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http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Apr05/0,4670,CaliforniaPrisons,00.html
California Prisons Rocked by Problems
Saturday, April 05, 2008
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A stabbing attack this week on four guards at one
overcrowded state prison and a racially sparked brawl at another mark the
type of violence that guards, inmates' attorneys and Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger have been worried about for years.
The violence comes at a critical juncture for the nation's largest state
prison system.
Later this year, a panel of federal judges will consider whether the
crowding has become so severe that the state must cap the inmate population
or release some prisoners early.
At the same time, lawmakers are considering a Schwarzenegger proposal to
save money for the deficit-ridden state by releasing more than 20,000
inmates before their sentences end.
"For the last two years, we've said something worse than this was
inevitable," said Chuck Alexander, executive vice president of the
California Correctional Peace Officers Association, referring to this week's
prison unrest. "It's just a matter of where and when it's going to hit. In
our view, it's a precursor of what's to come."
On Thursday, two inmates armed with homemade knives attacked guards at the
California Correctional Institution about 40 miles southeast of Bakersfield.
One of the guards was hospitalized with a skull fracture and stab wounds.
A second attack erupted Friday. A dozen inmates were injured during a brawl
in a crowded dormitory at the California Institution for Men in Chino, about
40 miles east of Los Angeles. A statewide lockdown was lifted Friday
afternoon.
"There's more violence. The prisoners are unsafe, and there is less safety
for the officers, as well," said Don Specter, director of the nonprofit
Prison Law Office in San Rafael.
He is among inmates' rights attorneys asking the panel of three federal
judges to order the state to reduce the prisons' population. In an unusual
alliance, the prison guards' union has joined the push.
Schwarzenegger opposes a federally mandated population cap. But the
Republican governor is proposing the early release of some 22,000 inmates
and eliminating about 4,500 prison guard positions to help shave $400
million from the budget of the state corrections department.
Michael Bien, whose San Francisco law firm also is seeking a reduced inmate
population, said the early release plan is irresponsible because guards
already are working large amounts of overtime and are under mounting stress.
Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page said the governor's plan would retain
the current guard-to-inmate ratio while freeing space for rehabilitation
programs.
In October 2006, Schwarzenegger declared an emergency to allow 8,000 inmates
to be sent to private prisons in other states. It was part of an effort to
relieve overcrowding that eventually led to a $7.8 billion prison and jail
building program.
At the time, he warned that California's overcrowded prisons could explode
into violence, leading to the kind of riots that killed 43 in Attica, N.Y.,
in 1971.
Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, a Democrat, faulted Schwarzenegger for
not doing enough to reduce crowding, end labor unrest with the prison guards
union and increase rehabilitation programs.
"This is the beginning of the long, hot summer," said Romero, one of the
Legislature's experts on prison reform. "It does take, sadly and
unfortunately, something like this to snap people's necks around to say
these are the consequences of overcrowding."
California's 33 prisons have a capacity of roughly 100,000 inmates but hold
about 170,000. A commission advised Schwarzenegger in 2004 that the prisons
could safely hold about 135,000.
The conditions are blamed for a variety of problems, including poor inmate
medical care and mental health services, that have prompted inmates and
advocacy groups to file numerous lawsuits.
Some of those lawsuits eventually led to federal court oversight and the
three-judge panel that will consider how to address the array of
difficulties this summer.
Chino Mayor Dennis Yates said the dilapidated prison dormitory where
Friday's fight between inmates took place was built to house 60 men but
holds nearly 200.
"It's a ticking bomb down there," he said.
The California Correctional Institution, where Thursday's attack on the
guards took place, has been expanded to hold about 2,800 inmates. It
currently has about 4,700 inmates but held about 5,500 just a few weeks ago.
Assaults on inmates and staff increased statewide, along with the size of
the prison population, from 6,225 in 1997 to 9,090 in 2006, corrections
department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said. At the same time, the number
involving weapons declined from 2,123 to 1,869.
Out-of-state inmate transfers and improvements in parole and rehabilitation
programs have helped reduce the prison population from a record of 173,479
in October 2006 to 170,371, as of this week. The number of inmates in
makeshift dormitories has dropped from 19,618 last August to 15,111.
"We've made a lot of progress," Thornton said. "We're definitely moving in
the right direction."
