SWORN STATEMENT¶
DIGITALLY RECORDED¶
OIG CASE #:¶
2019-010614¶
OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL¶
OCTOBER 27, 2021¶
RESOLUTE DOCUMENTATION SERVICES¶
28632 Roadside Drive, Suite 285¶
Agoura Hills, CA 91301¶
Phone: (818) 431-5800¶
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an investigation being conducted by the Office of the Inspector General. This investigation is being conducted pursuant to the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended.¶
This investigation pertains to job performance failure and security failure. This is a voluntary interview. Accordingly, you do not have to answer questions. No disciplinary action will be taken against you if you choose not to answer questions. Any statements you furnish may be used as evidence in any future criminal proceedings, or agency disciplinary proceeding, or both.Ӧ
The waiver section states, “I understand the Warnings and Assurances stated above, and I am willing to make a statement and answer questions. No promises or threats have been made to me, and no pressure or coercion of any kind has been used against me.” Please review the form, and if you understand and agree, please sign where it states, “Employee Signature,” and print your name below it.¶
MS. : You said, so, print right here?¶
MR. : Yeah.¶
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MS. : Okay. So, for the annual refresher training, Human Resources would normally get with me. They would tell me the dates that they wanted to do annual refresher training. And what I would do is go onto the roster program. They would let me know how many staff to put in each day. I would go into the program. I would assign them, and then, I would back fill their positions with a non-custody staff member.¶
So, that was documented on every quarterly roster. So, what I used to do was, because I¶
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sat with the union, to determine which non-custody staff member went to what post, I would keep that, I would have them bid on what they wanted to work. And I would keep that documentation in the administrative office with me. As far as the quarterly training goes, every quarter, any staff member who bid to work in SHU - in the Special Housing Unit, I’m sorry.¶
Any staff member that bid to work there, they had to go through mandatory quarterly training. So, what I would do is, I would get with the SHU lieutenant to figure out a date. It has to be completed before the new quarter starts. And he would tell me whatever - he or she - would tell me whatever date they wanted to do it. Every staff member that was on the quarterly roster, that would be in SHU, was scheduled to attend that training. We would do it in a classroom setting, for, like, a four-hour block. And all I would do was schedule the training, let the SHU lieutenant know, make sure he had the post orders, because all field office the staff who were going to be up there was supposed to go through the post orders, and¶
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read them, and sign them. And he would do the training, and then just give me the sign in sheet for everybody that attended.¶
MS. But what the training should cover, outside of them doing that slide show, that SHU, normally the SHU lieutenant does the training. Outside of that slide show, they should be discussing with them how to operate the SHU program. We have psychology come in and do a class on suicide prevention. Hunger strikes. They should be talking to them about how to fill out the documentation for 292s.¶
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instance a staff member was out on a workman’s comp. They had missed the SHU training for that reason, or they were on annual leave.¶
When they come back to work, I would coordinate it with the SHU lieutenant, to have that person go over the training with them. And then, they would come back and make sure that they sign that they completed the training. And again, I kept that stored in, on file in my office. In the admin office.¶
MR. : All right. So, it sounds like you were the one who kind of keeps records of who has done it, and who has not. You then coordinate it with the SHU lieutenant, and say if this person needs to take it. And then, after they take it, they are supposed to come to you and sign it?¶
MS. : No. Not -. After they take it, I would give the SHU lieutenant the sign-in sheet.¶
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MR. : Okay. So then, we asked, it says - and this is me speaking - “You mentioned you didn’t remember ever going to quarterly SHU training. This is a sign-in sheet for quarterly SHU training. I just want you to, is this your signature on there for June 26th, 2019?” And she responds, “You see how I’m the last one on the bottom of all of them?” I say, “Correct.” She says, “Because I wasn’t at the training when I came in,” she responded. “Did they provide it to you one on one, though?” She said, “No.” I said, “So, how come?” She said, “Because when I came back from an injury, the lieutenant asked me to sign because when they had program review, they need to show that I received the training. But I never did. She just asked me to sign.”¶
“That’s why I wonder why, who asked you to do that?” I said. And she said, “Lieutenant.”¶
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supervisor you mentioned was your first line supervisor, asked you to sign without providing you the training?” She said, “Yes.” I said, “And she didn’t, like, provide you anything to review?” She said, “No.” And I said, “She didn’t go over anything with you?” She said, “No.” I said, “Did you discuss this with her, that how can you sign something without being provided the training?”¶
