November 2009 News
November 30, 2009
Norteno parolee with meth, a pipe and loaded handgun RTC
A 24-year-old man was arrested at 4:35 a.m. today after police saw him in a 1988 Toyota Camry on the less-than-100 block of White Road in Salinas with a red jacket draped over his head and the steering wheel.
Police said Guillermo Martinez, a registered Norteno gang member on state parole, had a methamphetamine pipe he had tried to destroy, methamphetamine and a loaded .32-caliber semi-automatic handgun.
Martinez has been arrested on other occasions related to illegal possession of handguns, police said. He was booked into Monterey County Jail on suspicion of twelve violations of California penal codes….
LINK - TheCalifornian.com
November 30, 2009
CA parolee douses ex-girlfriend and son with gasoline, lighter in hand
A Bainbridge Island woman and her young son awoke Sunday morning to find a man pouring gas over them, brandishing a lighter — and threatening to light them on fire.
The 39-year-old woman and her 12-year-old son suffered only minor injuries and were taken to a local hospital. But the intruder, whom police consider very dangerous, escaped and remains at large as of early Sunday evening.
Police have identified the man as 49-year-old Edward Mark Olsen, a former boyfriend of the woman.
Olsen described as white, 5 feet, 11 inches tall and 210 pounds. He has short gray hair and a mustache, and is a wanted parolee from California…
LINK - KitsapSun.com
November 30, 2009
GEO private prison: hatchets, knives used in attack
Two inmates are recovering after a weekend attack at a private prison in Lawton.
Lawton police say the two inmates were attacked Saturday by two other inmates wielding homemade hatchets and knives at the Lawton Correctional Center. Both were transported by ambulance to a Lawton hospital, where one of the victims required surgery.
The prison is owned by Florida-based GEO Group, Inc., and a GEO spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment…
LINK - KFSM.com
November 28, 2009
Chino prison expansion may help economy, hinder services, officials say
Major expansion of adult prison operations in the Chino Valley may provide a slight boost to the economy and to city coffers, but it may also affect some municipal services, officials said.
Nearly 3,000 more beds and an influx of new correctional officers are part of the $110million conversion of a Chino youth prison into an adult facility - a plan that adds 400 to 500 more correctional officers to the new facility replacing the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility.
About 1,800 adults will be housed there. A new reception center would house an additional 950 inmates. The new prison is expected to open in December 2013 if environmental reviews and construction run on schedule…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
November 27, 2009
Fed receiver Kelso seeks to move Stockton’s prison expansion lawsuit to federal court
Prison health-care receiver J. Clark Kelso has filed a notice to move a lawsuit filed against him over a proposed inmate medical center near Stockton to federal court in Sacramento.
The move drew criticism from local leaders as being "intellectually dishonest in the extreme."
The Stockton Greater Chamber of Commerce, city of Stockton and San Joaquin County filed suit in the San Joaquin County Superior Court on Nov. 17 in an attempt to force millions of dollars in concessions from the state…
LINK - Recordnet.com
November 27, 2009
CA parolee convicted of murdering East Palo Alto police office
Now the fate of Alberto Alvarez is in the hands of the same jury that convicted him Wednesday of murdering an East Palo Alto police officer.
The San Mateo County jury deliberated for a little more than a day before convicting the East Palo Alto resident of first-degree murder in the Jan. 7, 2006, shooting of Officer Richard May. The jury also found that Alvarez, 26, committed the special circumstance of murdering a police officer, making the parolee eligible for the death penalty.
The jurors are to return to Superior Court in Redwood City on Dec. 7 to begin hearing testimony on whether Alvarez should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole…
LINK - SFGate.com
November 27, 2009
Sac Bee says: “Sell San Quentin”
State Treasurer Bill Lockyer last week pulled back on issuing $590 million in bonds to pay for the reconstruction of San Quentin's crumbling death row.
