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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, I'd like to introduce you to a new

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Speaker 1: podcast that I know you're gonna love. Do you like

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Speaker 1: to travel, Do you like picturesque locations and getting away

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Speaker 1: from it all? Well, this new podcast has that and murder.

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Speaker 1: It's called Slaycation, and it's a darkly humorous look at

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Speaker 1: murders and mysterious deaths that took place on vacation. Hosted

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Speaker 1: by a true crime fanatic, her comedy writer husband, and

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Speaker 1: his TV producing partner, Slaycation brings a unique perspective to chilling, thrilling,

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Speaker 1: and WTF stories stories of vacations that go horribly wrong.

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Speaker 1: There's the twisted tale of Harold and Tony, whose romantic

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Speaker 1: anniversary in the Rocky Mountains ended with one of them

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Speaker 1: falling off a cliff. To Angelica and Vincent, to recently

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Speaker 1: engaged lovebirds whose huts and valley kayaking adventure ended underwater.

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Speaker 1: Each episode of Slaycation will have you asking.

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Speaker 2: Accident or murder.

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Speaker 1: But it's not just the stories that'll intrigue you. It's

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Speaker 1: the discussion between a long time married couple of business

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Speaker 1: partners who happen to be Emmy nominated TV producers. Each

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Speaker 1: episode of Slacation also includes humor takeaway and travel tips

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Speaker 1: that will keep your next vacation from being your last.

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Speaker 1: If you're ready to pack your body bags. Slacation is

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Speaker 1: available on all major podcast platforms. Search for Slacation on

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Speaker 3: This is a series investigating some of the difficult things

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Speaker 3: that happen to the people who live and work inside

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Speaker 3: California's prisons. So we wanted to give you a heads

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Speaker 3: up that this episode touches on intense topics including substance use,

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Speaker 3: state violence, and self harm. If you need support, we've

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Speaker 3: got links to resources in the episode description. The story

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Speaker 3: begins with a death that is intense and upsetting.

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Speaker 4: I park my car and I walk in the house

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Speaker 4: and he's not on the couch.

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Speaker 5: On October twenty first, twenty twenty, Mimi Rodriguez came home

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Speaker 5: from having dinner with her friends and called out to

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Speaker 5: her husband, Valentino Rodriguez.

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Speaker 4: Soy Cale, val val where are you?

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Speaker 6: And all the lights are hun in the house.

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Speaker 4: And I go into the kitchen. He's not in the kitchen.

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Speaker 6: So I'm going into our bedroom and he's not in

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Speaker 6: our bedroom, and I knew something was wrong, and I go, valvow,

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Speaker 6: where are you? And I run into the bathroom and

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Speaker 6: he's just he's on his knees, you know, on his knees,

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Speaker 6: with his head up against the wall, hunched over, and

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Speaker 6: I just scream and I had my ear pods in,

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Speaker 6: so I go Siri nine one one. So Sirian Media

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Speaker 6: calls nine one.

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Speaker 7: One forty five thick back in October twenty one, medical.

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Speaker 6: Again on the co's like hello, and I go come please, like,

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Speaker 6: please help me.

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Speaker 8: I'm scared.

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Speaker 6: I don't know what to do. This has happened.

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Speaker 4: He's dead.

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Speaker 8: Please what happened?

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Speaker 6: And I'm screaming and I go and I grab him

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Speaker 6: and I pull him back and I put his head

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Speaker 6: back and he has vomit coming out of his mouth.

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Speaker 5: The nine one one operator tells me me to perform

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Speaker 5: CPR on him.

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Speaker 8: Well, art of fat twice per second.

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Speaker 9: Okay, we want to make sure of a chest comes

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Speaker 9: up all the way in between pumps getting ready to

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Speaker 9: fix on their times or he help and take over.

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Speaker 8: They're we're going to count together.

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Speaker 9: Okay, there's one two three four one three four.

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Speaker 5: Valentino's hands were purple and he wasn't breathing.

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Speaker 8: Is that when door open? Are they going to be

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Speaker 8: able to get it to you? Is open? Okay? Keep going, man?

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Speaker 8: There a chess compression? Is anybody else in the house

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Speaker 8: with you?

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Speaker 6: There?

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Speaker 8: Going one?

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Speaker 6: Eventually the police came. I don't know how fast. I

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Speaker 6: think like two minutes or two. But she kept telling me.

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Speaker 6: She's like, are they they're outside waiting there?

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Speaker 9: One two three four one two three four, they're parking

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Speaker 9: right now. They're almost to one.

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Speaker 6: And I was like, just open the door, just come inside, please.

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Speaker 6: Like seven officers ran in and I was always like,

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Speaker 6: I'm in the bathroom. Help me, and as it save them,

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Speaker 6: please save them.

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Speaker 5: The police pulled her out of the house and had

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Speaker 5: her sit in the back of a squad car. They

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Speaker 5: told her they needed to ask her some questions.

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Speaker 6: The officer was trying to talk to you, as this

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Speaker 6: lady and she and she's just like what happened?

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Speaker 4: And she goes, what do you how did this happen?

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Speaker 6: I was like, I don't know, but it's his job.

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Speaker 6: And I just kept saying it's his job. This is

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Speaker 6: all because of his job. She goes, where does he work?

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Speaker 4: And I'm like, he works at.

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Speaker 5: CDCR, CDCR the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

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Speaker 8: It's this stupid job.

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Speaker 6: I just it just it just overtook his life, his thoughts,

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Speaker 6: everything that like he stood for.

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Speaker 10: Test test comes to be clear.

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Speaker 5: Correctional Officer Valentino Rodriguez was thirty years old when he died.

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Speaker 5: He'd worked for the department for about five years. Like

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Speaker 5: a lot of officers, that time changed him, especially the

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Speaker 5: time he spent inside the walls of this one prison.

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Speaker 5: New Folsome this is a story about that place, about

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Speaker 5: broken promises and unwritten rules, and who gets hurt when

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Speaker 5: the system that promises to keep us safe is bent

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Speaker 5: on protecting itself. I'm Suki Lewis. This is on our

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Speaker 5: Watch Season two, New Folsom's.

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Speaker 8: Go past these lights, then at the next ten left,

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Speaker 8: stay in the second.

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Speaker 5: A little more than two years after Officer Valentino Rodriguez

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Speaker 5: died in December twenty twenty two, our reporting team went

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Speaker 5: to go see his family. In ten right, we're driving

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Speaker 5: from the Bay Area through rice patties and apple orchards

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Speaker 5: to West Sacramento, a city on the outskirts of the

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Speaker 5: state capitol.

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Speaker 11: Is just everything about this case just raises questions.

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Speaker 5: That's my co reporter, Julie Small. The official cause of

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Speaker 5: Valentino's death was fentanyl intoxication, but his family and especially

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Speaker 5: his father, val Senior, still aren't satisfied with how it

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Speaker 5: was investigated.

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Speaker 11: Now, maybe the answers are in nine but because they're unanswered,

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Speaker 11: I think, you know, yeah, makes you think the worst

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Speaker 11: or it. Certainly val keeps going over and over it

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Speaker 11: in his head, trying to tie up the loose ends.

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Speaker 7: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: We also think be more to the story of Valentino's

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Speaker 5: death because he was a whistleblower. He'd reported corruption and

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Speaker 5: abuse by his fellow officers just days before he died, but.

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Speaker 4: They said no signs of no signs of foul play.

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Speaker 5: Julie's been talking to Valcior for the past few months.

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Speaker 5: It's taken a while to gain his trust. Today, Stephen Rascone,

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Speaker 5: our producer, is a long term record.

