At the Shasta County Jail (hereinafter "JAIL") it has always been a problem for inmates to have photocopies made of legal documents. I had thought this problem to have been solved two plus years ago. However, apparently it has not been solved for anyone but myself, as I continually am asked, "How did you get them to make your copies? They told me, 'we don't do that.'" Consequently, I decided to place this information in the public domain where families and friends of JAIL inmates can access and forward it to those concerned.

Had the JAIL fulfilled its written agreement (See appendix to this article for copy of agreement), this would not be necessary. The agreement is by a letter dated July 10, 2001, (file stamped July 16, 2001, as received by the United States District Court, Eastern District of California, in case: Thomas Watson v. California DOC, CIV-5-98-1384 DFL GGH P), where counsel John Hagar on behalf of the Sheriff of Shasta county responded to a show cause order issued under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. §1651 (a). In an order issued by the Federal Court on August 2, 2001, (filed August 6, 2001), Magistrate Judge Gregory Hollows accepted the agreement contained in the July 10, 2001, letter, and based thereon, discharged the show cause order. The natural assumption being the Sheriff would live up to the agreement.

The Hager Letter, among its other text, enumerates four (4) paragraphs outlining steps to be takenby the JAIL. About half of them have been done.

Paragraph (1) deals exclusively with my photocopying needs, and has mostly been followed.

Paragraph (2) states, "The jail is modifying its policy and procedures manual to include a procedure whereby inmates may make a written request to have legal papers in their criminal cases and/or civil rights cases copied by jail staff. An administrative fee of 10 cents per page will be charged from the inmate's commissary account. If the inmate is indigent, the copies will be made and charged as a negative balance to the commissary account. This policy will be in place by the date you receive this letter." 

This again was no doubt done, as it has applied to my copying needs, but I did have the advantage of being able to show this Hagar Letter when officers attempted to balk. The problems appear to result from paragraphs (3) and (4). These have not been done!

Paragraph (3) states, "Jail staff will receive training concerning the legal document copying policy during briefing sessions to ensure that it is implemented in a prompt and consistent manner."

When approaching officers for copying services, the responses run the gamut of inconsistency: "We don't do that!" "I heard something about that once." I'll look into that." "What do you need, I'll take care of it." That's a consistent manner? I hope the staff training quality associated with legal copying is not indicative of training in general for Shasta County Officers. Many of the officers who have made copies for me had admitted they received no training on the procedure.

Other inmates have not been so fortunate as to be under a court order for copying service, but even I have had to find cooperative staff, otherwise I would have not been able to obtain legal copies without needing to file a Grievance to the Administration each time.

There is so much inconsistency between JAIL staff that some of them believe they have the right to read and retain copies of confidential legal materials for a JAIL file. One officer who was exceedingly rude, and who acted as though he perceived himself to be an attorney of sorts, attempted to tell an inmate that after the JAIL made the copies, the JAIL then forwarded the document to the court, kept one copy for a file on the inmate, and returned one copy to the inmate. He insisted this was policy. As I was also present, I attempted to ask the officer about service on other parties. I was threatened with immediate disciplinary lockdown (so much for due process) if I said one more word, never able to finish asking who would be signing the proof of service Declarations under his system. The inmate wisely did not surrender his documents to this officer.

Paragraph (4) states, "The inmate handbook will be modified to reflect the new policy. The handbook was recently modified. At present there are several hundred copies in the jail inventory. Jail officials estimate that the next handbook modification will take place in approximately six months."

This Hagar Letter is dated July 10, 2001, and as I write this it is December 14, 2003, the inmate handbook has yet to have been modified. These failures to keep written agreements filed in court settlements does not bestow a lot of confidence in the integrity of the Shasta County Sheriff's Department.

Is Sheriff Jim Pope even aware that his staff has not complied with his written promises?

Inmate Tom Watson
1655 West Street
Redding, CA 96001