Ab 900
January 5, 2011
CDCR to convert NCWF, El Paso and Dewitt to adult facilities by 2013 or 2014
Officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and California Prison Health Care Services signed documents on December 29 that will speed the conversion of shuttered correctional facilities in San Joaquin and San Luis Obispo counties to reduce prison overcrowding and improve medical and mental health services.
“California is taking another step toward offering community-based reentry services while reusing existing facilities to offer mental health treatment services needed right now,” said CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate...
LINK - CDCRToday.blogspot.com
December 16, 2010
Adelanto breaks ground on prison expansion
The next step to expand California prisons: Ground was broken Wednesday on an expansion project at the Adelanto Detention Center in San Bernardino County.
It took four years and eight shovels to finally break ground on the Adelanto Detention Center Expansion Project, a project that will eventually triple the capacity of the jail.
"Public safety is our number one priority," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Schwarzenegger joined local and state leaders along with law enforcement during Wednesday's ceremony...
LINK - ABCLocal.go.com
December 16, 2010
AB 900, Calaveras County Jail Construction ground-breaking announced
On Friday, December 17, 2010 at 10:00 AM, the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors will host a ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the new Adult Detention Facility and Sheriff’s Administration Building. The event will include attendance by a number of state and local officials including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (invited), Secretary Matthew Cate from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Chief Deputy Director Stephen Amos from the California Department of General Services, and Field Representative Leslie Heller from the Corrections Standards Authority...
LINK - ThePineTree.net
November 12, 2010
CDCR’s Matt Cate Q&A on budget cuts, reform, CCPOA contract, etc
How realistic are the budget cuts to Corrections when over $800 million of it is to prison healthcare, which is the part the state seems to have the least control over?
The receiver has said that he thinks he can do it. He relies on us to try to find efficiencies and vice versa. While on the one hand we continue to battle in the courts, on the other hand we try to work day-to-day to help each other reach those kinds of goals. He’ll have a definite challenge to try to reduce $800 million from his budget.
The thing that has been significant of late is we have agreed on a single construction plan. When I became secretary, the prisons had one construction plan for using AB 900 to build high security prisons. The receiver had a plan to build seven prison hospitals at a billion dollars apiece. Within the last year, we’ve gotten together. He’s eliminated his seven projects altogether and agreed that we would build facilities that the department has under AB 900 but that have a healthcare mission. His seven projects are now one healthcare facility in Stockton that we are going to use AB 900 for. Brokering that deal was significant as far as saving the state long term bond costs and in getting all four courts - meaning medical, mental health, dental and ADA to all agree that this is a construction plan that will meet the needs of state...
LINK - CapitolWeekly.net
November 4, 2010
AB 900 Construction Update
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a historic and comprehensive corrections overhaul bill on May 3, 2007. The bipartisan legislation, Assembly Bill 900 (Solorio; D-Anaheim), addresses health care space deficiencies and overcrowding in California’s prisons and provides resources to improve public safety by reducing the rates at which inmates re-victimize communities and return to prison. AB 900 authorized more than $7 billion in funding for state prison projects, reentry facilities and local jail beds to ease the overcrowding in California’s prisons and local jails. It provides resources to improve public safety by reducing recidivism rates. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has started construction on three projects. Several more are in the planning phase...
September 4, 2010
Tax increases for AB 900 beds, J. Woodford discusses CDCR
One option to address the jail overcrowding issue will be before the voters in the November election.
Santa Barbara County officials have proposed a half-percent sales tax increase to construct and operate a new North County jail and enhance local public safety agencies.
The ballot proposal, known as Measure S, would dedicate half of the annual tax revenue — estimated at $30 million — to constructing and operating a new 304-bed jail in Santa Maria...
LINK - LompocRecord.com
September 27, 2009
One prison expansion off; two moving forward
The state has called off an expansion of Tehachapi's state prison to relieve overcrowding but still plans to add onto prisons in Wasco and Delano.
