December 2009 News
December 31, 2009
Court rules against Schwarzenegger furlough orders… again
A California judge on Thursday ruled that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had abused his discretion in ordering furloughs of state workers, dealing a blow to the administration's efforts to cope with the state's ongoing fiscal crisis.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch said the administration must halt the furloughs for workers represented by three unions, including Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents 95,000 state employees…
LINK - SFGate.com
December 23, 2009
Breaking News: Schwarzenegger budget plan will include furlough, layoff options
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to save $1.6 billion in state employee costs by maintaining monthly furloughs past next June, instituting layoffs or shifting general fund workers into positions financed by other revenues, according to sources familiar with the governor's forthcoming budget proposal.
California faces a $20.7 billion general fund budget deficit through June 2011, according to an estimate by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. Schwarzenegger ordered an estimated 200,000 state workers to take two furlough days a month starting last February and then three per month starting in July to save an estimated $1.4 billion in general fund dollars. Under the governor's new budget proposal, furloughs could continue beyond the scheduled end date of June 2010…
LINK - SacBee.com
December 23, 2009
Inmate On The Run After Escaping CCA Custody
Authorities are looking for an inmate who escaped from custody and jumped into the Withlacoochee River.
According to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, Terry N. Davis, 47, escaped custody just after 1 p.m. near Allen's Bait & Seafood on Elkins Road in Inglis.
Davis is described as a white male with brownish-gray hair and blue eyes. He is believed to have taken off his jail-issued orange jumpsuit. He is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 155 pounds…
LINK - CFNews13.com (Citrus County, Florida)
December 22, 2009
Union says overtime hours at PDC skyrocket
Hundreds of psychiatric technicians at the Porterville Developmental Center have accumulated massive amounts of overtime, according to new statistics that one union says cost taxpayers up to $180,000 in November alone.
The California Association of Psychiatric Technicians (CAPT) found that its 759 local members worked 5,900 hours of overtime in November—a 257 percent increase since September.
The state-run hospital for the severely mentally disabled is grappling with maintaining a staff-to-client ratio while implementing unpaid furloughs.
"This is a big concern for us," CAPT consultant Brady Oppenheim said. "Our concern is for the taxpayers who are having to foot the bill…"
LINK - RecorderOnline.com
December 20, 2009
Court overturns California ban on violent felons owning body armor
A police advocacy group has criticized an appeals court judgment last week overturning a law that prevented violent felons from owning body armor, saying the ruling will put officers and the public in danger.
The decade-old ban was enacted after the 1997 North Hollywood shootout, a confrontation between police and two heavily armored bank robbers that injured officers and civilians. The state Legislature passed the ban in 1998 as a measure to protect police…
LINK - LATimes.com
December 19, 2009
UPDATED: Inmate captured following escape from Humboldt County conservation camp
An inmate who escaped from the High Rock Conservation Camp in Humboldt County was captured today.
Raul Martinez, 30, was caught about 2 p.m. by corrections agents and local law enforcement officials near the camp, which is located outside Weott, California Correctional Center spokeswoman Margaret Pieper said today.
He was booked into Humboldt County Jail and the case will be sent to the Humboldt County district attorney for prosecution…
LINK - Redding.com
December 17, 2009
Member TeleConference Audio File
Members of the CCPOA Executive Council and Legal Team made themselves available via telephone conference to answer questions about updates re: the recent decision in the furlough case and other issues.
Running time: approximately 32 minutes
December 17, 2009
Official Statement: CCPOA Wins Furlough Lawsuit, Reiterates Offer to Help Legislature Reduce Costs
West Sacramento, CA - An Alameda Court judge today ruled that the Governor's order to "furlough" California's correctional peace officers - which has reduced their pay but requires them to work their full schedule - was an illegal pay cut that violated labor law, and that the more than 30,000 officers, sergeants and lieutenants "are due their full pay for time worked."
"It's unfortunate that we were forced to file this lawsuit in the first place, but we're obviously pleased that the court ruled to protect these officers' rights," said Mike Jimenez, President of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA). "We made numerous attempts to work with this Administration to find better, more legitimate ways to cut corrections costs, but we were rebuffed. Legal action was our last, and only resort.
"However, we once again extend our cooperation and assistance to the State Legislature and Department Secretary to help identify sensible cost savings measures within the corrections system," said Jimenez. "We've proactively offered savings and reform recommendations on a nearly annual basis - and will be releasing our latest "New Direction" blueprint on corrections reform in January."