Lockyer's decision was based on a legal technicality, which means its impact may only be temporary. But anything that would slow down this expensive boondoggle is worthy of commendation.
Credit goes to two legislators, Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco and Assemblyman Jared Huffman of San Rafael, who've questioned the costly expansion of San Quentin's death row without an adequate examination of alternatives…
LINK - SacBee.com Editorials
November 26, 2009
Warrant issued for CCA female guard for rape of private prison inmate
A former female correctional officer has been charged with three felony counts of second-degree rape after being accused of having sex with an inmate at a private prison in Holdenville.
A warrant for the arrest of ex-correctional officer Michelle Kalinich was issued Nov. 6, but she had not been taken into custody Wednesday, a Hughes County sheriff's employee said.
It is against state law and considered rape for a correctional officer or jailer to have sex with an inmate, even if both are willing participants…
LINK - NewsOK.com
November 26, 2009
Deputies arrest parolee for selling meth
Sonoma County sheriff's deputies have arrested a 24-year-old parolee for allegedly selling methamphetamine, and seized a pound and a half of the drug while serving a search warrant related to his alleged sales.
The deputies had conducted a month-long investigation into Pablo Chino of Santa Rosa that included making several purchases of methamphetamine, leading to the issuance of a search warrant, according to the sheriff's office.
While serving the search warrant Tuesday at a residence on West Ninth Street in Santa Rosa, deputies seized the pound and a half of methamphetamine and took Chino into custody, the sheriff's office reported…
LINK - ABCLocal.GO.com
November 26, 2009
Editorial blasting CDCR for “slipshod” accounting in stimulus $$$ job-saving numbers
Slipshod accounting for federal stimulus spending is flatly unacceptable. Taxpayers deserve to know where their money is going, and policymakers need the information to judge the effect of such spending. So the Obama administration needs to provide stronger oversight of the reporting on jobs created or saved by the money.
Clearer rules, standardized measurements and better review by federal agencies would help weed out a lot of the errors that have crept into the stimulus job count. But taxpayers should also recognize that the debate over what those numbers mean is more political than factual…
LINK - PE.com (The Press-Enterprise)
November 24, 2009
Fleeing parolee bitten by police dog
A 30-year-old parolee was bitten by a police dog Saturday, after investigators say an officer spotted him driving a stolen car.
Suspect Adrian Lenton was taken into custody around 11 a.m. at an apartment complex in the 3200 block of Denver Avenue, according to Lt. Andre Matthews, spokesman for the Merced Police Department.
The incident happened after Officer Jeremy Saylers spotted the suspect driving a 2000 Dodge Neon and checked the license plate…
LINK - MercedSunStar.com
November 24, 2009
CA Law Enforcement officials opposed to Gov’s re-newed early release plan
The planned reduction of 40,000 state inmates over the next two years to relieve overcrowding has lawmakers and law enforcement officials concerned over the impact on public safety.
Officials and law enforcement officials are sounding concern over the Schwarzenegger administration's proposed compliance with the federal judges' order aimed at providing a more constitutional level of health care for prison inmates.
The plan comes as communities are dealing with reductions in law enforcement budgets because of the state fiscal and global economic crisis…
LINK - DailyBulletin.com
November 23, 2009
CA Bureau of State Audits’ review of CDCR spending of federal stimulus
Dear Governor and Legislative Leaders:
On February 17, 2009, the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
of 2009 (Recovery Act) to help fight the negative effects of the United States' economic recession. California expects to receive $85 billion in additional federal funding over the next several years for both new and existing federal programs. With this increased funding comes a renewed emphasis on accountability and public transparency to ensure federal funds are spent properly. A key component of such accountability and transparency is the California State Auditor's Office (State Auditor's Office) annual report on internal control and compliance with federal laws and regulations. The State Auditor's Office conducts this audit in accordance with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133…
November 23, 2009
No Escape from Debt by Selling Jails
Here's an idea: sell off our prisons to the highest bidders, reap a pile of short-term cash to inflate near-empty state coffers, then lease back the prisons for 20 years at a cost to the state that far exceeds the original purchase price paid by the companies.
