Eastern District of California Blog

DOJ Seeks Death Penalty In Inmate Killing Of Cellmate At USP Atwater

A federal prisoner is facing the possibility of the death penalty after he was indicted on a charge of murder for a 2003 killing at the U.S. Penitentiary at Atwater.

Samuel Stone was already serving a life sentence for two separate homicides that occurred in 1999 when his cellmate, Michael Anita, was found dead in the prison's special housing unit.

A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment Thursday charging Stone with first-degree murder and murder by a federal prisoner serving a life sentence.

It's unclear why there was nearly a 9-year delay between the death of Anita and the charges. According to the Department of Justice, the case was extensively investigated by the FBI.

Fresno Bee, 3/22/12

FCI Mendota Starting Up

While California is giving layoff warning notices to 26,000 state correctional employees, Sacramento Bee, 10/22/11, the Bureau of Prisons says medium security FCI Mendota near Fresno is in the process of "activating."  The BOP weekly population report lists 58 inmates at its satellite camp as of October 13.

California Prisons' Solitary Confinement Units Face Scrutiny

Prisoner Sketch of Pelican Bay SHU

SFBayView.com, via Cal Prison Focus

The Sacramento Bee, 8/24/11 reports on a legislative hearing Tuesday called by Assembly Public Safety Committee Chariman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, in response to the Pelican Bay Hunger Strike last month, which drew attention to the conditions in California's solitary confinement units:

On Tuesday, a parade of witnesses testified that conditions inside the state's SHUs are similar to torture, and that inmates are confined in solitary confinement up to 23 1/2 hours a day.

"I admit to being a small-time crack dealer, I admit to being an alcoholic, I admit to being a small-time burglar," said Earl Fears, who spent time inside the SHU at Corcoran State Prison.

But, Fears said, conditions in the SHU caused great emotional stress, especially when guards decided to skip allowing inmates time to shower or refused to provide toilet paper or deliver medicine on schedule.

"I am human, and by being human I do have certain rights … ," he said.

Others who spoke said inmates find themselves locked up in the SHUs for decades, sometimes based on accusations by confidential informants they are never allowed to refute.

For more on SHU conditions, check out S. Cal. Public Radio, 8/18/11, KQED, 8/18/11, and Voices From Inside Page.

USP Atwater Inmate Killed

A 37-year-old U.S. Penitentiary inmate is dead after being assaulted by another inmate at the prison around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, prison officials reported.

The inmate has been identified as Wade Edward Austin. He was serving a sentence of 15 years for intent to distribute cocaine base and knowingly using a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, according to a prison statement. Austin was sentenced for the crime in Virginia.

Merced Sun-Star, 7/25/11

Ninth Circuit Overrules EDCA Decision In Suit Over Prison Lockdown

Prison officials have broad leeway to decide how long to confine inmates to their cells after a riot, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday, dismissing a California prisoner's suit over a seven-month lockdown.

The inmate, Steve Noble, was not involved in the January 2002 clash at Corcoran State Prison in Kings County that injured more than 20 guards and prompted officials to order an extended lockdown.

A federal judge in Fresno refused in 2009 to dismiss a damage suit by Noble, who represented himself and claimed he had been wrongfully deprived of outdoor exercise. U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii said prison officials had offered no explanation for their decision to deny exercise for six months after completing an investigation of the riot.

But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said those decisions are largely up to prison authorities.  "We defer to prison officials' judgment so long as that judgment does not manifest either deliberate indifference (to inmates' needs) or an intent to inflict harm," Judge Stephen Trott said in the 3-0 ruling.

SFGate, 3/18/11; Noble v. Adams Opinion, 3/17/11.

Former Herlong Prison Guard Charged With Taking Bribes From Inmates

Isn't venue in the EDCA?

A former Nevada man who worked as a federal prison guard in northern California has been charged with accepting bribes to smuggle contraband to inmates.

U.S. Attorney for Nevada Daniel Bogden says 25-year-old Najeeb Z. Peavy was indicted on one count of a public official accepting a bribe.

Peavy pleaded not guilty to the charge in federal court in Reno on Tuesday and faces a trial Feb. 8, 2011. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The newly unsealed indictment says the former Reno man who now lives in Sacramento solicited the bribes from inmates at the federal prison in Herlong for about seven months beginning in March. It doesn't say who paid the bribes or identify the kind of contraband.

SFGate.com, 12/15/10

Smoking Gun Email Shows Kern Prison Discipline Hearings Are Fixed

The prison official assured his warden in an e-mail that everything was set: A group of 77 inmates accused of interfering with officers would be found guilty, no matter what.

Disciplinary hearings – required proceedings where inmates can defend themselves with witnesses and evidence – had not yet taken place at North Kern State Prison.

Yet, in the April e-mail obtained by The Bee, acting Associate Warden Steven Ojeda promised to provide the hearing officers – lieutenants he supervised – "with direction prior to the hearings and ensure they understand to hold all of these inmates accountable."

Leaving nothing to chance, Ojeda prescribed punishments, too: loss of good-behavior credit and visiting privileges, threat of a term in one of the prison system's security housing units – called "the hole" by prisoners – and other serious penalties.

By acting as judge and jury, Ojeda fit a pattern, a Bee investigation has found, that suggests widespread suppression of inmates' rights to contest allegations by guards or pursue claims of mistreatment.

Current and retired officers, prisoners and parolees allege that correctional officers and their superiors routinely file bogus or misleading reports, destroy or falsify documentation of abuses, and intimidate colleagues or inmates who push back.

Sacramento Bee, 8/1/10