Corrections Headlines
March 11, 2008
Parolee convicted of killing mom walking child
A parolee was convicted of first-degree murder Monday for shooting and killing a woman on a Fremont street as she walked to a school holding her young daughter's hand. Manuel Urango, 30, appeared surprised when Alameda County jurors returned with a guilty verdict at the Hayward Hall of Justice after deliberating for about a day and a half. He rocked back and forth in his chair as attorneys discussed the next steps in the case.
Urango could face at least 25 years to life in prison for killing Alia Ansari, 37, on Oct. 19, 2006. He was also convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and gross negligent discharge of a firearm for firing a gun into the air from his car the day before Ansari's slaying in the same area where she was killed.
LINK - SFGate.com (San Francisco Gate)
March 10, 2008
Schwarzenegger’s New CDCR Appointees
Marisela Montes, 54, of Gold River, has been appointed deputy director of the division of adult institutions for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Since 2007, she has been senior adviser to the Division of Adult Institutions for CDCR. From 2006 to 2007, Montes was chief deputy secretary of Adult Programs at CDCR. She previously served as deputy director for administration at the Department of Transportation from 1999 to 2006 and chief of correctional planning and research at CDCR from 1998 to 1999. Montes held various positions within CDCR from 1984 to 1999, including deputy director of the Parole and Community Services Division and associate warden at California State Prison, Solano. Prior to that, she held positions at the Department of Social Services from 1981 to 1984 and State Personnel Board 1980 to 1981. Montes began her career in state service as a postsecondary education specialist at the California Postsecondary Education Commission in 1977. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $142,428. Montes is registered decline-to-state.
Kimberly Petersen, 45, of Modesto, has been appointed community program manager for the Northern California Re-Entry Facility in Stockton for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Since 2007, she has been a professor of victimology at California State University, Stanislaus. From 1999 to 2007, Petersen was executive director of the Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation and, from 1996 to 1999, was a teacher at Joshua Cowell Elementary School in the Manteca Unified School District. From 1991 to 1995, she was recreation director for the Livermore Valley Tennis Club, and from 1987 to 1991, was a teacher and athletic director at Our Savior Lutheran School. Prior to that, Petersen was a teacher at Zion Lutheran School from 1986 to 1987. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $87,048. Petersen is a Republican.
March 10, 2008
Paso facility exodus begins
The youth correctional facility in Paso Robles will remain open through July, but some of the 350 employees who will be displaced are already leaving their positions.
"Employees are jumping ship and going to other facilities," said Christopher Dunn, a bargaining unit representative for the teachers, nurses, dental assistants and office workers at the facility. The state has promised to help the employees find other jobs in the wake of the impending closure. Dunn said he knows of at least six workers who already have found other jobs on their own, without transfer placement assistance.
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
March 10, 2008
Soledad wary of prison proposal
Soledad Mayor Richard Ortiz said Kanalakis' presentation didn't receive "a good review." "How does the city feel about it?" he said. "It doesn't feel that great about developing that prison." While Ortiz said the city would have welcomed a facility on the county-owned land that already houses two prisons, the Camphora Gloria Road site is "just a stone's throw from the city of Soledad." It's also within Soledad's sphere of influence, an area slated for future growth in the city's general plan.
Both sites would place the re-entry facility too close to Soledad residents, he said, potentially endangering them. "I think there was interest, but also concerns," Kanalakis said. "I tried to address those concerns as best as I could, but I got a sense that they felt that they might be looked at like a dumping ground."
LINK - TheCalifornian.com (Salinas Californian)
March 10, 2008
The GEO Group - In “related” news???
George Zoley, The GEO Group's chief executive, told analysts on a conference call in February that 2007 had been a bonanza year and predicted that "2008 will be an even better year" as more detention facilities are filled. A company spokesman declined to comment further on GEO's operations.
Its profits rose 10 percent to $11.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2007.
