well, then you re just asking special favoritism for yourself. no. you have to have a medical reason. no. is there a rule in ccr, order title 15 that says an inmate has to be housed with another inmate? yes or no? i don t know. you can talk to the sergeant about that. and then something happened that i ve never seen happen in prison before, an officer brought out the rule book. okay, hamilton, this here is kern valley state prison operational procedure, number 222. and set it down in front of dennis and said, look, here s what it says. in a nutshell it says that every inmate will accept a cellie except if he has see this little thing? it s called an s suffix. that means single cell status. if you have that attached to your cdc number, then we ll never, ever try to house you with another inmate because you
have gone through all the hoops, whatever it takes, either you committed battery on your inmate or cell partners or you ve, you know murdering, battery, i know. or a psychiatrist says. yeah, but i m not crazy. well, that s your answer. that s it. call the governor. that s pretty much it for me. hamilton was sent back to the hole. but a few days later, we heard of an alarming new development in his case. he had assaulted an officer. sometimes you anticipate your moves as far as what inmates are going do and their capability, and sometimes you are just surprised. i didn t think he was going to take it to this level where he would assault staff. the officer was not badly injured, but it landed hamilton back in administrative segregation, with a high probability of being sent to the
so they stick you in a hole. that s exactly where we met dennis hamilton, in the hole, solitary confinement in the administrative segregation unit at kern valley state prison. it was the second time his refusal to share a cell had landed him there. but his time in the hole was about to end. and he was scheduled to return to general population, where sharing a cell is mandatory. to me the cells are too small. i think the cell in itself breeds an environment for homosexuality. dennis hamilton was an unusual inmate. he just believed he didn t have to live with another man. i think he had a fear about living with another man. and to me it s like you don t even want these people in society, but you want me to feel safe inside a cell with this person. ironically other inmates might not feel safe around
you don t have to marry him. yeah, i mean, it seem that way. you re placing this inmate in the cell with me. i mean we re not we re not outside the cell all day. we re inside that cell all day. yeah, but that should have been a consideration before you went to prison. the committee is baffled, not only by hamilton s stubbornness but by its sudden appearance after nine years behind bars at other state prisons. you have been taking a cellie up until the time you got here. once you got here, you stopped taking cellies. that s not a luxury of being in prison. he should have thought about that before he went to prison. he s got to have a cellie. escorted back to his ad seg cell, hamilton is optimistic that he will win his battle and return to general population without a cell mate. i m happy. i ain t got to stay in the cell. i get my tv, radio, and property back. later we were with hamilton
some are here because the prison doesn t know where else to place them inside the facility. dennis hamilton is in ad seg for refusing to be housed with a cellmate. he s serving a life sentence for carjacking, kidnapping, and assault with a deadly weapon. for one, there s no rule that says i have to take a cellie. and, two, i don t want to live with another man for the rest of my life, you know? to me, the cells are too small. i think the cell in itself breeds an environment for homosexuality. hamilton is going before the disciplinary board to plead his case. mr. hamilton was placed in ad seg on 2-9-06 by lieutenant stebbins for refusing a cellmate. compatible cell mate. inmate stated he was refusing a cellmate. you don t have any enemies. nope. you seem to be a guy who gets along with people. yes. why won t you take a cellmate?