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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Steve. Hope you enjoyed this season of

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Speaker 1: The Burden and the bonus episodes, which we'll keep coming,

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Speaker 1: and hope you're looking out for what comes next in

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Speaker 1: season two. But today we want to bring you something

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Speaker 1: a little different, the first episode of a really great

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Speaker 1: podcast called On Our Watch from our friends at KQED

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Speaker 1: in San Francisco. This season follows the story of what

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Speaker 1: happens when two whistleblowers try to expose abuse and corruption

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Speaker 1: inside California's most dangerous prison. This is one of my

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Speaker 1: favorite recent podcasts. It's gripping, it's compelling, it's important. Let's

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Speaker 1: get into it. Episode one of On Our Watch starts

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Speaker 1: right now.

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Speaker 2: This is a series investigating some of the difficult things

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Speaker 2: that happen to the people who live and work inside

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Speaker 2: California's prisons. So we wanted to give you a heads

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Speaker 2: up that this episode touches on intense topics including substance use,

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Speaker 2: state violence, and self harm. If you need support, we've

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Speaker 2: got links to resources in the episode description. The story

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Speaker 2: begins with a death that is intense and upsetting.

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Speaker 3: I park my car and I walk in the house

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Speaker 3: and he's not on the couch.

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Speaker 4: On October twenty first, twenty twenty, Mimi Rodriguez came home

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Speaker 4: from having dinner with her friends and called out to

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Speaker 4: her husband, Valentino Rodriguez.

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Speaker 3: So I go, val, Val, where are you? And all

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Speaker 3: the lights are on in the house, and I go

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Speaker 3: into the kitchen. He's not in the kitchen.

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Speaker 5: So I'm going into our bedroom and he's not in

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Speaker 5: our bedroom. And I knew something was wrong, and I go, Val, now,

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Speaker 5: where are you? And I run into the bathroom and

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Speaker 5: he's just he's on his knees. He's not on his knees,

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Speaker 5: with his head up against the wall, hunched over, and

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Speaker 5: I just scream and I had my ear pods in,

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Speaker 5: So I go Serri nine one one, So SERI Media

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Speaker 5: calls nine one.

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Speaker 6: One forty five second October Luty one thousand, okay.

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Speaker 4: With medical.

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Speaker 3: Again.

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Speaker 5: On the call, she's like hello, and I go come please, like,

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Speaker 5: please help me.

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Speaker 6: I'm scared.

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Speaker 7: I don't know what to do.

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Speaker 5: This has happened.

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Speaker 7: He's dead.

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Speaker 8: Please what happened?

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Speaker 5: And I'm screaming and I go and I grab him

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Speaker 5: and I pull him back and I put his head

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Speaker 5: back and he has vomit coming out of his mouth.

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Speaker 4: The nine one. One operator tells me me to perform

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Speaker 4: CPR on him so hard of.

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Speaker 6: Fat twice for a second. Okay, we want to make

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Speaker 6: sure of a check comes up all the way in

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Speaker 6: between pumps, they're ready to fix on their times or

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Speaker 6: her help and take over.

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Speaker 4: They were going to count together.

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Speaker 6: Okay, there's one two three four one three four.

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Speaker 4: Valentino's hands were purple and he wasn't breathing.

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Speaker 6: Is that our door open? Are they gonna be able

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Speaker 6: to get it to you? It is open? Okay, keep going, man,

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Speaker 6: pep there a chest compression. Is anybody else in the

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Speaker 6: house with you? Keep going one.

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Speaker 5: Eventually the police came. I don't know how fast. I

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Speaker 5: think like two minutes or two. But she kept telling me.

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Speaker 5: She's like, are they they're outside way.

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Speaker 6: They're one two three four, one two three four, they're

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Speaker 6: parking right now. They're almost to you.

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Speaker 5: One and I was like, just open the door, just

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Speaker 5: come inside, please. Like seven officers ran in and I

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Speaker 5: was always like, I'm in the bathroom. Helped me and

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Speaker 5: is it save them?

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Speaker 6: Please?

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Speaker 5: Save them.

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Speaker 4: The police pulled her out of the house and had

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Speaker 4: her sit in the back of a squad car. They

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Speaker 4: told her they needed to ask her some questions.

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Speaker 5: The officer was trying to talk to you as this

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Speaker 5: lady and she and she's just like what happened? And

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Speaker 5: she goes, what do you how did this happen? I

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Speaker 5: was like, I don't know, but it's his job. And

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Speaker 5: I just kept saying it's his job. This is all

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Speaker 5: because of his job. She goes, where does he work?

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Speaker 5: And I'm like, he works at CDCR.

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Speaker 4: CDCR the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

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Speaker 7: It's this stupid job.

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Speaker 5: I just it just it just overtook his life, his thoughts,

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Speaker 5: everything that like he stood for.

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Speaker 9: Test test word.

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Speaker 4: Correctional Office. Valentino Rodriguez was thirty years old when he died.

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Speaker 4: He'd worked for the department for about five years. Like

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Speaker 4: a lot of officers, that time changed him, especially the

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Speaker 4: time he spent inside the walls of this one prison.

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Speaker 4: New Folsom. This is a story about that place, about

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Speaker 4: broken promises and unwritten rules and who gets hurt when

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Speaker 4: the system that promises to keep us safe is bent

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Speaker 4: on protecting itself. I'm Suki Lewis. This is on our

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Speaker 4: watch season two, New Folsom.

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Speaker 3: It's like you go past these lights.

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Speaker 10: Then at the next set, ten left stay.

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Speaker 4: In the second li. More than two years after Officer

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Speaker 4: Valentino Rodriguez died in December twenty twenty two, our reporting

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Speaker 4: team went to go see his family in ten Right,

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Speaker 4: we're driving from the Bay Area through rice patties and

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Speaker 4: apple orchards to West Sacramento, a city on the outskirts

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Speaker 4: of the state capitol.

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Speaker 11: Is just everything about this case just raises questions.

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Speaker 4: That's my co reporter, Julie Small. The official cause of

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Speaker 4: Valentino's death was fentanyl intoxication, but his family and especially

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Speaker 4: his father, Val Senior, still aren't satisfied with how it

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Speaker 4: was investigated.

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Speaker 11: Now, maybe the answers are be nine, but because they're unanswered,

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Speaker 11: I think, you know, yea 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 4: Yeah, we also think there might be more to the

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Speaker 4: story of Valentino's death because he was a whistleblower. He'd

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Speaker 4: reported corruption and abuse by his fellow officers just days

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Speaker 4: before he died, but they said no signs of no

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Speaker 4: signs of foul play. Julie's been talking to Valcior for

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Speaker 4: the past few months, it's taken a while to gain

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Speaker 4: his trust. Today, Stephen Rascone, our producer, is a long

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Speaker 4: term record.

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Speaker 7: So today is like an icebreaker, I think.

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Speaker 4: So it's my first chance to meet Valentino's parents, Valentino

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Speaker 4: Rodriguez Senor and his wife Erma rolling inside. The walls

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Speaker 4: are covered with photos. They've got a good looking family,

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Speaker 4: five grandchildren at the time, and therefore adult kids.

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Speaker 9: And I think about that, all four of them just

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Speaker 9: sat there and talked, made fun of each other and

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Speaker 9: laughed and.

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Speaker 12: Close kids.

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Speaker 4: In a couple of weeks, the family's planning to get together,

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Speaker 4: but of course one of them will be missing, Valentino.

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Speaker 4: It'll be their third Christmas without him. I was in

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Speaker 4: the fog for a good year.

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Speaker 7: This is a different fog.

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Speaker 4: Now for his dad. Valentino's death started him on this

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Speaker 4: search to find answers from the police, the FBI, the prison.