While we're at it, let's completely privatise medical and mental health services - and mandate that bidders come in with lower per prisoner cost estimates than those currently paid out by the state. And, to cap it off, privatise the day-to-day operations of all the prisons, including supermaxes and death row sites, and, in an incentive to cut corners, split the savings 50-50 between the state and the private companies doing the administering.
Conservative fantasy? Alas, no. This is the set of kooky proposals recently embraced by legislatures in a near-insolvent Arizona, looking to trim dollars from their state budget…
LINK - CommonDreams.org (Originally published in The Guardian UK)
November 17, 2009
Judge hears challenge to California furloughs
Lawyers representing unions and a few government agencies pounded away at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furlough policy for nearly five hours in Alameda Superior Court on Monday.
They argued the policy is illegally harming the government, that it's an executive overreach, a violation of minimum wage laws and irrational because it applies to nearly all state workers – even those whose pay reduction doesn't directly help California's deficit-ridden general fund.
"The Terminator can sweep the machine guns and count the bodies, friend or foe, later," said Harvey Liederman, who was representing the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System…
LINK - FresnoBee.com
November 16, 2009
Unions blast furlough order
Lawyers representing state worker unions and a few government agencies pounded away at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furloughs for the better part of three hours this morning in Alameda Superior Court, arguing that the policy is illegally harming the government, an overreach, a violation of minimum wage laws and outrageously irrational.
And that was in just two cases brought by California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment and California Correctional Peace Officers Association to Judge Frank Roesch's Oakland courtroom. SEIU Local 1000 and Union of American Physicians and Dentists will argue their cases this afternoon.
Roesch took both cases under submission and he'll probably do the same with those he hears this afternoon, which means he's going to think about what he's heard and issue a ruling later. That could take several days or several weeks…
LINK - SacBee.com
November 16, 2009
San Jose Halloween attack renews debate on locking up juveniles for life
They are not old enough to vote, have full driving privileges, join the military or buy a beer. Yet, three reputed teen gang members charged in San Jose's Halloween night attack on a pair of young trick-or-treaters face the very real prospect of spending the rest of their lives in prison.
Locked up in the Santa Clara County Jail, these 15- and 16-year-old boys now find themselves a portrait of the ongoing debate over imprisoning violent juvenile offenders for life. That is the potential sentence if these high-school-age defendants are convicted of the most serious charges against them, including the attempted murders of the 12- and 13-year-old victims.
The San Jose case, which has sparked a community outcry, is hitting the local courts at a time when there is renewed public and legal scrutiny nationally on the tension between dealing with rampant youth violence with harsh sentences and the age-old presumption that juvenile offenders should have a shot at reform…
LINK - MercuryNews.com
November 13, 2009
State offers new prison plan
California Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate announced late Thursday that the state has a plan to reduce the prison population that will satisfy a judicial panel of judges, but the three federal judges have to be willing to issue orders the state sees as illegal.
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation can reach the population goal the judges are seeking only with changes in state laws or federal court orders waiving laws now on the books, Cate said at an evening press briefing.
The Legislature already has turned thumbs down on some of the changes, such as increasing the monetary threshold for grand theft, offering alternative custody options for low-level offenders, and limiting sentencing options to county jail for certain offenses…
LINK - SacBee.com
ALSO SEE: CDCR.CA.GOV - Stamped Filing of New Prison Reduction Plan (130 pages)
November 13, 2009
Overnight Pursuit of Parolee
A parolee is back behind bars after leading officers on a pursuit through 2 counties. Just prior to 1am on Friday morning, Fresno Police officers had tried to pull over Victor Mata in South East Fresno (around Clinton and 9th Street).