View the full decision and read another statement from CCPOA re: the lawsuit at ccpoa.org.
December 17, 2009
Schwarzenegger reacts to Alameda ruling
We just got off the phone with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman, Rachel Arrezola. We had left a message with the administration this morning asking for a reaction from the governor to CCPOA furlough lawsuit win.
Here's the statement Arrezola read:
"Over the last year all areas of state government have been forced to cut back and do more with less as the state has dealt with closing a $60 billion deficit. The governor has made the difficult but necessary decisions to cut spending and order furloughs and he will continue to stand firm to protect taxpayers and move California forward…"
LINK - SacBee.com Weblogs
December 17, 2009
Judge rules furloughs invalid for prison guards
A state judge today struck down Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furloughs of correctional officers, who have been working on furlough days and banking the unpaid time off.
Judge Frank Roesch of Alameda County Superior Court ruled that the governor's furlough order violated state law. He ordered the state to pay the prison workers for the unpaid hours they have worked.
To save money, Schwarzenegger last summer began furloughing for three days a month nearly every category of state worker…
LINK - LATimes.com
December 17, 2009
Judge: Schwarzenegger can’t furlough prison guards
A judge has ruled against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furlough order for thousands of California prison guards.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch on Thursday sided with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and ordered the state to pay prison guards back for the days they worked without pay….
LINK - Google.com (AP News)
December 17, 2009
Correctional officers win furlough lawsuit
An Alameda Superior Court judge has ruled that furloughs Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered are illegal for state prison officers whose pay is reduced but who have to wait to take the time off.
The order by Judge Frank Roesch means that roughly 40,000 state correctional officers, their sergeant and lieutenants are due their full pay for time worked.
The judge's order commands Schwarzenegger "… to pay all employees represented by (the union) in this action of all hours worked for which furlough credits have not been utilized…"
LINK - SacBee.com
December 17, 2009
CCPOA files new federal lawsuit against Schwarzenegger over furloughs, federal labor law violations,
A federal class action accuses California of violating labor laws by ordering state workers to work during furlough days, and promising them a day off later. The class of prison and correctional workers reported their grievances to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in June; now they want action.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, a major political force in California, claims that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his administration are violating federal laws on wages and hours, overtime and record keeping…
LINK - CourtHouseNews.com
December 16, 2009
Police chief op-ed: career criminals to be released under Schwarzenegger plan
…Many have forgotten the importance of the criminal justice system to include our prisons. California prisons are filled with Clemmons types. Many are suffering from mental illness and drug addiction and refuse to be rehabilitated. When they do get out, we rely on our police officers to stand between them and us.
When someone like Clemmons is willing to kill four police officers in broad daylight, how much easier is it to kill four innocent citizens?…
LINK - Times-Standard.com
December 15, 2009
Sac Bee opines on prisons, budget, Kelso and CDCR
Whom should the public hold responsible for runaway overtime costs for prison health care?
The governor and California's dysfunctional Legislature are largely to blame, followed by a prison health care bureaucracy overseen by a federal receiver who has failed to protect taxpayers.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers consistently approve budgets that understate the true cost of prison health care, and therefore understate the numbers of nurses, nurse assistants, clinicians, doctors and others who are needed to provide the minimum care required under the state and U.S. constitutions. That in turn leads to the eye-popping overtime costs The Bee's Charles Piller documented in his recent report…
LINK - SacBee.com
December 15, 2009
Mike Machado, John Garamendi Jr. hired to promote Stockton prison hospital
With a lawsuit pending against the state, a former state legislator from Linden and the son of Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, have been hired to tell the community why a large prison hospital would be good for the county.
Mike Machado, who represented much of San Joaquin County in the Assembly and State Senate in the 1990s and the current decade, and John Garamendi Jr., were hired for the lobbying positions. They began work on Monday.
Machado, Garamendi and three other members of the Ochoa & Moore law firm in Sacramento will try to convince people in San Joaquin County that the prison hospital would be an asset rather than a liability…
LINK - LodiNews.com
December 15, 2009
Kelso talks about budget, staffing problems in CDCR
Responding to a Bee investigation of severe problems in clinical staffing of state prisons, health care receiver J. Clark Kelso said at a news conference on Monday that budget shortfalls and management lapses underlie staffing pressures at some prisons.
