-800x571.jpg\" alt=\"A Latina woman with long curly dark hair and sunglasses on her head looks at the camera.\" width=\"800\" height=\"571\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut-800x571.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut-1020x728.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandra Castañeda stands outside her home in Hawthorne, on Aug. 9, 2022. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Board of Immigration Appeals, the appellate level of the federal immigration courts, has ruled that, \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/07/25/3493.pdf\">most of the time (PDF)\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/07/25/3377.pdf\">it doesn’t matter (PDF)\u003c/a> whether a state court vacated someone’s criminal conviction. And under President Donald Trump, then-Attorney General William Barr went further, ruling that \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1213201/download\">immigration courts can also ignore when a state reduces a person’s sentence\u003c/a>. The legal decisions say the fact that someone like Castañeda was convicted of a crime in the first place — even if the conviction was overturned — is enough reason to deport them, unless (as Prasad argued in Castañeda’s case) there was a flaw in the original conviction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But legal experts, including the American Bar Association, say that \u003ca href=\"https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/immigration/achieving_americas_immigration_promise.pdf\">Attorney General Merrick Garland — who oversees the immigration court system — has the authority to overrule those decisions\u003c/a> and honor state criminal justice reforms. They argue Congress didn’t intend for immigrants to be deported for minor offenses, and they’ve called on Garland to return to that standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve met with top leadership within the Department of Justice,” said Cahn of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. “We have carried out this advocacy in both informal and formal ways through these meetings with administration officials, as well as in the courtrooms themselves, where we’re making arguments in front of immigration judges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Justice did not respond to KQED’s repeated requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939162\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939162\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut-800x571.jpg\" alt=\"Two Latina women sit on a couch in a living room and chat.\" width=\"800\" height=\"571\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut-800x571.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut-1020x728.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandra Castañeda (right) chats with her aunt, Virginia Reyes, in the living room of her new apartment in Hawthorne, on Aug. 9, 2022. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In addition, immigrant advocates are calling on the Biden administration to move away from the harsh approach to immigration enforcement pursued by ICE in the Trump era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ICE can just say we’re not going to choose to go after and deport these people,” said Prasad. “We don’t need Congress to even step in here and fix it. It’s just one of those things that the Biden administration can just fix tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates are also trying to close the loophole here in California and force the state prison system to stop transferring people to ICE in the first place. A bill to do that, called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11924388/effort-to-block-prison-to-ice-transfers-in-california-fails-in-final-hours-of-legislative-session\">Vision Act\u003c/a>, failed in the Legislature last year. But Prasad says Newsom has the power to order the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to make the change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The biggest source of deportations in the state right now is our prison system. And these are folks who have been deemed that they should be coming home to their communities,” he said. “California needs to make a choice about if it’s going to stand by these reforms, or if it’s going to continue to turn people who have been ordered released over to ICE.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated to include a statement from CoreCivic.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "After serving 19 years in prison for a murder she didn't commit, then another year in immigration detention after prison officials transferred her to ICE, Sandra Castañeda saw her conviction vacated, and an immigration judge ruled there are no grounds to deport her — but ICE is appealing.",
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"title": "California Overturned Her Murder Conviction. ICE Still Wants to Deport Her | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On the morning of July 27, 2021, Sandra Castañeda woke with a mixture of elation and dread. She was about to be released from prison after 19 years. What she wanted more than anything was to walk out of the California Institution for Women in Chino and head home for a reunion with her family in Los Angeles. She had imagined this day for so long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a lifer, you want to get out of prison so bad,” she said. “But when it’s there, you freak out,” wondering what freedom will be like, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda, then 39, had spent nearly half of her life behind bars. She’d been sentenced to 40 years to life for murder, even though she didn’t actually kill anyone.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While Castañeda was in prison, California had enacted a series of criminal justice reforms, including one that allowed her to be resentenced. A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles had vacated Castañeda’s murder conviction and ordered her release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Castañeda didn’t walk free. Instead, she was loaded into a white van operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda’s story highlights how noncitizens, even longtime legal residents with green cards like Castañeda, are routinely funneled from state prison into the federal deportation system — even after the convictions that would make them deportable have been overturned. In a clash with state policy, legal records show, ICE and the federal immigration courts are disregarding state reforms that are letting people out of prison and dismissing old convictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the help of others familiar with her case, Castañeda, a woman with a cascade of dark curls and an infectious laugh, explained how that July day unfolded and what it meant — for her, and potentially for thousands of other noncitizens who have had their convictions dismissed.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>From prison to ICE custody\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At 8 a.m., Colby Lenz, an advocate with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, pulled into the parking lot of the prison in Chino, to await Castañeda’s release and give her a ride home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But at 9 a.m. she watched as the guard in the tower opened the prison gate and the white ICE van rolled in. She saw guards walk Castañeda out and load her into the van. Lenz says Castañeda’s friends inside the facility were watching, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of Sandra’s close friends had come as close as they could to this area and were calling out to her,” she said. “They were basically telling her that they loved her, and were certainly distressed at what they were seeing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The van drove Castañeda to the ICE field office in San Bernardino. Lenz followed in her car. By 10 a.m. Castañeda was in a holding cell and Lenz was making urgent calls to Anoop Prasad, an immigration lawyer with the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, who agreed to take on Castañeda’s immigration case pro bono.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939152\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939152\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt='A south Asian man in a green sweater and jeans stands outside an office with \"Advancing Justice\" written on the window.' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57631_010_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anoop Prasad poses for a portrait outside the Asian Law Caucus offices in San Francisco on Aug. 5, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Anoop and I were tag teaming, calling the ICE office,” said Lenz. “We both talked to some of the officers there, trying to convince them that this was not a legal detention.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prasad said he even convinced the LA County District Attorney’s Office, which had originally prosecuted Castañeda, to call ICE and explain that her murder conviction had been vacated. But ICE seemed determined to keep her in custody.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Gang friendships and a shooting\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Castañeda’s original conviction was connected to a murder that took place in 2002, when a teenage girl was shot and killed — and Castañeda was there. But the events of that night are rooted in the early chapters of her story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long before Castañeda was born, her family straddled the border with Mexico. Her grandmother was born in the U.S. Her mother and father were from the Mexican border city of Mexicali. When Castañeda was a little girl, the family spent time in both countries. Eventually her parents settled in LA, leaving her and her older sister with relatives in Mexicali. By the time Castañeda was 9, her parents had separated and her mother had started a new family. But an aunt and uncle in LA brought Castañeda and her sister to the U.S. on green cards, raising them along with their own children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939173\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939173\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-800x888.jpeg\" alt=\"The image of a young Latina girl of kindergarten age wearing a white dress.\" width=\"800\" height=\"888\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-800x888.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-1020x1132.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-160x178.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-1384x1536.jpeg 1384w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360-1845x2048.jpeg 1845w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561163682__F0ED2441-191A-41FD-8226-B2197C68B292-scaled-e1674682242360.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandra Castañeda at her kindergarten graduation. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sandra Castañeda)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That aunt, Virginia Reyes, remembers Castañeda as a quiet kid who didn’t cause trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sandrita was totally calm,” said Reyes in Spanish. “She was not a difficult girl.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reyes and her husband ran a clothing factory in South Central LA, assembling garments for the fashion industry. They called it Sandra’s Fashions. They employed more than 20 workers, Reyes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reyes and her husband put in really long hours, building the business to support the family. That left Castañeda to fend for herself a lot as a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’d leave early, they’d come home real late,” she said. “They’d work seven days a week. So it was always work, work, work, work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being involved with the family business taught her a strong work ethic, Castañeda said. But the uncertain bonds of her childhood also left her yearning for a sense of belonging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In junior high school, Castañeda made friends with some tough kids who were part of a gang. Her aunt tried to protect her by putting her in a Catholic school. But it didn’t help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939177\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939177\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"A Latina girl sips a soft drink with white dress on and long brown hair.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561927910__A5ADB0C5-532F-4949-9993-C02E67BB5D03-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandra Castañeda, age 12, sips a soft drink. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sandra Castañeda)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Castañeda never got in trouble with the law. But that changed on the night of May 10, 2002, when she was 20. Castañeda later testified that she was driving some friends to Taco Bell in her van around midnight, when a guy in the van told her to slow down. Then suddenly, he started firing out the window.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda is cautious when talking about the crime, because, even two decades later, she’s worried about gang retaliation. So KQED has agreed not to use the names of the victims or the names or gang monikers of those involved in the shooting. And Castañeda asked that Prasad, her immigration lawyer, be the one to describe what happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the people in the van thought they saw someone in the neighborhood who was from a rival gang,” Prasad told me. “He asked her to slow down, and she — didn’t really know what was going on — slowed down. The person pulled out a gun and started shooting from the car.