Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024
(a)
The Reviewing Authority over each Office of Grievances shall designate at least
one official to assess each written grievance within one business day of
receipt to determine if it contains information concerning an imminent risk to
personal safety, to institutional security, or of sexual abuse, including acts
of sexual misconduct as defined by the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act and
the California Sexual Abuse in Detention Elimination Act. In those instances,
the official shall immediately take appropriate action as required by all
applicable laws and regulations. The official shall ensure the claimant is
notified of the department's course of action within five business days. In
addition to the above requirements, if the grievance alleges that the
claimant's Earliest Possible Release Date (EPRD) is erroneous and the claimant
is scheduled to be released within 90 calendar days of the date the grievance
was received by the Office of Grievances, then a comprehensive review of the
EPRD shall be conducted and the results provided to the claimant within 30
calendar days of receipt of the grievance. Regardless of the above
requirements, the grievance Coordinator shall ensure that a written grievance
decision is provided to the claimant as required in subsection (g).
(b) The grievance Coordinator shall ensure
that the intake process as specified in subsection (a) is completed and each
grievance is referred to the Centralized Screening Team within three business
days of receipt of the grievance.
(c) The grievance Coordinator shall
acknowledge receipt of each grievance to the claimant in writing within four
business days of its receipt indicating the date the grievance was submitted,
the date the grievance was received, the calculated date for the department's
response, and whether the grievance was disallowed pursuant to subsection
3482(d)(3).
(d) The grievance Coordinator shall ensure
that all routine claims returned from the Centralized Screening Team to the
Office of Grievances are reviewed and answered in accordance with this
section.
(e) A claimant or witness
shall be interviewed during the course of responding to a routine claim if
departmental staff responsible for answering the claim determine it would
assist in resolving the claim. The interview shall be conducted in a manner
that provides as much privacy for the claimant as operationally feasible. If a
claimant is unavailable to be interviewed or refuses to be interviewed, then
those facts shall be documented in the written response.
(f) The Reviewing Authority shall ensure that
any individual whose personal interaction with a claimant forms part of the
claim is excluded from participating in the grievance process as to that claim,
including any interview of a claimant conducted as part of the grievance
process.
(1) If the individual in question is
a Warden, then an Associate Director, Deputy Director, or the Director from the
Division of Adult Institutions shall serve as the Reviewing Authority for that
claim.
(2) If the individual in
question is a Regional Parole Administrator, then a Deputy Director or the
Director from the Division of Adult Parole Operations shall serve as the
Reviewing Authority for that claim.
(3) Participating in a committee meeting to
discuss a claimant, or that includes a claimant in attendance, does not, by
itself, constitute personal interaction.
(g) The grievance Coordinator shall ensure
that a written grievance decision is completed no later than 60 calendar days
after receipt of the grievance, unless other statutory or regulatory authority
requires a response in less than 60 calendar days, and contains one of the
following decisions as to each claim in the grievance:
(1) "Denied," meaning that the Reviewing
Authority found by a preponderance of the evidence available that all
applicable rules were followed;
(2)
"Granted," meaning that the Reviewing Authority found by a preponderance of the
evidence available that all applicable rules were not followed, in which case
the Reviewing Authority shall order an appropriate remedy;
(3) "No Jurisdiction," meaning that the claim
concerns a policy, decision, action, condition, or omission by an independent
entity or official which requires that the claimant file a complaint with that
entity or official, as described in subsection
3481(e);
(4) "Redirected," meaning that the claim will
be forwarded to the appropriate authority described below because it fits one
of the following circumstances:
(A) An issue
concerning medical, dental, or mental health services provided by the
Correctional Health Care Services Division or a dispute concerning a policy,
decision, action, condition, or omission by the Correctional Health Care
Services Division or its staff shall be redirected to that Division;
(B) A request for a reasonable accommodation
based on a disability shall be redirected to the Institutional or Regional
Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator;
(C) A request for an interview, item,
assistance, or service shall be redirected to a staff member designated by the
Hiring Authority for a response;
(D) A request for records that is made
pursuant to the California Public Records Act or the California Information
Practices Act shall be redirected to the Institutional or Regional Public
Records Act coordinator;
(E) A
request regarding institutional placement or search preference pursuant to the
Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act of 2020 shall be redirected to the
Prison Rape Elimination Act Compliance Manager;
(F) A complaint regarding a classification
committee decision about institutional placement pursuant to the Transgender
Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act of 2020 shall be redirected to the
Departmental Review Board via the Office of Appeals; or
(G) An allegation against an incarcerated or
supervised person shall be redirected to a staff member designated by the
Hiring Authority for a response;
(5) "Reassigned," meaning that the claim will
be reassigned to the appropriate authority described below because it fits one
of the following circumstances:
(A) A claim
involving documents, witnesses, or other facts that are primarily located at
another institution or parole region shall be reassigned to the Office of
Grievances where the majority of those facts are located, in which case the
Office of Grievances that is presented with the reassigned claim shall treat
the claim as received on the date that the sending Office of Grievances
received it; or
(B) A request to
implement a remedy shall be reassigned to the Remedies Compliance Coordinator
referred to in subsection (j)(2).