However, Mata refused to stop and headed over to the 41 Freeway (northbound). This was when Fresno PD asked the CHP for assistance. The CHP took over the pursuit at Freeway 41 and Friant. This is when Mata lead CHP officers into Madera County.
Mata finally stopped at Highway 41 and Road 208. The vehicle he was driving happened to be stolen…
LINK - CBS47.tv
November 13, 2009
SEIU prison teachers protest CDCR cuts at CCWF
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is planning to cut between 600 and 900 prison staff members across the state to deal with a more than one billion dollar budget deficit.
But employees at the two prisons in Chowchilla say the proposed lay-offs come with too high of a price for the public.
Dozens of staff members from the two women's prisons in Chowchilla rallied outside the gates of the Central California Women's Facility in hopes of sending a message to the community….
LINK - ABCLocal.GO.com (KFSN)
November 13, 2009
Stockton: “We can do much to control city’s image if more prisons come”
Much of the angst over the huge prison projects planned here by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation can be boiled to one word: reputation.
There are those who believe that bringing an additional 3,300 prison convicts into the county will be just one more image problem Stockton must face. Deserved or not, the city already has a reputation for poor schools. For a high crime rate. For a high rate of home foreclosures. For a high unemployment rate. For a low level of educational attainment. And for a high rate of those without health insurance.
Do we really need more prisons, something else outsiders can point to when the subject of Stockton comes up? Do we really want to take a chance of Stockton becoming to the Central Valley what Oakland is to the Bay Area?…
LINK - RecordNet.com Opinion Section
November 13, 2009
Recidivism feared with rehab reduction in California prisons
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will soon slash drug rehab programs for state inmates as part of $1.2 billion in budget cuts - though some fear the severe program reduction may be more trouble than its benefit.
The system will have enough money to treat 2,350 inmates, down 80 percent from the current 12,164. State officials say between 600 and 900 counselors and teachers will be laid off in the corrections drug rehab and academic reduction plan.
The California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, which specializes in substance abuse rehabilitation, will have its treatment load reduced from 914 to 225…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
November 12, 2009
Governor to submit plan to reduce prison crowding
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tonight will give federal judges a road map to reducing state prison overcrowding that involves waiving some state laws so sentencing regulations can be changed and new private prisons built.
But the governor also will disavow those solutions as illegal, said Oscar Hidalgo, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
An initial plan that Schwarzenegger submitted was rejected three weeks ago by the three judges, who threatened him with contempt of court for failing to meet their demand for a proposal to reduce the inmate population by 40,000 prisoners over two years…
LINK - LATimes.com Blogs
November 12, 2009
Halloween shooting suspect arrested
Authorities arrested a 24-year-old man who allegedly shot and wounded a man during an argument at an Old Town apartment on Halloween night.
A California Department of Corrections fugitive apprehension team reportedly arrested suspect and parolee Irvin Laverne Cook in the Yuba City area on Nov. 9.
Elk Grove police spokesperson Christopher Trim said that Cook was taken into custody after a brief foot chase…
LINK - EGCitizen.com
November 11, 2009
First Watch: November 11, 2009
A new CCPOA First Watch video has been posted at CCPOA.TV for November 11, 2009. Please CLICK HERE to view today's video update and for our archive of past video updates.
November 11, 2009
Crime Alert: Authorities seek suspected sex offenders
The California Department of Corrections and Sacramento Police Department are seeking two suspects wanted on felony warrants for reportedly failing to register as sex offenders ($20,000 bail) and violating parole (no bail), Sacramento Crime Alert officials report.
Juan Torres is described as age 40, 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing 172 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He is also known as Juan Soto Torres, Juan Torres Soto and Juan Soto. According to authorities, he was last known to live in the 5900 block of Sampson Boulevard in the Fruitridge area of Sacramento.
