Blasted across the dayrooms in our prison housing units are flyers announcing a U.S. The Department of Justice Certified PREA Auditor will be coming to this facility, February 8-13, 2026.
Prison guards and prisoners are encouraged to speak with auditors. I am one such prisoner who is interested in speaking with the Prison Rape Elimination Act auditors, but what will come out of that conversation???
In 2003, the United States ratified the Prison Rape Elimination Act. It noted, “Insufficient research has been conducted and insufficient data reported on the extent of prison rape. However, experts have conservatively estimated that at least 13 percent of the inmates in the United States have been sexually assaulted in prison. Many inmates have suffered repeated assaults. Under this estimate, nearly 200,000 inmates now incarcerated have been or will be the victim of prison rape. The total number of inmates who have been sexually assaulted in the past 20 years likely exceeds 1,000,000 (34 U.S.C.A. 30301(2).) One million prison rapes from 1980-2000, are a great deal of prison rapes, but what has been the number of prison rapes in the 20-years since PREA’s enactment 2003-2023?
As a former jailhouse lawyer, I have read my share of cases that were absolutely horrifying, including a batch of lawsuits for this article on prison rape. One such instance was a 2009, civil rights lawsuit (42 U.S.C. 1983), Carlos Gilbert Law v. Sgt Whitson, et al. (Law v. Whitson). Law, a California prisoner, had been a victim of sexual assault. However Judge Samuel P. King, United States District Court, for the Eastern District of California, dismissed Law’s civil rights lawsuit by stating, “The First Amended Complaint invokes the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, 42 U.S.C. 15601, as a basis for relief. It is clear, however, that the Prison Rape Elimination Act does not create a private right of action. Rather, the Prison Rape Elimination Act was enacted to study the problem of prison rape.” As a person who believes in reparations, seeing another taxpayer funding initiative, just for a study, is very, very, horrifying!
I make no bones about being very salty, when I received a document two months before my September 2025, initial parole board hearing that stated in 2019, I was a Crip armed with a prison manufactured weapon threatening other prisoners. This 2019 event, to which I was never made aware, had messed with my forensic psychologist’s evaluation, instead of being found a low risk to commit violence if released back into society, I was deemed a moderate risk. The forensic psychologist even requested that her risk rating be reduced if the document was deemed untrue. Everyone on the custody side of the process stated the allegation contained in the document was not true. However, during my initial parole board hearing Deputy Commissioner Lawrence Nwajei stated it was true, solely because someone within the CDCR wrote the document, even though there was no follow up by custody based upon the information contained in the document.
This finding by this parole board commissioner was quite shocking and thwarts my opportunity to be deemed a low risk to commit violence if released back into society. So, by implication, this parole board commissioner is asserting prison guards ignore threats of violence. Since I have evidence prison guards have ignored evidence of violence that I have been accused of committing, they will equally ignore evidence of prison rape, when it is received.
I wanted to make sure this nexus was brought to the attention of the folks at PREA. You got some real scumbag parole board commissioners when it comes to the use of unsubstantiated confidential information, as an excuse to deny someone parole. I just want to make it perfectly clear to the next parole board commissioner and anybody that hires that kind of parole board commissioner, that ride ain’t free. If you or any family member are in litigation or are thinking about litigation against the State of California and its prison system for endangering the life of someone incarcerated, please contact me for my parole board transcripts. California Parole Board Commissioner Lawrence Nwajei would make an excellent expert witness, and you have his testimony in an official proceeding!
Journalist Bio C-Note is known as the world’s most prolific prison-artist, who has written for the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Mprisond Thotz, Inmate Blogger, and more. To stay updated on C-Note’s parole board journey or Mumia Abu-Jamal’s reporting on prisoner elder abuse, visit the website P.E.A.C.E. (Parole Elder Abuse Concerns Everyone), www.paroleelderabuse.org. He’s also available for Zoom and other forms of call-ins, at meetings or events. Send him a letter, or message him on the GTL Getting Out App.
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