(6) "Rejected," meaning that the claim will
be rejected because it fits one or more of the following circumstances:
(A) the claimant did not submit the claim
within the time constraints required by subsection
3482(b), unless
the claim concerns an allegation of staff misconduct;
(B) the claim concerns an anticipated policy,
decision, action, condition, or omission by the department or departmental
staff;
(C) the claim is
substantially duplicative of a prior claim by the same claimant, unless the
prior claim was rejected as anticipatory pursuant to subsection (B);
(D) the claim concerns harm to a person other
than the person who signed the grievance, unless the claim concerns an
allegation of staff misconduct;
(E)
the claim disputes or contravenes the regulatory framework for the grievance
and appeal process itself (specifically, Title 15, Subchapter 5.1, Article 1,
Administrative Remedies for Incarcerated and Supervised Persons);
(7) "Disallowed," meaning the
grievance package will be discarded because it was contaminated with organic,
toxic, or hazardous materials that may threaten staff safety or institutional
security;
(8) "Identified as Staff
Misconduct," meaning that the claim involves an allegation of staff misconduct
and was referred to the appropriate authority to gather relevant facts,
resulting in exhaustion of the administrative remedies process for the
claim;
(9) "Pending Legal Matter,"
meaning that the substance of the claim concerns pending litigation by a party
other than the claimant (excluding class action litigation), pending
legislation, or pending regulatory action, resulting in exhaustion of the
administrative remedies process for the claim; or
(10) "Time Expired," meaning that the
Institutional or Regional Office of Grievances was not able to respond to the
claim within 60 calendar days, resulting in exhaustion of the administrative
remedies process for the claim.
(h) If a claim is rejected as untimely under
subsection (g)(6)(A), the grievance decision shall also include the following
dates as determined by the grievance Coordinator: the date the claim was
discovered, the date the claim was submitted, the date the claim was received,
and the time constraint for submission of the claim pursuant to subsection
3482(b). A claim
that is rejected as untimely by the Office of Grievances may be appealed for
review by the Office of Appeals pursuant to the procedures in section
3484. If the Office of Appeals
grants the appeal, then the claim shall be reassigned to the Office of
Grievances at the institution or region where the majority of the facts and
circumstances that gave rise to the claim occurred. The Office of Grievances
shall treat the claim as received on the date that the Office of Appeals issued
its decision and shall issue its own decision in compliance with subsection
3483(g).
(i) The written grievance decision shall be
sent to the claimant within two business days of completing the written
grievance decision letter.
(j)
Implementation of Remedy.
(1) If the Reviewing
Authority grants a claim, then the corresponding remedy shall be implemented no
later than 30 calendar days after the decision was sent to the claimant,
unless:
(A) the remedy requires the
disbursement of funds, in which case the remedy shall be implemented no later
than 90 calendar days after the decision was sent to the claimant; or
(B) the remedy requires budget authorization
outside the department's existing authority, in which case the remedy shall be
implemented no later than one year after the decision was sent to the
claimant.
(2) If the
remedy has not been implemented and the applicable time constraint has passed,
then a claimant may submit a CDCR Form 602-3 (Rev. 01/22), "Request to
Implement Remedies," hereby incorporated by reference, directly to the Remedies
Compliance Coordinator by regular mail sent to the "Remedies Compliance
Coordinator, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, P.O. Box 942883,
Sacramento, California 95811." Correspondence directed to this address shall
not be opened by any departmental staff other than those in the Office of
Appeals.
(k) Additional
local processes and procedures may be promulgated by the Division of Adult
Institutions and the Division of Adult Parole Operations so long as they are
consistent with this Article, pursuant to Penal Code section
5058(c)(1).
(l) Exhaustion.
(1) Completion of the review process by the
Institutional or Regional Office of Grievances resulting in a decision of
"denied," "granted," "no jurisdiction," "redirected," "reassigned," or
"rejected" in accordance with subsections (g)(1) through (g)(6) of this section
does not constitute exhaustion of all administrative remedies available to a
claimant within the department. Nor does completion of the review process
resulting in a "disallowed" decision in accordance with subsection (g)(7) of
this section because the claimant may submit a new grievance regarding the same
claim or claims so long as it is submitted within the time constraints set
forth in subsection
3482(b).
Exhaustion requires a claimant to appeal such decisions as provided in section
3484.
(2) Completion of the review process by the
Institutional or Regional Office of Grievances resulting in a decision of
"identified as staff misconduct," "pending legal matter," or "time expired" in
accordance with subsections (g)(8) through (g)(10) of this section does
constitute exhaustion of all administrative remedies available to a claimant
within the department. No appeal is available because the claim was exhausted
at the conclusion of the review by the Institutional or Regional Office of
Grievances.
Note: Authority cited: Section
5058, Penal
Code. Reference: Sections
832.5 and
5054, Penal
Code; and Section 35.107, Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations.
Note: Authority cited: Section
5058, Penal
Code. Reference: Sections
832.5 and
5054, Penal
Code; and Section 35.107, Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations.