LINK - Business.Inquirer.net
Yet according to recent news here in California where The GEO Group operates low-level community correctional facilities during a time of great budget crisis, prison overcrowding and federal receivers breathing down the necks of CDCR we hear:
Corrections officials say the raise is long overdue, that GEO had been operating below market value until the state increased its daily, per-inmate rate from $40 to $60 in December. […] According to the company, the deal reflects the increase in minimum officer pay from $10 to $14.70 an hour; added costs for food, health care and utilities; the tab for buying the prisons it formerly leased; and a GEO promise to ramp up inmate rehabilitation.
See full story at SacBee.com
So are they making a PROFIT or operating "under market value"?
March 10, 2008
Schwarzenegger seeks $67 million boost for private-prison operator
As far as the inmates are concerned, it's fine if California pays tens of millions of dollars more to their private-prison captors. They like the relaxed atmosphere in the private sector, not to mention the satellite TV that on a recent Friday flashed plenty of poolside bikini action from a Spanish-language soap opera.
"You're relaxed here," said Don Chandler, 43, of West Sacramento, who was propped up on his bunk at Golden State Modified Community Correctional Facility while finishing up a stint for violating parole on an underlying domestic-violence conviction. "You're comfortable. You can enjoy yourself here."
Find out what everyone else - including MCCF guards, CCPOA and California - is saying about Schwarzenegger's private prison spending proposal:
SacBee.com - The Sacramento Bee
March 10, 2008
Two inmates’ deaths investigated amid massive flu outbreak
Prison officials in Blythe are investigating whether the deaths of two inmates are related to a flu outbreak that has sickened nearly 550 prisoners in less than a month.
Chuckawalla Valley State Prison is in lockdown and accepting no more inmates, but Riverside County health officials said Friday that the flu outbreak at the facility near the California-Arizona state line does not pose a health hazard to nearby communities.
This may be the most severe flu outbreak in the history of the state prison system, said Department of Corrections spokesman Terry Thornton. Earlier this year, a flu outbreak affected 200 inmates at a prison in Susanville in Northern California, Thornton said.
LINK - PE.com (Press-Enterprise)
March 8, 2008
Pennsylvania: Prison guard loses unemployment benefits
A state appeals court on Thursday revoked unemployment benefits for a prison guard who did not try to stop four prisoners from attacking another inmate or report a fellow correctional officer who encouraged the beating. D. Lee Martin Jr., of Greencastle, was fired from his $14.90-an-hour job at the Camp Hill state prison after the July 2005 beating, which badly injured inmate Eric Charles Brown. Martin, fearing retaliation, hadn't reported the attack.
Martin sought and obtained benefits from the state's unemployment agency, but a Commonwealth Court panel said Martin's fear of retribution did not justify failing to notify supervisors.
LINK - Forbes.com
March 7, 2008
New pretrial date in Blaylock case
A new pretrial date has been set for Jon Christopher Blaylock, the inmate accused of killing a Chino prison guard in 2005.
Blaylock and both sides of attorneys gathered in front of Judge Ingrid Uhler today at the Fontana Courthouse to lock down another time to start pretrial and motions for the case. They will be back in Fontana on May 2.Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Blaylock, who is charged with murder and assault by a life prisoner in connection with the Jan. 10, 2005, stabbing death of Correctional Officer Manuel Gonzalez.
LINK - SBSun.com (San Bernadino Sun)
March 7, 2008
Indian Wells City Council rejects Schwarzenegger’s parole plan
The Indian Wells City Council approved a resolution Thursday that takes aim at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to release early an estimated 22,000 nonviolent California prisoners.
Prisoners incarcerated for "non-serious, nonviolent" drug crimes and "lower-level offenses" such as property crimes would be considered for early release, according to the governor's office. The council voted 4-1, with Councilman Rob Bernheimer dissenting.
The Coachella Valley Association of Governments' Executive Committee passed the same resolution last month. "It's a complicated problem," Bernheimer said. "I'm not sure the governor's proposal is the right proposal, but it needs to be dealt with. We're making a policy statement to the governor without knowing everything."
LINK - MyDesert.com (The Desert Sun)
