People v. White, Cr. 3670

• Decision Date: 25 January 1960
• Docket Number: Cr. 3670
• Citation: 177 Cal.App.2d 383,2 Cal.Rptr. 202
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent. v. Hollis WHITE, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 202

2 Cal.Rptr. 202

177 Cal.App.2d 383

PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent. v. Hollis WHITE, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 3670.

District Court of Appeal, First District, Division 2, California.

Jan. 25, 1960.

Hearing Denied March 23, 1960.

Arthur D. Klang, San Francisco, for appellant.

Stanley Mosk, Atty. Gen., Clarence A. Linn, Asst. Atty. Gen., Peter T. Kennedy, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondents.

DOOLING, Acting Presiding Justice.

February 8, 1950, the appellant was adjudged a psychopathic delinquent pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code, § 7058 and committed to Mendocino State Hospital. In 1955, he was transferred to Atascadero State Hospital and on July 30, 1957, to the medical facility at Vacaville. On December 20, 1957, he was transferred to San Quentin Prison. While incarcerated there, appellant was convicted of violation of section 4502 of the Penal Code, which provides:

'Every prisoner committed to a State prison who, while at such State prison or any other State prison or while being conveyed to or from any State prison or while at any prison road camp, prison forestry camp, or other prison camps or prison farms or while being conveyed to or from any such place or while under the custody of prison officials, officers or employees, possesses or carries upon his person or has under his custody or control any instrument or weapon of the kind commonly known as a black-jack, slungshot, billy, sandclub, sandbag, or metal knuckles or any explosive substance or any dirk or dagger or sharp instrument, or any pistol, revolver or other firearm, is guilty of a felony and shall be punishable by imprisonment in a State prison for a term not less than five (5) years. (Added Stats.1943, c. 173, p. 1068, § 2.)'

Appellant does not deny that on January 12, 1958, he had in his possession a homemade sharp knife and a file. His sole ground of appeal is that he was not a prisoner within the meaning of section 4502 but, rather, a patient.

It cannot be successfully argued that appellant was not lawfully committed to San Quentin Prison and there held in custody by due process of law. He was adjudged a psychopathic delinquent pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code, § 7058, which provides for a 90-day period of commitment for observation. The record reflects that the medical superintendent of Mendocino State Hospital, the place of observation, reported appellant to be a psychopathic delinquent. Upon receiving the report the court proceeded with a further hearing as provided in section 7058. Criminal proceedings were suspended and appellant was committed for an indeterminate period as a psychopathic delinquent. Section 7051 of the Welfare and Institutions Code provides that the director of institutions, with the approval of the Department of Finance, may provide one or more institutional units to be used for the custodial care and treatment of defective or psychopathic delinquents. The institutions to which defendant was transferred from time to time were legally designated institutions for the care and treatment of psychopathic delinquents.

We do not agree with appellant's contention that, having been legally committed as a patient, he was not a prisoner within the meaning of Penal Code, § 4502. A patient may also be a prisoner. The word 'prisoner' is defined in Webster's New International Dictionary as 'a person under arrest, in custody or in prison; one involuntarily restrained; a captive; as a prisoner of justice, of war or at the bar.' Oxford Universal Dictionary defines 'prisoner' as: 'One who is kept in prison or in custody; specifically, one who is in custody as the result of a legal process.' Ballantyne Law Dictionary defines a prisoner as: 'A person deprived of his liberty by virtue of a judicial or other lawful process.' Thus, the significance of the word 'prisoner' is not the manner of commitment, but rather the fact of a judicial commitment. If a defendant is in custody at a state prison as the result of due legal process, he is a prisoner within the meaning of Penal Code, § 4502.

People v. Scherbing, 93 Cal.App.2d 736, 209 P.2d 796, is analogous to the case before us. In that case, the appellant had been convicted of a violation of Penal Code, § 4502, but contended that since he had been unlawfully committed to San Quentin, he was not subject to the provisions of Penal Code, § 4502. The court said in 93 Cal.App.2d at pages 742-743, 209 P.2d at page 800:

'* * * The statute was passed to protect the guards and other inmates of the prison. It is a reasonable regulation. The fact that the particular inmate may be unlawfully confined certainly does not confer upon him the right to possess weapons denied to other inmates. If the purpose of the statute is to be achieved, and obviously the purpose is a sound one, it...