The Bee reported that a costly 24-hour suicide-watch program often relies on highly paid nurses for the uncomplicated task, rather than using assistants who earn far less – and that many prisoners exploit the program by feigning suicidal thoughts. Suicide watch cost the prisons $750,000 in a single month last year.
"Is that a management failure, or a budgeting failure?" Kelso said of the cost. "Probably something in between…"
LINK - SacBee.com
December 14, 2009
First Watch: December 14, 2009
A new CCPOA First Watch video has been posted at CCPOA.TV for December 14, 2009. Please CLICK HERE to view today's video update and for our archive of past video updates.
December 14, 2009
Spending spree in CDCR/Fed Reciever - nurses paid $393 per hour?
Anna Marie Antonio, a nurse practitioner who has worked at the California Medical Facility prison in Vacaville, is golden.
Antonio may be a superb clinician. But her sparkle lies in payments for her services by the court-appointed receiver who manages health care in California's prisons. Antonio's temporary employment agency, or registry, collected $393 per hour for her work – more than six times the average paid to state employees for the same work.
When Antonio learned of the rate from a reporter, she gasped: "Wow!"…
LINK - SacBee.com
December 14, 2009
Rampant OT fuels prison health cost
California's prison health-care employees work hard — or so it would seem by their schedules. Many average 12 hours a day; others routinely log 16- to 18-hour shifts for months on end, creating a costly overtime free-for-all in this budget-strapped state.
An abundance of forced and voluntary overtime has driven some nurses beyond human endurance. In the process, the long hours have opened the door for deadly lapses in a health-care system just beginning to recover from decades of neglect…
LINK - FresnoBee.com
December 14, 2009
Report: Fewer inmates dying in California prisons
For the second year in a row, fewer people are dying in California prisons, according to a federal receiver who's trying to improve California's prison health care system in an inmate mortality report set to be released today.
For the second year in a row, fewer people are dying in California prisons, according to a federal receiver who's trying to improve California's prison health care system in an inmate mortality report set to be released today.
The report says that between 2006 and 2008 the rate of death among California inmates declined 13 percent…
LINK - SCPR.org
December 14, 2009
Privatizing prisons by American Police Beat
If you're a corrections officer or a deputy assigned to a jail in Arizona, you might want to start looking for a new job. Arizona is slated to become the first state to completely privatize its correctional system. And we're not just talking county lock-ups like Joe Arpaio's world-famous tent city - even the super-max facilities housing the worst of the worst just might end up being staffed and run by for-profit companies like Corrections Corporation of America and Wackenhut.
Arizona spends $4.7 million each year to house inmates who are serial killers, rapists, gang-bangers and every other bad guy and gal you can think of. To many state legislators the idea of privatizing corrections is too good to pass up. Who wouldn't want to save $5 million bucks and turn the complicated process of administering death sentences to private companies?…
LINK - APBWeb.com (American Police Beat)
December 14, 2009
Another CCA private prison employee charged with raping inmate
A former education director at the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility has been indicted on a second degree felony count of criminal sexual penetration of an inmate.
Charles Buccigrossi, 65, former education director at the Correctional Corporations of America facility, made sexual contact with an inmate, according to a Grants Police Department report. Officers were dispatched to the prison on Aug. 10 in response to investigate the allegation…
LINK - CibolaBeacon.com
December 12, 2009
Former parolee killed in shoot-out at WalMart parking lot
An autopsy was pending Saturday on a man fatally shot by four or five Anaheim police officers in a Wal-Mart parking lot after he evaded officers.
The shooting occurred around 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Anaheim Plaza in the 400 block of North Euclid Street, said Sgt. Rick Martinez of the Anaheim Police Department.
"Our undercover officers received information that a known former parolee was in the area in a green Suburban," Martinez said…
LINK - KTLA.com
December 12, 2009
Former NCWF gets ready to become state’s first “Re-Entry” prison
Few local residents know much about a former women's prison that sits idle on Arch Road about two miles east of Highway 99.
Aside from the wind, little has blown through the prison's concertina wire fences since the state closed it in 2003. An occasional film crew has set up, and correctional officials use the empty cellblocks to practice tactical maneuvers.
