M E M 0 R A N D U M
 

CONFIDENTIAL LEGAL Correspondence
 

Date . September 16, 2004

To . Jeanne Woodford, Director
California Department of Corrections

Subject: UNLAWFUL INTERFERENCE BY STAFF WITH ACCESS TO THE COURTS

Pursuant to my constitutional right to petition for redress of grievances and have access to the courts, I am actively prosecuting without assistance from counsel many petitions for writ of habeas corpus and other court actions related to unlawful prison conditions not resolved through CDC's grievance process.

Although the California Rules of Court dictate the required number of copies which must be filed at all court levels, staff here at. the California State Prison in Los Angeles County refuse to provide me 
with the number of copies mandated by court Rules.

For example, when I took to the law library today a state habeas petition being filed in California's 3rd District Court of Appeal, I was told I could get only one copy for filing.

Although I showed the librarian where it is clearly printed on the front page of the required petition form (MC-275) that the original and FOUR copies must be filed in the California Court of Appeal (with another copy going to the Attorney General), he told me the issue is not debatable and gave me a copy of this prison's "operational supplement" (#53060.20, dated 1/99) which he cited as authority for giving me only one copy of the habeas petition.

Will you please instruct the prison to stop preventing me and other prisoners from obtaining the exact number of copies required by the California Rules of Court (e.g., Rule 44(b)(2), which requires the 
original and 4 copies to be filed in a California Court of Appeal, with another copy going to the Attorney General)?

With all the active court cases I am litigating because CDC refuses to grant my meritorious grievances, the last thing I need or want is prison staff interfering with my constitutional right to access the courts by denying me the number of copies required by court rules, especially when such denial is based on the language of unofficial prison documents which unequivocally conflict with those rules.

Appreciatively,

Eric C.R. K'napp

cc: Warden, CSP--LAC
      B. Cayenne Bird U.N.I.O.N.