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Speaker 8: So today is like an icebreaker, I think.

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Speaker 5: So it's my first chance to meet Valentino's parents, Valentino

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Speaker 5: Rodriguez Senor and his wife Erma. Inside. The walls are

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Speaker 5: covered with photos. They've got a good looking family, five

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Speaker 5: grandchildren at the time, and therefore adult kids.

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Speaker 12: And we think about that, all four of them to

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Speaker 12: sat there and talked, made fun of each other and

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Speaker 12: laughed and.

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Speaker 2: Close kids.

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Speaker 5: And a couple of weeks the families planning to get together,

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Speaker 5: but of course one of them will be missing Valentino.

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Speaker 5: It'll be their third Christmas without him.

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Speaker 8: I was in the.

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Speaker 13: Fog for a good year. It's a different fog now

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Speaker 13: for his dad.

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Speaker 5: Valentino's death started him on this search to find answers

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Speaker 5: from the police, the FBI, the prison. He wants to

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Speaker 5: understand what happened to his son and why and who's responsible.

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Speaker 5: But instead of finding answers, Valcgior just keeps finding more questions.

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Speaker 2: This thing is just all tangled. I'm just trying to

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Speaker 2: undangle it.

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Speaker 14: Now.

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Speaker 5: Val Senior says he feels like a stereotype out of

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Speaker 5: a true crime series on TV, the grieving parent on

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Speaker 5: a quest for justice.

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Speaker 10: And here I am in the driver's seat and I.

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Speaker 2: Couldn't do it any other way.

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Speaker 13: But I never wanted to be that person on TV right,

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Speaker 13: just consumed with it.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, would you be able to tell us, like your

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Speaker 5: favorite story of your son.

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Speaker 2: Him?

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Speaker 13: With him?

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Speaker 8: There's a lot.

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Speaker 13: We have four kids and they're all completely different.

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Speaker 5: Valentino was their second child and the oldest boy. As

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Speaker 5: we sit around the dining room table, Irma pulls out

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Speaker 5: some of the stuff she saved over the years. His

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Speaker 5: first Communion prayer book, a newspaper clipping from when he

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Speaker 5: made student of the week.

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Speaker 2: I remember his third grade teacher said he was a

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Speaker 2: very good writer.

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Speaker 8: She told him one day he was going to be

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Speaker 8: a writer, and she could wait to hear.

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Speaker 5: His stories, because you should like to write. I still

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Speaker 5: have all those his little pictures. After Irma points out

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Speaker 5: Valentino in a little league team photo, he looks about

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Speaker 5: eleven or twelve, she says, he wasn't any good at baseball. Yeah,

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Speaker 5: he wasn't very good at soccer either, And I went

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Speaker 5: to all I had all four kids playing, so it

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Speaker 5: was like every Saturday, I'm driving around all the tsac

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Speaker 5: amount of taking them.

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Speaker 8: And I tell him one day, why do you run

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Speaker 8: around with your eyes closed? He's like, you would pretend

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Speaker 8: I was an airplane flying in the air.

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Speaker 2: Everyone I used to watch them goal wrestle. He always lose, but.

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Speaker 13: After he was done, he'd be talking to the guy

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Speaker 13: that beat him up.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, senter talking to him.

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Speaker 5: They tell us this was typical Valentino, goofy, dreamy, smart,

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Speaker 5: eager to turn enemies into friends. After college, when he

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Speaker 5: told them he was going to train to be a

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Speaker 5: correctional officer, his parents were kind of surprised. They weren't

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Speaker 5: a law enforcement family. But he'd have job security and

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Speaker 5: good benefits. Val Senior says he remembers the day his

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Speaker 5: son graduated from the academy. It was May one, twenty fifteen,

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Speaker 5: and he looked out over this ocean of young faces.

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Speaker 5: His son was among the about two hundred cadets sworn

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Speaker 5: in that day.

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Speaker 13: Raise your right hand and repeat after me.

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Speaker 5: This is tape from a more recent graduation reciting the

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Speaker 5: same oath Valentino took.

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Speaker 14: I state your name, recognize the badge of my office.

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Speaker 5: As a symbol of public faith. And photos from that

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Speaker 5: day show Valentino in his class a uniform, creas's sharp,

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Speaker 5: his hair neatly combed. They promised to protect the innocent.

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Speaker 13: Dedicating myself before all present.

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Speaker 5: To be honest and to hold each other accountable. Congratulations,

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Speaker 5: Welcome to the family. One of Valano's first assignments was

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Speaker 5: working on death row at San Quentin State prison, the

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Speaker 5: oldest prison in California. He'd often carpool to work with

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Speaker 5: a bunch of other correctional officers, and on the way

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Speaker 5: back they'd get dropped off at In and Out Burger.

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Speaker 4: I was a cashier and he'd come in in his

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Speaker 4: little green suit. He's so cute in his little boots.

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Speaker 5: That's me me again talking to my colleague Julie. She

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Speaker 5: calls him cute. But Valentino was not a little man.

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Speaker 5: He was five foot seven and at least two hundred pounds,

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Speaker 5: clean shaven, with dark hair and big brown eyes.

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Speaker 4: So his order was a three y three Ketchupolino salt

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Speaker 4: the Chiefe frid no sault, and then a large seven up.

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Speaker 4: So I knew his order from the moment, because of course,

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Speaker 4: you know, the cute guy comes in, I'm good to

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Speaker 4: memorise his order.

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Speaker 5: Mimi recognized Valentino from a party she'd gone to at

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Speaker 5: his house, thrown by his brother Greg, and.

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Speaker 4: I was like, oh, how are you? And he's like

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Speaker 4: and I think in his mind he's like, who is

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Speaker 4: this girl?

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Speaker 5: I know your brother?

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Speaker 6: And he's like what And he was just hecka weirded out,

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Speaker 6: and in my head it's going great, right. But he

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Speaker 6: started coming to it in and out more often, and

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Speaker 6: I would give him free burgers or shakes when my

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Speaker 6: manager wasn't looking.

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Speaker 5: And they started messaging on Facebook.

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Speaker 4: And he's like, hey, I haven't seen you. Did you

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Speaker 4: switch jobs? And I'm like, oh, this void texted me

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Speaker 4: or this void messaging and I was like, hello, yes, Hi.

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Speaker 4: It was just me being all excited. He was a

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Speaker 4: kid at heart, very playful.

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Speaker 5: They play video games together and watch movies, and they

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Speaker 5: liked introducing each other to new things food, music, or art.

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Speaker 5: This one time they went out to a sip and

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Speaker 5: paint night at a local spot.

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Speaker 4: He was kind of nervous. I think it was a

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Speaker 4: new thing for him. But we had gone to a

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Speaker 4: paint night with one of my coworkers and we went

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Speaker 4: on a double date and he painted this really nice picture.

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Speaker 4: It was supposed to be of a pelican at the

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Speaker 4: end of a bridge, but he changed it and it's

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Speaker 4: a painting of him and his dad.

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Speaker 5: The scene is of the two of them from behind,

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Speaker 5: a boy and his father sitting side by side with

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Speaker 5: their fishing poles in the water, wispy white clouds over

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Speaker 5: the horizon.

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Speaker 4: And he gave it to his dad after a week

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Speaker 4: got fack.

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Speaker 5: Mimi says they fell hard for each other, and just

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Speaker 5: two months after they started dating, her roommate moved out

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Speaker 5: and she needed to find a new place to live.