The prison will soon get a new life…
LINK - RecordNet.com
December 12, 2009
Suspect in killing of CMF officer convicted of murder in Minnesota
One of four defendants accused in the shooting death of a California prison guard in Sacramento has been convicted of another murder in Minnesota.
A Hennepin County District Court jury returned the verdict Thursday against Gary Vue, 28.
His older brother, former Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy Chu Vue, 44, is accused of arranging the Oct. 15, 2008, Sacramento slaying of correctional officer Steve Lo…
LINK - SacBee.com
December 11, 2009
Congress cuts money to states for criminal aliens
California and other financially strapped states will lose tens of millions of federal dollars that they spend to jail illegal immigrants charged with crimes, under Congress' latest spending bill.
The $1.1 trillion plan, finalized by House and Senate negotiators Tuesday night, combines six of the large yearly appropriations bills passed by Congress to keep the government running.
State officials and members of the California congressional delegation had lobbied hard once again to increase aid to the states for the program, hoping to cash in on California's increased clout in Washington this year…
LINK - SacBee.com
December 11, 2009
Parolee arrested for attempted murder of peace officer at Pechanga Casino
A Riverside County Sheriff's deputy from Temecula is recovering from injuries sustained in an altercation with a wanted parolee who turned on the officer and attacked him during a foot pursuit.
The unidentified deputy was treated and released from a local hospital following the Dec. 8 incident in the parking structure of the Pechanga Casino, said Lt. Scott Madden in a news release.
The suspect, 43-year-old James Deck of San Diego, was booked on suspicion of attempted murder on a peace officer, Madden said…
LINK - SWRNN.com
December 10, 2009
Four months after fact, CDCR announces CIM riot was based on fight between gangs
A riot at a Southern California prison that left more than 200 injured and two buildings destroyed was triggered by an "ongoing racial street war" between black and Hispanic gangs, corrections officials say.
The Aug. 8 fight erupted in a section of the California Institution for Men in Chino that houses newly arriving inmates from Southern California and ex-convicts returning to prison for parole violations.
Unaffiliated inmates joined the brawl after gang members began fighting, Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Wednesday…
LINK - Google.com AP News
December 10, 2009
Protesters at Geo Group’s private prison in Texas
Civil rights activists say they're taking their attack on conditions in a privately run West Texas prison to the prison operator's New Braunfels offices.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and other groups are demonstrating around midday Thursday outside the regional offices of the GEO Group.
They're trying to draw attention to what they say are poor conditions in the GEO-operated Reeves County Detention Center near Pecos…
LINK - Chron.com (The Houston Chronicle - AP)
December 10, 2009
Public meeting in Stockton to discuss prisons
State prison officials will present plans and take input on a 500-bed inmate re-entry facility southeast of Stockton in two public meetings to be held today.
The Northern California Reentry Facility is one of three new prisons the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation plans to open southeast of Stockton.
The re-entry facility would occupy the former Northern California Women's Facility on Arch Road east of Highway 99. State officials plan to open the re-entry facility in late 2012…
LINK - RecordNet.com
December 9, 2009
Results of the 2009 CCPOA Chapter Elections
The results are in for the 2009 election for CCPOA Chapter elections...
December 9, 2009
CCA lets inmate escape, inmate shoots cop, CCA blames cop for getting shot?
Private prison operator Corrections Corporation of America is denying responsibility in the shooting of a Nashville police officer, allegedly by an escaped inmate.
Sgt. Mark Chesnut claims in a lawsuit filed in October that the Nashville-based company was negligent in Joseph Jackson Jr.'s escape from an offsite doctor's office while he was an inmate of CCA's Delta Correctional Facility in Greenwood, Miss.
Chesnut stopped a rental car carrying Jackson and his cousin - Courtney Logan of Louisville, Ky. - on June 25, just hours after the escape…
LINK - WSMV.com
December 9, 2009
Parole violator/gang-member is charged with murder, evading
The man who was gunned down as he delivered beer in central Fresno early Monday was shot in the back, a victim of random violence, Police Chief Jerry Dyer said Tuesday.
Dyer said there is no indication that Richard Hernandez, 27, of Selma knew his assailants — and no apparent motive for the killing.
"An innocent person [who] … was making a delivery as part of his job was gunned down in cold blood," Dyer said. He said the department hasn't seen a random killing such as this in four or five years, adding "those are very, very rare."
