Chapter 5 – Adult Custody and Security Operations

Incidents, events and activities that occur within the jurisdiction of institutions of immediate interest to the Department, other governmental agencies or the news media, shall be reported to the Director or the departmental Officer-of-the-Day, or the Deputy Director, DAPODivision of Adult Parole Operations (formerly P&CSD) as described in this section.

This procedure defines staff responsibility and provides procedures and criteria for reporting incidents occurring within the Department.

Examples of incidents which shall be reported:

• All felonies committed by inmates, parolees, employees or the public on institution property, during transportation or under the jurisdiction of parole regions.

• General or partial lockdowns.

• Riots, inmate strikes or general demonstrations.

• Major power failures.

• Serious accidents or injuries.

• Deaths.

• Significant damage or destruction of state property.

• Escapes or attempted escapes, (refer to DOMDepartment Operations Manual 55040, Escape Pursuit).

• Any state of emergency as described in CCRCalifornia Code of Regulations 3383.

• Any use or discharge of weapons, chemical agents or tasers.

• Threats against the President or Vice President of the United States, or threats against state officials.

• Safety grievances (employees).

• Employee job actions.

• Sexual Violence Allegations.

• Attempted Suicide (as determined by a mental health evaluation).

All reportable incidents shall be conveyed by telecopier on a CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Form 837 series, Administrative Officer-of-the-Day (AODAdministrative Officer of the Day) Incident Report, to the Director, by the 24-hour-a-day Identification and Warrants (IDInstitutions Division (see DAI)) Unit.

The current public and ATSS telephone numbers of the IDInstitutions Division (see DAI) Unit shall be included in the telecopier and AODAdministrative Officer of the Day instruction booklets or memos.

The Administrative Officer-of-the-Day Incident Report, CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Form 837 series, is the Department’s initial written report to Central Office that an incident of departmental interest has occurred. It is essential that all information available at the time of the incident be entered into this report. Any subsequent updating of information relating to the incident should be forwarded to Central Office using the AODAdministrative Officer of the Day 837 Log Number of that particular incident.

Initial Report Content

• Initial reports by telecopier shall include all pertinent available information. New information significant to the incident shall be telecopied as received.

Press Releases

• The Assistant Director, Communications, shall be notified by telephone of press releases or serious incidents. A written copy of the press release shall be telecopied to Communications following the verbal notification.

The transportation sergeant or senior officer in charge of the bus shall be responsible for reporting incidents which occur during departmental transportation. The Captain, Transportation Unit, shall be responsible for the processing and distribution of incident reports prepared by staff of the transportation unit. Copies of the incident report shall be forwarded to institutions receiving inmates involved in transportation incidents.

A written incident report shall be prepared and submitted to the Director within 72 hours of all reportable incidents. The Warden or RPARegional Parole Administrator will review and sign this report.

Initial incident reports to the Director shall be updated by supplemental incident reports until the incident is closed. The supplemental reports shall include all subsequent facts, information, and administrative actions taken relative to the incident.

Facilities and parole regions shall establish and maintain an official log on all reportable incidents. All initial incident reports shall be assigned a log number. Incident report log numbers shall be obtained from the original CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Form 837 series, AODAdministrative Officer of the Day Report, pertaining to the incident. All supplemental reports pertaining to a single incident shall contain the log number assigned to the initial report and shall be filed sequentially with the original report.

The facility watch commander or program lieutenant in charge of the specific area where the incident occurred shall be responsible for the preparation of the incident report. Departmental incident reports shall be prepared in accordance with the following outline and format:

• Subject.

• Synopsis.

• Persons involved.

• Summary.

• Action taken.

The outlined sections shall contain the following information when applicable:

• Subject. This section shall provide a brief one-or-two sentence description of the incident.

• Synopsis. This section shall contain a brief, concise description of the incident and involvement of the principal person(s). It shall also contain a description of the injuries, a prognosis for each injured person, the location of the incident, and the extent of property damage if any.

• Persons Involved.

  • The following information shall be included on principal inmates involved:

    • Name(s) and prison number(s).

    • Custody classification and classification score.

    • Date received by the Department.

    • Date received by the facility.

    • Commitment offense and county of commitment.

    • Parole/discharge date/Board of Prison Term status.

    • List name(s) and job classification(s) of principal staff involved.

  • Summary. This section shall contain a detailed report of the entire incident including, when applicable, the following information:

    • Type of incident, date, and approximate time of occurrence.

    • Location of incident.

    • All facts, details, and conclusions.

    • Any criminal acts committed and by whom.

    • Any property damage incurred and value estimate of loss.

    • Number and description of weapon(s) used by perpetrator(s) or recovered following the incident.

    • Types of weapons used by staff, i.e., firearms, chemical agents, tasers, or other lethal/nonlethal weapons. Number of shots fired and/or amount of chemical agents expended shall be included in this section. (See DOMDepartment Operations Manual 32010, 54060, and 55050 for additional information on the taser.)

    • Compliance with procedures requiring review of medical/ psychiatric records before taser is used and their findings.

    • Detailed and specific description of any physical force used by staff during the incident.

    • Types and amounts of controlled substances seized. Controlled substances shall be reported in grams or dosages.

    • Describe circumstances surrounding any staff, inmate, or visitor death and details of care provided. Any last messages wished transmitted by the deceased shall be quoted.

    • Describe any injuries to staff/inmates/visitors, medical aid provided, and prognosis. An (F) or (M) shall be placed after the names of injured staff members to designate whether male or female.

  • Action Taken:

    • Describe any disciplinary or classification committee actions taken and outcome if known.

    • State if case was/was not referred for criminal prosecution. If referred, describe status or outcome if known.

    • State whether or not information officer and/or news media was notified.

    • State if case was referred to the BPT and actions taken if known.

    • State if Chief of Labor Relations was notified in cases of employee injury or death.

    • Describe actions to notify next of kin in cases of serious injury or death.

    • Describe measures taken to prevent recurrence.

The following attachments shall be included in incident reports when applicable:

• Arresting and/or witnessing officer reports.

• Reports of principal employees involved.

• Medical and/or death reports on injuries or deaths.

• Photographs shall not be attached to incident reports sent to the Director unless requested.

Incident reports shall be duplicated by the photocopy method only and distributed as follows:

• Two copies to the Director. (Three copies if death of staff or inmate by assault.)

• One copy to each institution if deemed serious or unusual, or if considered to contain information of particular training value. (Individual institutions may also request routine distribution.)

• CYASee Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Wards

  • One copy to the Chief Deputy Director, CYASee Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), for each CYASee Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) ward involved.

  • One copy upon request to the Region Chief of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection of conservation camp incidents involving forestry employees.

Incident reports which contain confidential information shall be written, controlled, and distributed in accordance with CCRCalifornia Code of Regulations 3321, and applicable information practices procedures.

The Deputy Director, Division of Adult Institutions or designee shall ensure that the content of this article is accurate and current.

PCPenal Code § 76. 18 USC 871.

CCRCalifornia Code of Regulations §§ 3382, 3276 – 3279.

ACAAmerican Correctional Association Standards 2-4206 – 2-4208, and 2-4210.