Notice from the Clerk re Submission of Certain Prisoner Filings

On November 16, 2015, the Court adopted General Order 15-09, regarding a Pilot Project for the Submission of Certain Prisoner Filings Through Electronic Mail (“Pilot Project”).  Under the General Order, unrepresented prisoners at the California State Prison, Los Angeles County (“CSP-LAC”) must submit all documents designated as “Pilot Project Documents” to the Court for filing by electronic mail, rather than by U.S. Mail.  If a prisoner at CSP-LAC submits a Pilot Project Document to the Court by U.S. Mail, the prisoner will be notified that the submission of such documents through U.S. Mail violates General Order 15-09, and that the document must be re-submitted by electronic mail.

Currently, only case-initiating documents filed in cases brought by prisoners under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to challenge the conditions of their confinement have been designated by the Court as Pilot Project Documents.  Case-initiating documents are the complaint and any documents submitted concurrently with the complaint, such as an application to proceed IFP/without prepayment of fees, or a motion for emergency relief.  All other documents have been designated by the Court as Excluded Documents.

There are only two exceptions to the requirement that Pilot Project Documents be submitted by electronic mail:   (a) when the Pilot Project Document is submitted during a period when CDCR notified the Court that the scanning equipment was inoperable for longer than 48 hours; or (b) when the Pilot Project Document is submitted with a motion for leave to file documents by U.S. Mail that is supported by good cause.

Prisoners at a Participating Facility will present Pilot Project Documents to designated CDCR staff (“Scanning Staff”), who will log and stamp those documents.  If a prisoner presents a case-initiating document to Scanning Staff that requires a filing fee, Scanning Staff will contact the Participating Facility’s Accounting Department, which will provide a copy of the prisoner’s Trust Account Statement to Scanning Staff.  Scanning Staff will then scan all Pilot Project Documents and email them to the Court at a designated email address, mark each document with the date it was scanned and emailed to the Court, and return original documents to the prisoner.

Designated staff at the Court will retrieve all emailed Pilot Project Documents and file them into the Court’s official case file.  The participating facility will thereafter receive a Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF), with a case number, for the initiating documents filed in the case.  The NEF will be printed and provided to the prisoner.

All subsequent documents in the case must be filed through U.S. Mail.