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We Demand Our Grievances are Addressed in California
initiated in January 2010updated on May 01, 2024
This campaign was started in California and has spread to various jurisdictions all across the country. Our ability to fairly have our grievances handled is directly related to preventing arbitrary repression for people who stand up for their rights or attempt to do something positive.
From a comrade in California:
“I have sent MIM(Prisons) a letter of grievance for use by CDCR prisoners. Its purpose is to petition the Director of Corrections to investigate the purposeful failure of the 602 procedure [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation grievance process] within CSP-LAC. This is something somebody put together for the general population here on C-yard. It is our intention to flood the Director’s office with these petitions in hopes that it will shed some light onto the illegal acts in which these pigs are willing participants. We are being forced to file these petitions due to the unfortunate fact that the vast majority of our 602s are not being filed or properly heard.
“The idea is to distribute this petition to all CDCR facilities and to have as many people sign and mail the petition to the Director’s office as possible. Once all parties receive their responses concerning the petition, all responses along with contradictory paperwork should be sent to MIM(Prisons), the Prison Law Office (which is specific to CA), the Office of Internal Affairs, etc. Our goal is to expose CDCR, its administration, and facilities as tools of repression and the lengths that they will go to to cover their crimes.”
Prisoners are being recruited to lead this campaign where they are being held. Supporters of prisoners can join this campaign by printing out the petition and sending it to their family members, loved ones, and comrades inside. They can also send letters on behalf of prisoners to the addresses listed.
Sending in one petition to the Inspector General won’t get results, but getting multiple people to send out the petition will not only amplify the opposition to the problem, it will also bring those prisoners together around a common goal. Use this campaign to build unity behind bars.
Spread This Campaign!
There is a generic country-wide petition that can be used by anyone in the United $tates. A step up from using the generic country-wide petition is to modify one of the state-specific petitions to work in the jurisdiction where you’re held. Using one of the state-specific petitions as a format, rewrite the quotations and citations included on it. If you do this research and send us what needs to be rewritten for your particular state, we will gladly send an edited, accurate copy to other USW and Legal Clinic folks in your state.
You will need to research who to CC: (carbon copy) the letter to for your particular state. The U.$. Department of Justice and Office of Inspector General are the same for all U.$. prisons, but your state’s ombudsman and internal affairs officers will be different. The Prison Law Office is a non-profit organization that provides legal support to prisoners facing civil rights abuses, but it is particular to California. If you know of an organization in your state that is similar to this, they should be included on your petition.
Updates/Reports from Inside
- OIG Report Says Grievance System Reforms in CA Undermined (May 2024)
- CDCR Freezes Elderly Inmates in Retaliation of Grievance Campaigns (February 2023)
- Racial Targeting and Retaliation in North Kern (August 2022)
- UPDATE: CMF Has Only Returned 2 CPAP Machines in Response to Protest (June 2020)
- Too Many Grievances Delays Parole in CSP-LAC (July 2019)
- Prisoners Punished for Writing Grievances in Dalhart Texas (February 2019)
- Systemic, Implicit, Covert and Overt Bias (March 2018)
- Grievance Campaign at RJDCF on Access to Showers (January 2018)
- Strike Against Arbitrary Group Punishment at MDF (August 2017)
- 911, "I have a crime to report." (July 2017)
- Prisoner Set Up, Shot At (February 2017)
- CRC Recruiting Snitches, Bringing False Charges on Grievers (January 2017)
- Downloadable Grievance Petition, California (November 2016)
- Basic Needs, Property Denied: Grievance Process Needed (July 2015)
- First Class Censorship in California (February 2015)
- Soledad Pigs Power Tripping (February 2015)
- Beyond the 602: California Administrative Mandate Petitions (August 2014)
- Limit on Number of Grievance Appeals Attacks Prisoner's Legal Rights (April 2014)
- Democracy Denied to Abused Prisoners by CCI Warden (December 2013)
- Update on CA Grievance Lawsuits (December 2013)
- Petition Gets Response (June 2013)
- Taking Grievance Petitions to Next Level (April 2013)
- The System Isn't Broken, it Works for the Oppressor (April 2013)
- Grievance Fight Assisted with Citizen Complaint Letters (November 2012)
- Grievance Campaign Progress in California (October 2012)
- Reforming the Reforms (October 2012)
- Grievance Campaign Improving and Growing (July 2012)
- Bringing Grievances to Higher Level Wins Again (June 2012)
- Appeals to Sacramento Politicians Lead to Improvements at KVSP (June 2012)
- Grievance Petition for California Updated (September 2011)
- Responses to Grievance Petition (July 2011)
- Grievance Petition Copies Refused in Library (June 2011)
- Downloadable Petition Against Z-Unit Zoo (February 2011)
- Battle at HDSP Gains Official Attention (January 2011)
- Corrupt Grievance System in Private Colorado Prison (December 2010)
- No Experience Necessary (December 2010)
- Next Steps for an Effective Grievance Campaign (December 2010)
- CDCR Tells Prisoner to Sue for Proper Handling of Grievances (December 2010)
- DOJ Likes to Pick Bad Apples (November 2010)
- Victim of Injustice System (October 2010)
- Grievances in Arkansas (October 2010)
- Staff Assault Prisoner, Ignore Grievance (September 2010)
- Wrongful Validation in California Leads to Support for Grievance Campaign (August 2010)
- Testimony - Retaliation for writing grievances (August 2010)
- Legal Tips to Fight Gang Validation in California (July 2010)
- Appeals Denied on Mass Validation (June 2010)
- Obstruction of justice at SCI Muncy (June 2010)
- Repression at RJD (May 2010)
- Address Our Grievances! Campaign Spreads (April 2010)
- Seeing Through the Bureaucratic Runaround Tactic (April 2010)
- Prison Law Office and Grievance Petition (March 2010)
- DOJ Claims They Will Investigate if Shown Pattern of Abuse (February 2010)
- Petition for Proper Handling of Grievances (January 2010)
- Warden Turns a Blind Eye to Staff Misconduct (January 2010)
- Mail and Other Policy Violations by Prison Staff (January 2010)
- Prisoners Denied Right to Public Records (August 2007)