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bullets hit two teenagers who were sitting on the front steps of an apartment building in South Central. An 18-year-old was shot in the leg — and he recovered. But the 15-year-old girl beside him was killed. In a panic, Castañeda drove on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She stopped a couple of blocks later,” Prasad recounted. “Police were already there on the scene. And she was the only one who was arrested. Everyone else ran away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda was taken to jail. A California law at the time — known as the felony murder rule — said that if a person dies while a felony is being committed, anyone involved could be found guilty of murder, whether or not they intended or committed the killing. Under the law, prosecutors charged Castañeda with murder because she was driving the van, even though she herself didn’t kill anyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a tough-on-crime era,” said Prasad. “Across the state, anyone who was remotely connected or even present at the scene would [often] get hit with a murder charge … So I think the DA just aggressively prosecuted and used this overly broad theory to charge her with murder.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939247\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11939247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/DFA515F8-B9A7-4799-BA3E-AEFDFEDFD2D3signal-2022-04-22-221307_001.jpeg\" alt=\"A Latina family spanning three generations smile at the camera.\" width=\"720\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/DFA515F8-B9A7-4799-BA3E-AEFDFEDFD2D3signal-2022-04-22-221307_001.jpeg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/DFA515F8-B9A7-4799-BA3E-AEFDFEDFD2D3signal-2022-04-22-221307_001-160x114.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Castañeda with her mother, her sister and her sister’s children on a prison visit in 2016. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sandra Castañeda)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Castañeda went on trial. But her aunt didn’t think the police detectives were doing enough to find the actual killer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I tried to be a detective myself,” recalled Reyes. “I went places I never imagined going, trying to track down the person who had done this. I even went to parties, dressing up to look younger. I put up fliers around town with his photo on them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reyes had no luck — until one day, after the trial was over, she says she saw the man at a car wash. She was afraid he would recognize her, but she pulled over and got on the phone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I called the police and I called the lawyer. And they just replied, ‘Oh, the case is closed.’” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. I felt so powerless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The LA Police Department now says the case is still open. But no one else has ever been arrested or prosecuted for the shooting, according to officials at the LA County District Attorney’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda was convicted of second-degree murder and attempted murder. The sentence came with enhancements because a gun was used in the killing, and there was gang involvement: 40 years to life behind bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reyes says when she heard the verdict, she was in shock. Castañeda had no criminal history and insisted she hadn’t planned to hurt anyone. Reyes expected her niece to face punishment, but not more than a couple of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How was it possible that this person was still walking free and Sandra was going to be locked up for so many years?” Reyes wondered.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Coming of age behind bars\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At first when Castañeda went to prison, back in 2003, she was angry. But over time she developed a new perspective on the crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was not a planned situation — it just kind of happened. But I still feel that I did have a part because I was the driver,” she said. “So today I know that back then I had choices. But as a young person, I didn’t know that I did … Today I do understand and I take full responsibility for my part.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In prison, Castañeda sought out peer support groups. She took college courses. She worked in the carpentry, paint and auto shops, learning new skills and finding satisfaction in physical work. She also became a leader in the hospice program, caring for women who were dying in prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got to know who I was as a person, so I’m not bitter at all,” she said. “Prison made me the woman that I am today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda — once a shy child — learned she’s resilient and a go-getter. She learned not to be afraid to speak up for what she believes and to advocate for others.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘[T]here’s always that little hope … ‘\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2018, something happened that Castañeda never expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Legislature \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11685094/not-the-killer-but-charged-with-murder-lawmakers-weigh-changing-felony-murder-law\">dramatically restricted\u003c/a> the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1437\">felony murder rule\u003c/a>, the law that led to her conviction. Lawmakers cited the injustice of a law that disproportionately affected women and people of color. State courts had even questioned whether the old law was constitutional. The reform was part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11714104/jerry-brown-will-leave-lasting-impact-on-criminal-justice-in-california\">broader movement in California\u003c/a> and elsewhere to reduce mass incarceration and over-punishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Castañeda, it meant she could ask a judge to vacate her murder conviction and give her a new sentence. A Stanford University law clinic connected her with a pro bono lawyer who helped her petition for resentencing. The head of the state prison system even wrote a letter of support.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Castañeda tried to manage her expectations. As a lifer, she knew she might die in prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But I mean, there’s always that little hope in there, you know? I think as human beings, we want to believe that something good is going to come out,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trying all her options, Castañeda also applied for clemency from Gov. Gavin Newsom. And in Nov. 2020, recognizing her rehabilitation, \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1xG8ED1L6wFFaizn1W5KwboN16e2bniOh\">Newsom commuted her sentence\u003c/a>, making her immediately eligible for parole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, something even bigger happened. In July of 2021, a California judge approved her petition for resentencing and dismissed her murder conviction entirely, giving her a much lesser charge, accessory after the fact. Finally, Castañeda was ordered released. She couldn’t stop crying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was worse than the Llorona,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A green card is a privilege\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s criminal justice system was saying Castañeda could go home and start to build a life as a free woman. But the federal system had a different goal. Under U.S. immigration law, having a green card is a privilege that can be taken away. So if an immigrant who’s not a citizen, even a lawful permanent resident like Castañeda, commits certain crimes, they can lose their legal status and be deported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939179\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939179\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A south Asian man seen from behind talking to a woman through his computer, the woman's face is visible on the screen.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57621_003_KQED_AnoopPrasad_08052022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lawyer Anoop Prasad speaks with Sandra Castañeda through a video call, in the Asian Law Caucus offices in San Francisco on Aug. 5, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The list of deportable crimes — known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/aggravated-felonies-overview\">aggravated felonies\u003c/a> — has grown longer over the years. Notably, in the 1990s President Bill Clinton signed two laws that \u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/time-bill-clinton-apologize-immigrants/601579/\">vastly expanded the number\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, advocates note, people can lose their green cards for a laundry list of reasons, like shoplifting, drug charges and failure to appear in court. Yet some of these have actually been decriminalized by states like California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California over the last decade or so has recognized that the lock-’em-up mentality … led to a ballooning of our prison and jail population, but didn’t actually result in safer communities,” said Rose Cahn, attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says the way federal immigration law is enforced should recognize state criminal justice reforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A conviction that’s been dismissed at the state level — where you have DAs of all political stripes saying, ‘Hey, this doesn’t need to be on someone’s record’ — should not be on someone’s record, plain and simple,” said Cahn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s not happening. ICE lawyers are still pushing to deport people like Castañeda, based on convictions that have been reduced or even dismissed. And they’re backed up by rulings in the federal immigration courts that say immigrants are still deportable if their conviction and sentence was reduced, unless the change was “based on a procedural or substantive defect in the underlying criminal proceeding.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The number of people caught in this situation isn’t tracked by any agency, but some immigration experts estimate it affects thousands nationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An ICE spokesperson, who declined to be named, said the agency’s officers make decisions about who to pursue “in a responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement professionals and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland.” And she noted that ICE prosecutors can and do exercise discretion in deciding whether to prosecute individual cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, a sanctuary law prevents police and sheriffs from cooperating in immigration enforcement in most cases. But there’s a broad loophole for prisons. So the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the state prison system, notifies ICE when they take in anyone who’s foreign born, then accommodates ICE requests to interview and take custody of immigrants at the time of their release, documents show. More than 1,600 people were turned over from California prisons to ICE in 2020, according to CDCR data obtained by the ACLU.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their policy is that they will report anyone who’s not born in the U.S. and they will actively work to turn over anyone that ICE says they want to come and arrest … even if the person has been exonerated,” said Prasad. “It’s really just an absurd policy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State prison officials say it’s not their job to decide whether someone’s deportable. They say they simply comply when ICE issues a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ice.gov/features/detainers\">detainer\u003c/a>, a request to hold an incarcerated person for transfer.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘ICE can just say we’re not going to choose to go after and deport these people. We don’t need Congress to even step in here and fix it. It’s just one of those things that the Biden administration can just fix tomorrow.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“CDCR responds to detainers from all law enforcement agencies including local, state, and federal,” said CDCR spokesperson Vicky Waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, immigrants who’ve served their prison sentences — and even those like Castañeda, who’ve been exonerated of crimes — get caught between the state, which aims to let them rejoin society, and the federal government, which wants to lock them up and deport them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Detained and shipped to Georgia\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Castañeda, all this meant that on the day she was released from prison after serving 19 years — for a murder she herself didn’t commit — a new legal battle was just beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she sat in a holding cell at the ICE field office in San Bernardino that July morning in 2021, agents were trying to figure out where to send her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was on the phone with the deportation officer, and he’s saying, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to find a bed. And if we don’t, I will release her on an ankle monitor,’” said Prasad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 3 p.m. an officer did come and attach an electronic GPS monitor to her ankle, Castañeda said, to release her from detention but keep her under surveillance. She began to think she might be able to go home after all. But the hours ticked by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then he came back and said, ‘Give me your leg. I’m going to cut that off of you.’ And I was like, ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘Because I found you a spot,’” Castañeda recounted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda’s hopes of freedom were dashed. She would be shipped 3,000 miles away from her family, to a facility in Georgia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 9 p.m., Castañeda was transferred to an ICE office in LA. She said she spent much of the night sitting on a hard bench.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 3 a.m., agents drove her to the airport and handed her off to two plainclothes officers who took her on an early morning flight to Atlanta. She still hadn’t been able to talk to her lawyer, Prasad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got a call from her the next day that she was in Georgia,” he said. “I knew it was probably Stewart. And immediately my heart sank a little.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, is operated for ICE by a private prison company called CoreCivic. Detainees and their families have sued repeatedly over \u003ca href=\"https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/immigration-detainees-cite-deplorable-conditions-inside-stewart-facility-in-lawsuit/\">filthy, overcrowded conditions\u003c/a>; in-custody \u003ca href=\"https://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-news/family-detainee-who-hanged-himself-georgia-lockup-suing-ice/QYZReZLtc2uQ930XO9ZfxJ/\">death\u003c/a>; \u003ca href=\"https://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-news/ice-detainees-say-they-were-forced-into-labor-in-ga-file-lawsuit/ECLTIVQNMVE6LKOFKXQBWCCVUA/\">forced labor\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://theintercept.com/2022/07/13/ice-stewart-detention-sexual-misconduct/\">sexual assaults\u003c/a> by medical staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They put me on a plane and sent me to the worst one that they could send me to,” said Castañeda. “It was scary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigration detention is not punishment for a crime. It’s civil detention of people awaiting deportation hearings. But Castañeda found conditions at Stewart a lot worse than a California prison. She was stuck in one room with 23 other people. She didn’t have a job or classes or a routine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of mold in there. Sometimes it’ll be hot. Sometimes it’ll be freezing,” she said. “It’s a bad place to do time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An ICE spokesperson assured KQED the facility has passed inspections and meets ICE detention standards, adding, “ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in the agency’s custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement to KQED, CoreCivic spokesman Ryan Gustin said, “the safety, health and well-being of the individuals entrusted to our care is our top priority.” He added that the company does not “cut corners on care, staff or training” to meet federal standards. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The system … is designed to wear people down’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While Castañeda was adjusting at Stewart, Prasad went into overdrive. He filed briefs in immigration court to try to get her released. But ICE lawyers fought him at every turn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rather than acknowledging that a state court had vacated the conviction, ICE aggressively pursued deportation,” he said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>And Prasad had a new worry. When Castañeda’s murder conviction was vacated, the judge had given her a lesser charge, accessory after the fact. In most of the country, that’s considered an aggravated felony. However, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled it is not. As long as Castañeda was in California, where the 9th Circuit holds sway, her crime wasn’t grounds for deportation. But she had been sent off to Georgia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Prasad was afraid that, as the weeks turned into months, Castañeda would get so discouraged, so weary of living behind bars, that she’d give up and let ICE deport her. That’s what happens to a lot of immigrants in detention, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The system at every step is designed to wear people down,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Castañeda was not giving up. In fact, she had found a new sense of purpose. During her years in California prisons, she learned advocacy skills. And in Georgia, she wasn’t afraid to speak up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says she challenged guards when they spoke disrespectfully to the detained women. She filed grievances over violations of the Prison Rape Elimination Act. She questioned the COVID protocols, pushed for testing and social-distancing measures when women got sick. And, being bilingual, Castañeda stepped in to advocate for the women who spoke only Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the counselors told me to stop helping those people, that they needed to do things for themself. And I told her, ‘Well, they don’t speak English and … I’m only asking for toilet paper, shampoo,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lenz stayed in touch with Castañeda through video calls. She said Castañeda showed her surgical masks that other detained women had doctored up to read: #freesandra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was kind of embarrassed that they were doing this,” Lenz said. “But it showed that she was part of building more of a collective culture there, a culture of standing up for each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda had spent nearly a year in ICE detention when, finally, she got some welcome news. The California judge who had resentenced Castañeda had reviewed Prasad’s request to revisit her ruling and, “based on legal error,” reduced Castañeda’s sentence even further — to disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor that’s not considered a deportable crime anywhere in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, at her hearing in July 2022, an immigration judge in Georgia ruled Castañeda was not deportable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was thrilled to think she could go free. But she had been on this roller coaster before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was excited and I started feeling like, ‘Oh, my God, do I get happy?’” Castañeda said. “It was just, like, the mixed emotions again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sure enough, ICE’s lawyers said they planned to appeal — and they wanted to keep Castañeda locked up while they did. Weeks went by before she could get a hearing where Prasad asked the judge to release her on bond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the judge made the decision that he was going to give it to me, I just started crying,” she recalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Finally free after 20 years\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Last August, the day that Castañeda had been awaiting for half her life finally arrived. She flew home to LA, where her family surrounded her with hugs at the airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t know if it was reality or dream,” she said. “Even my cousin, he kept looking at me like, ‘It feels like I’m dreaming, Sandra.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939248\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939248\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/69561156344__AF9A357A-03AB-499D-A66A-46599D37B04E-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"Four women hug at the airport.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandra Castañeda is greeted by her family at LA International Airport on Aug. 4, 2022, after being released from ICE detention. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sandra Castañeda)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Castañeda was 40 and finally free after 20 years behind bars, and she had a lot of catching up to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Coalition for Women Prisoners set Castañeda up in a shared apartment in LA. She was eager to show off the bathroom, “with a door you can close,” and the bedroom that’s all her own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her aunt Virginia Reyes was thrilled to have Sandra home and plied her with homemade enchiladas. But after a few days, Castañeda had a craving for Chicken McNuggets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At McDonald’s, Sandra used her new cellphone to take photos of her meal to send to her friends in state prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They always want to know, ‘What do you eat? What are you doing?’” she said. “Everybody’s so happy for me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Castañeda also had her mind on all the tasks she needed to tackle: getting a Social Security card, signing up for Medi-Cal and applying for a driver’s license, for starters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was something ironic in it. Driving is what got Castañeda into trouble all those years ago. But today regaining her license is one concrete step in reclaiming her life, even while other things remain out of her control, like ICE’s effort to deport her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These people are still messing with my life, even though I already paid for my crime,” she said. “I try not to think about it because it’s just bad energy, you know? So I’m just focused on what I need to do right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s in a reentry program and imagining jobs where she can use her own life experience to counsel other immigrants caught between state criminal reforms and federal deportation policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda hopes eventually to apply for citizenship. “I was 20 years old when I got arrested, so … I didn’t know that it’s so important to be able to get that citizenship if you’re able to,” she said. “Today I know better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pushing the Biden administration to honor state reforms\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>But gaining citizenship depends on remaining a legal U.S. resident. ICE lawyers are still trying to take her green card and get her deported. And they could succeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939185\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939185\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut-800x571.jpg\" alt=\"A Latina woman with long curly dark hair and sunglasses on her head looks at the camera.\" width=\"800\" height=\"571\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut-800x571.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut-1020x728.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57962_IMG_7103-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandra Castañeda stands outside her home in Hawthorne, on Aug. 9, 2022. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Board of Immigration Appeals, the appellate level of the federal immigration courts, has ruled that, \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/07/25/3493.pdf\">most of the time (PDF)\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/07/25/3377.pdf\">it doesn’t matter (PDF)\u003c/a> whether a state court vacated someone’s criminal conviction. And under President Donald Trump, then-Attorney General William Barr went further, ruling that \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1213201/download\">immigration courts can also ignore when a state reduces a person’s sentence\u003c/a>. The legal decisions say the fact that someone like Castañeda was convicted of a crime in the first place — even if the conviction was overturned — is enough reason to deport them, unless (as Prasad argued in Castañeda’s case) there was a flaw in the original conviction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But legal experts, including the American Bar Association, say that \u003ca href=\"https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/immigration/achieving_americas_immigration_promise.pdf\">Attorney General Merrick Garland — who oversees the immigration court system — has the authority to overrule those decisions\u003c/a> and honor state criminal justice reforms. They argue Congress didn’t intend for immigrants to be deported for minor offenses, and they’ve called on Garland to return to that standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve met with top leadership within the Department of Justice,” said Cahn of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. “We have carried out this advocacy in both informal and formal ways through these meetings with administration officials, as well as in the courtrooms themselves, where we’re making arguments in front of immigration judges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Justice did not respond to KQED’s repeated requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11939162\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11939162\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut-800x571.jpg\" alt=\"Two Latina women sit on a couch in a living room and chat.