Robert Morris Dickson (right photo) is described as age 41, 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 145 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. old white male. He is 5′ 8″ tall and weighs 145, with brown hair and brown eyes. He is also known as Robert Morriss Dickson and Bobby Dickson…
LINK - SacBee.com
November 11, 2009
Parolee gets 41-years-to-life sentence in shooting
A parolee Tuesday was returned to prison for a term of 41-years-to-life in connection with an attempted murder in Chico.
William Robert Dye, 40, was convicted by a Butte County Superior Court jury of shooting Donald Powell Jr., 45, in the face during a purported drug buy at the victim's East Ninth Street residence late Sept. 1, 2007.
Powell survived, though testified he is partially blind and has no memory of the shooting…
LINK - ChicoER.com
November 11, 2009
Editorial: “Keep public’s safety uppermost”
Officials from Chino and Chino Hills have protested state plans to house mentally ill prisoners at the California Institution for Men since 2005, when a proposal surfaced to build a facility for 1,500 such inmates at the Chino prison complex.
Three months ago, Mayors Dennis Yates of Chino and Peter Rogers of Chino Hills expressed public safety concerns about the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's plan to convert the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino to a prison for 1,200 adult inmates.
Now the Corrections Department's plans are in writing in the form of a detailed long-range plan filed with a federal district court to provide new medical and mental health treatment beds under a court order…
LINK - SBSun.com
November 10, 2009
Schwarzenegger to go after public employee pensions… again
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger estimated Monday that California's budget will fall out of balance by $5 billion to $7 billion this fiscal year, on top of a $7.4 billion gap already projected for 2010-11.
If true, state leaders would confront at least a $12.4 billion to $14.4 billion problem when Schwarzenegger releases his budget in January. California currently has an $84.6 billion general fund budget.
The Republican governor spoke with The Fresno Bee editorial board Monday after signing a bill placing a water bond on the November 2010 ballot…
LINK - SacBee.com
November 10, 2009
Safety at Patton disputed: Supervisor blasts policy change on security staffing
Public safety is threatened due to staffing cuts at Patton State Hospital that are leaving criminally insane patients under the supervision of unarmed staff, San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry said Tuesday.
Directly under attack: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Matthew L. Cate, who Derry says authorized the staffing changes that took effect Oct. 26.The changes resulted in a shift of several job duties from sworn correctional officers to Department of Mental Health employees, including visitor processing.
"Patton's a little different than most mental health facilities," Derry said. "These are violent, insane people who snap on a regular basis. The idea of having a mental health specialist in the visitor center guarding innocent civilians is ridiculous on its face…"
LINK - SBSun.com
November 10, 2009
Wanted parolee surrenders after standoff
A wanted parolee who refused to come out of his mother's home surrendered to police after a brief standoff Tuesday.
Officers with the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force tried to arrest the 24-year-old man at the home on Connecticut Avenue near Wisconsin Avenue about 4:30 p.m. He did not obey their orders to come outside and SWAT and K9 officers were called to help, La Mesa police said.
The man surrendered shortly before 6 p.m. No injuries were reported…
LINK - San Diego Union-Tribune
November 9, 2009
Paroled sex offender with GPS anklet commits sexual battery on two 12-yr old girls, others
A parolee suspected of groping Watsonville six schoolgirls has been connected to at least four incidents of sexual battery near downtown Santa Cruz in the past three months, police said.
Abraham Flores Mena, a 25-year-old registered sex offender who lives in the county, is suspected of grabbing women from behind as they walked alone or in pairs on side streets near Laurel Street, according to police.
Investigators considered Mena a suspect after Watsonville police arrested him Oct. 29 on suspicion of groping four freshman girls who were walking to Pajaro Valley High School and two girls, both 12, who attend Rolling Hills Middle School…
LINK - SantaCruzSentinel.com
November 9, 2009
Prison Education Cuts: Could Affect Your Safety
obs and programs are being cut at prisons across California and the changes could lead to more crimes. Central Coast News Reporter Shannon Hogan got an inside look into the prison education system.
