Chapter 5 – Adult Custody and Security Operations

54100.11 Reasons for Rejection, Cancellation, and Withdrawal of Appeals

• Appeals may be rejected, cancelled or withdrawn:

  • A rejected appeal is one that the appeals coordinator or third level Appeals Chief has returned to the appellant with instructions to correct a deficiency. Clear and sufficient instructions regarding further actions the appellant must take to qualify the appeal for processing shall be provided.

  • A cancelled appeal is one that the appeals coordinator or third level Appeals Chief has returned to the appellant without response to the specific appeal issue and is considered closed with the appellant having not exhausted administrative remedies.

  • An inmate or parolee may withdraw an appeal by requesting to have the processing stopped at any point up to receiving a signed response. It shall be at the discretion of the appeals coordinator or third level Appeals Chief whether an appellant’s request to withdraw an appeal shall be accepted.

• Erroneous acceptance of an appeal at a lower level does not preclude the next level (inclusive of the third level of review) from taking appropriate action, including rejection or cancellation of the appeal.

• Under exceptional circumstances any appeal may be accepted if the appeals coordinator or third level Appeals Chief concludes that the appeal should be subject to further review. Such a conclusion shall be reached on the basis of compelling evidence or receipt of new information such as documentation from health care staff that the inmate or parolee was medically or mentally incapacitated and unable to file. Likewise, failure to conform to or to comply with any submission requirement (such as mandatory use of ink) shall be excused if the appellant is unable to comply due to reasons beyond their control at the time the appeal is written.

• Rejection

  • The appeals coordinator may reject an appeal for any of the following reasons, which include but are not limited to:

    • The appeal concerns an anticipated action or decision. This includes the premature filing of an appeal without first bringing an issue to the attention of staff so that an action can be taken or a decision rendered.

    • The appellant has failed to demonstrate a material adverse effect on his or her welfare (see 15 CCRCalifornia Code of Regulations §3084(c)/DOMDepartment Operations Manual §54100.4).

    • The allowable number of appeals filed in a 14 calendar day period has been exceeded contrary to 15 CCRCalifornia Code of Regulations §3084.1(f)/DOMDepartment Operations Manual §54100.9.

    • The appeal makes a general allegation, but fails to state the facts or identify an act or decision consistent with the allegation. “General” allegation means an allegation that lacks the specificity or factual evidence necessary to support the statement in question.

    • The appeal contains threatening, obscene, demeaning, or abusive language and/or organic contamination is included in or makes up any part of the appeal package. Appeals submitted with hazardous or toxic material that present a threat to the safety and security of staff, inmates, or the instittuion may subject the appellant to disciplinary action and/or criminal charges commensurate with the specific act.

    • The inmate or parolee has not submitted his or her appeal on the departmentally approved forms.

    • Contrary to printed form instructions, the inmate or parolee has submitted more than one CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Form 602 or CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Form 602-A. The appeals coordinator has the discretion to authorize one or more additional pages in an acceptable format upon compelling evidence that the appellant cannot coherently describe the issue or the relevant facts in the allotted space.

    • Requirements respecting original copy, font size, alloted space, numbers of pages, dividers and tabs etc., set forth in the “appeal preparation” section of this article have not been met or the appeal documentation is defaced. For example, the inmate or parolee has not submitted his/her appeal printed legibly in ink or typed on the lines provided on the appeal forms no smaller than a 12-point font or failed to submit or has defaced original copy with drawings or obscenities. Attaching dividers or tabs to the appeal forms and/or supporting documents is also unacceptable because it impedes appeal processing.

    • The appeal is incomplete with regard to required signatures, dates or other identifying details or use of required attachments. For example, the inmate or parolee has not provided a signature, date, or other identifying information in the designated areas provided on the appeal form or, as 15 CCRCalifornia Code of Regulations §3084.3/DOMDepartment Operations Manual §54100.8 requires, the supporting documents necessary for the clarification and/or resolution of the appeal issue are missing.

    • The appeal is incomprehensible and/or the issues are obscured by pointless verbiage or voluminous unrelated documentation such that the reviewer cannot be reasonably expected to identify the issue under appeal.

      • Exercise caution not to screen out appeals submitted by inmates or parolees who have difficulty in expressing themselves in writing or whose primary language is not English.

      • When it is determined the inmate or parolee is having such difficulty, a personal interview with the appellant shall be directed by the coordinator to assist them in filing the appeal.

      • Refer to DOMDepartment Operations Manual §54100.8 as necessary for clarification of the document attachment requirements.

    • The problem, issue, or event constituting the basis for grievance cannot be understood as submitted and the reviewer cannot reasonably identify the matter in question and/or the basis for appeal.

    • The appeal involves multiple issues that do not derive from a single event, or are not directly related and which cannot be reasonably addressed in a single response due to this fact.

    • Unrelated issues have been combined on a single appeal form for the purpose of circumventing filing process requirements.

    • The inmate or parolee has submitted the appeal for processing at an inappropriate level; bypassing required lower level(s) of review, e.g., submitting an appeal at the third level prior to lower level review.