\" width=\"800\" height=\"571\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut-800x571.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut-1020x728.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/RS57961_IMG_7170-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sandra Castañeda (right) chats with her aunt, Virginia Reyes, in the living room of her new apartment in Hawthorne, on Aug. 9, 2022. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In addition, immigrant advocates are calling on the Biden administration to move away from the harsh approach to immigration enforcement pursued by ICE in the Trump era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ICE can just say we’re not going to choose to go after and deport these people,” said Prasad. “We don’t need Congress to even step in here and fix it. It’s just one of those things that the Biden administration can just fix tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates are also trying to close the loophole here in California and force the state prison system to stop transferring people to ICE in the first place. A bill to do that, called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11924388/effort-to-block-prison-to-ice-transfers-in-california-fails-in-final-hours-of-legislative-session\">Vision Act\u003c/a>, failed in the Legislature last year. But Prasad says Newsom has the power to order the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to make the change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The biggest source of deportations in the state right now is our prison system. And these are folks who have been deemed that they should be coming home to their communities,” he said. “California needs to make a choice about if it’s going to stand by these reforms, or if it’s going to continue to turn people who have been ordered released over to ICE.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated to include a statement from CoreCivic.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As people across the country reacted to George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police in late May 2020, at least two state correctional officers, independently, posted racist comments on Facebook about Floyd’s death. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And a Black correctional officer was disciplined for growing angry at co-workers over a “thin blue line” flag hanging in a state prison gymnasium in August 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These officers all were disciplined for breaking the agency’s discrimination policies, according to documents released to KQED by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation under SB16, the expanded transparency law. \u003c/span>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Coalition of Black Employees at the CDCR\"]‘Changing the culture of systemic racism and implicit bias at CDCR will only succeed after acknowledging the challenges faced by Black employees, and taking concrete actions to address those challenges.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The records shed light for the first time on how the agency deals with racism among its employees. The documents contain racist and antisemitic language and imagery. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the wake of the incidents, a group of Black CDCR employees has been pushing the department to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/article246896837.html\">make hiring and promotional practices more fair and equitable\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Nothing has changed, not a thing,” said Sharonya Reene Dorsey, an analyst for the CDCR’s Office of Correctional Education.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> CDCR spokesperson Dana Simas wrote in an email that leadership has taken concrete steps to improve recruitment, outreach and diversity in hiring. Simas wrote that the department has zero tolerance for discrimination, “and we work hard to ensure racial equity and justice.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On May 28, 2020, Joshua Priester, a white correctional officer at Folsom State Prison, commented after a Facebook user shared an article with the headline “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tmz.com/videos/052720-george-floyd-security-footage-4791146-0-dzljqi2r/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Surveillance Footage Shows George Floyd Moments Before Killing, He’s Not Resisting\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He [Floyd] was not a very good person one less loser,” Priester wrote. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to the documents released by CDCR, Priester argued with two people with whom he’d attended the correctional academy. One user suggested that if Floyd were white, he would not have been killed by police officers because he would have been at work. \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21424263-hn-fol-360-20-s_-_priester__j_-_second_amended_noaa\">The full exchange is available here. \u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The department suspended Priester for 60 days for his comments, and for sharing another image of Floyd’s arrest on his Facebook page. As of Tuesday, the image remained up on Priester’s page.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11908386\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11908386\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM-800x854.png\" alt=\"The screenshot of the meme shows a police officer kneeling on a man's neck and below an individual striking another in the head.\" width=\"800\" height=\"854\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM-800x854.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM-1020x1089.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM-160x171.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM.png 1414w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joshua Priester worked as a correctional officer at Folsom State Prison when he posted the above image on Facebook three days after George Floyd’s death. \u003ccite>(Screenshot from Facebook)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Priester did not reply to emails and messages requesting comment, and his union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, did not respond to emails and calls requesting comment. CDCR did not say whether Priester appealed his suspension. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A day earlier, on May 27, 2020, Matthew Sanchez, an officer at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21424265-s-cci-243-20-d_-_sanchez__m_-_noaa\">commented on a post about Floyd’s arrest\u003c/a>, according to the records.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“How the fuck do you shout when you’re be [sic] choked?” Sanchez wrote, including a laughing emoji in the post. “If you’re actually being choked you can’t talk.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When another commenter objected, Sanchez, using emojis and a texting abbreviation, fired back, “did you bring your feelings to Facebook? I got one for you. What’s the difference between Jews and boy scouts? Boy scouts come back from their camps. Lmk when you’re ready for another one.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The department dismissed Sanchez. CDCR would not say whether Sanchez appealed his firing. Sanchez couldn’t be reached for comment, and his former union did not respond to our inquiries.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By May 29, 2020, word of the officers’ racist posts had reached Ralph Diaz, CDCR’s former secretary, who sent out a memo to all employees calling the posts “\u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/29/ca-prison-staff-posted-racist-and-extremely-hurtful-comments-about-george-floyds-killing-cdcr-secretary-says/\">extremely hurtful and disrespectful.\u003c/a>” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“To say I was upset to learn of these comments would be an understatement – those who engaged in such behavior have brought dishonor to this Department and cast a shadow on the fine work we do,” Diaz wrote. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Diaz reminded CDCR employees of their duty to keep their private lives “unsullied,” and suggested they all review the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theiacp.org/resources/law-enforcement-code-of-ethics\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Law Enforcement Code of Ethics\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to KQED’s request for comment, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CDCR spokesperson \u003c/span>Simas wrote that Diaz’s memo and the disciplinary actions taken by the department “exemplify” the department’s commitment to racial equity and justice. Diaz retired in September 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We also require annual training on discrimination related policies, and strive to ensure there is proper accountability and expectations for our staff both at work and in the community,” Simas wrote.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simas would not say whether the department had reviewed the treatment of Black people in custody by Sanchez and Priester.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A CDCR employee, who didn’t want to be named because she fears retaliation, said the discipline displays the agency’s bias.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They make an antisemitic joke, and they get fired. But they make a joke about an African American person, and they either don’t get suspended or just get suspended,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dorsey, in the CDCR’s Office of Correctional Education, and her colleague, Sebrena Lindsay, were among the employees who received the memo from Diaz, but they saw it as a missed opportunity for the administration to reach out to Black staff and see how they were doing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We were hurting as a community of employees,” Lindsay said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In response, Dorsey, Lindsay and other Black co-workers \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HA1nX6KVTMiw0_twKrs4saBu2oYnI6pY/view?usp=sharing\">sent their own letter\u003c/a>, calling out the agency for failing to hire, promote and support Black employees. They also included a list of specific action items the agency could take to increase pay equity and representation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Changing the culture of systemic racism and implicit bias at CDCR will only succeed after acknowledging the challenges faced by Black employees, and taking concrete actions to address those challenges,” the letter said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the key requests they made was for an independent audit of hirings and promotions so the agency could gather data on its own practices and reveal whether there was bias. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“You really can’t fix the problem if you can’t acknowledge the problem,” another CDCR employee, who requested anonymity because they fear retaliation, told KQED. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In an email, Simas said that CDCR has improved recruitment and outreach and increased diversity in hiring. The agency sent out recruitment advertisements featuring people who present as Black, Asian American and Muslim American, she noted. According to Simas, the agency also is adopting a diversity statement in job applications, and it sent all CDCR executives and managers to implicit bias training beginning in late 2020.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The documents released by CDCR show Diaz’s memo also was part of the justification for disciplining a Black correctional officer in Los Angeles for anti-white racism in August 2020. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Carl Holmes arrived for his shift at California State Prison, Los Angeles County, he was upset by a “thin blue line” flag hanging in the gymnasium. Holmes said \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21424264-s-lac-406-20-d_-_holmes__c_-_noaa\">the flag was offensive to him as a Black man\u003c/a> and to the Black Lives Matter movement, according to documents.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The documents say that an administrative officer “addressed” Holmes’s concerns about the flag, but do not reveal how. The records also state that the “blue line symbolizes police officers shot and killed in the line of duty,” while failing to acknowledge that the imagery has other connotations and has even been \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/sfs-top-cop-banned-thin-blue-line-masks-now-the-police-union-is-selling-them/\">banned by some police chiefs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simas did not respond to questions about how the department views the flag.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A white officer asked Holmes if he was OK, and Holmes, according to the recollection of the officer, said, “All police and white people are racist pigs and that flag out there, that I have to look at every day makes me sick, and enraged and I’m not going to put up with them trying to talk me down about this,” documents say. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CDCR cut Holmes’s pay by 5% for 24 pay periods — or two years. Holmes did not respond to emails and messages requesting comment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since Dorsey and her colleagues sent their letter and proposed an action plan to the administration, they said the department hasn’t adopted any of the recommendations. Instead, she and Lindsay have been targeted, she claims.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simas wrote in an email that leadership has continued to meet with Dorsey and her group and\u003c/span> that the department welcomes hearing about employees’ experiences “so that we can address their concerns collaboratively.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dorsey and Lindsay say they aren’t afraid to speak out because they are near retirement and are committed to changing the culture for future employees. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They know they can’t intimidate us,” Dorsey said. “They could try. I’m not intimidated.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The records shed light for the first time on how the agency deals with racism among its employees. The documents contain racist and antisemitic language and imagery. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the wake of the incidents, a group of Black CDCR employees has been pushing the department to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/article246896837.html\">make hiring and promotional practices more fair and equitable\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Nothing has changed, not a thing,” said Sharonya Reene Dorsey, an analyst for the CDCR’s Office of Correctional Education.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> CDCR spokesperson Dana Simas wrote in an email that leadership has taken concrete steps to improve recruitment, outreach and diversity in hiring. Simas wrote that the department has zero tolerance for discrimination, “and we work hard to ensure racial equity and justice.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On May 28, 2020, Joshua Priester, a white correctional officer at Folsom State Prison, commented after a Facebook user shared an article with the headline “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tmz.com/videos/052720-george-floyd-security-footage-4791146-0-dzljqi2r/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Surveillance Footage Shows George Floyd Moments Before Killing, He’s Not Resisting\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He [Floyd] was not a very good person one less loser,” Priester wrote. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to the documents released by CDCR, Priester argued with two people with whom he’d attended the correctional academy. One user suggested that if Floyd were white, he would not have been killed by police officers because he would have been at work. \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21424263-hn-fol-360-20-s_-_priester__j_-_second_amended_noaa\">The full exchange is available here. \u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The department suspended Priester for 60 days for his comments, and for sharing another image of Floyd’s arrest on his Facebook page. As of Tuesday, the image remained up on Priester’s page.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11908386\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11908386\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM-800x854.png\" alt=\"The screenshot of the meme shows a police officer kneeling on a man's neck and below an individual striking another in the head.\" width=\"800\" height=\"854\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM-800x854.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM-1020x1089.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM-160x171.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/Screen-Shot-2022-03-11-at-2.30.18-PM.png 1414w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joshua Priester worked as a correctional officer at Folsom State Prison when he posted the above image on Facebook three days after George Floyd’s death. \u003ccite>(Screenshot from Facebook)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Priester did not reply to emails and messages requesting comment, and his union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, did not respond to emails and calls requesting comment. CDCR did not say whether Priester appealed his suspension. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A day earlier, on May 27, 2020, Matthew Sanchez, an officer at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21424265-s-cci-243-20-d_-_sanchez__m_-_noaa\">commented on a post about Floyd’s arrest\u003c/a>, according to the records.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“How the fuck do you shout when you’re be [sic] choked?” Sanchez wrote, including a laughing emoji in the post. “If you’re actually being choked you can’t talk.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When another commenter objected, Sanchez, using emojis and a texting abbreviation, fired back, “did you bring your feelings to Facebook? I got one for you. What’s the difference between Jews and boy scouts? Boy scouts come back from their camps. Lmk when you’re ready for another one.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The department dismissed Sanchez. CDCR would not say whether Sanchez appealed his firing. Sanchez couldn’t be reached for comment, and his former union did not respond to our inquiries.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By May 29, 2020, word of the officers’ racist posts had reached Ralph Diaz, CDCR’s former secretary, who sent out a memo to all employees calling the posts “\u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/29/ca-prison-staff-posted-racist-and-extremely-hurtful-comments-about-george-floyds-killing-cdcr-secretary-says/\">extremely hurtful and disrespectful.\u003c/a>” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“To say I was upset to learn of these comments would be an understatement – those who engaged in such behavior have brought dishonor to this Department and cast a shadow on the fine work we do,” Diaz wrote. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Diaz reminded CDCR employees of their duty to keep their private lives “unsullied,” and suggested they all review the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theiacp.org/resources/law-enforcement-code-of-ethics\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Law Enforcement Code of Ethics\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to KQED’s request for comment, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CDCR spokesperson \u003c/span>Simas wrote that Diaz’s memo and the disciplinary actions taken by the department “exemplify” the department’s commitment to racial equity and justice. Diaz retired in September 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We also require annual training on discrimination related policies, and strive to ensure there is proper accountability and expectations for our staff both at work and in the community,” Simas wrote.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simas would not say whether the department had reviewed the treatment of Black people in custody by Sanchez and Priester.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A CDCR employee, who didn’t want to be named because she fears retaliation, said the discipline displays the agency’s bias.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They make an antisemitic joke, and they get fired. But they make a joke about an African American person, and they either don’t get suspended or just get suspended,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dorsey, in the CDCR’s Office of Correctional Education, and her colleague, Sebrena Lindsay, were among the employees who received the memo from Diaz, but they saw it as a missed opportunity for the administration to reach out to Black staff and see how they were doing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We were hurting as a community of employees,” Lindsay said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In response, Dorsey, Lindsay and other Black co-workers \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HA1nX6KVTMiw0_twKrs4saBu2oYnI6pY/view?usp=sharing\">sent their own letter\u003c/a>, calling out the agency for failing to hire, promote and support Black employees. They also included a list of specific action items the agency could take to increase pay equity and representation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Changing the culture of systemic racism and implicit bias at CDCR will only succeed after acknowledging the challenges faced by Black employees, and taking concrete actions to address those challenges,” the letter said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the key requests they made was for an independent audit of hirings and promotions so the agency could gather data on its own practices and reveal whether there was bias. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“You really can’t fix the problem if you can’t acknowledge the problem,” another CDCR employee, who requested anonymity because they fear retaliation, told KQED. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In an email, Simas said that CDCR has improved recruitment and outreach and increased diversity in hiring. The agency sent out recruitment advertisements featuring people who present as Black, Asian American and Muslim American, she noted. According to Simas, the agency also is adopting a diversity statement in job applications, and it sent all CDCR executives and managers to implicit bias training beginning in late 2020.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The documents released by CDCR show Diaz’s memo also was part of the justification for disciplining a Black correctional officer in Los Angeles for anti-white racism in August 2020. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Carl Holmes arrived for his shift at California State Prison, Los Angeles County, he was upset by a “thin blue line” flag hanging in the gymnasium. Holmes said \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21424264-s-lac-406-20-d_-_holmes__c_-_noaa\">the flag was offensive to him as a Black man\u003c/a> and to the Black Lives Matter movement, according to documents.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The documents say that an administrative officer “addressed” Holmes’s concerns about the flag, but do not reveal how. The records also state that the “blue line symbolizes police officers shot and killed in the line of duty,” while failing to acknowledge that the imagery has other connotations and has even been \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/sfs-top-cop-banned-thin-blue-line-masks-now-the-police-union-is-selling-them/\">banned by some police chiefs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simas did not respond to questions about how the department views the flag.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A white officer asked Holmes if he was OK, and Holmes, according to the recollection of the officer, said, “All police and white people are racist pigs and that flag out there, that I have to look at every day makes me sick, and enraged and I’m not going to put up with them trying to talk me down about this,” documents say. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CDCR cut Holmes’s pay by 5% for 24 pay periods — or two years. Holmes did not respond to emails and messages requesting comment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since Dorsey and her colleagues sent their letter and proposed an action plan to the administration, they said the department hasn’t adopted any of the recommendations. Instead, she and Lindsay have been targeted, she claims.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simas wrote in an email that leadership has continued to meet with Dorsey and her group and\u003c/span> that the department welcomes hearing about employees’ experiences “so that we can address their concerns collaboratively.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dorsey and Lindsay say they aren’t afraid to speak out because they are near retirement and are committed to changing the culture for future employees. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They know they can’t intimidate us,” Dorsey said. “They could try. I’m not intimidated.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11897612\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final.png\" alt='Cartoon: a prison guard holding a \"no vax mandate\" sign is arm in arm with a COVID-19 character and Gov. Newsom. The governor holds a briefcase of money from the prison guards union. Caption is \"Amicus Covidae, friend of covid.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1231\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final-800x513.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final-1020x654.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final-160x103.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final-1536x985.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Handing Gov. Gavin Newsom and the prison guards union a temporary victory, the \u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/fioreprisonvaccinemandate\">9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday blocked a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for prison workers\u003c/a> from taking effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You read that right: Newsom and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association have been on the same side in court, fighting against mandatory vaccines for people who work in prisons — even as the virus has infected more than half of the state’s incarcerated population since the pandemic began last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, our pro-science governor has pushed vaccine mandates … unless you’re in the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/criminal-justice/2021/09/covid-vaccine-mandate-prison-guards-california/?mc_cid=0ef88bd688&mc_eid=d3b9709405\">union that oh-so-coincidentally gave him a million and a half dollars\u003c/a> to fend off the recent effort to recall him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How’s that for some clear (as mud) public health messaging?