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Speaker 4: He wants to understand what happened to his son and

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Speaker 4: why and who's responsible. But instead of finding answers, Valcigior

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Speaker 4: just keeps finding more questions.

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Speaker 7: This thing is just all tangled.

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Speaker 12: I'm just trying to undangle it.

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Speaker 4: Now. Valcenior says he feels like a stereotype out of

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Speaker 4: a true crime series on TV, the grieving parent on

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Speaker 4: a quest for justice.

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Speaker 13: And here I am in the driver's seat and I.

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Speaker 7: Couldn't do it any other way.

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Speaker 2: But I never wanted to be that person on TV.

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Speaker 7: Right, just consumed it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, would you be able to tell us, like your

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Speaker 4: favorite story of your son.

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Speaker 14: Him? With him?

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Speaker 4: There's a lot.

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Speaker 7: We have four kids, and they're all completely different.

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Speaker 4: Valentino was their second child and the oldest boy. As

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Speaker 4: we sit around the dining room table, Irma pulls out

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Speaker 4: some of the stuff she saved over the years, his

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Speaker 4: first Communion prayer book, a newspaper clipping from when he

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Speaker 4: made Student of the week.

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Speaker 9: I remember his third grade teacher said he was a

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Speaker 9: very good writer. She told him one day he was

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Speaker 9: going to be a writer, and she could wait to

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Speaker 9: hear his stories because you still like to write. I

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Speaker 9: still have all those his little pictures.

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Speaker 4: After Irma points out Valentino in a little league team photo,

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Speaker 4: he looks about eleven or twelve, She says he wasn't

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Speaker 4: any good at baseball.

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Speaker 9: Yeah, he wasn't very good at soccer either, And I

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Speaker 9: went to all his kids. I had all four kids playing,

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Speaker 9: so it was like every Saturday, I'm driving around all

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Speaker 9: the tacamount of taking them. And I tell him one day,

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Speaker 9: why do you run around with your eyes closed? He's like,

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Speaker 9: you would pretend I was an airplane flying in the air.

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Speaker 8: Everyone.

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Speaker 7: I have to watch them wrestle. He always lose, but

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Speaker 7: after he was done, he'd be talking to.

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Speaker 14: The guy that beat him up here.

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Speaker 15: Yeah, yeah, senator, talking to.

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Speaker 4: They tell us this was typical Valentino. Goofy, dreamy, smart,

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Speaker 4: eager to turn enemies into friends. After college, when he

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Speaker 4: told them he was going to train to be a

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Speaker 4: correctional officer, his parents were kind of surprised. They weren't

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Speaker 4: a law enforcement family. But he'd have job security and

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Speaker 4: good benefits. Val Senior says he remembers the day his

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Speaker 4: son graduated from the academy. It was May one, twenty fifteen,

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Speaker 4: and he looked out over this ocean of young faces.

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Speaker 4: His son was among the about two hundred cadets sworn

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Speaker 4: in that day.

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Speaker 7: Raise your right hand and repeat after me.

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Speaker 4: This is tape from a more recent graduation reciting the

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Speaker 4: same oath Valentino took.

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Speaker 15: I state your name, recognize the badge of my office

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Speaker 15: as a symbol of public faith.

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Speaker 4: Photos from that day show Valentino in his class a uniform,

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Speaker 4: Creas's sharp, his hair neatly combed. They promised to protect

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Speaker 4: the innocent.

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Speaker 2: Dedicating myself before all present, to.

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Speaker 4: Be honest, true, and to hold each other accountable.

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Speaker 7: Congratulations, Welcome to the family.

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Speaker 4: One of Valentino's first assignments was working on death row

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Speaker 4: at San Quentin State Prison, the oldest prison in California.

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Speaker 4: He'd often carpool to work with a bunch of other

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Speaker 4: correctional officers, and on the way back they'd get dropped

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Speaker 4: off at In and Out Burger.

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Speaker 3: I was a cashier and he'd come in in his

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Speaker 3: little green suit. He's so cute in his little boots.

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Speaker 4: That's me me again talking to my colleague Julie. She

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Speaker 4: calls him cute. But Valentino was not a little man.

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Speaker 4: He was five foot seven and at least two hundred pounds,

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Speaker 4: clean shaven, with dark hair and big brown eyes.

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Speaker 3: So his order was a three y three Ketchupolino salt,

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Speaker 3: the cheese, frid no salt, and then a large seven up.

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Speaker 3: So I knew his order from the moment, because of course,

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Speaker 3: you know, the cute guy comes in, I'm going to

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Speaker 3: memorise his order.

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Speaker 4: Mimi recognized Valentino from a party she'd gone to at

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Speaker 4: his house, thrown by his brother Greg.

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Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, how are you? And he's

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Speaker 3: like good. And I think in his mind he's like,

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Speaker 3: who is this girl?

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Speaker 6: You brother?

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Speaker 3: And he's like what And he was just hecko weirded out,

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Speaker 3: and in my head, it's going great, right. But he

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Speaker 3: started coming to it in and out more often, and

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Speaker 3: I would give him free burgers or shakes when my

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Speaker 3: manager wasn't looking.

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Speaker 4: And they started messaging on Facebook.

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Speaker 3: And he's like, hey, I haven't seen you. Did you

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Speaker 3: switch jobs? And I'm like, oh, this void texit me

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Speaker 3: or this void messaging and I was like.

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Speaker 4: Hello, yes Hi.

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Speaker 3: It was just me being all excited. He was a

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Speaker 3: kid at heart, very playful.

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Speaker 4: They play video games together and watch movies, and they

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Speaker 4: liked introducing each other to new things food, music, or art.

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Speaker 4: This one time they went out to a sip and

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Speaker 4: paint night at a local spot.

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Speaker 3: He was kind of nervous. I think it was a

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Speaker 3: new thing for him. But we had gone to a

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Speaker 3: paint night with one of my coworkers, and we went

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Speaker 3: on a double date and he painted this really nice picture.

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Speaker 3: It was supposed to be of a pelican at the

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Speaker 3: end of a bridge, but he he changed it and

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Speaker 3: it's a painting of him and his dad.

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00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:06,480
Speaker 4: The scene is of the two of them from behind,

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00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:10,040
Speaker 4: a boy and his father sitting side by side with

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Speaker 4: their fishing poles in the water, wispy white clouds over

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Speaker 4: the horizon.

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Speaker 3: And he gave it to his dad after a week

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Speaker 3: I fack.

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Speaker 4: Mimi says they fell hard for each other, and just

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Speaker 4: two months after they started dating, her roommate moved out

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Speaker 4: and she needed to find a new place to live.

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Speaker 3: I was going to move into my brother's house, but

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Speaker 3: he was like no, like you should move in with me,

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00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,720
Speaker 3: and I'm like, no, this is kind of soon, and

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00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:39,200
Speaker 3: he's like, come on, think about it.

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00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,480
Speaker 4: Valentino's mom had helped him find a cute little house

259
00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:47,520
Speaker 4: just about five miles away from their place in West Sacramento.

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00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:53,440
Speaker 4: Mimi moved in, and it was right around this time

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00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:56,960
Speaker 4: that Valentino got what he saw as a big break,

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Speaker 4: an opportunity to work in a different prison.

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Speaker 3: He specifically chose Fulsome the.

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Speaker 4: Official name of New Fulsome is California State Prison Sacramento

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Speaker 4: or CSP SAC. It's called New Fulsome because it was

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Speaker 4: built back in the eighties next to the Old Fulsome

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Speaker 4: prison that was made famous by country singer Johnny Cash.

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Speaker 7: Okay, Hello, I'm Johnny Kay.

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Speaker 4: He wrote a song called Fulsome Prison Blues and then

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Speaker 4: later recorded this performance live at the prison.

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Speaker 7: I hear the tree coming.