She said, “Well, I just told her I wasn’t here. I was out on an injury. She said she knows, but she needed me to sign it because they need it for a program review.” I said, “What’s her first name?” And she responded,¶
”___.” I said, “And is she a lieutenant?” And Noel said, “She’s a - I don’t know what she is now - but she is not at MCC anymore. She’s at somewhere in ___.” So, with all that being said, what is your response to Ms. Noel, with her statements to us?¶
MS. : Her statement is partially true.¶
MR. : Okay.¶
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MS. No. Because at the time, if I had this, then the last person before her was June 23rd. So, Rice took care of all of these people, and then, he gave it back to me. I can’t remember if he just came back after the 6th, when everybody was done, and got it. Or if he came back. Because I kept them in a binder. I keep all of these in a binder, in the admin lieutenant’s office. So, all he had to do was just come get the binder. You see what I’m saying? So, he could have came and got it, had them do whatever they needed to do. And the sheet would have already been in the binder. And then, he keeps the copy from Dr. Miller, as well. They are supposed to keep a binder in the SHU lieutenant’s office, with¶
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these same forms.¶
MR. Okay. So, on this specific training, this is, these were the statements that were made, I said, “So, there is another training that you - it says that you conducted on also June 26th, 2019, for SHU suicide prevention training. Did you also not receive that training?” Ms. Noel responded, “Yeah. I didn’t.” I responded, “You did not receive that training?” She said, “No.” I said, “Did you receive -.¶
So, there’s slides in the back that show that the training, shows the training and how they conducted it. Did they provide you with those slides?” And she responded, “No because I wasn’t there.” I said, “You weren’t there?” And she responds, “I was out on injury.” I said, “Okay. Can you - when were you out on injury? What were the dates?” And she responded, “From March 2019 to I came back in June. So, when I came back in June, that’s when I was told to sign this.” Again, is this - you believe it’s Lieutenant Rice that actually told her to sign it?¶
MS. : It should have been. Yes.¶
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later, I said, “But when you came back, was it around the 26th when they asked you to sign those?” And she responded, “I came back in June. I don’t recall the date exactly.” I said, “Okay.” She said, “But I remember the day I came back into work, and the lieutenant asked me to go see Lieutenant . And she asked me to sign, and I said, but I wasn’t here. I was out on injury.¶
And she said she’s aware, but they need me to sign for program review.” I said, “Okay.” She said, “So, I signed.” And I said, “So, both trainings, when you signed, they didn’t actually ever provide you anything?” She said, “No.” I said, “Verbally? Electronically? Nothing?” She said, “No.” I said, “Okay. And that was on the date that was signed that that¶
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happened?” Ms. Noel said, “Actually, she told me not to date it.¶
I remember when I was signing. She said, don’t date it.” And I said, “But you dated it anyway? Did you have a conversation about that?” And she said, “No.” I said, “After you dated it, she didn’t say, why did you date it? Or anything like that?” She responded, “No.” So, she is saying al this time, that specifically, that the lieutenant said to go see you, and that you had her sign this information.¶
MS. : No. It’s not. And if the lieutenant that was on shift would have told her to come to see me, it was her first day back. So, when they returned to work for a work-related injury, they are supposed to bring in a note from the doctor, clearing them to be back at work. So, she would have came to see me, to give me a copy of that note. Because in order for her to work, she had to have that note from her doctor.¶
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the binder for the sign-in sheets for the Special Housing Unit was in my office. Because I kept up with all of these. I maintained all of these forms, just to make sure that everybody stayed up on what it was that they were supposed to do, because when we have our program review, those documents would be reviewed in the office that I worked in. We all were responsible for them. It wasn’t just me. My office was opened. Every lieutenant had a key to it.¶
MS. : And I am not at all saying that Rice would have come in my office and taken some something that he shouldn’t have taken, or whatever the case may be. I remember having a conversation with Rice to tell him, when these people come back to work, they need¶
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lieutenant. However, it’s not written anywhere. As the administrative lieutenant, that’s just what I did. All administrative lieutenants don’t do that. Because SHU is SHU. It belongs to the SHU lieutenant. But because we had gotten a bad rating on our previous reviews, pretty much, they had me maintaining all of our paperwork. So, I kept med trips. I kept rosters. I kept daily security inspections. And whatever paperwork that had to do with correctional services, I was responsible for maintaining it. So, this was something that I just maintained on my own, to make sure that it got done. So that, the department, as a whole, when the time came, wouldn’t get written up for it.¶
MR. : Is there a possibility that, when Noel came back to work, you told her, hey, listen, sign off on the paperwork of the signin sheet, saying that you received the training¶
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something happens, the officers get in trouble.¶
And the problem is, it starts from the top.¶
