‘Egregious’ And ‘Reckless’: California Parole Board Denies Hearing Based On ‘Potential False Positive’ Drug Test Results
Written by: by Glen Stellmacher
Over the past few months, I've been tirelessly working on an investigative report from behind bars in California. Advocates say the state is weaponizing people's own personal health care choices against them, cherry picking details from medical records, and using it as the sole justification to deny someone their freedom after decades in captivity.
Yesterday Prism published our report: https://prismreports.org/2026/04/16/california-parole-false-positive-drug-tests/?ref=hardpressed-info.com
“California parole board denies incarcerated man a hearing based on ‘potential false-positive’ alcohol test
Two weeks before Roque Martinez was set to go before the California Board of Parole Hearings, in June 2024, he was notified that he’d tested positive for opiates.
“I have not used,” Martinez, 55, told Prism, “so it was a huge deal to me. It was almost like going into panic mode.” On advice from his lawyer, the positive drug test forced Martinez to remain behind bars for three more years and postpone his parole hearing until June 2027, after almost 21 years already served.
But while Martinez has been waiting, he received a letter from California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS), viewed by Prism, informing him that he’d been screened for opiates during a period when Quest Diagnostics had changed the reagent, a critical component used in its drug tests, resulting in an abnormal surge of positive test results across California prisons.
The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian and San Quentin News reported on a testing regime thought to have yielded almost 6,000 false-positive test results across California’s population in state custody. ”
I say our because this reporting relies on a lot of labor from a lot of people. UnCommon Law first brought this problem into the sunlight and continues to work with people behind bars.