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Speaker 13: It's a giant.

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00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:38,000
Speaker 4: I don't know where you can actually see the guard

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00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:41,920
Speaker 4: towers of Old Fulsome from New Folsom Prison. They've got

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00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,480
Speaker 4: a medieval castle kind of look to them. New Folsom,

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00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:48,840
Speaker 4: on the other hand, where Valentino was transferring to, has

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00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,680
Speaker 4: a more industrial utilitarian look, a lot of razor wire

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00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:56,600
Speaker 4: and gray concrete. It's a high security prison that the

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00:15:56,640 --> 00:16:00,320
Speaker 4: state set up to accommodate people with risky medical conditions

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00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,600
Speaker 4: and mental health needs. It also houses active gang members

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00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:07,480
Speaker 4: and people who've been convicted of some of the most

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Speaker 4: serious crimes.

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Speaker 3: He said he wanted to go there because it was

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00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:16,600
Speaker 3: the most He said it was the most dangerous prison

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00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,600
Speaker 3: in California, but he described it as there was just

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00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:28,160
Speaker 3: a lot of activity there with officers with inmates, and

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00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:29,600
Speaker 3: he just wanted to be in there.

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00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,280
Speaker 4: There are a lot of infamous prisons in this country,

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00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:40,160
Speaker 4: and a fair number here in California. They're San Quentin

290
00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:44,960
Speaker 4: with its Death Row, the state's first supermax, Pelican Bay Corkoran,

291
00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:49,120
Speaker 4: where in the nineties officers allegedly set up gladiator style

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00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:53,200
Speaker 4: fights between rival gangs and then shot incarcerated people to

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00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:56,480
Speaker 4: stop the fights. But as we dug through a bunch

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00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,280
Speaker 4: of data and public records, we realized in the past decade,

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00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:03,240
Speaker 4: New Folsom has been the most violent prison in the state,

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Speaker 4: and that violence is committed by people who are locked

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00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,200
Speaker 4: up and officers. We found that in the six years

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00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:15,159
Speaker 4: after twenty fourteen, New Folsom officers used serious force, meaning

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00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,800
Speaker 4: they either badly injured someone or used deadly force, at

300
00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:21,560
Speaker 4: a rate three times higher than any other prison in

301
00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:26,479
Speaker 4: the state. This was stunning to us. CDCR declined our

302
00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:30,640
Speaker 4: multiple requests to comment on this finding. I've done quite

303
00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:33,480
Speaker 4: a bit of reporting on prisons, and Julie's been reporting

304
00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:37,119
Speaker 4: on prisons for even longer. New Folsom just wasn't on

305
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,120
Speaker 4: our radar in the same way. We'll dig into those

306
00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,199
Speaker 4: numbers more later, but for now it's important to know

307
00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:46,440
Speaker 4: that with just a year of experience as a correctional officer.

308
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:52,680
Speaker 4: This is the environment Valentino was walking into. Mimi says,

309
00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:54,239
Speaker 4: he was looking forward to it.

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Speaker 3: He was excited to go into this prison. He was

311
00:17:57,200 --> 00:17:59,679
Speaker 3: excited for the work. He was excited for what he was.

312
00:17:59,640 --> 00:17:59,920
Speaker 12: Going to do.

313
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:04,240
Speaker 4: He wanted to be an investigator in this elite squad

314
00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:11,040
Speaker 4: called the ISU, or the Investigative Services Unit. A prison

315
00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,240
Speaker 4: is like its own city, and the ISU squad are

316
00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,159
Speaker 4: like the police force of the prison. They've got a

317
00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:21,800
Speaker 4: canine unit, a gain investigation unit, a prosecution division, and

318
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:25,440
Speaker 4: one for internal affairs to look into complaints of excessive

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00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:31,600
Speaker 4: force or allegations of officer corruption. Walking through New folsom

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00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,000
Speaker 4: the squad stood out. They had special black and green

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00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:39,200
Speaker 4: patches on their uniforms, and unlike regular officers, they could

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00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:42,200
Speaker 4: bring their cell phones into work. They could also go

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00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:46,960
Speaker 4: anywhere in the prison they wanted total access. Valentino's goal

324
00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:49,640
Speaker 4: was to earn his patch and get into that squad,

325
00:18:50,640 --> 00:19:04,000
Speaker 4: but first he had to pay his dues. Officer Valentino

326
00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:08,440
Speaker 4: Rodriguez's first assignment was working in the prison's psychiatric unit,

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00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:12,119
Speaker 4: guarding one of the most vulnerable and difficult parts of

328
00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:18,159
Speaker 4: the population, people with severe mental illnesses. I've talked to

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00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:21,240
Speaker 4: a number of people incarcerated in this unit, and it

330
00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:23,920
Speaker 4: sounds like a really tough place to be. It can

331
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:27,080
Speaker 4: be very loud and chaotic. Sometimes the people in this

332
00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:31,119
Speaker 4: unit are angry and confrontational, while others are simply terrified

333
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:35,560
Speaker 4: or heavily medicated. And officers like Valentino are required to

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00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:39,080
Speaker 4: get training in how to prevent incarcerated people from hurting

335
00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:43,240
Speaker 4: each other and themselves. Valentino had been working at New

336
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:46,480
Speaker 4: FOLSOM and in this unit for just a few months

337
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,720
Speaker 4: when he got caught up in a really bad incident

338
00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:54,160
Speaker 4: that Valcior says was a turning point for him. An

339
00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:57,640
Speaker 4: incarcerated man ended up in the hospital with broken bones

340
00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:02,200
Speaker 4: and injuries to his face and head, so investigators started

341
00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,800
Speaker 4: looking into how the man got those injuries. We were

342
00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:08,360
Speaker 4: able to get the tapes and paperwork for that incident.

343
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:11,919
Speaker 4: Just a note, we noticed a lot of inconsistencies and

344
00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:15,720
Speaker 4: what people say happened. The incarcerated man's story changes a bit.

345
00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:20,119
Speaker 4: One officer contradicts himself, and other officers have slightly different

346
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:23,720
Speaker 4: versions of the incident. He'll also hear some places where

347
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:25,600
Speaker 4: the department has redacted the audio.

348
00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,520
Speaker 16: So what we're going to talk about is, on the

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00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:34,840
Speaker 16: twelfth of August Friday, you were involved in an incident

350
00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:39,160
Speaker 16: which occurred. Is that yourself where you're at before, Yes, sir.

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00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:45,000
Speaker 4: They're looking into this incarcerated man's allegations that officers caused

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00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:47,159
Speaker 4: his injuries and then lied about it.

353
00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,800
Speaker 16: You made the allegation while trying to hang myself. The

354
00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:54,359
Speaker 16: CEOs came in and smashed my face into the wall.

355
00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:56,199
Speaker 16: Can you tell me about that?

356
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Speaker 7: What you mean?

357
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:04,080
Speaker 4: Well, because of some sensitive details about his mental health,

358
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,399
Speaker 4: we decided not to use this man's name. I'm just

359
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,280
Speaker 4: going to call him by the initial of his last name, C.

360
00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,399
Speaker 4: So C tells the investigators that it all started because

361
00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:16,719
Speaker 4: of the meds he was taking.

362
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,320
Speaker 8: I was having a hard time on medication. When I

363
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:25,080
Speaker 8: have a hard time medication side offics of committed suicide.

364
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:28,920
Speaker 4: First, she says, he put his head in the toilet

365
00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,080
Speaker 4: in his cell to try and drown himself, and then

366
00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,480
Speaker 4: she told a passing officer that he was feeling suicidal.

367
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:36,560
Speaker 12: He put a.

368
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,840
Speaker 8: Sheet like a suicide sheet.

