In re Olden

TRAYNOR, C. J. On February 21, 1968, we issued an order to show cause on the basis of petitioner’s pro se application for habeas corpus alleging that he suffered a nervous breakdown because custodial officers in San Quentin mistreated him in January and February 1967, after he was placed in isolation because of his violation of prison rules.1

Respondent’s return, filed March 15, 1968, avers that petitioner has a long-standing, serious mental and emotional problem, recognized by the psychiatric staff at San Quentin and manifestly antedating and not caused by any conditions of his imprisonment during January and February 1967. Institutional records as to petitioner, made a part of the record in this proceeding, effectively refute any suggestion that he may have been subjected to cruel punishment in violation of his fundamental rights and show that his bizarre behavior in January and February 1967 was a manifestation of his preexisting psychiatric problem.2

[847]On March 22, 1968, Mr. Gerald Z. Marer, counsel appointed for petitioner by this court, interviewed petitioner at San Quentin. On March 29 petitioner was transferred to the Medical Facility at Vacaville, and in May 1968 Mr. Marer interviewed petitioner and the psychiatrist in charge of his ease. Counsel then advised us by letter that according to the [848]psychiatrist petitioner was suffering from delusions and unable to cooperate with counsel, testify, or make rational decisions about this proceeding. Since then Mr. Marer has represented petitioner in federal habeas corpus proceedings raising grounds other than those of the present proceeding.

Mr. Marer now contends that petitioner has made a prima facie showing that the state’s intentional or negligent failure to furnish adequate psychiatric care while he was a prisoner at San Quentin caused deterioration of petitioner’s mental health and resulted in instances of bizarre behavior that appear on his institutional records as disciplinary infractions. Counsel contends that petitioner is entitled to an evidentiary hearing with the burden on the state to rebut this claimed prima facie showing or at least to establish that petitioner is now receiving the best available psychiatric care. He further contends that petitioner is entitled to an order directing the Adult Authority to disregard his record of prison disciplinary violations because his conduct resulting in that record was unintentional and caused by the lack of psychiatric care.