Letter from Officer J.Garcia

October 7th, 2009

Re: Character Letter for Robert McGowan

To Whom It May Concern:


My name is Juan Garcia. I am a Correctional Officer at the California Institution for Men. I’ve been working here at CIM since August 2005. I previously worked at Calipatria State Prison. I’ve been with the Department of Corrections since March 2003.


I first met Officer McGowan in September 2005 when I came to work at CIM, Central Facility for the first time. I clearly remember that I was working a shift alongside Officer McGowan and it impressed me how he knew I was a new employee at CIM and I didn’t know my way around. He took the time and the effort to show me around and explain to me the different departments and the activities that happen in each individual place, and how at the end every department is only a step in the process of classification that has to take place after a person has been committed to state prison.


Ever since that day, Officer McGowan and I have formed a friendship, and like most true friends I rejoiced when I heard that the Judge threw the case out when I believe he was falsely accused of abusing his authority as a Correctional Officer. Also as a true friend my heart has been very heavy and sad since I found out that the nightmare he already lived and we thought was already behind him came back in the form of a possible new trial.


Officer McGowan is an honest person, always willing to help whoever needs him. Always ready to help his co-workers on and off work. Officer McGowan is someone that I am very proud to count as a friend. In closing I want to appeal to whom ever it may concern, not to forget that we are in the best country in the world. A country where justice still does exist. It would be a great injustice to Officer McGowan’s family, to our profession, and to Officer McGowan himself to allow him to go through this nightmare all over again.


Thank you,


Correctional Officer J. Garcia