369
00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:47,479
Speaker 4: He says. The officer handed him a sheet with a

370
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:48,919
Speaker 4: noose already tied in it.

371
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,000
Speaker 8: You two to mysell He said, hang yourself, so I

372
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:53,680
Speaker 8: turned to hang my.

373
00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:54,159
Speaker 12: Sell in for no.

374
00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:01,400
Speaker 4: Officers have to follow really strict rule to prevent suicides.

375
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,160
Speaker 4: They have to check on people in their cells every

376
00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:08,560
Speaker 4: thirty minutes. When someone says they're suicidal, officers are supposed

377
00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:12,280
Speaker 4: to call mental health services right away, and that person

378
00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:14,840
Speaker 4: might even get moved to a different unit or checked

379
00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:18,760
Speaker 4: into a hospital. To be clear, handing someone a noose

380
00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:21,800
Speaker 4: would totally violate what officers are meant to do. In

381
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:26,560
Speaker 4: the situation, no officers admitted giving him a noose. A

382
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:30,560
Speaker 4: responding officer tells investigators he was doing his rounds and

383
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:34,560
Speaker 4: Sauca with the sheet already tied around his neck, had that.

384
00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:38,400
Speaker 16: Time opened the food port, gave him multiple orders to stop.

385
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,680
Speaker 4: When C doesn't respond, the officer says, he sprays him

386
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:43,480
Speaker 4: with pepper spray.

387
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 13: My intent was to have to save his life from

388
00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:52,640
Speaker 13: stocking him from actually choking himself and killing himself.

389
00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,199
Speaker 4: An officer gets C to come to the door to

390
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,560
Speaker 4: put handcuffs on him, and he shackled by his feet

391
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,840
Speaker 4: and behind his back, and then they escort him to

392
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:07,639
Speaker 4: what's called a decontamination cell. It's basically a cage the

393
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 4: size of a phone booth that they can spray a

394
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:12,520
Speaker 4: hose into to wash the pepper spray off him.

395
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:17,240
Speaker 8: And boom. He pushed me in there and my face

396
00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,880
Speaker 8: the back of the cell. I wanted like that boom

397
00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:23,360
Speaker 8: here my face, this.

398
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:27,760
Speaker 16: Injury that's right there, across your nose, my clothing, my

399
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:32,159
Speaker 16: wife in my head and the face that boom, and

400
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,160
Speaker 16: then my eye and then my face and then my neck.

401
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,400
Speaker 4: But the officers who are escorting him tell it differently.

402
00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:39,960
Speaker 17: He just kept trying to pull away, so I tightened

403
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:44,560
Speaker 17: my grate and canseled him to knock, not pull away

404
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:45,680
Speaker 17: from myself.

405
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,520
Speaker 4: The officer says. Ce broke away from them and lunged

406
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:50,320
Speaker 4: towards the shower.

407
00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:52,920
Speaker 17: Hey, and then he ended up tripping over the there's

408
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,120
Speaker 17: a lip on that shower, tripping over the bottom wood,

409
00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:01,080
Speaker 17: smashing in the back in the shower, and I immediately

410
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,879
Speaker 17: closed shower, blocked in again.

411
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:05,439
Speaker 4: Se denies this.

412
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,080
Speaker 16: Were you resistant at all, afist, I don't know. You

413
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:10,119
Speaker 16: were just walking calmly, unlocking calmly.

414
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 10: I mean not.

415
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:14,679
Speaker 16: I get the injuries from trying to hide myself. I

416
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:16,280
Speaker 16: got the injuries from him pushing me.

417
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 4: So to recap. According to c he was suicidal. An

418
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:26,199
Speaker 4: officer gave him a noose, pepper sprayed him, and he

419
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,840
Speaker 4: was forcibly thrown into a cage and injured really badly.

420
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,480
Speaker 4: The version officers tell is that se already had the noose,

421
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,800
Speaker 4: they pepper sprayed him to save his life, and he

422
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,760
Speaker 4: got hurt first when he fell from his bunk, and

423
00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 4: then again when he pulled away from them and tripped

424
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:52,159
Speaker 4: face first into the shower cage. The last account of

425
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:55,879
Speaker 4: events I'm going to walk you through is Valentinos, because

426
00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:58,400
Speaker 4: he was one of the officers who responded that day.

427
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:01,800
Speaker 4: Here he is in using himself on tape to an

428
00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:04,200
Speaker 4: investigator with the Internal Affairs Department.

429
00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:11,399
Speaker 18: Valentino rodri Riuez, correctional officer, California Department of Corrections, sacon

430
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:12,160
Speaker 18: Mon Estate Prison.

431
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:15,640
Speaker 4: The agent tells Valentino, he's here as a witness.

432
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,400
Speaker 11: Can you give me your account of that incident?

433
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:23,439
Speaker 18: Her on the radio announcement that there was a inmy

434
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:26,639
Speaker 18: hanging in May comped hanging in two block.

435
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:27,280
Speaker 14: In b session.

436
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,840
Speaker 4: Valentino says he put on his gloves and rushed to

437
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:31,200
Speaker 4: the south.

438
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:33,680
Speaker 18: It's apparent that he was sprayed with OC because O C.

439
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:36,560
Speaker 18: Pepper sprayed because he had He was spitting up mucus

440
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,400
Speaker 18: and a little bit of blood on his face from

441
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:40,080
Speaker 18: being sprayed.

442
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,600
Speaker 4: As the two officers took C to hose off, they

443
00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:47,160
Speaker 4: walked him past Valentino, who says he saw a little

444
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:48,640
Speaker 4: bump on C's forehead.

445
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 14: Could you see what clothing?

446
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,359
Speaker 18: I don't remember. I don't remember if I could.

447
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,000
Speaker 12: At the time. Can you know?

448
00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,520
Speaker 4: No, So se goes to the shower cage with really

449
00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:03,200
Speaker 4: no major injuries that Valentino could see.

450
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,720
Speaker 16: At what point did you observe an injury on him?

451
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:08,800
Speaker 18: When the water was turned off and I walked up

452
00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:13,359
Speaker 18: to the cage to open it up, I observe, uh,

453
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:18,040
Speaker 18: some injuries onto the top of his head and across

454
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 18: his face. I think believe it was across the faces.

455
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 14: Can you tell me about to describe those injuries?

456
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,640
Speaker 18: They were gashes, like large.

457
00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:28,160
Speaker 12: Large gashes.

458
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 4: Valentino was asked to photograph seize injuries and then take

459
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:35,600
Speaker 4: him to get medical attention. We got those pictures that

460
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:39,399
Speaker 4: he took. The man's face is partially blacked out, but

461
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:42,400
Speaker 4: you can see a five inch gash across his forehead

462
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 4: and his cheek is split open from his nose to

463
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:47,080
Speaker 4: below his cheekbone.

464
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 16: Is there anything else you'd like to tell me what

465
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:51,920
Speaker 16: you have not already discussed during this interview.

466
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:55,240
Speaker 14: Before I turn off the recorder.

467
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,360
Speaker 4: I want to remind you it's a big deal anytime

468
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,800
Speaker 4: an officer gets pulled into an investigation, even just as

469
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 4: a witness, because lying is a fireable offense. We know

470
00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:08,640
Speaker 4: Valentino told the people closest to him about this incident.

471
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,280
Speaker 12: I remember that when it happened, he was so scared

472
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:12,040
Speaker 12: for weeks.

473
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,720
Speaker 4: When we got this recording through a public records request

474
00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:19,040
Speaker 4: to CDCR, it was one of the things we really

475
00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,800
Speaker 4: wanted to share with Val Seniors.

476
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 11: Want to hear it?

477
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:24,119
Speaker 12: Yeah?

478
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,119
Speaker 4: My co reporter Julie Small sat down with him and

479
00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:29,119
Speaker 4: pressed play on the recording.