    • The appeal issue or complaint emphasis has been changed at some point in the process to the extent that the issue is entirely new, and the required lower levels of review and assessment have thereby been circumvented. This includes instances where the issue and/or requested action has been changed from that described orginally in Parts A and B of the CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Form 602.

  • When rejecting an appeal, a CDC Form 695, Inmate/Parolee Appeals Screening Form, shall be completed and sent to the appellant noting the reason for the rejection.

    • The CDC Form 695 shall also provide clear instruction regarding further action(s) the appellant must take to qualify the appeal for acceptance.

    • If the appellant is identified as requiring assistance in filing the appeal that assistance shall be provided before processing the CDC Form 695.

  • An appeal that is rejected may later be accepted if the reason(s) noted for rejection are corrected and the appeal is re-submitted within 30 calendar days from the date of rejection. As the appellant has the ability to resubmit a rejected appeal, appeals of a rejected appeal will not be accepted.

• Cancellation

  • The appeals coordinator may cancel an appeal for any of the following reasons:

    • The action or decision being appealed is not within the jurisdiction of the Department.

    • The appeal duplicates an inmate or parolee’s previous appeal upon which a decision has been rendered or is pending.

    • The inmate or parolee continues to submit a rejected appeal while disregarding appeal staff’s previous instructions to correct the appeal, including failure to submit necessary supporting documents, unless the inmate or parolee provides in Part B of the CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Form 602 a reasonable explanation of why the correction was not made or documents are not available.

    • Time limits for submitting or correcting and returning a rejected appeal are exceeded even though the appellant had the opportunity to file within these prescribed time constraints.

      • In determining whether the time limit has been exceeded, the appeals coordinator shall consider whether the issue being appealed occurred on a specific date or is ongoing.

      • If the issue is ongoing-such as, but not limited to continuing lockdowns, retention in segregated housing, or an ongoing program closure–the inmate/parolee may appeal any time during the duration of the event. The inmate/parolee is precluded from filing another appeal on the same issue unless a change in circumstances creates a new issue.

    • The appeal is filed on behalf of another inmate or parolee.

    • The issue is subject to a review independent of the appeal process such as a Departmental Review Board (DRBDepartmental Review Board) decision which is not subject to appeal and concludes the inmate or parolee’s administrative remedies on classification issues pursuant to the provisions of 15CCR §3376.1/DOMDepartment Operations Manual §62010.10.

    • The appellant is deceased before the timeframes for responding to an appeal have expired and the appeal is not a group appeal.

    • The appellant refuses to be interviewed or cooperate with the reviewer.

      • The appellant’s refusal to be interviewed or to cooperate with the reviewer shall be clearly articulated in the cancellation notice and the appellant given an opportunity to explain the reason for the failure or refusal.

      • If the appellant provides sufficent evidence to establish that the interviewer has a bias regarding the issue under appeal, the appeals coordinator shall assign another interviewer.

    • The presented appeal is on behalf of a private citizen.

    • Failure to correct and return a rejected appeal within 30 calendar days of rejection.

    • The issue appealled has been fully resolved at a previous level or as determined by the appeal coordinator or the third level Appeals Chief. In such cases, the appeals coordinator’s or third level Appeals Chief’s rationale for concluding or determining that the appeals issue has been fully resolved shall be provided.

    • All members of a group appeal have been released, transferred or are no longer subject to the conditions giving rise to the appeal.

  • Once cancelled, the appeal may not be resubmitted unless there is a determination by the appeals coordinator or third level Appeals Chief (when cancellation was made at the third level) that the cancellation was made in error or new information is received which causes the appeals coordinator or Chief to conclude that the appeal should be subject to further review.

    • The appeals coordinator or the Chief has the discretion to waive a cancellation requirement if, in their opinion, such application would deny review of an issue that could result in extraordinary and serious irreparable harm or loss.

    • When an appeal is cancelled, the inmate or parolee may file a separate appeal if they believe the screening policy or the application of the screening policy by the appeals coordinator was inappropriate. The new appeal shall include the original CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Form 602 as an attachment to facilitate the review of the original cancellation decision.

    • The new appeal shall address only the cancellation decision, not the issue(s) raised in the original appeal.

  • Upon determination that the original appeal was inappropriately cancelled, the appellant will be allowed to resubmit the original appeal for processing in accordance with the filing requirements of this article.

• Withdrawal

  • An inmate or parolee may withdraw an appeal by completing the appropriate section of the CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Form 602 stating his or her reasons for the withdrawal accompanied by a dated signature. If a withdrawal is conditioned upon an express promise of relief noted in writing at the time of withdrawal and the promised relief is not provided, the matter may be re-submitted within 30 calendar days of the failure to grant the relief promised.

    • The withdrawal of an appeal does not preclude further administrative action by the Department regarding the issue under appeal.

    • A withdrawn staff complaint shall be returned to the hiring authority for determination of further administrative action.

    • Group appeals shall not be withdrawn at the request of the primary appellant unless all of the signatories agree to withdraw the appeal.