Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_03-cv-00072/USCOURTS-caed-2_03-cv-00072-11/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 550
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Civil Rights (U.S. defendant)
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Prisoner Civil Rights

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

EUGENE EVERETT WELCH,

Plaintiff,

v.

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF

CORRECTIONS, et al.,

Defendants.

No. 2:03-cv-00072-TLN-DAD

ORDER

Plaintiff Eugene Everett Welch (“Plaintiff”), a state prisoner proceeding pro se, filed this 

civil rights action in 2003, claiming his rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized 

Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) were being violated by enforcement against him of grooming 

regulations promulgated and implemented by the California Department of Corrections (CDC) in 

1997. On September 26, 2007, the Court granted Defendants’ motion for summary judgment on 

the ground that Plaintiff’s claims for declaratory and injunctive relief were moot. (ECF No. 141.) 

The Court’s decision was based on Defendants’ representations that all of the counseling chronos 

and rule violation reports documenting Plaintiff’s grooming violations had been expunged from 

his central file. (ECF No. 141.) 

On April 13, 2012, Plaintiff filed a letter complaining that his central file still contained 

Case 2:03-cv-00072-TLN-DAD Document 151 Filed 03/18/15 Page 1 of 2
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grooming violations. (ECF No. 145.) On April 26, 2012, the Court ordered Defendants to verify 

the expungement of these documents within twenty days. (ECF No. 146.) On May 15, 2012, 

Defendants provided this Court with the declaration of Correctional Case Records Analyst 

Burkhardt, which confirmed that the documents reflecting Plaintiff’s grooming violations were 

expunged from his central file. The declaration stated that Plaintiff’s Board of Prison Terms 

(BPT) packet had contained a counseling chrono reflecting a grooming violation, but that 

document has been expunged. (ECF No. 147.) 

On March 26, 2014, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Court Order (ECF No. 149) asserting that 

these events that were allegedly expunged from Plaintiff’s BPT packet are being used against him 

at his BPT hearing. The Court does not look kindly on Defendants’ alleged actions. This Court 

granted summary judgment based on Defendants’ assertions that Plaintiff’s claims were moot. 

The purpose of an expungement is that such violations would not be used against Plaintiff. If 

Defendants are continuing to use Plaintiff’s alleged grooming violations against him, then 

Defendants’ previous representations made to this Court are nothing more than a farce. 

Defendants are hereby ordered to adhere to the representations made to this Court and are further 

ordered to show cause as to why they should not be sanctioned for willfully discounting 

representations that they themselves made to this Court. 

As such, the Court hereby ORDERS Defendants to show cause in writing no later than 

March 30, 2015, as to why Defendants should not be sanctioned for making false statements to 

the Court.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: March 18, 2015

Case 2:03-cv-00072-TLN-DAD Document 151 Filed 03/18/15 Page 2 of 2