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Speaker 4: I was going to move into my brother's house, but

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Speaker 4: he was like no, like you should move in with me,

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Speaker 4: and I'm like no, this is kind of soon, and

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Speaker 4: he's like, come on, think about it.

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Speaker 5: Valentino's mom had helped him find a cute little house

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Speaker 5: just about five miles away from their place in West Sacramento.

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Speaker 5: Mimi moved in, and it was right around this time

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Speaker 5: that Valentino got what he saw as a big break,

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Speaker 5: an opportunity to work in a different prison.

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Speaker 4: He specifically chose Fulsome.

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Speaker 5: The official name of New Fulsome is California State Prison

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Speaker 5: Sacramento or CSP SAC. It's called New Fulsome because it

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Speaker 5: was built back in the eighties next to the old

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Speaker 5: Fulsome prison that was made famous by country singer Johnny Cash. Okay, Hello,

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Speaker 5: I'm Johnny Kay. He wrote a song called Fulsome Prison

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Speaker 5: Blues and then later recorded this performance live at the prison.

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Speaker 2: I hear the three it coming.

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Speaker 5: That night, giants, I don't know where you can actually

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Speaker 5: see the guard towers of old Fulsome from New Folsom Prison,

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Speaker 5: they've got a medieval castle kind of look to them.

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Speaker 5: New Folsom, on the other hand, where Valentino was transferring to,

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Speaker 5: has a more industrial utilitarian look, a lot of razor

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Speaker 5: wire and gray concrete. It's a high security prison that

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Speaker 5: the set up to accommodate people with risky medical conditions

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Speaker 5: and mental health needs. It also houses active gang members

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Speaker 5: and people who've been convicted of some of the most

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Speaker 5: serious crimes.

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Speaker 4: He said he wanted to go there because it was

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Speaker 4: the most He said it was the most dangerous prison

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Speaker 4: in California. But he described it as there was just

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Speaker 4: a lot of activity there with officers with inmates, and

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Speaker 4: he just wanted to be in there.

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Speaker 5: There are a lot of infamous prisons in this country,

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Speaker 5: and a fair number here in California. They're San Quentin

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00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:48,200
Speaker 5: with its death Row, the state's first supermax, Pelican Bay, Corkoran,

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Speaker 5: where in the nineties officers allegedly set up gladiator style

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00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:56,480
Speaker 5: fights between rival gangs and then shot incarcerated people to

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Speaker 5: stop the fights. But as we dug through a bunch

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Speaker 5: of day and public records, we realized in the past decade,

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Speaker 5: New Folsom has been the most violent prison in the state,

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Speaker 5: and that violence is committed by people who are locked

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Speaker 5: up and officers. We found that in the six years

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00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:18,399
Speaker 5: after twenty fourteen, New Folsom officers used serious force, meaning

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00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:22,040
Speaker 5: they either badly injured someone or used deadly force, at

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00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:24,760
Speaker 5: a rate three times higher than any other prison in

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Speaker 5: the state. This was stunning to us. CDCR declined our

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Speaker 5: multiple requests to comment on this finding. I've done quite

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00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:36,719
Speaker 5: a bit of reporting on prisons, and Julie's been reporting

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00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:40,359
Speaker 5: on prisons for even longer. New Folsom just wasn't on

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00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,360
Speaker 5: our radar in the same way. We'll dig into those

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Speaker 5: numbers more later, but for now, it's important to know

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Speaker 5: that with just a year of experience as a correctional officer,

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Speaker 5: this is the environment Valentino was walking into. Mimi says

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Speaker 5: he was looking forward to it.

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Speaker 4: He was excited to go into this prison. He was

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Speaker 4: excited for the work. He was excited for what he

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Speaker 4: was going to learn.

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Speaker 5: He wanted to be an investigator in this elite squad

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Speaker 5: called the ISU, or the Investigative Services Unit. A prison

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00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:17,480
Speaker 5: is like its own city, and the ISU squad are

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00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:20,399
Speaker 5: like the police force of the prison. They've got a

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Speaker 5: canine unit, a gain investigation unit, a prosecution division, and

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Speaker 5: one for internal affairs to look into complaints of excessive

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Speaker 5: force or allegations of officer corruption. Walking through new folsom

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00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:38,240
Speaker 5: the squad stood out. They had special black and green

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00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:42,440
Speaker 5: patches on their uniforms, and unlike regular officers, they could

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00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,440
Speaker 5: bring their cell phones into work. They could also go

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Speaker 5: anywhere in the prison they wanted total access. Valentino's goal

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00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:52,920
Speaker 5: was to earn his patch and get into that squad,

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Speaker 5: but first he had to pay his dues. Officer Valentino

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Speaker 5: Rodriguez's first assignment was working in the prison's psychiatric unit,

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Speaker 5: guarding one of the most vulnerable and difficult parts of

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Speaker 5: the population, people with severe mental illnesses. I've talked to

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Speaker 5: a number of people incarcerated in this unit, and it

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00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:27,159
Speaker 5: sounds like a really tough place to be. It can

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Speaker 5: be very loud and chaotic. Sometimes the people in this

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00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:34,359
Speaker 5: unit are angry and confrontational, while others are simply terrified

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Speaker 5: or heavily medicated. And officers like Valentino are required to

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Speaker 5: get training in how to prevent incarcerated people from hurting

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00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:46,560
Speaker 5: each other and themselves. Valentino had been working at New

341
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:49,720
Speaker 5: FOLSOM and in this unit for just a few months

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00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,960
Speaker 5: when he got caught up in a really bad incident

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00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:57,359
Speaker 5: that Valcgior says was a turning point for him. An

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00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:00,920
Speaker 5: incarcerated man ended up in the hospital with broken bones

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00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:05,440
Speaker 5: and injuries to his face and head. So investigators started

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00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:09,040
Speaker 5: looking into how the man got those injuries. We were

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00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:11,600
Speaker 5: able to get the tapes and paperwork for that incident.

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Speaker 5: Just a note, we noticed a lot of inconsistencies and

349
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Speaker 5: what people say happened. The incarcerated man's story changes a bit.

350
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Speaker 5: One officer contradicts himself, and other officers have slightly different

351
00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:26,960
Speaker 5: versions of the incident. You'll also hear some places where

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Speaker 5: the department has redacted the audio.

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Speaker 9: So what we're going to talk about is on the

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Speaker 9: twelfth of August Friday, you were involved in an incident

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Speaker 9: which occurred.

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Speaker 2: Is that yourself where you're at before, Yes.

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Speaker 5: Sir, they're looking into this incarcerated man's allegations that officers

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Speaker 5: caused his injuries and then lied about it.

359
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:55,040
Speaker 15: You made the allegation while trying to hang myself. The

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00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,639
Speaker 15: CEOs came in and smashed my face into the wall.

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Speaker 15: Can you tell me about that?

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Speaker 2: What you mean?

363
00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:03,439
Speaker 14: Well, the whole story.

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00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,520
Speaker 5: Because of some sensitive details about his mental health, we

365
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,800
Speaker 5: decided not to use this man's name. I'm just going

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00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:13,520
Speaker 5: to call him by the initial of his last name, C.

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00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:18,639
Speaker 5: So C tells the investigators that it all started because

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Speaker 5: of the meds he was taking.

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Speaker 14: I was having a hard time on medication when I

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00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:28,119
Speaker 14: have a hard time medication side office of a committed suicide.

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Speaker 5: First, he says, he put his head in the toilet

372
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:35,320
Speaker 5: in his cell to try and drown himself, and then

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Speaker 5: he told a passing officer that he was feeling suicidal.

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Speaker 2: He put a.