480
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,160
Speaker 12: To the theater is December nine, twenty sixteen.

481
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:38,479
Speaker 4: Val Senior had never heard this interview with his son before.

482
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:39,600
Speaker 12: Again a.

483
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:42,880
Speaker 18: Little by a danger about his igh.

484
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:49,280
Speaker 17: Okay, I think, I wish I I can't call okay.

485
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,879
Speaker 11: But I think that Do you think that he's telling

486
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:53,440
Speaker 11: the truth there?

487
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:58,639
Speaker 19: I think because I know my son, he has a

488
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:03,440
Speaker 19: really good memories, really toil orientated and well for him

489
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 19: not to remember which side the cut was on and

490
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:06,960
Speaker 19: certain things.

491
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 12: It's just to me, he's sounds like he's worried right there, scared.

492
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,480
Speaker 4: Valentino told him that what happened during the incident was

493
00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:22,280
Speaker 4: different than what those officers wrote in their reports and

494
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:25,800
Speaker 4: told investigators. But he said he felt like he had

495
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 4: to go along with their story.

496
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,280
Speaker 13: You should see his face and he come over. That

497
00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:31,960
Speaker 13: broke my heart. Man, because he had a job. And

498
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,119
Speaker 13: he told me, Dad, you have to you have to

499
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:38,560
Speaker 13: tell the same story because you're.

500
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,479
Speaker 12: On a team. Yeah, and if you don't, then you're

501
00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:42,360
Speaker 12: the odd man out.

502
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:45,440
Speaker 4: Mimi told us something similar.

503
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,040
Speaker 5: He was told like, hey, you know, this is this

504
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,000
Speaker 5: is what we're writing, and it's important that all of

505
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:54,080
Speaker 5: us have the same story, and it's important for all

506
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:55,480
Speaker 5: of us to be on.

507
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:58,720
Speaker 3: The same page. And he told me how they never

508
00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:02,080
Speaker 3: really specifically said you must do it this way, you

509
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:03,959
Speaker 3: must write it this, you must do it that. It

510
00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 3: was more of like, this is what we are doing,

511
00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:09,440
Speaker 3: and this is how we're going to do it, and

512
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,840
Speaker 3: this is what's important for our team, so we can

513
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 3: all be on the same page. He felt a lot

514
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 3: of pressure because he didn't want to lose his job.

515
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,840
Speaker 4: CDCR did not respond to specific questions about this incident.

516
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:35,360
Speaker 4: A spokesperson did write in an email that the agency

517
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:39,480
Speaker 4: takes all allegations of employee misconduct seriously and there is

518
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 4: a new process for making sure complaints are quote properly,

519
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 4: fairly and thoroughly reviewed. The spokesperson also pointed out that

520
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 4: there is a new system of fixed and body cameras

521
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,920
Speaker 4: at new Folsome So we don't know exactly what the

522
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,080
Speaker 4: truth is about this incident. What we do know is

523
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:02,720
Speaker 4: that C was severely in Medical reports show he received

524
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 4: twenty seven stitches, his nose was broken, and his spine

525
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:12,880
Speaker 4: was fractured in three places. Ultimately, those in charge believed

526
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:16,680
Speaker 4: the officer's story that C fractured his back when he

527
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:19,480
Speaker 4: slipped and fell off his bunk and injured his face

528
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,920
Speaker 4: and head when he lunged away from officers and landed

529
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:27,920
Speaker 4: on the metal rails of the decontamination shower. And that's

530
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:31,400
Speaker 4: the story that Valentino chose to go along with, even

531
00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:36,000
Speaker 4: though he told his father it wasn't true. This wouldn't

532
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:39,320
Speaker 4: be the last time Valentino felt compromised by his job.

533
00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 4: Mimi Rodriguez told my colleague Julie and me that working

534
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 4: in the psychiatric unit really took a toll on Valentino.

535
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:05,880
Speaker 3: He would talk about how draining it was, and he

536
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,920
Speaker 3: would have come home drained and did not look like

537
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,800
Speaker 3: to you. I mean he would just drag his feet.

538
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 3: He would drag his feet, come in and he didn't

539
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,120
Speaker 3: want to eat. He would shower and just go to sleep.

540
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,880
Speaker 3: I mean, he was just quiet.

541
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 4: He worked double shifts so we could get more days

542
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:24,800
Speaker 4: off in a row to recharge.

543
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 3: That's when he would talk more about work and be like, yeah,

544
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:29,000
Speaker 3: like you you know, it was a little stressful and

545
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:31,680
Speaker 3: I'm dealing with this or I'm talking about this, but

546
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 3: you know, I'm happy to go in and he was

547
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:35,640
Speaker 3: always very enthusiastic.

548
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:39,680
Speaker 4: About two and a half years after he'd gotten to

549
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:44,400
Speaker 4: New folsom late twenty eighteen, Valentino's hard work looked like

550
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:49,200
Speaker 4: it was paying off. Remember the squad that detective unit

551
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:53,360
Speaker 4: Valentino was aiming for. An officer there went on leave

552
00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:56,560
Speaker 4: for PTSD and there was a vacancy on the team.

553
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 4: One of the supervisors who knew Valentino, thought he'd be

554
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:02,800
Speaker 4: good at the job and gave him the chance to

555
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 4: fill in.

556
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:06,520
Speaker 3: He was really excited for that, but he didn't think

557
00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:07,840
Speaker 3: he was going to get that opportunity.

558
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:13,640
Speaker 4: He'd made the squad working in the Security and Investigations unit,

559
00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:17,800
Speaker 4: but on a temporary basis. To get the position permanently,

560
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:19,840
Speaker 4: he'd have to impress the right people.

561
00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:23,080
Speaker 3: He's like, yes, of course, I I'll do it. I

562
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:23,920
Speaker 3: mean he was ready.

563
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:28,280
Speaker 4: Valentino called to let his parents know he got promoted.

564
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:31,520
Speaker 7: He called his mom first and she told me Bell

565
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:32,600
Speaker 7: got a promotion.

566
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,960
Speaker 4: He told them it was a really good position, one

567
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,960
Speaker 4: that a lot of other people wanted, and that he

568
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:40,600
Speaker 4: was the youngest on the team.

569
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:43,600
Speaker 7: I asked him, how's your first day? Yeah, he goes

570
00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:44,720
Speaker 7: a bunch of older guys.

571
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:46,720
Speaker 12: Dad had been there. He called him ojiez.

572
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:48,600
Speaker 7: I said, well, how do you go? He goes to

573
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:49,640
Speaker 7: ask who the fuck are you?

574
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:54,760
Speaker 4: So from the very beginning, there was tension on the team.

575
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 4: Some of the people he worked with felt like he'd

576
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:00,560
Speaker 4: skipped the line, that he hadn't done enough to prove himself.

577
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:02,880
Speaker 3: There was one time where he had asked me to

578
00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:08,160
Speaker 3: make little cheesecakes. There's your little mini pie cheesecakes that

579
00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:10,000
Speaker 3: I would make, And I made a bunch for the

580
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:12,200
Speaker 3: team and like nobody had them, Nobody ate them, and

581
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:14,120
Speaker 3: they would just tell him like, no, we don't want

582
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:14,959
Speaker 3: this or we don't want that.

583
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,239
Speaker 4: At first, he tried to earn their acceptance by just

584
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:21,080
Speaker 4: working really hard, trying to prove that he was up

585
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:21,680
Speaker 4: to the job.

586
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 3: He just continued to just put his head down in work.

587
00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 3: I think that's what really bothered him, that he would

588
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:29,600
Speaker 3: just try to do the right thing and it just

589
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:30,880
Speaker 3: didn't seem like it was enough.