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11897612\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final.png\" alt='Cartoon: a prison guard holding a \"no vax mandate\" sign is arm in arm with a COVID-19 character and Gov. Newsom. The governor holds a briefcase of money from the prison guards union. Caption is \"Amicus Covidae, friend of covid.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1231\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final-800x513.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final-1020x654.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final-160x103.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/amicus_112921_final-1536x985.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Handing Gov. Gavin Newsom and the prison guards union a temporary victory, the \u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/fioreprisonvaccinemandate\">9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday blocked a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for prison workers\u003c/a> from taking effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You read that right: Newsom and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association have been on the same side in court, fighting against mandatory vaccines for people who work in prisons — even as the virus has infected more than half of the state’s incarcerated population since the pandemic began last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, our pro-science governor has pushed vaccine mandates … unless you’re in the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/criminal-justice/2021/09/covid-vaccine-mandate-prison-guards-california/?mc_cid=0ef88bd688&mc_eid=d3b9709405\">union that oh-so-coincidentally gave him a million and a half dollars\u003c/a> to fend off the recent effort to recall him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How’s that for some clear (as mud) public health messaging?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA.png\">\u003cimg class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11876185\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA.png\" alt='A Mark Fiore cartoon showing \"exhibit A,\" inmates being moved to San Quentin from Chino even though they were infected with COVID-19, then, \"exhibit B,\" inmates mixed with the San Quentin population, then \"exhibit COVID,\" and 75% of prison population infected and 28 deaths.' width=\"1920\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA-800x573.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA-1020x730.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA-160x115.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA-1536x1100.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A panel of judges called what happened in San Quentin State Prison during the pandemic, \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11865491/after-a-year-of-covid-19-outbreaks-california-prisons-reckon-with-mistakes\">the worst epidemiological disaster in California correctional history\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now hundreds of incarcerated people are \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/sanquentincovidlawsuit\">having their day in court\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and officials at San Quentin were much more than just inept, they were downright cruel ... which is where the \u003ca href=\"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CONAN-2002/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2002-9-9.pdf\">Eighth Amendment\u003c/a>, which bars cruel and unusual punishment, comes in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though the pandemic appears to be winding down in our corner of the world, here's hoping people behind bars whose lives were recklessly put at risk during the height of the pandemic will see some measure of justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA.png\">\u003cimg class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11876185\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA.png\" alt='A Mark Fiore cartoon showing \"exhibit A,\" inmates being moved to San Quentin from Chino even though they were infected with COVID-19, then, \"exhibit B,\" inmates mixed with the San Quentin population, then \"exhibit COVID,\" and 75% of prison population infected and 28 deaths.' width=\"1920\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA.png 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA-800x573.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA-1020x730.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA-160x115.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/exhibitc_060121_finalA-1536x1100.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A panel of judges called what happened in San Quentin State Prison during the pandemic, \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11865491/after-a-year-of-covid-19-outbreaks-california-prisons-reckon-with-mistakes\">the worst epidemiological disaster in California correctional history\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now hundreds of incarcerated people are \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/sanquentincovidlawsuit\">having their day in court\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and officials at San Quentin were much more than just inept, they were downright cruel ... which is where the \u003ca href=\"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CONAN-2002/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2002-9-9.pdf\">Eighth Amendment\u003c/a>, which bars cruel and unusual punishment, comes in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though the pandemic appears to be winding down in our corner of the world, here's hoping people behind bars whose lives were recklessly put at risk during the height of the pandemic will see some measure of justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>“I feared for my life,” said Ellis Hollis, who testified from inside San Quentin State Prison, where he is currently incarcerated. “Our lives was in jeopardy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hollis is one of hundreds of men who are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11865491/after-a-year-of-covid-19-outbreaks-california-prisons-reckon-with-mistakes\">suing over the conditions inside San Quentin\u003c/a> during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak there last summer and afterward. About 75% of the prison’s population caught the virus and 28 prisoners and one staff member died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At issue is whether prison officials did enough to protect the health of people incarcerated there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men incarcerated at the prison say that the crowded conditions and lack of adequate isolation and quarantining, among other prison health care policies, amounted to cruel and unusual punishment — a violation of the Eighth Amendment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a hearing in Marin County Superior Court that began in late May, a roster of witnesses were called to the stand by attorneys representing the incarcerated petitioners. Hollis and other men testified to feelings of fear and anxiety and a deep sense of helplessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One prisoner, Demetris McGee, talked about being locked up in the same cell as a man who had tested positive for COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You guys are cellies, so you have to stay together,” McGee said he was told, using a common nickname for cellmates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys representing McGee demonstrated through photos and other exhibits just how small many of the cells are at San Quentin: 11 feet, 1 inch deep by 4 feet, 5 inches wide, with a distance of 3 feet, 2 inches between the upper and lower bunk beds. That’s about the size of a walk-in closet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When McGee asked to be moved out of his cell so he wouldn’t get infected by his cellmate, he said he was told, “no can do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several other prisoners also testified to being confined in the same cell as sick people while they were still healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jesse Johnson, who was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison during a COVID-19 outbreak\"]‘Eventually people just started dropping like flies. You heard, ‘Man down! Man down!’ ‘[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The testimony comes after a year \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11852162/hundreds-of-people-at-san-quentin-petition-for-release-as-covid-19-surges\">of ongoing litigation involving hundreds of medically vulnerable men\u003c/a> incarcerated at San Quentin, who began petitioning for release when the COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping through California’s state prison system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge denied KQED’s request to record video, audio or images of the proceedings, but the \u003ca href=\"https://zoom.us/j/96558384473?pwd=YlBBbEJFS0grSXVoVmdFNmcyZ0NUdz09\">hearing is accessible to the public\u003c/a>. The inmates participating in the case both testified and watched the hearing over Zoom, from inside the prison chapel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many men described harrowing COVID-19 symptoms. For Jesse Johnson, the illness was made worse by the condition of his cell. He said he experienced diarrhea, but had a toilet that didn’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I put a towel over the toilet to cover my excrement, you know, because the toilet wouldn’t flush,” Johnson said. “It was just terrible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked whether he received medical care, Johnson said, “Not a single cough drop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Eventually people just started dropping like flies,” Johnson said. “You heard, ‘Man down! Man down!’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One person incarcerated at San Quentin, Michael France, became visibly distressed when he described watching another prisoner die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He sounded critical,” France said. “He couldn’t breathe. He belonged in the hospital for sure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>France sobbed for several minutes, asking the court to “hold on” so he could compose himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked how the treatment his friend received made him feel, France replied, “Like trash. Cattle. Definitely not human.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he described watching correctional staff try to revive his friend, he said he could see everything that was happening through the bars of his cell door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>France’s testimony was a reminder of one way in which San Quentin’s design contributed to the rapid spread of the virus. Many have said the lack of solid cell doors at the prison, which is the oldest in the state, allowed respiratory droplets to drift freely — not just between cells, but also to different floors of the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11875997\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11875997\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars-800x449.png\" alt=\"San Quentin tiers with open bars\" width=\"800\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars-800x449.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars-1020x573.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars-1536x863.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars.png 1674w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Quentin is the oldest state prison in California. In some parts of the prison, cell doors are bars, not solid, and five floors share an open atrium. \u003ccite>(Monica Lam/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Right from the very beginning, when COVID-19 hit, as an epidemiologist and a physician, I had my eyes on San Quentin, knowing that it was a high-risk setting,” said Dr. Matt Willis, public health officer of Marin County, where San Quentin is located. “A prison, like San Quentin, where you have large numbers of individuals gathered close together, it’s very challenging to manage when an outbreak occurs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Willis, who testified during the second day of the hearing, said he reached out to San Quentin officials to offer public health guidance and to help them manage their response to the pandemic. But he said his recommendations — which included putting in place a mask-wearing mandate, halting all transfers of prisoners between different housing units and weekly testing of staff for COVID-19 — were not followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Willis also said he strongly urged the prison to reduce its inmate population, because there was not enough room to adequately isolate and quarantine individuals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were told that [the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] had made a ruling that … local health officers’ orders don’t apply,” Willis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Through the Eyes of the Warden\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some of the most revealing testimony came from acting San Quentin Warden Ron Broomfield, who took the stand on the fourth day of the hearing and talked in frank and simple terms about events at the prison, which ignited the outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 30 of last year, San Quentin had recorded zero cases of COVID-19 among the incarcerated population. It was on that day, however, that a busload of prisoners were transferred from a Southern California prison with an active outbreak. At least two passengers already showed symptoms of the virus, according to the warden’s testimony and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.oig.