Hernandez, who worked for Valley Wide Beverage Co., was married and had two children…
LINK - FresnoBee.com
December 9, 2009
Meg Whitman: “The State Employees Unions - Starving California”
The reason California is bankrupt and it is bankrupt is because the state workers unions run our state. They bankroll the Democrats to keep them in power but in return, the Dems have to raise taxes or find other means to pay for the state union's guaranteed pensions, 100% tax-payer funded medical care, as well as pay increases and money to hire more state workers which are still being hired and added to an already grossly over populated and inefficient union work force at a time when we in the private sector are being laid off and worse.
The powerful state unions, such as the State Employees Services Union, the teachers union, the prison guard union and others are used to making a phone call to their politicians in Sacramento and getting what they demand. They are ruthless and care nothing about California's sad state or the average taxpayer for that matter. They will continue to syphon the states life blood at a rabid rate and they are in position to shut down the state by way of strikes, work stoppages etc., after all, their workers run the state…
LINK - MegWhitman.com (Republican Candidate for CA Governor)
December 8, 2009
Inmate lawyers side with Schwarzenegger’s early release plan in federal court
Lawyers for California's sick inmates said Monday they like the Schwarzenegger administration's plan for reducing the prison population and urged a three-judge federal panel to let state officials decide what methods to use.
The plan calls for a reduction in the population of 33 adult prisons to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two years, thus meeting the requirement of the panel's Aug. 4 order.
"Rather than ordering the state to utilize particular population reduction methods, the court should leave to the state the discretion and flexibility to choose which methods it uses to accomplish the reduction," the inmates' attorneys said in their response to the plan…
LINK - SacBee.com
December 7, 2009
“Non-violent, non-serious parolee” gets shot and charged with attempted murder
A parolee was shot in the arm and arrested after she tried to ram her vehicle into the patrol cars of officers who were conducting a narcotics investigation.
Sonia Hawley, 32, of Fontana was booked at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga Saturday for attempted murder. She is being held in lieu of $1 million.
Hawley was the suspect in the narcotics investigation, Fontana Sgt. Jeff Decker said. She was on parole for the possession for sales of narcotics…
LINK - SBSun.com (San Bernadino Sun)
December 7, 2009
Parolee Accused Of Stealing Bait Car
A parolee was arrested late Sunday in Sacramento on suspicion of stealing a bait car, a vehicle left parked with the intent of catching a potential car thief, police said.
Terry James Cotton, 36, was taken to jail on suspicion of vehicle theft, driving under the influence, receiving stolen property, violating parole and for warrants, according to jail records. He was being held without bail…
LINK - KCRA.com Sacramento
December 7, 2009
Riskier inmates may serve in fire camps?
A quick look at Pomona native Adam Salas reveals a quirky smile peering out from under a helmet as he and the rest of a firefighting crew inspect their chainsaws at the Oak Glen Conservation Camp.
But a second glance stumbles upon the words "CDCR Prisoner" stamped on his orange uniform and gang insignia tattooed on his eyelids, hands and neck.
Salas, 23, had never been outside Pomona until he made a terrorist threat during an argument about two years ago. That threat landed him in Tehachapi State Prison, and later Oak Glen. From there, he was dispatched to fight fires in Santa Barbara, Madera and Mariposa counties…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
December 7, 2009
Governor’s prison plan draws mixed reviews
Lawyers for California's prison inmates on Monday supported Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's overall plan to reduce overcrowding in the state's 33 prisons, but asked a federal court to order state prison officials to meet strict deadlines to ensure they shed nearly 40,000 inmates from the system over the next two years.
Meanwhile, the plan drew fire from Republican lawmakers and some counties, including Santa Clara County, which is worried about the impact of releasing state prison inmates into local jails…
LINK - MercuryNews.com
December 6, 2009
Prison inmates need more education, rehabilitation - not less
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation appears to be following the "last in, first out" rule, putting rehabilitation and education programs on the chopping block as it strives to trim $1.2 billion from its overall budget.
That's a bit over a 10 percent cut. Yet the decision to slash $250 million from rehabilitation and education services will reduce those programs by more than one-third.
These are the programs the state beefed up two years ago, after a decade of studies showed that dealing with things like low literacy levels and substance abuse would save money in the long run by reducing recidivism rates…
LINK - TheReporter.com
December 5, 2009
Parolee accused of killing, stuffing body into “lawn art”
A man testified yesterday that he thought it odd, but not particularly significant, when a friend who was landscaping the man's backyard last year started building an egg-shaped structure with cement and chicken wire.
