(a)
Each facility shall provide legal materials through its law library to provide
incarcerated persons with meaningful access to the courts.
(b) Incarcerated persons who have established
court deadlines may apply for Priority Legal User (PLU) status to the prison
law libraries. Incarcerated persons who are granted PLU status based on their
application shall receive higher priority to prison law library resources than
other incarcerated persons. All incarcerated persons who are not on PLU status
are on General Legal User (GLU) status.
(1) An
established court deadline may be either a court imposed deadline for an active
case or a statutory deadline. Incarcerated persons who apply for PLU status
based on a court imposed deadline must show documentation from the court to
verify that deadline. Incarcerated persons who apply for PLU status based on a
statutory deadline must identify the legal rule that compels the
deadline.
(2) An incarcerated
person who is represented by an attorney for a case shall not be eligible for
PLU status for any established court deadline pertaining to that case. An
incarcerated person with attorney representation for the established court
deadline shall be entitled to GLU status only.
(3) Incarcerated persons shall complete and
sign a CDCR Form 2171 (Rev. 07/24), Priority Library User (PLU) Request and
Declaration, which is incorporated by reference, to apply for PLU status. The
Form 2171 shall include check boxes for incarcerated persons to designate their
established court deadlines. The Form 2171 shall also include a check box for
incarcerated persons to confirm that they do not have attorney representation
for their listed deadline.
(4)
Except under extraordinary circumstances beyond staff control, law library
staff shall have seven calendar days after receipt of the completed and signed
Form 2171 to process an incarcerated person's application for PLU status and
make a decision to approve or disapprove the application. Staff members who
disapprove an incarcerated person's application shall provide the reasons for
their disapproval on the form and shall provide a copy of that document to the
incarcerated person.
(5) An
incarcerated person who is found to have provided false information on their
application for PLU status shall be guilty of an administrative rule violation
and shall not be able to obtain PLU status based on that application.
(6) An incarcerated person may receive PLU
status within 30 calendar days of their established court deadline unless the
incarcerated person can demonstrate need for a longer period of PLU status
based on extraordinary circumstances beyond the incarcerated person's
control.
(7) PLU status is intended
to assist incarcerated persons to do legal work in a quiet law library setting.
An incarcerated person on PLU status who, while in the law library, is observed
by staff to act in an unreasonably disruptive manner or to engage in non-legal
work shall be removed from the PLU list and shall be dismissed from the library
for that day. Incarcerated persons who are removed from the PLU list for these
reasons shall be ineligible to reapply for PLU status for 30 calendar days, but
may continue to use the law library on GLU status.
(c) Following initial classification and
custody designation, condemned incarcerated persons shall automatically be
granted PLU status until the automatic appeal of the conviction resulting in
the sentence of death is exhausted or the incarcerated person is resentenced by
a court to a term other than a death sentence. After exhaustion of the appeal
or resentencing, section
3122(b) shall
apply.
(d) Incarcerated persons may
not in any way trade, transfer, or delegate their PLU status to other
incarcerated persons. An incarcerated person who assists another incarcerated
person in the preparation of legal documents, as described in section
3163, may not use the PLU status
of the incarcerated person being assisted.
(e) An incarcerated person in a facility
without a law library and requesting access to such resources shall be
transferred to a facility with a law library of departmental choosing for the
period of time needed to complete legal work.
Notes
Cal. Code
Regs. Tit. 15, §
3122
Note: Authority cited: Section
5058, Penal
Code. Reference: Section
5054, Penal
Code; Gilmore v. Lynch, 319 F.Supp. 105 (N.D. Cal. 1970); Toussaint v.
McCarthy, 801 F.2d 1080 (9th Cir. 1986); Toussaint v. McCarthy, USDC N.D. Cal.
No. C 73-1422 SAW, First Special Report of the Monitor, August 19, 1987; and
Toussaint v. Rowland, USDC N.D. Cal. No. C 73-1422 SAW, Second Special Report
of the Monitor, June 30, 1988: Zatko v. Rowland, 835 F.Supp. 1174 (N.D. Cal.
1993); and Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343 (1996).
Note: Authority cited: Section
5058, Penal
Code. Reference: Section
5054, Penal
Code; Gilmore v. Lynch, 319 F.Supp. 105 (N.D. Cal. 1970); Toussaint v.
McCarthy, 801 F.2d 1080 (9th Cir. 1986); Toussaint v. McCarthy, USDC N.D. Cal.
No. C 73-1422 SAW, First Special Report of the Monitor, August 19, 1987; and
Toussaint v. Rowland, USDC N.D. Cal. No. C 73-1422 SAW, Second Special Report
of the Monitor, June 30, 1988: Zatko v. Rowland, 835 F.Supp. 1174 (N.D. Cal.
1993); Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343 (1996).
1.
Amendment filed 10-7-82; effective thirtieth day thereafter (Register 82, No.
41).
2. Renumbering and amendment of former section 3121 to section
3122 and renumbering and amendment of former section 3122 to section 3121 filed
6-30-93; operative 7-30-93 (Register 93, No. 27).
3. Amendment of
subsection (a), new subsections (b)-(c), subsection relettering and amendment
of Note filed 11-24-2009; operative 12-24-2009 (Register 2009, No.
48).
4. New subsection (c) and subsection relettering filed
1-31-2024; operative 1/31/2024 pursuant to Government Code section
11343.4(b)(3) (Register
2024, No. 5).
5. Change without regulatory effect
amending section heading and section filed 7-1-2024 pursuant to section 100,
title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register
2024, No. 27).
