In re Dohner

I. BACKGROUND

Inmates in California prisons “may possess only the personal property . . . as

permitted” by regulation. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 15, § 3006.) A list of “[s]pecific items of

personal and religious property” that an inmate is permitted to possess, depending on

classification and privilege level, has been “established by a consensus of individual

facilities” and described in an “Authorized Personal Property Schedule” (APPS) that is

incorporated by reference into the relevant regulation. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 15, § 3190.)

Individual facilities, however, may request and obtain from the California Department of

Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) exemptions from that standardized list. (Cal.

1 We use the past tense intentionally, as both Dohner and Gerber have since been transferred to other facilities that impose no such restriction.

2 Code Regs., tit. 15, § 3190, subd. (b) [contemplating “[l]ocal facility exemptions to the

property lists,” to be identified in the APPS].)

Under the APPS applicable to general population prisoners like Dohner and 2 Gerber, inmates often may possess a television. That is not true, however, at CVSP.

CDCR granted CVSP’s request…