Wilson

Defendant was an inmate at Chino on April 11, 1977. Early that morning Russell Bates, a correctional officer on duty in the Cedar Hall housing facility at Chino awakened inmate Weiner to facilitate Weiner’s getting to some sort of early duty. Weiner was assigned to bunk No. 4027; defendant was assigned to bunk No. 4030 which was three bunks away from Weiner’s on the same side of “A” Wing.

After awakening Weiner, Bates went to breakfast and then returned to Cedar Hall to perform a routine security check. Upon reentering “A” Wing he noticed that there were two persons in the area of Weiner’s bunk, an area which he knew should have been unoccupied at that time. From a distance of between 20 and 30 feet Bates observed inmate Mongia seated on Weiner’s bunk and defendant seated on a chair directly facing Mongia. With his three and one half years experience as a correctional officer, Bates recognized that defendant and Mongia were, “pointing.” This prison jargon is employed to describe a deliberate behavior which permits each of the two involved to watch anyone approaching from the rear of the other person.

Bates continued to walk toward the two who were “pointing.” Defendant…