590
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:35,360
Speaker 4: Valentino was making busts and working cases, but to some

591
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:37,800
Speaker 4: of his co workers this might have made him seem

592
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:41,040
Speaker 4: like even more of a threat because higher ups were

593
00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:46,120
Speaker 4: noticing his work. Valentino was getting a reputation for being

594
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 4: a diligent investigator, thorough and for writing really good reports.

595
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:56,080
Speaker 4: This was a big deal because paperwork reports are hugely

596
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 4: important in prison. With one hundred and fifteen thousand people

597
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 4: incarcerated in the state's prisons at the time, these reports

598
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:07,800
Speaker 4: are how the agency kept track of everybody. Officers need

599
00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:13,920
Speaker 4: to document everything gang affiliations, medical needs, disability status, history

600
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:18,319
Speaker 4: of suicide, fights with staff, and so on, and these

601
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:22,160
Speaker 4: reports are also the basis for disciplinary action like sending

602
00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:26,360
Speaker 4: someone to solitary confinement or charging them with a new crime.

603
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,120
Speaker 4: These reports hold a lot of power, and it is

604
00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:33,280
Speaker 4: a crime for an officer to falsify an official report.

605
00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:38,120
Speaker 4: Valentino wanted to keep moving up in this system and

606
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:41,879
Speaker 4: expanding his skills as an investigator. On the weekends when

607
00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,600
Speaker 4: he wasn't working, he'd pay out a pocket to go

608
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:48,880
Speaker 4: to these training events and seminars, and during these trips

609
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,560
Speaker 4: he became friends with a guy named Sergeant Kevin Steele.

610
00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:56,720
Speaker 4: Steele passed away in twenty twenty one, so we couldn't

611
00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:00,240
Speaker 4: interview him, but Valsor came to know him well.

612
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 13: He was about five to seven my age, maybe a

613
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:06,759
Speaker 13: little bit older, using good shape, you know.

614
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:08,719
Speaker 7: He shaved his head and stood.

615
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,800
Speaker 4: Straight up, picture of Bruce Willis type in his fifties,

616
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,920
Speaker 4: with intense, bright blue eyes. He was a military veteran

617
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:20,200
Speaker 4: and a straight shooter. Sergeant Steele also worked in the ISU.

618
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:22,800
Speaker 4: He was senior to Valentino, but he was in a

619
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:26,279
Speaker 4: different division. He was in the prosecution division. It was

620
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,200
Speaker 4: his job to prepare cases for the district attorney to

621
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:30,320
Speaker 4: bring criminal charges.

622
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 12: He was very good speaking and writing, very passionate about

623
00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:40,080
Speaker 12: his job. And loyal. He was very, very important to

624
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:42,240
Speaker 12: that prison for a good reason.

625
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,960
Speaker 4: The two officers really respected each other. Both of them

626
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 4: were kind of law enforcement nerds, committed to going the

627
00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:53,719
Speaker 4: extra mile. Valentino would testify in court for Steele's cases.

628
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,880
Speaker 4: All that extra training meant he was a great expert witness,

629
00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,920
Speaker 4: and Steele became one of the few people Bull Valentino

630
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:05,040
Speaker 4: trusted a mentor and someone he called regularly for advice

631
00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:09,720
Speaker 4: about criminal case protocol or how to handle evidence. Things

632
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,240
Speaker 4: with the other guys in his division, however, were getting worse.

633
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:15,839
Speaker 13: Sometimes he would text the guys for help and they'd

634
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:18,400
Speaker 13: have their own group texts, and they would like they

635
00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:19,920
Speaker 13: wouldn't they didn't want to help them.

636
00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:23,879
Speaker 4: Some of these group texts are pretty awful. They mock

637
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:27,520
Speaker 4: his weight and call him half patch to remind him

638
00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:30,160
Speaker 4: he's still just a temporary member of the squad.

639
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:32,879
Speaker 14: Are these things that you saw after he died?

640
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:35,759
Speaker 7: Mm hmm, Only he never He never said look deadly

641
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:36,319
Speaker 7: what they're saying.

642
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:37,359
Speaker 14: He just never.

643
00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:42,640
Speaker 4: But these messages would escalate even further before they stopped.

644
00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:46,960
Speaker 4: The brotherhood, the family that Valentino had been promised at

645
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 4: his academy graduation was nowhere to.

646
00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:53,960
Speaker 14: Be found, and he used to go in on weekends to.

647
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:59,960
Speaker 13: Work because some of the the team wasn't there to harass.

648
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:01,919
Speaker 14: Nobody was calling him.

649
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:06,719
Speaker 13: Names or anything, or teddam anyway, So he liked going

650
00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:07,520
Speaker 13: there on saturdays.

651
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:08,239
Speaker 8: I know that.

652
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:11,200
Speaker 13: And he told me he used to go to work

653
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:13,879
Speaker 13: in the mornings, and then he told me he would

654
00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:16,320
Speaker 13: go into the restroom to vomit.

655
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,719
Speaker 14: Because he felt so much anxiety.

656
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:25,480
Speaker 4: An attorney for these officers declined our request to interview

657
00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:29,359
Speaker 4: her clients, but she said that any allegations that any

658
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:34,239
Speaker 4: of them bullied, Haze or harassed Valentino are false. Val

659
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:38,319
Speaker 4: Senior says he wouldn't understand until much later the full

660
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:41,319
Speaker 4: scope of what his son was going through or of

661
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:43,400
Speaker 4: the things he was being asked to do in the

662
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:46,760
Speaker 4: name of this team. But he did notice a change

663
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:50,240
Speaker 4: come over his son. He wasn't sleeping and he gained

664
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:52,840
Speaker 4: sixty pounds over the course of the year he was

665
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:56,799
Speaker 4: in the ISU squad. Sometimes when they were hanging out,

666
00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:59,040
Speaker 4: he'd get this blank look on his face.

667
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:03,320
Speaker 7: I could tell he was starting to build this mental

668
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,359
Speaker 7: mechanism where he knew that turned things off, you know,

669
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 7: because I used to see him stare into space and

670
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:11,319
Speaker 7: then he'd snap out of it.

671
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:15,839
Speaker 4: And this distance was coming between Valentino and Mimi too.

672
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:20,560
Speaker 3: What really bothered me about his job was that he

673
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:21,400
Speaker 3: was never home.

674
00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:25,160
Speaker 4: They were planning to get married and have kids, but

675
00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:28,440
Speaker 4: more and more she felt like Valentino was always gone.

676
00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:32,399
Speaker 4: There were the overtime shifts he had to work, and

677
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:36,120
Speaker 4: the milestones in their life together were passing by without him.

678
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:38,480
Speaker 3: I understood that it was his job and it was

679
00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:42,120
Speaker 3: a requirement. But would frustrate me is that when I

680
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,040
Speaker 3: would ask him, like why couldn't you make it or

681
00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:44,840
Speaker 3: why couldn't do this?

682
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:47,200
Speaker 5: He would say, well, I asked for help and no

683
00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:50,759
Speaker 5: one came to help me. And I would tell him, Valentino,

684
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:53,680
Speaker 5: where your family, Like, we love you. You know if

685
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,680
Speaker 5: something happens to you, that job is just going to

686
00:38:56,680 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 5: replace you. But how we can't replace you.

687
00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:07,319
Speaker 4: She remembers one holiday, maybe Thanksgiving, where she went to

688
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:08,800
Speaker 4: his family's house for dinner.

689
00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:12,040
Speaker 5: I remember just sitting there waiting for him in his

690
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:16,600
Speaker 5: grandma's house, just waiting. He couldn't show up.

691
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:21,239
Speaker 4: Once again, Valentino had to stay late working at the prison.

692
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:25,320
Speaker 5: And it just broke my heart because I just felt alone.

693
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:28,040
Speaker 3: I felt really lonely.

