Free Declaration in Support - District Court of California - California

Case 3:07-cv-05088-WHA

Document 11

Filed 03/21/2008

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1 EDMUND G.BROWN JR. Attorney General of the State of California 2 DAVID S. CHANEY . Chief Assistant Attorney General 3 FRANCES T. GRUNDER Senior Assistant Attorney General 4 MICHAEL W. JORGENSON Supervising Deputy Attorney General 5 EMILY L. BRINKMAN, State BarNo. 219400 Deputy Attorney General 6 455 Golden Gate Avenue, Suite 11000 San Francisco, CA 94102-7004 7 Telephone: (415) 703-5742 Fax: (415) 703-5843 8 Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Defendants Labans and Freeman 9 10 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12 SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION
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14 15 16 17 18

LUIS MURATALLA-LUA, Plaintiff,

C 07-5088WHA DECLARATION OF N. GRANNIS IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS

v.
Correctional Officer LABANS and Correctional Officer FREEMEN; Defendants.

19 20 I, N. Grannis, declare as follows: 21 1. I am employed as the Chief of Inmate Appeals by the California Departnient of

22 Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). I have personal knowledge of each of.the matters set ,. 23 forth below and if called asa witness would and could competently testify thereto. I submit this 24 Declaration in support of Defendants' Motion to Dismiss and Motion for Summary Judgment. 25 2. I am responsible for the oversight ~f the CDCR Inmate Appeals Branch. In that

26 capacity, I have obtained personal knowledge of the inmate appeals process and departmental 27 rules and regulations. 28 3. In the regular course of its business and administrative practices, the Inmate Appeals
Muratella-Lua v. Laban, et al. C 07-5088 WHA

Decl. Grannis Supp. Mot. Dismiss

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Case 3:07-cv-05088-WHA

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1 Branch keeps an electronic record of each inmate appeal that has proceeded through the final 2 level of review, the Director's Level. When an appeal is received by the Inmate Appeals Branch 3 4 5 and is accepted for review, it is given an appeal number and logged into the system. The following information is kept in the electronic record: appeal log number, the category
)

(nature/subject) of the appeal, institutional log numbers, inmate's name and CDCR number,
/

.6 institution from which the appeal arises,. . is received and closed, and final the date that the appeal . 7 8 disposition of the appeal. The system was commenced in 1993. 4. I am familiar with various sections of title 15 of the California Code of Regulations
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9 that govern an inmate's appeal. For instance, section 3084.5 describes the levels of appeals that 10 are available to an inmate. In order to exhaust available administrative remedies within the 11 inmate appeals system, an inmate must proceed through several levels of review: (1) informal 12 review; (2) first fotmal written appeal on a CDC 602 inmate appeal form, (3) second formal level 13 14 appeal to theinstitution heador designee, and (4) third formal level appeal to the Director of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Specifically, section 3084.5(e)(2)

15 provides that-vltjhird level review constitutes the director's decision on an appeal, and shall be 16 conducted by a designated representative of the director under supervision of the chief, inmate

17 appeals." 18
/

5.

Section 3084.3(c) describes the 'grounds for rejecting an inmate appeal. The Inmate

19 Appeals Branch may reject an appeal if the appeal is incomplete or necessary supporting 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 documents are not attached. Cal, Code Regs. tit. 15, § 3084.3(c)(5). When an appeal is rejected based on improper documentation, it is. returned to the inmate, with clear instructions regarding . . further

a~tion the inmatemust take to qualifythe appeal for processing, Id. at § 3084.3(d).

An

appeal that has been screened out does not constitute a final decision by the Director, and therefore an inmate must take further action to exhaust administrative remedies. In the regular course of its business and administrative practices, the Inmate Appeals Branch keeps an electronic record of each inmate appeal that has been screened-out. The system of maintaining spread-sheets on screened-out appeals commenced in 2000. 6. A search ofthe Inmate Appeals Branch's computer records was conducted for
Muratella-Lua v. Laban, et al. e 07-5088 WHA

Dec!. Grannis Supp. Mot. Dismiss

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.3 ccmputer printout comprises each and

appeal In the Director's

5 comprises each and every appeal filed by Pleintiff that has been screened-out at the Director's

7 bereto as Exhibit A, 7.

Anachedas Exhibit Bls a true and correct copy of the Dir~tc!(s Level "·'/CltJ\:i:'U number PBS·P-P-01·0i 057completed on October 4,

.De~lslon-ofinnJate appeal

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i

I
r

8.

Attached as Exhibit C is a true and correct copy of the Director's Level Appeal

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9.

The printout reveals that the lnmsreAppeels Branch received inmate appeal PBSP·P-

irnIl.:ateappeal PBSP-P~07·0 1432' for: ! declare itlnder pe.!iahy of perjury
i7 Sacramento, Californi;l, 011 March
the tOI1i:'giDW:g is true andcorreot, E;r;;ecuIx:a at

~_, 2008.
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N, Grannis

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·.. C#.

Chief.Inmate Appeals Branch

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v. Laban: tJl aL C l}1-$()its8·"VHr,

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