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Speaker 14: Sheet like a suicide sheet.

376
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Speaker 5: He says. The officer handed him a sheet with a

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Speaker 5: noose already tied in it.

378
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Speaker 14: You two to mysell, He said, hang yourself, So I

379
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Speaker 14: turned to hang my selling for now.

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Speaker 5: Officers have to follow really strict rules to prevent suicides.

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Speaker 5: They have to check on people in their cells every

382
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Speaker 5: thirty minutes. When someone says they're suicidal, officers are supposed

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Speaker 5: to call mental health services right away, and that person

384
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Speaker 5: might even get moved to a different unit or checked

385
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Speaker 5: into a hospital. To be clear, handing someone a noose

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00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,040
Speaker 5: would totally violate what officers are meant to do. In

387
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Speaker 5: the situation, No officers admitted giving him a noose. A

388
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 5: responding officer tells investigators he was doing his rounds and

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Speaker 5: saw C with the sheet already tied around his neck.

390
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Speaker 12: Had that time, I opened the food port gave him

391
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Speaker 12: multiple orders to stop.

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Speaker 5: When C doesn't respond, the officer says, he sprays him

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Speaker 5: with pepper spray.

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Speaker 15: My intent was to have to save his life from

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Speaker 15: stocking him from actually choking himself and killing himself.

396
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Speaker 5: An officer gets C to come to the door to

397
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Speaker 5: put hand cuffs on him, and he shackled by his

398
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,960
Speaker 5: feet and behind his back, and then they escort him

399
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:10,720
Speaker 5: to what's called a decontamination cell. It's basically a cage

400
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,200
Speaker 5: the size of a phone booth that they can spray

401
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,800
Speaker 5: a hose into to wash the pepper spray off him.

402
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:20,480
Speaker 14: And boom. He pushed me in there, and my face

403
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,879
Speaker 14: is the back of the sound. I wanted like that

404
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:25,840
Speaker 14: boom here my.

405
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:31,119
Speaker 15: Face this injury that's right there across your nose, clothing.

406
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 14: My wife in my head and the face like that boom,

407
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:36,919
Speaker 14: and then my eye and then my face and then

408
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Speaker 14: my neck.

409
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Speaker 5: But the officers who are escorting him tell it differently.

410
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Speaker 16: He just kept trying to pull away, so I tight

411
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:47,800
Speaker 16: and migrated and canseled him to knock, not pull away

412
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Speaker 16: from myself.

413
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,800
Speaker 5: The officer says, Ce broke away from them and lunged

414
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Speaker 5: towards the shower.

415
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:56,160
Speaker 16: Hey, and then he ended up tripping over the there's

416
00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:59,159
Speaker 16: a lip on the shower, Yeah, tripping over the bottom

417
00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:03,760
Speaker 16: lip fashion in the back of the shower, and I

418
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:07,119
Speaker 16: immediately closed a shower blocked in again.

419
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 5: Se denies this.

420
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:09,880
Speaker 12: Were you resistant at all?

421
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:10,879
Speaker 2: Ill him resisting?

422
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,359
Speaker 15: I don't know. You were just walking calmly, unlocking, calmly.

423
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:17,400
Speaker 14: I mean I get the injuries from trying to hide myself.

424
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:19,480
Speaker 14: I got the injuries from him pushing me.

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Speaker 5: So to recap. According to c he was suicidal. An

426
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:29,439
Speaker 5: officer gave him a noose, pepper sprayed him, and he

427
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 5: was forcibly thrown into a cage and injured really badly.

428
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:37,720
Speaker 5: The version officers tell is that Sea already had the noose.

429
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,040
Speaker 5: They pepper sprayed him to save his life, and he

430
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:44,000
Speaker 5: got hurt first when he fell from his bunk and

431
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 5: then again when he pulled away from them and tripped

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00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:55,399
Speaker 5: face first into the shower cage. The last account of

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00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,119
Speaker 5: events I'm going to walk you through is Valentinos because

434
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,640
Speaker 5: he was one of the offer officers who responded that day.

435
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:05,840
Speaker 5: Here he is introducing himself on tape to an investigator

436
00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 5: with the Internal Affairs Department.

437
00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:14,800
Speaker 15: Valentino rodri Juez, Correctional officer, California Department of Corrections, sacrament

438
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:15,399
Speaker 15: Estate Prison.

439
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,880
Speaker 5: The agent tells Valentino, he's here as a witness.

440
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,680
Speaker 11: Can you give me your account of that incident?

441
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:26,639
Speaker 15: Her on the radio announcement that there was a inmate

442
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,520
Speaker 15: hanging inmate compan hanging in two block in B session.

443
00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:34,080
Speaker 5: Valentino says, he put on his gloves and rushed to

444
00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:34,400
Speaker 5: the cell.

445
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:36,920
Speaker 15: It's apparent that he was sprayed with OC because OC

446
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:39,800
Speaker 15: pepper sprayed because he had he was spitting up mucus

447
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,600
Speaker 15: and a little bit of blood on his face from

448
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 15: being sprayed.

449
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 5: As the two officers took C to hose off, they

450
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,359
Speaker 5: walked him past Valentino, who says he saw a little

451
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 5: bump on C's forehead.

452
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,040
Speaker 2: Could you see what his clothing?

453
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:56,560
Speaker 15: I don't remember. I don't remember if I could at

454
00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:56,840
Speaker 15: the time.

455
00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:58,440
Speaker 16: Can you now.

456
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,840
Speaker 5: So he goes to the shower cage with really no

457
00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:06,200
Speaker 5: major injuries that Valentino could see.

458
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,919
Speaker 15: At what point did you observe an injury on him?

459
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:12,120
Speaker 15: When the water was turned off and I walked into

460
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:18,159
Speaker 15: the cage to open it up, I observe some injuries

461
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:21,680
Speaker 15: onto the top of his head and across his face.

462
00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,840
Speaker 15: I think believe it was across the faces. Can you

463
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,240
Speaker 15: tell me about to describe those injuries? They were gashes,

464
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:31,360
Speaker 15: like large, large gashes.

465
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,720
Speaker 5: Valentino was asked to photograph seize injuries and then take

466
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,800
Speaker 5: him to get medical attention. We got those pictures that

467
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:42,639
Speaker 5: he took. The man's face is partially blacked out, but

468
00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 5: you can see a five inch gash across his forehead

469
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:49,000
Speaker 5: and his cheek is split open from his nose to

470
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:50,159
Speaker 5: below his cheekbone.

471
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:53,280
Speaker 15: Is there anything else you'd like to tell me that

472
00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:55,119
Speaker 15: you have not already discussed during this interview.

473
00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 8: Before I turn off the recorder.

474
00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:00,360
Speaker 5: I want to remind you it's a big deal any

475
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 5: time an officer gets pulled into an investigation, even just

476
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:08,080
Speaker 5: as a witness, because lying is a fireable offense. We

477
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:11,880
Speaker 5: know Valentino told the people closest to him about this incident.

478
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:14,479
Speaker 2: I remember that when it happened, he was so scared

479
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:15,280
Speaker 2: for weeks.

480
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,919
Speaker 5: When we got this recording through a public records request

481
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,240
Speaker 5: to CDCR, it was one of the things we really

482
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:26,560
Speaker 5: wanted to share with val Senior. Want to hear it? Yeah,

483
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,280
Speaker 5: My co reporter Julie Small sat down with him and

484
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 5: pressed play on the recording.

485
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,400
Speaker 15: To the theater is December nine, twenty sixteen.

486
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,680
Speaker 5: Val Senior had never heard this interview with his son before.