When the egg was broken apart later, it was found to contain the decaying remains of 80-year-old Edward Clayton Andrews, whom the landscaper is accused of murdering.
Ben Mason, who leased a home on Alabama Street in North Park at the time, said the friend he knew as "Josh" would often work in the yard when Mason and his roommates were not there. One afternoon in September 2008, he came home to find Josh sloppily constructing the egg, which he said would be the centerpiece of a rock garden…
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)
December 5, 2009
Parolee suspected of shooting teen to death in Coachella
A parolee who was convicted of a 2001 assault with a deadly weapon charge was identified Friday as the suspect in the fatal shooting of a teenager in Coachella.
Angel Esparza, 26, is accused of killing Angel Luna, 16, after the two argued in the 1400 block of Ninth Street in Coachella on Thursday, investigators said.
The Coachella man was on parole after serving a prison sentence for shooting someone on June 26, 2001, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office…
LINK - MyDesert.com (The Desert Sun)
December 5, 2009
State cuts could mean and end to classroom rehab at San Quentin
In a brightly colored classroom in an otherwise dismal place, Stanley Durden studies intently at a desk.
Durden, 51, says he wants to gain what he missed outside San Quentin State Prison - an education.
"I won't learn anything by sitting in the cell or watching TV. I prefer to have school," said Durden, who has served 10 years of a 25-to-life prison sentence for repeated burglary and robbery convictions. He wants to earn his GED…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
December 4, 2009
GEO Group private prison company to house thousands of CA inmates in Oklahoma
The Geo group is in the process of negotiating contracts that would house thousands of inmates out of California prisons in Lawton's Geo Prison.
Comanche County officials say the Geo group is now in the process of negotiating those contracts. The details of the contract are not laid out just yet, as they are actively negotiating, but what is known is that the facility will be built across the street from the current facility and it will house about 2,500 California inmates.
"Geo is in serious negotiations and continuing negotiations with the state…to house their prisoners," said Comanche County Commissioner Ron Kirby.
That means, Geo needs more room, and to get it, it will build on this land. There has been talk before about it, but this time the deal is supposed to happen…
LINK - KSWO.com
December 4, 2009
Corrections Corp of America to close Minnesota private prison due to lack of inmates
Corrections Corp. of America said Friday that it plans to close a Minnesota correctional facility around Feb. 1, 2010 because it has too few inmates.
The Prairie Correctional Facility, based in Appleton, Minn., has 1,600 beds and has housed offenders from Minnesota and Washington. But Corrections Corp. said the facility has seen the number of inmates it houses reduced due to overcapacity in the states' systems.
"Without an inmate population large enough to significantly utilize the facility, maintaining operations at the Prairie facility isn't economically viable," Corrections Corp. President and CEO Damon Hininger said in a statement…
LINK - CNBC.com
December 4, 2009
Yucaipa church secretary pursues suspect
First Baptist Church of Yucaipa Secretary Carol Smith aided in the apprehension of a parolee when she followed the suspect, Manuel Albert Reyes, 41, of Fontana from the church parking lot at 34784 Yucaipa Blvd. to a San Bernardino business after witnessing the suspect steal the church's bus.
The incident began about 10:45 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26. Smith said she pulled into the church parking lot with her 13-year-old granddaughter and saw a man getting into the bus. "I asked him who he was and he said he was going to take the bus to the shop," Smith reported. "When things didn't look quite right, I got a little suspicious."
Smith followed the suspect in the small 26-passenger bus along Yucaipa Boulevard onto the I-10 freeway while on the phone with Sheriff Dispatch…
LINK - NewsMirror.net
December 4, 2009
OC Register: CA’s Tough on crime stance caused state’s fiscal crisis?
August 20, Sacramento. It's a mild day for late summer, but the heat is on inside the State Capitol. After hours of debate, the State Senate has narrowly passed a controversial prison reform package.
The plan would reduce the state prison population by 27,000, providing desperately needed relief for a system holding 171,000 inmates–nearly twice capacity. The Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, supports the plan, which reduces the penalties for some crimes and allows some convicts to serve their time at home.
