California Code of Regulations › Title 15 - Crime Prevention and Corrections › Division 3 - Adult Institutions, Programs and Parole › Chapter 1 - Rules and Regulations of Adult Operations and Programs › Subchapter 5.1 - Inmate and Parolee Programs › Article 1 - Administrative Remedies for Inmates and Parolees › Section 3483 - Grievance Review

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) The
					 Reviewing Authority over each Office of Grievances shall designate at least one
					 official to assess each written grievance within one business day of receipt to
					 determine if it contains information concerning an imminent risk to personal safety,
					 to institutional security, or of sexual abuse, including acts of sexual misconduct
					 as defined by the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act and the California Sexual
					 Abuse in Detention Elimination Act. In those instances, the official shall
					 immediately take appropriate action as required by all applicable laws and
					 regulations. The official shall ensure the claimant is notified of the department's
					 course of action within five business days. In addition to the above requirements,
					 if the grievance alleges that the claimant's Earliest Possible Release Date (EPRD)
					 is erroneous and the claimant is scheduled to be released within 90 calendar days of
					 the date the grievance was received by the Office of Grievances, then a
					 comprehensive review of the EPRD shall be conducted and the results provided to the
					 claimant within 30 calendar days of receipt of the grievance. Regardless of the
					 above requirements, the grievance Coordinator shall ensure that a written grievance
					 decision is provided to the claimant as required in subsection (g).
(b) The grievance Coordinator shall ensure that
					 the intake process as specified in subsection (a) is completed and each grievance is
					 referred to the Centralized Screening Team within three business days of receipt of
					 the grievance.
(c) The grievance
					 Coordinator shall acknowledge receipt of each grievance to the claimant in writing
					 within four business days of its receipt indicating the date the grievance was
					 submitted, the date the grievance was received, the calculated date for the
					 department's response, and whether the grievance was disallowed pursuant to
					 subsection 3482(d)(3).
(d) The grievance Coordinator shall ensure that
					 all routine claims returned from the Centralized Screening Team to the Office of
					 Grievances are reviewed and answered in accordance with this section.
(e) A claimant or witness shall be interviewed
					 during the course of responding to a routine claim if departmental staff responsible
					 for answering the claim determine it would assist in resolving the claim. The
					 interview shall be conducted in a manner that provides as much privacy for the
					 claimant as operationally feasible. If a claimant is unavailable to be interviewed
					 or refuses to be interviewed, then those facts shall be documented in the written
					 response.
(f) The Reviewing Authority
					 shall ensure that any individual whose personal interaction with a claimant forms
					 part of the claim is excluded from participating in the grievance process as to that
					 claim, including any interview of a claimant conducted as part of the grievance
					 process.
(1) If the individual in question is a
					 Warden, then an Associate Director, Deputy Director, or the Director from the
					 Division of Adult Institutions shall serve as the Reviewing Authority for that
					 claim.
(2) If the individual in question
					 is a Regional Parole Administrator, then a Deputy Director or the Director from the
					 Division of Adult Parole Operations shall serve as the Reviewing Authority for that
					 claim.
(3) Participating in a committee
					 meeting to discuss a claimant, or that includes a claimant in attendance, does not,
					 by itself, constitute personal interaction.