State and federal officials determined that some Assembly Bill 900 funds identified for infill beds need to be spent on healthcare beds instead, said Deborah Hysen, chief deputy secretary of facility planning, construction and management at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The federal courts have mandated that California bring medical care in prisons up to constitutional standards. A receiver is overseeing the work…
LINK - Bakersfield.com
May 3, 2009
Implementing AB 900’s Prison Construction & Rehabilitation Initiatives
On May 23, 2007, the Governor signed into law Chapter 7, Statutes of 2007 (AB 900, Solorio), in order to relieve the significant overcrowding problems facing state prisons. Specifically, AB 900 authorized a total of approximately $7.7 billion for a broad package of prison construction and rehabilitation initiatives. Prison Construction Projects ($7.7 Billion). The measure contained a number of significant provisions to finance the construction of both state prisons and county jail space using $7.4 billion in lease-revenue bonds and a $300 million General Fund appropriation...
April 2, 2009
Prison expansion would take a couple years, generate hundreds of jobs
Adding 900 beds to each of two Delano-area state prisons would take about two years and rely on the sale of state bonds, officials said Thursday.
They also would generate an estimated 850 jobs and around $86 million in annual payroll to Kern County.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has launched an effort to expand four state prisons at a cost of $810 million, including at North Kern and Kern Valley state prisons…
LINK - Bakersfield.com
October 8, 2008
Hearing Set for State to Start Funding Prison Projects
A U.S. District Court judge is giving the state a few more weeks to determine how to make a $250 million down payment on prison health care projects.
The money was approved under Assembly Bill 900.
The court-appointed receiver for improving how state prisons provide health care to inmates, J. Clark Kelso, is also seeking a contempt citation against Gov. Schwarzenegger and State Controller John Chiang for failure to pay $8 billion earmarked for prison construction projects…
LINK - News10.net
September 27, 2008
Prison Deal Unraveled by Sneaky Move
California needs a cohesive approach to prison reform, not a disjointed effort. That's why during the final days of the budget negotiations last week, Republicans were poised to pass a budget trailer bill that would have funded the receiver's bond and build the 53,000 beds required in AB 900. This way, we were properly addressing the first bond before working on the second.
Unfortunately, liberals in the Legislature decided to sneak in language that would have given prison inmates one day of credit for every day served – for simply breathing.
We all know the popular adage "there ain't no such a thing as a free lunch." Well, apparently free lunches do exist for far left liberals, and they only apply to convicted felons serving hard time in prisons. Under existing law, early release credits are earned through participation in work training and education programs, not given for free as an entitlement…
LINK - BestSyndication.com
September 15, 2008
Council asked to offer resolution to support re-entry facility
The Paso Robles City Council will consider tonight whether to throw its support behind the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to use the former El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility as the preferred site for a 500-bed, joint re-entry facility to house inmates from San Luis Obispo, San Benito and Santa Barbara counties.
The re-entry facility, to be located at the former boys school site on the same site as a 1,000-bed medium risk facility and 80 to 200-bed fire camp, would be constructed from the ground up and house male, low-level inmates older than age 50 nearing parole. The council's approval of the conditional resolution of provisional support is tied to a separate, yet parallel issue involving jail funding for the counties who are involved in the re-entry proposal.
In order for the funding to move forward, the counties must provide the state Corrections Standards Authority a package that includes resolutions of support for the reentry sites by all the counties and the city on Thursday, Sept. 18…
LINK - PasoRoblesPress.com
June 3, 2008
Editorial: State Legislature, governor created mess with prisons
Legislators and the Schwarzenegger administration are playing a double game of dare with federal judges over how to fix the state's prisons. It's dangerous and expensive, and they're destined to lose. Probably they should, since lawmakers and prison managers have proved incapable of doing right on their own.
Last week, Senate Republicans twice thwarted a federal court-appointed overseer's request, which Schwarzenegger backs, for $7 billion in bond money to repair and build medical facilities for sick and mentally ill inmates. Having been denied, court receiver J. Clark Kelso is now vowing to seize a chunk of the money - $70 million now and $3.43 billion next year - out of the state's operating budget. That's not an idle threat; if carried out, such a move would raise the already disastrous projected deficit for next year to more than $18 billion.