487
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 15: Again, A bump, a little bout a danger about his ire. Okay,

488
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 15: I think I wish I can't call Okay.

489
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 7: I think that.

490
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:56,680
Speaker 5: Do you think that he's telling the truth there?

491
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:01,840
Speaker 17: I think because I know my son, he has a

492
00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:06,760
Speaker 17: really good memories, really detail orientated, and for him not

493
00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:10,160
Speaker 17: to remember which side the cut was on and certain things,

494
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:15,240
Speaker 17: it's just to me, he's sounds like he's worried right there, scared.

495
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 5: Valentino told him that what happened during the incident was

496
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 5: different than what those officers wrote in their reports and

497
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 5: told investigators, But he said he felt like he had

498
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 5: to go along with their story.

499
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,520
Speaker 2: You should see his face and he come over. That

500
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 2: broke my heart. Man, Because he had a job and

501
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:40,280
Speaker 2: he told me, Dad, you have to you have to

502
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,800
Speaker 2: tell the same story because you're on a team. Yeah,

503
00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 2: and if you don't, then you're the odd man out.

504
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:48,640
Speaker 5: Mimi told us something similar.

505
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 4: He was told like, hey, you know, this is this

506
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 4: is what we're writing, and it's important that all of

507
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 4: us have the same story, and it's important for all

508
00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 4: of us to be on the same page. And he

509
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,680
Speaker 4: told me how They never really specifically said you must

510
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,320
Speaker 4: do it this way, you must write it this, you

511
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:08,280
Speaker 4: must do it that. It was more of like, this

512
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 4: is what we are doing, and this is how we're

513
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:14,280
Speaker 4: going to do it, and this is what's important for

514
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,600
Speaker 4: our team, so we can all be on the same page.

515
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 4: He felt a lot of pressure because he didn't want

516
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:22,200
Speaker 4: to lose his job.

517
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,040
Speaker 5: CDCR did not respond to specific questions about this incident.

518
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,560
Speaker 5: A spokesperson did write in an email that the agency

519
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:42,680
Speaker 5: takes all allegations of employee misconduct seriously and there is

520
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:46,400
Speaker 5: a new process for making sure complaints are quote properly,

521
00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:50,800
Speaker 5: fairly and thoroughly reviewed. The spokesperson also pointed out that

522
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,080
Speaker 5: there is a new system of fixed and body cameras

523
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:58,120
Speaker 5: at New folsome so we don't know exactly what the

524
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 5: truth is about this incident. What we do know is

525
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 5: that C was severely injured. Medical reports show he received

526
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 5: twenty seven stitches, his nose was broken, and his spine

527
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:16,080
Speaker 5: was fractured in three places. Ultimately, those in charge believed

528
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 5: the officer's story that C fractured his back when he

529
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,680
Speaker 5: slipped and fell off his bunk and injured his face

530
00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:26,160
Speaker 5: and head when he lunged away from officers and landed

531
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:31,120
Speaker 5: on the metal rails of the decontamination shower. And that's

532
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:34,640
Speaker 5: the story that Valentino chose to go along with, even

533
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:39,280
Speaker 5: though he told his father it wasn't true. This wouldn't

534
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,520
Speaker 5: be the last time Valentino felt compromised by his job.

535
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,040
Speaker 5: Rodriguez told my colleague Julie and me that working in

536
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:06,080
Speaker 5: the psychiatric unit really took a toll on Valentino.

537
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,120
Speaker 4: He would talk about how draining it was, and he

538
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 4: would have come home drained and did not look like

539
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,000
Speaker 4: to you. I mean he would just drag his feet.

540
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 4: He would drag his feet, come in and he didn't

541
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:20,320
Speaker 4: want to eat. He would shower and just go to sleep.

542
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 4: I mean he was just quiet.

543
00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:26,520
Speaker 5: He worked double shifts so we could get more days

544
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 5: off in a row to recharge.

545
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:30,560
Speaker 4: That's when he would talk more about work and be like, yeah,

546
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:32,240
Speaker 4: like you you know, it was a little stressful and

547
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:34,880
Speaker 4: I'm dealing with this or I'm talking about this, but

548
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 4: you know, I'm happy to go in, and he was

549
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:38,840
Speaker 4: always very enthusiastic.

550
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:42,920
Speaker 5: About two and a half years after he'd gotten to

551
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:47,560
Speaker 5: New folsom late twenty eighteen, Valentino's hard work looked like

552
00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:52,440
Speaker 5: it was paying off. Remember the squad that detective unit

553
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:56,600
Speaker 5: Valentino was aiming for. An officer there went on leave

554
00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,760
Speaker 5: for PTSD and there was a vacancy on the team.

555
00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,720
Speaker 5: One of the supervisors who knew Valentino thought he'd be

556
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:06,000
Speaker 5: good at the job and gave him the chance to

557
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 5: fill in.

558
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,760
Speaker 4: He was really excited for that, but he didn't think

559
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:11,040
Speaker 4: he was going to get that opportunity.

560
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,680
Speaker 5: He'd made the squad working in the security and the

561
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:19,880
Speaker 5: investigations unit, but on a temporary basis. To get the

562
00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 5: position permanently, he'd have to impress the right people.

563
00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 4: He's like, yes, of course, i I'll do it. I

564
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:27,120
Speaker 4: mean he was ready.

565
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 5: Valentino called to let his parents know he got promoted.

566
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:34,800
Speaker 2: He called his mom first, and she told me Bell

567
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 2: got a promotion.

568
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,160
Speaker 5: He told them it was a really good position, one

569
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,080
Speaker 5: that a lot of other people wanted, and that he

570
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:43,800
Speaker 5: was the youngest on the team.

571
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:45,840
Speaker 13: I asked him, how's your first day?

572
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, he goes, there's a bunch of older guys. Dad

573
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:49,920
Speaker 2: had been there. He called him ojeez.

574
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:51,840
Speaker 13: I said, well, how do you go? He goes to

575
00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:52,840
Speaker 13: ask who the fuck are you?

576
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,440
Speaker 5: So from the very beginning, there was tension on the team.

577
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:00,600
Speaker 5: Some of the people he worked with felt like he'd

578
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 5: skipped the line, that he hadn't done enough to prove himself.

579
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:06,080
Speaker 4: There was one time where he had asked me to

580
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:11,400
Speaker 4: make little cheesecakes. There's your little mini pie cheesecakes that

581
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 4: I would make, and I made a bunch for the team,

582
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,920
Speaker 4: and like nobody had them, nobody ate them, and they

583
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:17,400
Speaker 4: would just tell him like, no, we don't want this

584
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 4: or we don't want that.

585
00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:21,400
Speaker 5: At first, he tried to earn their acceptance by just

586
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:24,279
Speaker 5: working really hard, trying to prove that he was up

587
00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:24,799
Speaker 5: to the job.

588
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:27,560
Speaker 4: He just continued to just put his head down in work.

589
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,359
Speaker 4: I think that's what really bothered him, that he would

590
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:32,800
Speaker 4: just try to do the right thing and it just

591
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:34,080
Speaker 4: didn't seem like it was enough.

592
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:38,560
Speaker 5: Valentino was making busts and working cases, but to some

593
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:40,919
Speaker 5: of his co workers this might have made him seem

594
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,239
Speaker 5: like even more of a threat. Because higher ups were

595
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:49,319
Speaker 5: noticing his work. Valentino was getting a reputation for being

596
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:53,720
Speaker 5: a diligent investigator, thorough and for writing really good reports.