Legislative Republicans, however, say the entire plan is soft on crime. That's enough to cause serious problems in the Assembly. Several Democrats there are eyeing higher office. Others face tough re-election bids. A "soft-on-crime" label could kill their political careers…
LINK - OCRegister.com
December 4, 2009
Parolee sought in Highland homicide
A parolee is wanted for Wednesday's fatal shooting of a San Bernardino man at a Highland apartment complex, authorities said.
Marco Antonio Pimentel, 23, is considered armed and dangerous. Sheriff's detectives say he shot Luis Miguel Mendoza, also 23, in the doorway of an upstairs apartment in the 26000 block of Base Line Street.
Mendoza was visiting an acquaintance in the complex, possibly Pimentel, when he was killed about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday…
LINK - SBSun.com (San Bernadino Sun)
December 4, 2009
Press On: Just say no to early prison releases
Whatever happened to "You do the crime you do the time?" In America it doesn't work that way anymore. We, as a society, are soft toward criminals and it often comes back to haunt us.
Just ask former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. He commuted the sentence of Maurice Clemmons in 2000. Clemmons had 95 years left on a 108-year sentence when Huckabee commuted his remaining prison time. Six days before Clemmons killed four police officers in Washington, he made bail for the rape of a child. Pierce County Washington police spokesperson Ed Troyer said, "The only motive that we have is he decided he was going to kill police officers." Fortunately, two days after Clemmons killed the four officers, a Seattle police officer was able to shoot and kill Clemmons before the killer was able to shoot him…
LINK - Record-Bee.com
December 3, 2009
OC Register advocates for “Paycheck (deception) Protection” to return to the ballot
California Attorney General Jerry Brown's office was expected today to authorize signature collection for a 2010 ballot measure that would make it illegal for public employee unions to automatically deduct money from members' paychecks and use that money for political campaigns. A similar "paycheck protection" initiative was placed on the ballot in 2005 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger but failed along with the governor's other reform measures. This time around, the political climate is much different, and paycheck protection could pass. We hope it does.
Backers of the initiative, including the Lincoln Club of Orange County, Tea Party activists and a number of private citizens, filed the request to qualify the initiative for the 2010 ballot. It would amend the California constitution to (a) outlaw automatic deductions from public employees for political activities and (b) disallow labor unions and other entities that receive such monies from using them to influence politics…
LINK - OCRegister.com
December 3, 2009
Ventura officially removed from possible conversion to adult health care prison
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) today announced that the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility is no longer being considered for a possible medical facility for adult inmates. The facility will continue to be used for the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.
After months of considering many potential sites, the federal court-appointed health care receiver and CDCR announced recently that facilities to provide mental health and medical care to upwards of 2,800 inmates would be constructed in Stockton, San Joaquin County…
LINK - CDCR.ca.gov
December 1, 2009
FROM THE EDITOR
Just a day before Thanksgiving, I received an email from Diane, a member and parole agent out of Region III. She wanted me to know that she enjoys reading my From the Editor columns. "You help inspire," she wrote. I couldn't have been more pleased to read those words. It's all any writer could ever hope to hear from a reader. Believe me, it means as much as the paycheck in the envelope. But, truly, if I do inspire, it's only because I've been inspired - by you. All of you...
December 1, 2009
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
by Mike Jimenez, CCPOA State President
Service is a word that means many things. It can mean the service you receive when you order a meal at a restaurant, or it can mean that you served your country in the Armed Forces. It can even mean the opening salvo of a tennis volley or the cups, saucers, and utensils for high tea. In the context of the quote from boxing champ Mohammed Ali, service obviously means the performance of work for the benefit of others with no expectation of personal profit...
December 1, 2009
COVER STORY: Yes, California, There Is A Santa Claus
by Lance Corcoran, CCPOA Chief Communications Officer 
The holiday season can be a magical time - and, on occasion, it can be a time of miracles. For many, the holidays are meant for celebrating family traditions, giving thanks for life's many blessings, and sharing those blessings with those less fortunate. When it comes to Christmas miracles, one CCPOA member, now retired, quietly began a giving tradition in the Stockton area about 14 years ago - a generous endeavor that has carried on and gains momentum to this day...
December 1, 2009
RESPONSE TIME
Starting in early Spring 2008, I submitted transfer packets for a lateral transfer from Corcoran State Prison to Sierra Conservation Center, due to my mother's diagnosis with colon cancer. After over a year and two interviews I did successfully transfer in July 2009. Upon my transfer, I emailed the following letter to both chief deputy wardens at Corcoran, with the intention it be published in the IST Bulletin. Well, it wasn't...