Republican senators argue that it's premature to fork over the money while separate court-guided negotiations continue about reducing the prison population…
LINK - MercuryNews.com
May 30, 2008
New Folsom Prison frees up some space
Inmate overcrowding is lessening at the state prison nicknamed New Folsom, but a questionable convict death last month currently clouds a program that moves California inmates to out-of-state private custody.
Progress on prison crowding comes under legislation, AB 900, designed to fund prison construction, provide for transfer of California inmates out-of-state and reduce the number of drug offenders housed in state prisons.
At the local California State Prison, Sacramento, just uphill from Folsom State Prison, officials have nearly emptied a couple of gymnasiums formerly full of what are known as "bad beds," said spokeswoman Judy Loer. Bad beds are any non-regulation sleeping arrangements that have been made up in prison gyms and clinics around the state's penal institutions…
LINK - EDHTelegraph.com (El Dorado Hills Telegraph)
May 14, 2008
San Joaquin County gets what it needs
San Joaquin County got everything it sought for our County Jail expansion. Now it's up to us to build it and stanch the revolving-door jail operations.
The state Corrections Standards Authority said last week that the county will receive $80 million to help pay for a 1,280-bed expansion of the jail. That's everything the county asked for when state officials suggested - no, more than suggested, they said outright - state money would be forthcoming for a jail expansion if locals went along with a plan to open the shuttered women's prison as a re-entry facility for men.
Mind you, county officials were not happy about the possibility of another state prison facility here. We have more than our share. But they also were desperate for help expanding the jail, operating under a court-ordered population cap that means people who should be there are released because there is no room…
LINK - RecordNet.com
May 1, 2008
Prison Reforms Are Achieving Success, Numbers Are Down: Tilton Thanks San Bernadino for Help in Refo
James E. Tilton, Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation made a whirlwind swing through San Bernardino to meet and thank the officials for supporting the implementation of AB 900. Signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger April of 2007, the historic legislation provides a road map to reform and provides short-term and long-term solutions for the California prison system. According to Tilton, the reforms have already reduced the prison population from 173,000 to 170,000, by infill beds, getting people into drug treatment programs and making beds available for those who are mentally ill.
County Supervisor, Josie Gonzales welcomed Tilton, area elected officials, community and law enforcement citizens. He thanked them for this community's support. He will be retiring in May, but has left a team in place that can carry out the reforms already in action…
LINK - BlackVoiceNews.com (Black Voice News Online)
April 3, 2008
Trim state expenses, improve prison system with AB900 reforms
By Marc Bautista, Cindie Fonseca (published Thursday, April 03, 2008)
California's $8 billion deficit is forcing the state to make some hard choices. But our union's research estimates that we can trim hundreds of millions in waste from the California Department of Corrections each year and improve our prison system at the same time. Last April, the California State Legislature passed Assembly Bill 900-the landmark prison reform law that provided $7.7 billion in general fund and bond money to reduce overcrowding and expand rehabilitation programs in our state prisons.
After a year of meetings, reports and news releases, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has failed to make significant progress in the implementation of key reforms. This failure is in part due to persistent waste and mismanagement and the inability of CDCR to competently manage and oversee its programs, contractors and prisoners. This is costing California taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year…
LINK - CapitolWeekly.net
View the SEIU's 4-page Prison Reform Report: LINK - TheCABottomLine.org
April 2, 2008
Prison Reforms: Achieving Results
In the past year since lawmakers agreed on a comprehensive corrections overhaul and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 900, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has made great progress. As this document illustrates, there is a significant amount of oversight and direction that has been provided to this agency. My staff is fully committed to being responsive and accountable in meeting the benchmarks and expectations that have been laid out. CDCR has kept pace with AB 900 and has completed or is on track to complete each of the 13 progress benchmarks mandated by the bill..
March 26, 2008
Fresno Okays Correctional Facility
Fresno City Council members approved a controversial halfway house and privately run correctional facility along 'motel drive' Tuesday night, despite a crowd of people who showed up to protest the move. The former hotel will eventually house up to 300 women.
Fresno City Councilmember Mike Dages and Henry T. Perea were the only two council members who voted against the project. "I just can't see myself supporting this today," Dages said, as he explained approving the project would give a green light for others throughout the city.