597
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:59,280
Speaker 5: This was a big deal because paperwork reports are hugely

598
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:03,080
Speaker 5: important to prison With one hundred and fifteen thousand people

599
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:06,760
Speaker 5: incarcerated in the state's prisons at the time, these reports

600
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:11,000
Speaker 5: are how the agency kept track of everybody. Officers need

601
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:17,160
Speaker 5: to document everything gang affiliations, medical needs, disability status, history

602
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:21,520
Speaker 5: of suicide, fights with staff, and so on, and these

603
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:25,360
Speaker 5: reports are also the basis for disciplinary action like sending

604
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:29,560
Speaker 5: someone to solitary confinement or charging them with a new crime.

605
00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,360
Speaker 5: These reports hold a lot of power, and it is

606
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:36,480
Speaker 5: a crime for an officer to falsify an official report.

607
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:41,279
Speaker 5: Valentino wanted to keep moving up in this system and

608
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 5: expanding his skills as an investigator. On the weekends when

609
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:47,800
Speaker 5: he wasn't working, he'd pay out a pocket to go

610
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:52,040
Speaker 5: to these training events and seminars, and during these trips

611
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,760
Speaker 5: he became friends with a guy named Sergeant Kevin Steele.

612
00:35:56,719 --> 00:35:59,920
Speaker 5: Steele passed away in twenty twenty one, so we couldn't

613
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,319
Speaker 5: interview him, but val Senior came to know him well.

614
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:07,800
Speaker 10: He was about five to seven my age, maybe a

615
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:09,920
Speaker 10: little bit older, using good shape, you know.

616
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:11,239
Speaker 2: He shaved his head and.

617
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:15,040
Speaker 5: Stood straight up picture of Bruce Willis type in his fifties,

618
00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:19,120
Speaker 5: with intense, bright blue eyes. He was a military veteran

619
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:23,400
Speaker 5: and a straight shooter. Sergeant Steele also worked in the ISU.

620
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,040
Speaker 5: He was senior to Valentino, but he was in a

621
00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:29,480
Speaker 5: different division. He was in the prosecution division. It was

622
00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:32,400
Speaker 5: his job to prepare cases for the district attorney to

623
00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:33,560
Speaker 5: bring criminal charges.

624
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:38,280
Speaker 18: He was very good speaking and writing, very passionate about

625
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:43,279
Speaker 18: his job, and loyal. He was very very important to

626
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:45,440
Speaker 18: that prison for a good reason.

627
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:49,200
Speaker 5: The two officers really respected each other. Both of them

628
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:52,279
Speaker 5: were kind of law enforcement nerds, committed to going the

629
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:56,880
Speaker 5: extra mile. Valentino would testify in court for Steele's cases.

630
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,440
Speaker 5: All that extra training meant he was a great expert witness,

631
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:04,720
Speaker 5: and Steele became one of the few people Valentino trusted,

632
00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:09,000
Speaker 5: a mentor and someone he called regularly for advice about

633
00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 5: criminal case protocol or how to handle evidence. Things with

634
00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,440
Speaker 5: the other guys in his division, however, were getting worse.

635
00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:19,040
Speaker 10: Sometimes he would text the guys for help and they'd

636
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:21,640
Speaker 10: have their own group texts, and they would like they

637
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:22,640
Speaker 10: wouldn't they didn't want.

638
00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 2: To help them.

639
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:27,160
Speaker 5: Some of these group texts are pretty awful. They mock

640
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:30,719
Speaker 5: his weight and call him half patch to remind him

641
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:33,360
Speaker 5: he's still just a temporary member of the squad.

642
00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:36,399
Speaker 15: Do these things that you saw after he died? Mm

643
00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:37,440
Speaker 15: hmm only yah.

644
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:39,600
Speaker 2: He never He never said look deadly what they're saying.

645
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:40,520
Speaker 2: He is never.

646
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:45,840
Speaker 5: But these messages would escalate even further before they stopped.

647
00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 5: The brotherhood. The family that Valentino had been promised at

648
00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:53,160
Speaker 5: his academy graduation was nowhere to be found.

649
00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:59,160
Speaker 13: And he used to go in on weekends to work

650
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:03,520
Speaker 13: because some of the team wasn't there to harass him.

651
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:09,000
Speaker 10: Nobody was calling him names or anything or intending him anyway,

652
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:11,400
Speaker 10: so he liked going there on saturdays. I know that

653
00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:14,840
Speaker 10: he told me he used to go to work in

654
00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,200
Speaker 10: the mornings, and then he told me he would go

655
00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:21,880
Speaker 10: into the restroom to vomit because he felt so much anxiety.

656
00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:28,680
Speaker 5: An attorney for these officers declined our request to interview

657
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 5: her clients, but she said that any allegations that any

658
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:37,480
Speaker 5: of them bullied, Haze, or harassed Valentino are false. Val

659
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:41,520
Speaker 5: Senior says he wouldn't understand until much later the full

660
00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:44,520
Speaker 5: scope of what his son was going through or of

661
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 5: the things he was being asked to do in the

662
00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:50,000
Speaker 5: name of this team. But he did notice a change

663
00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:53,480
Speaker 5: come over his son. He wasn't sleeping, and he gained

664
00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,040
Speaker 5: sixty pounds over the course of the year he was

665
00:38:56,080 --> 00:39:00,080
Speaker 5: in the ISU squad. Sometimes when they were hanging out well,

666
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,239
Speaker 5: he'd get this blank look on his face.

667
00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:04,840
Speaker 13: I could tell that he was starting to build this

668
00:39:06,239 --> 00:39:08,440
Speaker 13: mental mechanism where he knew that I turned things off,

669
00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:11,839
Speaker 13: you know, because I used to see him stare into

670
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:14,440
Speaker 13: space and then he'd snap.

671
00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:14,480
Speaker 2: Out of it.

672
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 5: And this distance was coming between Valentino and Mimi too.

673
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:23,680
Speaker 4: What really bothered me about his job was that he

674
00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:24,560
Speaker 4: was never home.

675
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:28,320
Speaker 5: They were planning to get married and have kids, but

676
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,640
Speaker 5: more and more she felt like Valentino was always gone.

677
00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:35,480
Speaker 5: There were the overtime shifts he had to work, and

678
00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:39,319
Speaker 5: the milestones and their life together were passing by without him.

679
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:41,640
Speaker 4: I understood that it was his job and it was

680
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:43,080
Speaker 4: a requirement.

681
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:45,600
Speaker 6: But what would frustrate me is that when I would

682
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:47,440
Speaker 6: ask him, like why couldn't you make it or why

683
00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:49,680
Speaker 6: couldn't do this? He would say, well, I asked for

684
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:52,840
Speaker 6: help and no one came to help me. And I

685
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:55,560
Speaker 6: would tell him, Valentino, where your family, Like, we love you,

686
00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 6: you know, if something happens to you, that job is

687
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:00,400
Speaker 6: just going to place you.

688
00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:02,920
Speaker 4: But how we can't replace you.

689
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:10,480
Speaker 5: She remembers one holiday, maybe Thanksgiving, where she went to

690
00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 5: his family's house for dinner.

691
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:15,279
Speaker 4: I remember just sitting there waiting for him at his

692
00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:17,200
Speaker 4: grandma's house, just waiting.

693
00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:19,759
Speaker 6: He couldn't show up.

694
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:25,040
Speaker 5: Once again, Valentino had to stay late working at the prison, and.

695
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:28,600
Speaker 6: It just broke my heart because I just felt alone.

