Section 3122 - Incarcerated Person Law Library(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.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).