Chapter 1 – General Administration

13030.16.2 Requests to Review Electronic C‑File for Inmate Attorney or Olson Review

• Requests for CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation offender records, specifically the C-File, come from various entities such as inmates, attorneys, law enforcement agencies, Office of the Attorney General, District Attorneys, Office of the Inspector General, Governors Office, etc.

• Requests are usually received and facilitated by CCCorrectional Counselor’s, Litigation Coordinators, and Case Records Managers. Previous to electronic offender records, the paper C-Files were reviewed onsite or photocopies of the C-File were made.

• With the Implementation of the Strategic Offender Management System (SOMSStrategic Offender Management) and the Electronic Records Management System (ERMSElectronic Records Management System), the location of where information resides and the process for gathering and providing offender information has changed significantly.

• All existing Departmental policies and regulations, Memoranda, Legal Affairs opinions, and state and federal laws currently in place for releasing offender information as well as redaction of specific information still apply.

• SOMSStrategic Offender Management and ERMSElectronic Records Management System are web-based computer programs dependent upon a networked computer accessing a database. SOMSStrategic Offender Management and ERMSElectronic Records Management System contain data of inmates’ case factors and other information that was formerly contained in a paper C-File. The Electronic File in ERMSElectronic Records Management System is organized in sections similar to the former C-File (e.g. Legal, Classification, and Disciplinary). For security reasons, inmates are not allowed to access a networked computer.

• In order to facilitate an ERMSElectronic Records Management System version of an Olson review, the documents in each section can be saved to an encrypted compact disc (CD) or in the case of an Inmate Attorney review, a PDF file stored on the institution’s data storage drive commonly referred to as the “Share Drive”. Each section of the ERMSElectronic Records Management System version of the Olson/Inmate Attorney review will contain a category of the File similar to the current paper C-File format (e.g. Legal, Classification, and Disciplinary). The ERMSElectronic Records Management System Olson or Attorney Review CD or PDF file will contain all scanned documents for an inmate that are stored in the ERMSElectronic Records Management System database not considered confidential.

• SOMSStrategic Offender Management contains the inmate’s case data that is accessed via computer screens devoted to a specific topic (e.g. Initial Housing Review, Notification in Case of Inmate Death, Serious Injury or Serious Illness, or Physical Characteristics). In order to facilitate a SOMSStrategic Offender Management Olson or Attorney review, the input screens relating to each specific topic can be printed from the SOMSStrategic Offender Management application.