Neighborhood residents and former prostitute turned community activist Carissa Phelps also attended the meeting. "We've just seen the City of Fresno really cement us in some bad precedence that sets up to be a dumping ground for prisoners all over the state," Phelps said as she left the council chambers…
LINK - ABCLocal.go.com (ABC Local News, Fresno)
March 22, 2008
ASH watching Paso for ripple effects
Administrators and union leaders at Atascadero State Hospital are monitoring plans for a new correctional facility in Paso Robles, but say it's too early to tell whether the proposals could trigger a renewed exodus of mental health workers from ASH.
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has outlined a plan that would transform El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility on Airport Road into a prison as soon as next year. The boys school is expected to close July 31 because of state budget cuts.
State officials say building a larger prison will help alleviate overcrowding in other facilities. The plans for a 1,000- inmate prison, a fire camp with low-level adult inmates and a state re-entry facility for prisoners within one year of parole are all under review by state and local officials…
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
March 19, 2008
Day center could lead to new jail funds
Shasta County's pursuit of a day reporting center for parolees could help bolster its chances at winning up to $30 million in state money toward a new jail.
However, at least eight other small California counties have an advantage over Shasta's application for the total $100 million available in state jail funding, Shasta County officials said at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting. Those eight counties have agreed to site re-entry facilities for rehabilitating prison inmates serving their last year of prison; Shasta County supervisors unanimously decided against the possibility last month.
The state is giving preferential consideration to counties that site re-entry facilities. But Shasta County Chief Probation Officer Brian Richart said the county's dire need for jail space could still make it one of the state's few grant recipients.
LINK - Redding.com (Redding Record Searchlight)
March 19, 2008
Prison in Paso called top priority for state; said extremely likely to become a reality
A 1,000-bed state prison for medium-risk of fenders proposed in Paso Robles is a high priority for the state and extremely likely to become a reality, officials said Tuesday night.
A design team visited the boys school site last week to draw up plans for using the buildings for the new prison, which would require additional fencing and guard towers.
The news came as the City Council peppered two high-level corrections staffers with hard questions about the future of the El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility, which will close by the end of July, at its Tuesday night meeting.
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com (San Luis Obispo County News)
March 12, 2008
San Mateo County officials apply for jail funds
Local officials will apply for a controversial state funding program that could buoy new county jail construction plans but may require a facility for state prison inmates to be built on the Peninsula. Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to pass a resolution to apply for funds from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Supervisors previously backed away from the program because of its requirement to build locked rehabilitation centers for state inmates who plan to come back to San Mateo County. But supervisors and Sheriff Greg Munks now hope the state will accept a compromise that will allow housing for some state prisoners without having to build a separate facility.
LINK - Examiner.com (The San Francisco Examiner)
March 11, 2008
CDCR Establishes Public-Private Partnership Strategy to Help Deliver Needed Reentry Facilities in Ca
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has issued a Request For Information (RFI) to site both Male and Female Secure Community Reentry Facilities. The advertisements, released Friday, are further indication of CDCR progress in implementing requirements set forth by the Legislature in AB 900, the comprehensive prison reform package signed by Governor Schwarzenegger on May 3, 2007.
Both of these advertisements and the follow-up Request for Proposals (RFPs) will result in the ability for CDCR to partner with private developers and public agencies to deliver community facilities throughout the state aimed at improving rehabilitation outcomes for California's inmate population.
LINK - CDCR.ca.gov (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Home Page)
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 6, 2008
Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard opines on early release, AB 900
The criminal next door
By Bill Leonard, Board of Equalization
Ever since the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) announced the early release of more than 20,000 prisoners, I have been trying to get a handle on who these might be.
CDCR describes them as "non-violent, non-serious, non-sexual" offenders. What is difficult for me to accept about that definition is that for years now I have heard that we no longer imprison "non-violent, non-serious" criminals in California. Instead, they do jail time or are released with restrictions.
The closest I have seen to a specific explanation of who will be released is a Sacramento Bee article a few weeks ago profiling a few inmates who seem to meet the criteria CDCR is citing…
LINK - HighlandNews.net (Highland Community News)
March 3, 2008
County seeks $100 million to expand Adelanto jail
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors are expected Tuesday to request funding in the amount of $100 million to help add 1,368 additional jail beds to the Adelanto Detention Center.