694
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 5: His family very nice, I mean, don't get me wrong,

695
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 5: very kind people, but I don't want to sit next

696
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,719
Speaker 5: to his grandma per se when I can just sit

697
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:40,319
Speaker 5: next to him.

698
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:46,000
Speaker 4: It was in the midst of these pressures. Valentino was overworked,

699
00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:49,120
Speaker 4: the holidays were happening, and he felt ostracized by his team.

700
00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:54,719
Speaker 4: That something major happened at the prison. Falsenior says he

701
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:58,320
Speaker 4: was the family Christmas party. Everyone was having a good time,

702
00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:01,600
Speaker 4: eating and drinking. They had a game of White Elephant

703
00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 4: going and they were all laughing a lot. Valentino showed

704
00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:08,640
Speaker 4: up late straight from work around ten o'clock at night,

705
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:11,919
Speaker 4: and as soon as he walked in the door, Valcignior

706
00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:13,640
Speaker 4: knew something was wrong.

707
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:15,440
Speaker 14: Yeah, I could just.

708
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:17,120
Speaker 12: See his face just slip.

709
00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:20,680
Speaker 14: Something really bothering him. I've seen that look on his

710
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:22,400
Speaker 14: face before, but it was really intense.

711
00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:25,640
Speaker 4: Valcenior asked him what was going on.

712
00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:27,400
Speaker 14: And that's when he took his phone out and he

713
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:28,280
Speaker 14: showed me the video.

714
00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:32,200
Speaker 4: The scene that Valcignor saw on his son's cell phone

715
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 4: was incredibly violent. A video taken by surveillance cameras and

716
00:40:36,719 --> 00:40:39,920
Speaker 4: one of the most high security housing units in New Folsome.

717
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:44,359
Speaker 4: The camera angle is from inside the control booth, which

718
00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:47,960
Speaker 4: looks out on two tiers of cells. Right in front

719
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:50,320
Speaker 4: of the booth, there's an open area on the ground

720
00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:53,600
Speaker 4: floor called a day room. In this day room, there

721
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:57,080
Speaker 4: are these metal desks in a semicircle with clear dividers

722
00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:01,880
Speaker 4: in between them. In the video, saw a man shackled

723
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:05,040
Speaker 4: to one of these chairs with two other guys standing

724
00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:06,040
Speaker 4: over him.

725
00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:11,240
Speaker 14: This guy, this kid's being stabbed over and over and over, and.

726
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:15,879
Speaker 15: He literally would shrug his shoulders and cover his neck

727
00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:17,400
Speaker 15: while they're trying to stab him the neck, and then

728
00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:18,880
Speaker 15: they would go back down the chest, and then he

729
00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:23,359
Speaker 15: would try to cover his chest by concaving his chest inward, and.

730
00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:24,719
Speaker 14: Then he'd go back to his neck, and it was

731
00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:27,040
Speaker 14: just back and forth. So finally the kid threw himself.

732
00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:30,239
Speaker 15: On the floor and they proceeded to just stab him

733
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:32,840
Speaker 15: to the point to where the knights were literally hitting

734
00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:34,960
Speaker 15: the ground because every time they pulled up, his body

735
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:35,759
Speaker 15: would go up with it.

736
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:43,640
Speaker 4: The man on the floor was now lifeless. Valcenior watched

737
00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 4: as two attackers painted his blood across their faces, but

738
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:52,280
Speaker 4: Valentino wanted his dad to notice something else.

739
00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:54,840
Speaker 15: He had said, look at the guy in the towers,

740
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:58,120
Speaker 15: not even amy, and they're using rubber bullets.

741
00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:01,920
Speaker 4: Valentino was pointing out to his dad that the officer

742
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:05,359
Speaker 4: in the control booth didn't use his rifle to immediately

743
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:09,320
Speaker 4: stop the deadly threat. He fired his less lethal weapon

744
00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:12,480
Speaker 4: that shoots rounds made out of hard foam, and he

745
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:13,759
Speaker 4: fired it way too late.

746
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,920
Speaker 13: You're supposed to use like rounds. I tried not to

747
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:20,160
Speaker 13: emphasize or talk about or look at it. I just

748
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:23,400
Speaker 13: wanted to go on to my little Christmas party, so

749
00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:26,640
Speaker 13: I told him, you know, to put that thing away,

750
00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:30,680
Speaker 13: and he just liked what he does snapped out of it.

751
00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:35,879
Speaker 4: But that wasn't all. Valentino was also instructed to write

752
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:40,600
Speaker 4: up a particular type of confidential report for statewide gang investigators.

753
00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:43,920
Speaker 4: The report was supposed to lay out how the killing

754
00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 4: was tied to a dispute between rival gangs. A lot

755
00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:52,000
Speaker 4: of questions would later be raised about that report and

756
00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:56,640
Speaker 4: who was really behind the murder. CDCR said it cannot

757
00:42:56,719 --> 00:42:59,879
Speaker 4: comment on the case because it's part of an active investigation.

758
00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:06,560
Speaker 4: Valcior wonders about this murder too. His son was found

759
00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:09,719
Speaker 4: dead by fentanyl intoxication less than a year after this

760
00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:13,480
Speaker 4: Christmas party, and he was one of the people who

761
00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:17,239
Speaker 4: suspected there was something really wrong about what happened in

762
00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:19,000
Speaker 4: that day room at New Folsom.

763
00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:32,160
Speaker 11: You have a laptoper to follow along, I guess. So

764
00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:34,799
Speaker 11: how are you doing this?

765
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:39,480
Speaker 4: In VAL's office? This swimming pool construction company and Sacramento

766
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:43,200
Speaker 4: Hanging on the wall, he's got that picture that Valentino

767
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:46,640
Speaker 4: painted of the two of them sitting side by side

768
00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:50,800
Speaker 4: on the edge of the dock fishing. Sometimes, he says

769
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:53,439
Speaker 4: he can still feel his son close to him by

770
00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:54,279
Speaker 4: his side, and.

771
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:55,200
Speaker 12: He's holding my hand.

772
00:43:55,280 --> 00:44:01,040
Speaker 14: He just wants me to find peace, and uh, I

773
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:02,960
Speaker 14: find parts of peace, but not completely.

774
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:06,759
Speaker 4: When Valentino was a kid and Valcior would come home

775
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:09,560
Speaker 4: from work, he says, his son would run up and

776
00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:11,120
Speaker 4: pull on the sleeve of his shirt.

777
00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:14,720
Speaker 13: Dead dead dead, But I just feel him tugging still.

778
00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:15,040
Speaker 8: You know.

779
00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:18,560
Speaker 13: I owe that to him, and I'm going to go

780
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,600
Speaker 13: as far as I can. And in the end, if

781
00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:27,360
Speaker 13: nothing is nothing I tried right, I'll find my answers

782
00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:31,640
Speaker 13: where my time comes.

783
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:37,000
Speaker 4: Since his son's death, Valcior has been pulled into a

784
00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:40,840
Speaker 4: new role now he's become the investigator.

785
00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:46,600
Speaker 12: Shows where they got moved to. Where is it different?

786
00:44:47,680 --> 00:44:51,040
Speaker 4: As our little reporting team, Julie, Stephen and I crowd

787
00:44:51,080 --> 00:44:54,560
Speaker 4: around the computer in his office. Valcior shows us the

788
00:44:54,600 --> 00:44:57,560
Speaker 4: evidence he's collected about the killing of that guy in

789
00:44:57,600 --> 00:45:00,759
Speaker 4: the day room, a twenty nine year old man named

790
00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:05,040
Speaker 4: Luis Giovanni Aguilar. He's still trying to understand how and

791
00:45:05,239 --> 00:45:08,799
Speaker 4: if that murder connects to his son's death there.