California Prisons Rocked by Problems
Saturday, April 05, 2008
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A stabbing attack this week on four guards at one
overcrowded state prison and a racially sparked brawl at another mark the
type of violence that guards, inmates' attorneys and Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger have been worried about for years.
The violence comes at a critical juncture for the nation's largest state
prison system.
Later this year, a panel of federal judges will consider whether the
crowding has become so severe that the state must cap the inmate population
or release some prisoners early.
At the same time, lawmakers are considering a Schwarzenegger proposal to
save money for the deficit-ridden state by releasing more than 20,000
inmates before their sentences end.
"For the last two years, we've said something worse than this was
inevitable," said Chuck Alexander, executive vice president of the
California Correctional Peace Officers Association, referring to this week's
prison unrest. "It's just a matter of where and when it's going to hit. In
our view, it's a precursor of what's to come."
On Thursday, two inmates armed with homemade knives attacked guards at the
California Correctional Institution about 40 miles southeast of Bakersfield.
One of the guards was hospitalized with a skull fracture and stab wounds.
A second attack erupted Friday. A dozen inmates were injured during a brawl
in a crowded dormitory at the California Institution for Men in Chino, about
40 miles east of Los Angeles. A statewide lockdown was lifted Friday
afternoon.
"There's more violence. The prisoners are unsafe, and there is less safety
for the officers, as well," said Don Specter, director of the nonprofit
Prison Law Office in San Rafael.
He is among inmates' rights attorneys asking the panel of three federal
judges to order the state to reduce the prisons' population. In an unusual
alliance, the prison guards' union has joined the push.
Schwarzenegger opposes a federally mandated population cap. But the
Republican governor is proposing the early release of some 22,000 inmates
and eliminating about 4,500 prison guard positions to help shave $400
million from the budget of the state corrections department.
Michael Bien, whose San Francisco law firm also is seeking a reduced inmate
population, said the early release plan is irresponsible because guards
already are working large amounts of overtime and are under mounting stress.
Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page said the governor's plan would retain
the current guard-to-inmate ratio while freeing space for rehabilitation
programs.
In October 2006, Schwarzenegger declared an emergency to allow 8,000 inmates
to be sent to private prisons in other states. It was part of an effort to
relieve overcrowding that eventually led to a $7.8 billion prison and jail
building program.
At the time, he warned that California's overcrowded prisons could explode
into violence, leading to the kind of riots that killed 43 in Attica, N.Y.,
in 1971.
Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, a Democrat, faulted Schwarzenegger for
not doing enough to reduce crowding, end labor unrest with the prison guards
union and increase rehabilitation programs.
"This is the beginning of the long, hot summer," said Romero, one of the
Legislature's experts on prison reform. "It does take, sadly and
unfortunately, something like this to snap people's necks around to say
these are the consequences of overcrowding."
California's 33 prisons have a capacity of roughly 100,000 inmates but hold
about 170,000. A commission advised Schwarzenegger in 2004 that the prisons
could safely hold about 135,000.
The conditions are blamed for a variety of problems, including poor inmate
medical care and mental health services, that have prompted inmates and
advocacy groups to file numerous lawsuits.
Some of those lawsuits eventually led to federal court oversight and the
three-judge panel that will consider how to address the array of
difficulties this summer.
Chino Mayor Dennis Yates said the dilapidated prison dormitory where
Friday's fight between inmates took place was built to house 60 men but
holds nearly 200.
"It's a ticking bomb down there," he said.
The California Correctional Institution, where Thursday's attack on the
guards took place, has been expanded to hold about 2,800 inmates. It
currently has about 4,700 inmates but held about 5,500 just a few weeks ago.
Assaults on inmates and staff increased statewide, along with the size of
the prison population, from 6,225 in 1997 to 9,090 in 2006, corrections
department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said. At the same time, the number
involving weapons declined from 2,123 to 1,869.
Out-of-state inmate transfers and improvements in parole and rehabilitation
programs have helped reduce the prison population from a record of 173,479
in October 2006 to 170,371, as of this week. The number of inmates in
makeshift dormitories has dropped from 19,618 last August to 15,111.
"We've made a lot of progress," Thornton said. "We're definitely moving in
the right direction."