Because if my supervisor is telling me to falsify documents, and I do it, I’m in trouble.¶
But Lieutenant got promoted. You understand? Like, the problem starts from the top, and it comes all the way down.” So, she maintained, throughout the entire interview - this is now page 449 of the interview —¶
MS. : Mm-hmm.¶
MR.: — this was you. You specifically. So, if you are saying you 100 percent didn’t do this, why would she say that you were the one? Does she have an axe to grind with you? Is there something -.¶
MS.: We had no problems with each other, that I’m aware of. But again, we didn’t, we didn’t have regular interactions with each other. Because when she came to work, she was not on my shift. First of all. When she was at work, she barely ever worked the day shift, if I remember. And I was at work during the day shift. If she had an issue on the shift with anything, she wouldn’t have come to me.¶
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She would have went to the operations or the activities lieutenant. She was injured, if I remember, I think it was her ankle, but I’m not sure what it was. But once she got injured, that’s really more when our interactions started with each other, because she was out of work for such a long time. But we didn’t have any problems with each other whatsoever.¶
MR. : So, why do you believe that she would have stated, with such clarity, that you had her sign those documents, as opposed to Lieutenant Rice, who we discussed also, with regarding being the SHU lieutenant?¶
MS. : Probably because I was the first person that spoke to her about it, and when she came back to work. That would be the only thing that I can think of.¶
MR. : Okay. Do you think she took it on herself to, then, sign it? After the conversation with you, as opposed to you actually physically handing her the documents?¶
MS. : No. I didn’t give her the -¶
MR. : That’s —¶
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training. Now, once she left my office and once she got up in SHU, and got with the SHU lieutenant, I don’t know if the training was ever completed.¶
lieutenant completed the training, and got both of the sheets back from the chief psychologist, then they would bring me the sheets, and then I would put them in the binder. So, these other people that did their training, he had them sign off the sheet that we already have from the 6th. And then, he knew where the binder was. And again, I’m not saying that he did anything at all. Rice, I’m saying. But I kept¶
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these forms, and I had them in the binder. And I do not, at no time, remember telling her to sign anything that she didn’t do the training for.¶
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MS. : I don’t know. I do not know. And to be honest with you, if she spoke to Rice about it, and whatever transpired between the two of them, as far as the training is concerned, I don’t know. But she did sign that form on her own, and she wasn’t forced to do it, and I didn’t threaten her with program review. I did explain to her that everybody that was in SHU had to complete that training, so that we wouldn’t get written up for program review.¶
MR. : And when you had that conversation with her, were either the binder, were those sheets on your desk?¶
MS. : No. Not that I -. No. Not that I remember.¶
MR. : Okay. So, it wasn’t, like, you know, this sheet, this sign-in sheet is here, and you were just having this conversation, like, you know, not telling her sign here, date here, but saying, like, you need to complete this training, and it would be sitting right there for her to sign?¶
MS. : No. I would have told Rice she’s back, she got to do the SHU training.¶
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adding to it. They got to do the slide show. And they’re supposed to do the suicide prevention training. And psych does the suicide prevention training.¶
MR. : Now, the slide show, would he have manually handed it to her, or is that something he would have emailed her?¶
MS. : He wouldn’t have to email that to her. She can login it on her own. It’s in the - well, at the time, it was, it’s called Blue (Phonetic Sp. *00:46:13) now. The training site for the courses. But I’m not sure, then, if they were using Blue. I think it was just in the G-drive for annual training. Saved in the computer, on the - for annual training.¶
MR. : On, like, the shared drive?¶
MS. : Yes. They had an annual training folder that had, you know, everything, all of the slide shows and stuff in it. So, the people who would have come back to work, they should have reviewed that, at least, and that would have sufficed for them having the training.¶
MR. : So, that was going to be my¶
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or two people, and there wasn’t a video for them to watch, then HR will shoot them an email and let them know they got to go on, and log-in, and take a look at the slide shows or whatever the case may be.¶
MR. : Okay. Now, in this instance, it says, do you remember having a conversations with Ms. Noel regarding these trainings? Do you know she needed to do annual refresher training, or if she took it that year?¶
training in, like, February, like, the end of January, around February. But I don’t remember. She would have been scheduled for it on the daily rosters. On the quarterly rosters. Not quarterly. The daily rosters.¶
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CERTIFICATE¶
I hereby certify that the foregoing pages represent an accurate transcript of the electronic sound recording of the proceedings before the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General in the matter of:¶
Interview of¶
Brianna Rose Burton, Transcriber¶
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