792
00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:10,320
Speaker 6: Where did this come from?

793
00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:13,080
Speaker 14: Just people were saying, we still look at her.

794
00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:14,279
Speaker 6: You have secret source.

795
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:15,920
Speaker 12: See all these different sources.

796
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:20,360
Speaker 4: It's stuff from his confidential sources who work inside New Folsome.

797
00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:24,640
Speaker 4: Val Senior drags and drops the folders on his computer

798
00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:27,680
Speaker 4: one by one onto the hard drive that we've brought

799
00:45:27,840 --> 00:45:29,000
Speaker 4: for just this purpose.

800
00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:31,839
Speaker 11: All do our best to just try and keep you

801
00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:33,680
Speaker 11: informed about our process.

802
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:36,239
Speaker 19: Is this one of the Gigger stories you've done with

803
00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:38,760
Speaker 19: podcast for Computer?

804
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:43,280
Speaker 11: Yeahult, I mean it's a very it's a very complex story.

805
00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:45,719
Speaker 11: But at the same time, I think it's really like

806
00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:47,160
Speaker 11: a really important story.

807
00:45:47,960 --> 00:45:48,160
Speaker 12: Yeah.

808
00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:53,400
Speaker 4: I tell him we're looking into this because his son's

809
00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:57,840
Speaker 4: story is part of something even larger. Since twenty nineteen,

810
00:45:58,040 --> 00:46:00,600
Speaker 4: when a new transparency law went into a fact here

811
00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:03,799
Speaker 4: in California. Julie and I have been trying to get

812
00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:07,480
Speaker 4: a clear picture of what the consequences are for correctional

813
00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:11,759
Speaker 4: officers who use excessive force in prison, lie on their reports,

814
00:46:12,200 --> 00:46:16,320
Speaker 4: or discriminate against their colleagues. That's been a black box

815
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:20,080
Speaker 4: for decades, hidden by laws that were lobbied for by

816
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:25,319
Speaker 4: correctional officer and police unions. Now we've gotten hundreds and

817
00:46:25,440 --> 00:46:29,120
Speaker 4: hundreds of documents. Some of them are related to troubling

818
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:32,120
Speaker 4: use of force incidents, like the tapes you heard earlier,

819
00:46:33,239 --> 00:46:35,560
Speaker 4: and as we went through them, we discovered that a

820
00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:38,880
Speaker 4: really high number of these incidents had taken place at

821
00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:42,560
Speaker 4: New Folsom. When we heard there was an officer who

822
00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:45,600
Speaker 4: was blowing the whistle on misconduct there and then died,

823
00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:48,440
Speaker 4: we knew we had to see if there was a connection,

824
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:52,000
Speaker 4: and the answer to that question could be among the

825
00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:55,160
Speaker 4: evidence Valcenior was loading onto our hard drive.

826
00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:59,280
Speaker 10: What you're offering by what you have of the content

827
00:46:59,320 --> 00:47:03,000
Speaker 10: that you have, the text messages, combined with.

828
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 4: All the records that we've requested, we'll be able to

829
00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:09,080
Speaker 4: see into the prisons.

830
00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:11,080
Speaker 11: And how they function in a way that really hasn't

831
00:47:11,080 --> 00:47:11,799
Speaker 11: been done much.

832
00:47:13,960 --> 00:47:16,719
Speaker 10: These records were completely secret and we are the first

833
00:47:16,719 --> 00:47:24,280
Speaker 10: people to analyze them.

834
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:28,719
Speaker 4: As we walk out of his office, let you be,

835
00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:32,240
Speaker 4: fal Senior hands us back the hard drive.

836
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:39,400
Speaker 7: Really, what else.

837
00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:45,759
Speaker 4: Coming up? Next time? Valentino reaches a breaking point at

838
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:46,759
Speaker 4: work that was.

839
00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:50,840
Speaker 13: A flat out threat and when he got to work

840
00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:52,080
Speaker 13: they laughed at him.

841
00:47:52,320 --> 00:47:56,120
Speaker 3: I remember this very clearly. He said, this is my identity.

842
00:47:56,600 --> 00:47:58,400
Speaker 3: He's like, I feel like I've given up on everything.

843
00:47:59,040 --> 00:48:01,440
Speaker 4: And someone else starts looking into the murder in the

844
00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:05,480
Speaker 4: day room and finding clues, clues that point the finger

845
00:48:05,719 --> 00:48:08,680
Speaker 4: not just at the two men with knives, but also

846
00:48:08,880 --> 00:48:11,839
Speaker 4: at New Folsome itself. When's the data on that one

847
00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:15,279
Speaker 4: that's he died?

848
00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:19,040
Speaker 12: Oh he texted to steal the day he died.

849
00:48:19,960 --> 00:48:38,280
Speaker 4: It's friend Steel. You're listening to on our Watch season

850
00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:42,680
Speaker 4: two New Folsome from KQED. If you have any tips

851
00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:45,239
Speaker 4: or feedback about the series, you can email us at

852
00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:49,160
Speaker 4: on our Watch at KQED dot org. You can also

853
00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:52,880
Speaker 4: leave us a review in Apple Podcasts. This series is

854
00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:56,760
Speaker 4: reported by me Suki Lewis and Julie Small. It's edited

855
00:48:56,800 --> 00:49:01,359
Speaker 4: by Victoria Malone. It's produced and scored by Stephen Rascone

856
00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:05,600
Speaker 4: and Chris Agusa. Sound design and mixing by Tarak Fuda.

857
00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:09,880
Speaker 4: Jen Chien is kqd's director of Podcasts, and she executive

858
00:49:09,920 --> 00:49:14,719
Speaker 4: produced the series. Meticulous fact Checking by Mark Bettencourt. Additional

859
00:49:14,760 --> 00:49:18,520
Speaker 4: research by Kayla Mahalovich and Kathleen Quinn, students in the

860
00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:22,840
Speaker 4: Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

861
00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:26,680
Speaker 4: Special thanks to Rassan Thomas of ear Hustle, Sandia Dirk's

862
00:49:26,719 --> 00:49:31,160
Speaker 4: of NPR, KQED Health correspondent April Dembowski, and to our

863
00:49:31,160 --> 00:49:36,000
Speaker 4: in house counsel Rebecca Hopkins. Original music by romptin arab Luis,

864
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:40,440
Speaker 4: including our theme song. Additional music from Cameron Fraser APM

865
00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:45,040
Speaker 4: Music and Audio Network. We got tremendous support from David Barstow,

866
00:49:45,239 --> 00:49:49,000
Speaker 4: chair of the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley's Graduate

867
00:49:49,040 --> 00:49:55,120
Speaker 4: School of Journalism, and graduate students Julieta Bisharion, William Jenkins, Arman, Olia,

868
00:49:55,560 --> 00:49:59,560
Speaker 4: Arrell Watt, and juniaw Yong. Thanks also to UC Berkeley's

869
00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:03,600
Speaker 4: Jeremy Rue and Amanda Glazer for their data analysis. The

870
00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:07,080
Speaker 4: internal records highlighted in this podcast were obtained as part

871
00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:10,560
Speaker 4: of the California Reporting project. Funding for On Our Watch

872
00:50:10,680 --> 00:50:14,280
Speaker 4: is provided in part by Arnold Ventures and the California Endowment.

873
00:50:14,760 --> 00:50:17,600
Speaker 4: Thank you to our Managing editor of News and Enterprise,

874
00:50:17,680 --> 00:50:21,400
Speaker 4: Otis R. Taylor, Junior Ethan Toven Lindsay Are, Vice president

875
00:50:21,440 --> 00:50:26,800
Speaker 4: of News and KQED Chief Content Officer, Holly Kernan. Thanks

876
00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:27,400
Speaker 4: for listening.