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/OIG-COVID-19-Review-Series-Part-3-%E2%80%93-Transfer-of-Patients-from-CIM.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report by the Office of the Inspector General\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During his testimony, Broomfield said he had not inquired when — or whether — the passengers on that bus had been tested for the coronavirus. He also said he did not inquire about what kind of social distancing was practiced on the bus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no participation in the scheduling, cohorting or transferring of those inmates,” Broomfield said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the symptomatic transferees were isolated right away, he said, their fellow passengers were not immediately quarantined. Instead, they were allowed to move about and use showers and other facilities shared by the rest of the housing unit for several days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was only after tests confirmed that some passengers were indeed infected with COVID-19 that the group was moved into isolation, Broomfield said. But by then, the virus had had the opportunity to spread within the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broomfield said he was “focused on keeping San Quentin safe,” but added that he could not have refused the additional prisoners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is obvious to me that the population at San Quentin was horribly impacted by this pandemic. I’m also aware that the neighboring communities were horribly impacted by this pandemic,” Broomfield said towards the end of his testimony. “So my opinion is that anywhere in the world where there’s dense populations, there’s an increased risk of the spread of this pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Doctors Disagree\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The director of health care for the California prison system, Dr. Joseph Bick, testified that prison policies on social distancing, mask-wearing and quarantining not only met but exceeded public health and other state guidelines. Lawyers for the prison system have also pointed out that early in the pandemic, much less was known about how the virus is transmitted and about best practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In these portions of the hearing, all the witnesses, including the warden and representatives of prison medical services, have been called to the stand by attorneys representing the incarcerated petitioners. In the coming days, the attorney general’s office will call their experts and witnesses to build their side of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors and nurses who toured the prison during the outbreak or assisted with its medical response said they saw inconsistent mask-wearing and noted that in many situations, people did not maintain a 6-foot distance from others. UCSF infectious disease physician Dr. David Sears toured the prison last June and said he was concerned about the level of sanitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>” ‘Clean’ is not the word that I would use,” Sears said. “I had a sense of foreboding for both the residents and the staff of the prison.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sears was one of several authors of a \u003ca href=\"https://amend.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/COVID19-Outbreak-SQ-Prison-6.15.2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 2020 memo\u003c/a> addressed to San Quentin officials urging several changes, including improving testing turnaround times, expanding space for quarantine and isolation — and probably most controversially, reducing the prisoner population by “50% of current capacity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other public health experts said their offers of assistance also went unheeded. In April of last year, when access to COVID-19 testing was in high demand but difficult to obtain, one UC Berkeley professor who ran a lab with specialized testing capability, Fyodor Urnov, reached out to the prison’s chief medical executive, Dr. Alison Pachynski.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We immediately, as far as the leadership of the lab, made the executive decision that we will make available our nonprofit [testing] capacity to San Quentin,” Urnov said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urnov said Pachynski thanked him, but did not follow up to take advantage of his offer. Later, in June, when news of the outbreak at the prison began breaking, he said he renewed his offer of assistance, but did not hear back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"RELATED COVERAGE\" postID=news_11865491,news_11852162,news_11825930]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF epidemiology professor Meghan Morris called the actions of prison officials “reckless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was enough evidence within the scientific community — and policies being implemented in non-custodial settings — that we knew how transmission occurred,” Morris said. “And we also knew how to implement policies to prevent the transmission within a custodial setting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morris also said that one of the most powerful tools for combating the spread of COVID-19 is to “reduce population density,” which remains at the heart of the current court case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During cross-examination, attorneys for the prison system suggested that many of the experts who testified were not necessarily qualified to offer their expert opinion on prison policies. Prison officials have also argued that they face the unique challenge of juggling the health of inmates with the demands of maintaining public safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Meghan Morris, USCF professor of epidemiology and biostatistics\"]‘San Quentin demonstrated a lack of value for the lives of those who are incarcerated within San Quentin. And I believe that the lack of value for the lives of people incarcerated still remains.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The court failed to give ‘due regard for prison officials’ unenviable task of keeping dangerous men in safe custody under humane conditions,’ ” attorneys for the prison system wrote in a November court filing.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Early Petition for Release\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The first person to petition the court for release from San Quentin, Ivan Von Staich, submitted his plea before there were any known cases of COVID-19 at that lockup. Von Staich said his medical conditions put him at higher risk of dying from the coronavirus, and he contended that prison officials would not be able to prevent the spread of the virus when it hit San Quentin. Von Staich’s initial request was rejected, but he won on appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case had gone up to the California Supreme Court and is now back in the Marin County Superior Court, where Judge Geoffrey Howard convened an evidentiary hearing that began on May 20.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s attorneys have argued that the current hearing is altogether unnecessary because the outbreak is over. They say that conditions at San Quentin are greatly improved — about 70% of those incarcerated there have been vaccinated, and about 53% of the staff as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, corrections officials say the population at San Quentin has already been reduced significantly — it’s now down to 2,411 people as of late May, compared to 3,508 a year ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the petitioners say the treatment they experienced during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak reflects an overall indifference to their health and welfare that continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Quentin demonstrated a lack of value for the lives of those who are incarcerated within San Quentin,” said Morris, the UCSF epidemiologist. “And I believe that the lack of value for the lives of people incarcerated still remains.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing is expected to wrap up this week or early next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Julie Small contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>“I feared for my life,” said Ellis Hollis, who testified from inside San Quentin State Prison, where he is currently incarcerated. “Our lives was in jeopardy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hollis is one of hundreds of men who are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11865491/after-a-year-of-covid-19-outbreaks-california-prisons-reckon-with-mistakes\">suing over the conditions inside San Quentin\u003c/a> during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak there last summer and afterward. About 75% of the prison’s population caught the virus and 28 prisoners and one staff member died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At issue is whether prison officials did enough to protect the health of people incarcerated there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men incarcerated at the prison say that the crowded conditions and lack of adequate isolation and quarantining, among other prison health care policies, amounted to cruel and unusual punishment — a violation of the Eighth Amendment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a hearing in Marin County Superior Court that began in late May, a roster of witnesses were called to the stand by attorneys representing the incarcerated petitioners. Hollis and other men testified to feelings of fear and anxiety and a deep sense of helplessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One prisoner, Demetris McGee, talked about being locked up in the same cell as a man who had tested positive for COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You guys are cellies, so you have to stay together,” McGee said he was told, using a common nickname for cellmates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys representing McGee demonstrated through photos and other exhibits just how small many of the cells are at San Quentin: 11 feet, 1 inch deep by 4 feet, 5 inches wide, with a distance of 3 feet, 2 inches between the upper and lower bunk beds. That’s about the size of a walk-in closet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When McGee asked to be moved out of his cell so he wouldn’t get infected by his cellmate, he said he was told, “no can do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several other prisoners also testified to being confined in the same cell as sick people while they were still healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Eventually people just started dropping like flies. You heard, ‘Man down! Man down!’ ‘",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The testimony comes after a year \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11852162/hundreds-of-people-at-san-quentin-petition-for-release-as-covid-19-surges\">of ongoing litigation involving hundreds of medically vulnerable men\u003c/a> incarcerated at San Quentin, who began petitioning for release when the COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping through California’s state prison system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge denied KQED’s request to record video, audio or images of the proceedings, but the \u003ca href=\"https://zoom.us/j/96558384473?pwd=YlBBbEJFS0grSXVoVmdFNmcyZ0NUdz09\">hearing is accessible to the public\u003c/a>. The inmates participating in the case both testified and watched the hearing over Zoom, from inside the prison chapel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many men described harrowing COVID-19 symptoms. For Jesse Johnson, the illness was made worse by the condition of his cell. He said he experienced diarrhea, but had a toilet that didn’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I put a towel over the toilet to cover my excrement, you know, because the toilet wouldn’t flush,” Johnson said. “It was just terrible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked whether he received medical care, Johnson said, “Not a single cough drop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Eventually people just started dropping like flies,” Johnson said. “You heard, ‘Man down! Man down!’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One person incarcerated at San Quentin, Michael France, became visibly distressed when he described watching another prisoner die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He sounded critical,” France said. “He couldn’t breathe. He belonged in the hospital for sure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>France sobbed for several minutes, asking the court to “hold on” so he could compose himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked how the treatment his friend received made him feel, France replied, “Like trash. Cattle. Definitely not human.