696
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:34,160
Speaker 4: I felt really lonely. His family very nice, I mean,

697
00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:38,680
Speaker 4: don't get me wrong, very kind people, but I don't

698
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:42,359
Speaker 4: want to sit next to his grandma per se when

699
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 4: I can just sit next to him.

700
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:49,200
Speaker 5: It was in the midst of these pressures. Valentino was overworked,

701
00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:52,319
Speaker 5: the holidays were happening, and he felt ostracized by his team.

702
00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:57,680
Speaker 5: That something major happened at the prison. Val Senior says

703
00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:01,000
Speaker 5: he was the family Christmas party. Everyone was having a

704
00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:04,120
Speaker 5: good time eating and drinking. They had a game of

705
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:07,000
Speaker 5: White Elephant going and they were all laughing a lot.

706
00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:11,480
Speaker 5: Valentino showed up late straight from work around ten o'clock

707
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:14,120
Speaker 5: at night, and as soon as he walked in the door,

708
00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:16,800
Speaker 5: Valcignior knew something was wrong.

709
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:21,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could just see his face just slept. Something

710
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:24,480
Speaker 2: really bothering him. I've seen that look on his face before,

711
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:25,560
Speaker 2: but it was really intense.

712
00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:28,640
Speaker 5: Val Senior asked him what was going on.

713
00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:30,640
Speaker 12: And that's when he took his phone out and he

714
00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:31,479
Speaker 12: showed me the video.

715
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,400
Speaker 5: The scene that Valcignior saw on his son's cell phone

716
00:41:35,719 --> 00:41:39,880
Speaker 5: was incredibly violent. A video taken by surveillance cameras and

717
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:43,120
Speaker 5: one of the most high security housing units in New Folsome.

718
00:41:44,239 --> 00:41:47,600
Speaker 5: The camera angle is from inside the control booth, which

719
00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:51,200
Speaker 5: looks out on two tiers of cells. Right in front

720
00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:53,520
Speaker 5: of the booth, there's an open area on the ground

721
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:56,799
Speaker 5: floor called a day room. In this day room, there

722
00:41:56,840 --> 00:41:59,800
Speaker 5: are these metal desks in a semicircle with clear de

723
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:05,080
Speaker 5: between them. In the video, Valcignior saw a man shackled

724
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:08,200
Speaker 5: to one of these chairs with two other guys standing

725
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:08,839
Speaker 5: over him.

726
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:13,120
Speaker 12: This guy, this kid's being stabbed over and over and over,

727
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:18,800
Speaker 12: and he literally would shrug his shoulders and cover his

728
00:42:18,920 --> 00:42:20,560
Speaker 12: neck while they're trying to stab him the neck, and

729
00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:22,040
Speaker 12: then they would go back down the chest, and then

730
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:25,520
Speaker 12: he would try to cover his chest by concaving his

731
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:27,560
Speaker 12: chest inward, and then he'd go back to his neck,

732
00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:29,160
Speaker 12: and it was just back and forth. So finally the

733
00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:32,680
Speaker 12: kid threw himself on the floor and they proceeded to

734
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:34,759
Speaker 12: just stab him to the point to where the knights

735
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:37,880
Speaker 12: were literally hitting the ground because every time they pulled.

736
00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:38,880
Speaker 2: Up, his body would go up with it.

737
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,840
Speaker 5: The man on the floor was now lifeless. Valcenior watched

738
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:52,200
Speaker 5: as two attackers painted his blood across their faces. But

739
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:55,520
Speaker 5: Valentino wanted his dad to notice something else.

740
00:42:56,239 --> 00:42:57,640
Speaker 2: He had said, look at that the guy in the

741
00:42:57,719 --> 00:43:00,960
Speaker 2: towers not even amy using rubber bullets.

742
00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:05,120
Speaker 5: Valentino was pointing out to his dad that the officer

743
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:08,560
Speaker 5: in the control booth didn't use his rifle to immediately

744
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:12,560
Speaker 5: stop the deadly threat. He fired his less lethal weapon

745
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:15,719
Speaker 5: that shoots rounds made out of hard foam, and he

746
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:17,000
Speaker 5: fired it way too late.

747
00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:19,440
Speaker 2: You're supposed to use like rounds.

748
00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:22,480
Speaker 10: I tried not to emphasize or talk about or look

749
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:24,239
Speaker 10: at it. I just wanted to go on to my

750
00:43:24,520 --> 00:43:28,719
Speaker 10: little Christmas party, so I told him, you know, to

751
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:32,719
Speaker 10: put that thing away go and he just liked what

752
00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:33,880
Speaker 10: he does stepped out of it.

753
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:39,120
Speaker 5: But that wasn't all. Valentino was also instructed to write

754
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:43,880
Speaker 5: up a particular type of confidential report for statewide gang investigators.

755
00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:47,160
Speaker 5: The report was supposed to lay out how the killing

756
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:51,839
Speaker 5: was tied to a dispute between rival gangs. A lot

757
00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:55,080
Speaker 5: of questions would later be raised about that report and

758
00:43:55,480 --> 00:43:59,840
Speaker 5: who was really behind the murder. CDCR said it cannot

759
00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:03,120
Speaker 5: comment on the case because it's part of an active investigation.

760
00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:09,799
Speaker 5: Valcior wonders about this murder too. His son was found

761
00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:12,960
Speaker 5: dead by fentanyl intoxication less than a year after this

762
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:16,680
Speaker 5: Christmas party, and he was one of the people who

763
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:20,440
Speaker 5: suspected there was something really wrong about what happened in

764
00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:22,240
Speaker 5: that day room at New folsom.

765
00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:33,560
Speaker 7: You have the laptop or to follow along, I guess.

766
00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:40,160
Speaker 5: So how are we doing this in Valor's office and

767
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:44,160
Speaker 5: his swimming pool construction company and Sacramento hanging on the wall.

768
00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:47,960
Speaker 5: He's got that picture that Valentino painted of the two

769
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:50,640
Speaker 5: of them sitting side by side on the edge of

770
00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:55,000
Speaker 5: the dock fishing. Sometimes, he says he can still feel

771
00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:57,799
Speaker 5: his son close to him by his side, and he's

772
00:44:57,840 --> 00:44:58,480
Speaker 5: holding my hand.

773
00:44:58,520 --> 00:45:04,239
Speaker 2: He just wants me to find find peace. And I

774
00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:06,160
Speaker 2: find parts of peace, but not completely.

775
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:09,799
Speaker 5: When Valentino was a kid and val Senior would come

776
00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:12,600
Speaker 5: home from work, he says, his son would run up

777
00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:14,360
Speaker 5: and pull on the sleeve of his shirt.

778
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:17,920
Speaker 2: Dead dead dead, But I just feel him tugging still,

779
00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:18,239
Speaker 2: you know.

780
00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:20,399
Speaker 13: And I owe that to him.

781
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,839
Speaker 2: And I'm gonna go as far as I can.

782
00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:27,920
Speaker 10: And and in the end, if nothing is nothing I

783
00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:32,439
Speaker 10: tried right, I'll find my answers where my time comes.

784
00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:40,160
Speaker 5: Since his son's death, valcor has been pulled into a

785
00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:43,879
Speaker 5: new role. Now he's become the investigator.

786
00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:47,160
Speaker 2: Shows where they got moved to?

787
00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:53,040
Speaker 5: Where is it a different as our little reporting team. Julie,

788
00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:55,840
Speaker 5: Stephen and I crowd around the computer in his office.