December 1, 2009
VICTIMS OF SUCCESS
by Correctional Sgt. Kevin Raymond 
CCPOA has enjoyed a great deal of success over the last 26 years of collective bargaining-culminating with the 2001-2006 Memorandum of Understanding. This success didn't come easy and at times was stagnant for years...
December 1, 2009
The Value of a Skelly Hearing
by Leanne M. Kent, CCPOA Staff Legal Counsel, West Sacramento
Recently, an article appearing in another corrections employee publication stated that Skelly hearings are a waste of time. To the contrary, CCPOA statistics show that participating in the Skelly process has value for our members...
December 1, 2009
Remembering the Sacrifices
by Ryan Sherman, CCPOA Communications Division 
On October 16, CCPOA held its annual statewide memorial for peace officers killed in the line of duty at the Mission Inn in Riverside, to coincide with the quarterly CCPOA State Board of Directors meeting...
December 1, 2009
Benefit Trust: Pennies from Heaven
by Crystal C. Virtue, Esq., Caldwell Legal
Back in the 18th century, Ben Franklin coined the phrase, "A penny saved is a penny earned." Those wise words were never truer than they are right now. The CCPOA Benefit Trust Fund is all about helping you hold on to your hard-earned money...
December 1, 2009
An All-Star Performance
North Kern State Prison could grab the attention of an NBA scout. I wonder if the Department and the fellow officers and staff at NKSP know of the athletic talent walking around their institution. The North Kern basketball team has once again demonstrated a very high level of play in winning the Western States Police and Fire Games Division I basketball championship...
December 1, 2009
The Paper Chase: Helping You Take the Stress Out of Tax Time
by Juston Montano
Just like that, we're at the end of another year. And we all know what that means: tax time. It's that time of year when we gather all our tax information for the dreaded filing of the income tax return. Before your anxiety level goes up, maybe I can help by providing some useful information that might take some of the stress out of filing your taxes...
December 1, 2009
Home Sweet Home: Protecting Your Credit and Your Financial Future in a Mortgage Meltdown
by Jeffrey Malkasian
The mortgage crisis that our country is experiencing has hit California harder than other areas. Many honest, hardworking members in our communities are trapped with crippling mortgage payments on homes that are worth less than what they owe on them...
December 1, 2009
The Wishing Place Where Dreams Come True - With Hope, Strength and Joy
Photos by Nichol Gomez-Pryde, CCPOA Communications Division
In 1980, Chris, a 7-year-old Arizona boy being treated for leukemia dreamed of one day becoming a police officer. When his condition worsened, a family friend, who just happened to be a U.S. Customs officer, contacted public safety officials to help him plan a special day for the boy and to help grant his wish...
December 1, 2009
And in This Corner… Battle of the Badges
A Knockout of a Charity Event
by Lance Corcoran, CCPOA Communications Director
On a cool, crisp October evening at Raley Field in West Sacramento, law enforcement officers and firefighters from across Northern California came together to heat up the ring at the 2009 Battle of the Badges, a charity boxing event benefiting the Firefighters Burn Institute, Sacramento Sheriff's Department Toy Project, and the Sacramento Fallen Officers Resource Fund administered by CSP-Sacramento...
December 1, 2009
Serving Justice
In February 2009 a dozen horses were abandoned at Del Puerto Canyon Ranch near Modesto. One of those was Justice, a 28-year-old Arabian gelding, who would now need very specialized care...
December 1, 2009
Taking Care of the Community
by Ryan Sherman, CCPOA Communications Division
Since the Association's earliest days, CCPOA has made commitment to community a top priority, and through the organization's individual chapters, the members contribute their time and money to many local causes, reaching out to support others in their communities...
December 1, 2009
Step Up for Downs Syndrome
Photos by Nichol Gomez-Pryde, CCPOA Communications Division
On October 25, CCPOA was a part of the Down Syndrome Information Alliance's 5th Annual Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk in Sacramento's William Land Park...
December 1, 2009
California Pens
Information about incidents and assaults across California. This information is available in the PeaceKeeper each month, and is updated as-received online as well. You can also read about nationwide correctional issues and news in CCPOA's online news blog.