John Holguin has been instructing inmates for more than 14 years he says he's never seen one of his former students return to prison, "We teach them responsibility how to come to work every morning, how to finish a job when they get started not to be quitters and those are more important than anything else," said Holguin.
Printing and Graphic Arts is one of the programs being eliminated due to budget cuts in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation…
LINK - KIONRightNow.com
November 8, 2009
Suspect Arrested In SLO Carjacking Case
The search for a man suspected of carjacking and kidnapping a young woman in San Luis Obispo is over.
Authorities arrested 23-year-old Joseph Ryan Soqui Friday night at a rest stop off Highway 101, near Gaviota. Soqui, who is a parolee, has been on the run since Wednesday.
Police believe Soqui carjacked a woman near the Cal Poly campus last Wednesday. They say he forced the woman to drive him to an ATM and then demanded she withdraw cash….
LINK - KEYT.com
November 8, 2009
Private-prison plan for state shows scant sign of progress
Arizona's plan to turn over its prisons to private companies in exchange for a $100 million upfront payment is having trouble getting off the drawing board, with the plan behind schedule and prison operators showing little interest.
The privatization effort is required under a law enacted last summer as lawmakers struggled to close a huge budget shortfall. It directs the state to award a contract to one or more private companies to run an unspecified number of prisons for $100 million.
It emerged as Republican lawmakers cast about for alternatives to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer's proposal to increase the sales tax to avoid deep cuts…
LINK - AZStarNet.com
November 8, 2009
Man shot, 6 terrorized during home invasion
Six people were terrorized and one of them was shot early Saturday morning when a masked gunman robbed and assaulted them after breaking into their home in the 200 block of E. Jewel St., according to the Santa Maria Police Department.
Parolee Ronald Lightsey, 34, of Santa Maria is suspected of entering the occupied residence at 4:20 a.m. and demanding money, police said.
One female victim tried to flee, but Lightsey allegedly fired two shots and physically assaulted her, police said, preventing her from leaving…
LINK - SantaMariaTimes.com
November 8, 2009
A closer look at California’s prison plans for San Joaquin County Inmate influx
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is about to take a dramatic step into San Joaquin County.
While the full impact remains unclear, numbers offer a glimpse into the community's future with three new state prison facilities proposed for land southeast of Stockton. Once the state's plans fully unfold:
» The California prison system will become the largest employer in the county with an estimated 8,200 workers. County government today employs the most people, with 6,500 workers…
LINK - RecordNet.com
November 6, 2009
Notorious sexual predator on parole taken into custody
Sexually violent predator Matthew Hedge, who has been living since April in a trailer near Donovan state prison in Otay Mesa, was taken into custody Thursday night for violating terms and conditions of his release, the District Attorney's Office said.
Hedge, 46, was arrested without incident at the trailer about 7:30 p.m. by officers from the local Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force. He was being held Friday in county jail,
Hedge is not accused of new crimes, but details on why he was arrested were not immediately released…
LINK - San Diego Union-Tribune
November 5, 2009
Parole Officer Union: GPS Tracking System Does Little Good
Alleged Jaycee Dugard kidnapper Phillip Garrido was supposed to have worn a GPS monitoring device every day from April 2008 until this August, when he was arrested.
However, records indicate his GPS signal dropped out almost every night last summer. According to a report by the state Inspector General, when Garrido was wearing his GPS device, he routinely went places he wasn't supposed to go.
None of those alerts were ever acted on, and Lance Corcoran is not at all surprised.
"Those violations happen every day in California," said Corcoran. "They are as routine as stoplights. They happen all the time…"
LINK - News10.net
November 5, 2009
$110M Chino prison project outlined
Nearly 3,000 more beds and an influx of new correctional officers are part of the $110 million conversion of a local youth prison into California Institution for Men operations.
Prison officials informed Chino Mayor Dennis Yates that the plan would add 400 to 500 more correctional officers to the new facility at Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility.