789
00:45:56,480 --> 00:45:59,920
Speaker 5: Valcior shows us the evidence he's collected about the killing

790
00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:02,680
Speaker 5: of that guy in the day room, a twenty nine

791
00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:06,719
Speaker 5: year old man named Luis Giovanni Aguilar. He's still trying

792
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:10,320
Speaker 5: to understand how and if that murder connects to his

793
00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:13,399
Speaker 5: son's death. Where did this come from?

794
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:17,560
Speaker 13: Just people were saying, we still look at the secret source.

795
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:19,040
Speaker 2: See all these different sources.

796
00:46:19,680 --> 00:46:23,080
Speaker 5: It's stuff from his confidential sources who work inside New

797
00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:27,880
Speaker 5: Folsome Valor drags and drops the folders on his computer

798
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:30,799
Speaker 5: one by one onto the hard drive that we've brought

799
00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:34,200
Speaker 5: for just this purpose. All do our best to just

800
00:46:34,320 --> 00:46:36,800
Speaker 5: try and keep you informed about our process.

801
00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:39,480
Speaker 13: Is this one of the bigger stories you've done with

802
00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:41,920
Speaker 13: podcast or computer?

803
00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:46,440
Speaker 5: Yeult, I mean, it's a very it's a very complex story.

804
00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:48,920
Speaker 5: But at the same time, I think it's really like

805
00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:54,880
Speaker 5: a really important story. Yeah, I tell him we're looking

806
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:58,160
Speaker 5: into this because his son's story is part of something

807
00:46:58,239 --> 00:47:02,719
Speaker 5: even larger. Since twenty nineteen, when a new transparency law

808
00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:06,200
Speaker 5: went into effect here in California, Julie and I have

809
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:08,800
Speaker 5: been trying to get a clear picture of what the

810
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:13,280
Speaker 5: consequences are for correctional officers who use excessive force in prison,

811
00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:18,520
Speaker 5: lie on their reports, or discriminate against their colleagues. That's

812
00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:22,040
Speaker 5: been a black box for decades, hidden by laws that

813
00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:27,040
Speaker 5: were lobbied for by correctional officer and police unions. Now

814
00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:31,040
Speaker 5: we've gotten hundreds and hundreds of documents. Some of them

815
00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:34,040
Speaker 5: are related to troubling use of force incidents, like the

816
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:37,560
Speaker 5: tapes you heard earlier, and as we went through them,

817
00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:40,920
Speaker 5: we discovered that a really high number of these incidents

818
00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:44,680
Speaker 5: had taken place at New Folsom. When we heard there

819
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:47,600
Speaker 5: was an officer who was blowing the whistle on misconduct

820
00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:50,680
Speaker 5: there and then died, we knew we had to see

821
00:47:50,719 --> 00:47:53,440
Speaker 5: if there was a connection, and the answer to that

822
00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:57,560
Speaker 5: question could be among the evidence Valcior was loading onto

823
00:47:57,640 --> 00:47:58,359
Speaker 5: our hard drive.

824
00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:02,480
Speaker 19: What you're offering by what you have and the content

825
00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:07,279
Speaker 19: that you have, the text messages, combined with all the

826
00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:11,160
Speaker 19: records that we've requested, we'll be able to see into

827
00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:13,400
Speaker 19: the prisons and how they function in a way that

828
00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:15,040
Speaker 19: really hasn't been done much.

829
00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:19,919
Speaker 5: These records were completely secret, and we are the first

830
00:48:19,960 --> 00:48:30,200
Speaker 5: people to analyze them. As we walk out of his office,

831
00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:35,879
Speaker 5: lets you be fal Senior hands us back the hard drives,

832
00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:40,320
Speaker 5: really appreci.

833
00:48:42,040 --> 00:48:42,560
Speaker 2: What else.

834
00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:48,960
Speaker 5: Coming up next time Valentino reaches a breaking point at

835
00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:49,719
Speaker 5: work that.

836
00:48:49,880 --> 00:48:53,560
Speaker 2: Was a flat out threat and when he got to

837
00:48:53,719 --> 00:48:55,239
Speaker 2: work they laughed at it.

838
00:48:55,560 --> 00:48:59,320
Speaker 4: I remember this very clearly. He said, this is my identity,

839
00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:02,000
Speaker 4: So I feel like I've given up on everything.

840
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:04,640
Speaker 5: And someone else starts looking into the murder in the

841
00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:08,680
Speaker 5: day room and finding clues, clues that point the finger

842
00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:11,880
Speaker 5: not just at the two men with knives, but also

843
00:49:12,120 --> 00:49:13,480
Speaker 5: at New Folsome itself.

844
00:49:13,719 --> 00:49:18,520
Speaker 4: When's the data on that one that's he died?

845
00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:22,280
Speaker 2: Oh he texted steal the day he died.

846
00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:41,480
Speaker 5: It's friend Steel. You're listening to on our Watch, season

847
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:45,920
Speaker 5: two New Fulsome from KQED. If you have any tips

848
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:48,440
Speaker 5: or feedback about the series, you can email us at

849
00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:52,399
Speaker 5: on our Watch at KQED dot org. You can also

850
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:56,080
Speaker 5: leave us a review in Apple Podcasts. This series is

851
00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:59,919
Speaker 5: reported by me Sukie Lewis and Julie Small. It's edited

852
00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:04,400
Speaker 5: by Victoria Malone. It's produced and scored by Stephen Rascone

853
00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:08,560
Speaker 5: and Chris Agusa. Sound design and mixing by Tarak Fuda.

854
00:50:09,080 --> 00:50:13,120
Speaker 5: Jen Chien is kqd's director of Podcasts, and she executive

855
00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:17,920
Speaker 5: produced the series. Meticulous fact checking by Mark Bettencourt. Additional

856
00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:21,719
Speaker 5: research by Kayla Mahalovich and Kathleen Quinn, students in the

857
00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:25,759
Speaker 5: Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

858
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:29,960
Speaker 5: Special thanks to Rassan Thomas of ear Hustle Sandia Dirk's

859
00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:34,359
Speaker 5: of NPR, KQED Health correspondent April Demboski, and to our

860
00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:39,240
Speaker 5: in house council Rebecca Hopkins. Original music by romptin arab Luis,

861
00:50:39,520 --> 00:50:43,640
Speaker 5: including our theme song. Additional music from Cameron Fraser, APM

862
00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:48,280
Speaker 5: Music and Audio Network. We got tremendous support from David Barstow,

863
00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:52,240
Speaker 5: chair of the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley's Graduate

864
00:50:52,280 --> 00:50:57,320
Speaker 5: School of Journalism, and graduate students Julieta Bisharion, William Jenkins,

865
00:50:57,600 --> 00:51:01,839
Speaker 5: armand Olia, Arrell Watt, and June Yao Yong. Thanks also

866
00:51:01,960 --> 00:51:05,080
Speaker 5: to UC Berkeley's Jeremy Rue and Amanda Glazer for their

867
00:51:05,160 --> 00:51:09,520
Speaker 5: data analysis. The internal records highlighted in this podcast were

868
00:51:09,560 --> 00:51:13,080
Speaker 5: obtained as part of the California Reporting Project. Funding for

869
00:51:13,160 --> 00:51:16,080
Speaker 5: On Our Watch is provided in part by Arnold Ventures

870
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:19,520
Speaker 5: and the California Endowment. Thank you to our Managing editor

871
00:51:19,640 --> 00:51:23,280
Speaker 5: of News and Enterprise, Otis R. Taylor Junior Ethan Toven

872
00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:27,760
Speaker 5: lindsay Are, Vice president of News and KQED Chief Content Officer,

873
00:51:28,040 --> 00:51:30,600
Speaker 5: Holly Kernan. Thanks for listening.