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he described watching correctional staff try to revive his friend, he said he could see everything that was happening through the bars of his cell door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>France’s testimony was a reminder of one way in which San Quentin’s design contributed to the rapid spread of the virus. Many have said the lack of solid cell doors at the prison, which is the oldest in the state, allowed respiratory droplets to drift freely — not just between cells, but also to different floors of the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11875997\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11875997\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars-800x449.png\" alt=\"San Quentin tiers with open bars\" width=\"800\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars-800x449.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars-1020x573.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars-1536x863.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/1235_01-open-bars.png 1674w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Quentin is the oldest state prison in California. In some parts of the prison, cell doors are bars, not solid, and five floors share an open atrium. \u003ccite>(Monica Lam/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Right from the very beginning, when COVID-19 hit, as an epidemiologist and a physician, I had my eyes on San Quentin, knowing that it was a high-risk setting,” said Dr. Matt Willis, public health officer of Marin County, where San Quentin is located. “A prison, like San Quentin, where you have large numbers of individuals gathered close together, it’s very challenging to manage when an outbreak occurs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Willis, who testified during the second day of the hearing, said he reached out to San Quentin officials to offer public health guidance and to help them manage their response to the pandemic. But he said his recommendations — which included putting in place a mask-wearing mandate, halting all transfers of prisoners between different housing units and weekly testing of staff for COVID-19 — were not followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Willis also said he strongly urged the prison to reduce its inmate population, because there was not enough room to adequately isolate and quarantine individuals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were told that [the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] had made a ruling that … local health officers’ orders don’t apply,” Willis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Through the Eyes of the Warden\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some of the most revealing testimony came from acting San Quentin Warden Ron Broomfield, who took the stand on the fourth day of the hearing and talked in frank and simple terms about events at the prison, which ignited the outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 30 of last year, San Quentin had recorded zero cases of COVID-19 among the incarcerated population. It was on that day, however, that a busload of prisoners were transferred from a Southern California prison with an active outbreak. At least two passengers already showed symptoms of the virus, according to the warden’s testimony and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.oig.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/OIG-COVID-19-Review-Series-Part-3-%E2%80%93-Transfer-of-Patients-from-CIM.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report by the Office of the Inspector General\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During his testimony, Broomfield said he had not inquired when — or whether — the passengers on that bus had been tested for the coronavirus. He also said he did not inquire about what kind of social distancing was practiced on the bus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no participation in the scheduling, cohorting or transferring of those inmates,” Broomfield said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the symptomatic transferees were isolated right away, he said, their fellow passengers were not immediately quarantined. Instead, they were allowed to move about and use showers and other facilities shared by the rest of the housing unit for several days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was only after tests confirmed that some passengers were indeed infected with COVID-19 that the group was moved into isolation, Broomfield said. But by then, the virus had had the opportunity to spread within the prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broomfield said he was “focused on keeping San Quentin safe,” but added that he could not have refused the additional prisoners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is obvious to me that the population at San Quentin was horribly impacted by this pandemic. I’m also aware that the neighboring communities were horribly impacted by this pandemic,” Broomfield said towards the end of his testimony. “So my opinion is that anywhere in the world where there’s dense populations, there’s an increased risk of the spread of this pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Doctors Disagree\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The director of health care for the California prison system, Dr. Joseph Bick, testified that prison policies on social distancing, mask-wearing and quarantining not only met but exceeded public health and other state guidelines. Lawyers for the prison system have also pointed out that early in the pandemic, much less was known about how the virus is transmitted and about best practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In these portions of the hearing, all the witnesses, including the warden and representatives of prison medical services, have been called to the stand by attorneys representing the incarcerated petitioners. In the coming days, the attorney general’s office will call their experts and witnesses to build their side of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors and nurses who toured the prison during the outbreak or assisted with its medical response said they saw inconsistent mask-wearing and noted that in many situations, people did not maintain a 6-foot distance from others. UCSF infectious disease physician Dr. David Sears toured the prison last June and said he was concerned about the level of sanitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>” ‘Clean’ is not the word that I would use,” Sears said. “I had a sense of foreboding for both the residents and the staff of the prison.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sears was one of several authors of a \u003ca href=\"https://amend.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/COVID19-Outbreak-SQ-Prison-6.15.2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 2020 memo\u003c/a> addressed to San Quentin officials urging several changes, including improving testing turnaround times, expanding space for quarantine and isolation — and probably most controversially, reducing the prisoner population by “50% of current capacity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other public health experts said their offers of assistance also went unheeded. In April of last year, when access to COVID-19 testing was in high demand but difficult to obtain, one UC Berkeley professor who ran a lab with specialized testing capability, Fyodor Urnov, reached out to the prison’s chief medical executive, Dr. Alison Pachynski.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We immediately, as far as the leadership of the lab, made the executive decision that we will make available our nonprofit [testing] capacity to San Quentin,” Urnov said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urnov said Pachynski thanked him, but did not follow up to take advantage of his offer. Later, in June, when news of the outbreak at the prison began breaking, he said he renewed his offer of assistance, but did not hear back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF epidemiology professor Meghan Morris called the actions of prison officials “reckless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was enough evidence within the scientific community — and policies being implemented in non-custodial settings — that we knew how transmission occurred,” Morris said. “And we also knew how to implement policies to prevent the transmission within a custodial setting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morris also said that one of the most powerful tools for combating the spread of COVID-19 is to “reduce population density,” which remains at the heart of the current court case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During cross-examination, attorneys for the prison system suggested that many of the experts who testified were not necessarily qualified to offer their expert opinion on prison policies. Prison officials have also argued that they face the unique challenge of juggling the health of inmates with the demands of maintaining public safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘San Quentin demonstrated a lack of value for the lives of those who are incarcerated within San Quentin. And I believe that the lack of value for the lives of people incarcerated still remains.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The court failed to give ‘due regard for prison officials’ unenviable task of keeping dangerous men in safe custody under humane conditions,’ ” attorneys for the prison system wrote in a November court filing.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Early Petition for Release\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The first person to petition the court for release from San Quentin, Ivan Von Staich, submitted his plea before there were any known cases of COVID-19 at that lockup. Von Staich said his medical conditions put him at higher risk of dying from the coronavirus, and he contended that prison officials would not be able to prevent the spread of the virus when it hit San Quentin. Von Staich’s initial request was rejected, but he won on appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case had gone up to the California Supreme Court and is now back in the Marin County Superior Court, where Judge Geoffrey Howard convened an evidentiary hearing that began on May 20.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s attorneys have argued that the current hearing is altogether unnecessary because the outbreak is over. They say that conditions at San Quentin are greatly improved — about 70% of those incarcerated there have been vaccinated, and about 53% of the staff as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, corrections officials say the population at San Quentin has already been reduced significantly — it’s now down to 2,411 people as of late May, compared to 3,508 a year ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the petitioners say the treatment they experienced during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak reflects an overall indifference to their health and welfare that continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Quentin demonstrated a lack of value for the lives of those who are incarcerated within San Quentin,” said Morris, the UCSF epidemiologist. “And I believe that the lack of value for the lives of people incarcerated still remains.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing is expected to wrap up this week or early next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"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.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"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.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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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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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "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",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"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.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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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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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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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. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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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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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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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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},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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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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}
},
"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/",
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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?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
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