A riot in August at CIM forced the closure of a reception center and moved about 750 of its adult inmates to Stark…
LINK - DailyBulletin.com
November 4, 2009
Soledad inmate captured, faces escape charges
An inmate who walked away from the Gabilan Conservation Fire Camp in Soledad early Monday was found today in Santa Barbara County, a camp official said.
Phillip Anthony Lopez, 41, was apprehended about 8 a.m. at a home in Lompoc by investigators from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Lt. Peter Spoto.
Spoto speculated that Lopez was staying with friends or family…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
November 4, 2009
CDCR Unveils “California’s Most Wanted” Feature Web Page
Some of the state's most wanted parolees are now more visible than ever, thanks to a new tool being used by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to raise visibility by posting their pictures and other identifying information on the Internet.
In addition to the new web page, the recent passage of the budget signed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger enhances California's effort to bring non-compliant parolees into custody by increasing agents in CDCR's Fugitive Apprehension Team. This highly trained team of agents uses contemporary investigative tools and specialized tactics to apprehend fugitive parolees. The expansion and full development of these units as well as staff training is currently being formulated with full activation expected will in early 2010.
"With the full support of the Governor, California is doing everything possible to locate parolees who have absconded from their required supervision," said CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate. "Additional agents will assist us greatly in addition to this valuable new Internet tool that provides immediate 24-hour access to alert the public to help us locate these individuals."
The California's Most Wanted parolee page was created in conjunction with CDCR's Office of Correctional Safety (OCS), which represents nearly all major adult and juvenile law enforcement, investigative, security, and intelligence functions for the department. The web site includes a photograph, physical description, birthplace and birth date, as well as how to contact CDCR's Fugitive Apprehension Team to report a wanted parolee. The department warns not to attempt to apprehend the individual on one's own.
"This effort focuses on public safety," said Anthony Chaus, the Acting Assistant Secretary of OCS. "These individuals have shown a blatant disregard for their parole terms and/or conditions, and therefore pose a real threat to society. We are going to do all we can to bring them in, and we feel this tool will help us do that."
A partnership forged between the CDCR's Division of Adult Parole Operations and the OCS Fugitive Apprehension Team has resulted in thousands of arrests of offenders, including parolees-at-large, or parolees wanted for some major violations of their parole terms. Many of CDCR's fugitive team members are also sworn United States Marshals, allowing them to make arrests anywhere in the nation. The CDCR/U.S. Marshal relationship grew from working closely together on high profile cases.
Press Release: www.cdcr.ca.gov
November 4, 2009
Schwarzenegger creating hundreds of jobs in Oklahoma?
Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America is creating 217 new jobs in Oklahoma, after finalizing a contract with California to house an additional 1,400 inmates at a facility in Sayre, Okla.
Under the same contract, CCA also will house additional California inmates at a facility in Arizona. The contract increases CCA's system-wide number of California inmates to 10,468, up from 7,900.
When hiring is complete, Sayre's North Fork Correctional Facility will employ 529 people…
LINK - BizJournals.com
November 4, 2009
Stockton City council votes to sue CDCR over proposed prisons
Stockton City Council voted unanimously, 7-0, Tuesday evening to challenge the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in its efforts to build two prisons to house sick, injured and unhealthy felons in the city.
"We hope to join [San Joaquin] County and the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce in this challenge," says City Attorney Ren Nosky, as part of his announcement of a closed session decision.
The state finalized plans to locate a prison re-entry facility at the site of the former women's prison last year. Last month, the state prison health care receiver, Clark Kelso, told local officials of final plans to build a 1,734-bed inmate prison hospital immediately adjacent the site. On Halloween Eve, he revealed plans for a 1,133-bed medical and mental health care facility…
LINK - CentralValleyBusinessTimes.com
November 1, 2009
California Pens November 2009 Update
The latest update from CCPOA and PEACEKeeper magazine's "California Pens" is now available in the Member section of the site. Go check it out