On May 3, 2007, the Public Safety and Offender Rehabilitation Services Act of 2007 became law. Among its provisions, state agencies are authorized to enter into agreements with participating counties for the acquisition, design and construction of local jail facilities.
Up to $1.2 billion is authorized by the legislation for county jail construction in two phases. In phase one, up to $750 million in funding is available through a competitive process. The board will consider a request to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Corrections Standards Authority, asking for the funds.
LINK - VVDailyPress.com (Victorville Valley Daily Press)
February 27, 2008
Contra Costa rejects plan for new prison
Responding to outcry from Antioch residents, Contra Costa supervisors on Tuesday quickly slammed the door on a proposal to build a 500-bed prison anywhere in the county.
The unanimous vote was an about-face for the board, which two weeks ago voted 5-0 to study the construction of a state rehabilitation facility at five county-owned sites. The furor began one day later, when Antioch residents were shocked to learn that one proposed site in Deer Valley was less than a mile away from two Antioch schools attended by nearly 5,000 students…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
February 26, 2008
New parolee facility in contra costa?
Where should they build it
Why some in Contra Costa Co. want to bring parolees to the communityA new state law requires that Contra Costa County build a new facility to help get ex-prisoners back into society. It would provide services such as job training, and counseling. The biggest question: where to build it. "One of the real problems that we've seen in recent years is that approximately 70-percent of inmates that leave state prison end up coming back within three years," said Seth Unger from the California Department of Corrections.
State Corrections Officials say the current system isn't working, they want to build more re-entry facilities. Counties that agree to accept the re-entry facility would get funding priority for jail construction. Contra Costa County needs more maximum security jail space, so it's nibbling at the carrot.
LINK - ABCLocal.go.com
February 21, 2008
Concerns raised about 1,900 more Wasco inmates
With a state prison that's poised for expansion in their backyard, city officials shared some concerns at a Wednesday meeting with state planners working on an environmental report about the proposed growth.
The expansion at Wasco State Prison is part of Assembly Bill 900, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed in 2007. The idea is to replace nontraditional beds in areas such as gyms and dayrooms with beds in cells. Wasco could hold 1,900 more inmates, bringing its total number to 8,000 men. More staff, perhaps 1,056 people, would be hired…
LINK - Bakersfield.com
February 20, 2008
6,900 beds cut in prison plan
Lawmakers critical of $222,000 cost for each new bunk.
California's $7.9 billion prison construction and rehabilitation plan will provide at least 6,900 fewer beds than previously promised and take longer to complete, according to testimony at a legislative hearing Tuesday and interviews with corrections officials.
An expansion plan slated for existing prisons has been downsized from 16,000 to 13,000 beds, officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told lawmakers at a state Senate Public Safety Committee hearing…
LINK - SacBee.com
February 20, 2008
Inmate release plan causes concern for Californians
There are mounting concerns here at home about a proposed plan to release 22,000 inmates from state prisons in California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made the proposal to help close a $14 billion gap in the state's budget. But local law enforcement officials are taking aim at the plan.
Kern County District Attorney Ed Jagels blasted the Governor's proposal, and Tuesday county supervisors joined Jagels in criticizing the plan to give hardened criminals a fast track to freedom. With California's budget $14 billion out of whack, one proposal is to save millions by releasing low risk convicts out of prison early…
LINK - KGET.com
February 20, 2008
Kern County: Supervisors sound alarm over plan
Kern County supervisors on Tuesday ripped into Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to release 22,000 state prison inmates early to save money.
They voted to send letters to local lawmakers demanding the state Legislature scuttle the governor's plan.
One supervisor even suggested shipping released Kern County prisoners to Beverly Hills to help Schwarzenegger understand the impact…
LINK - Bakersfield.com
February 14, 2008
AB 900: County will seek state funding for new jail
Amador County will move forward in seeking state funding for a new county
jail, the board of supervisors announced Tuesday. Supervisor Richard Forster, at the end of the board meeting, said that during a closed session meeting, the board agreed to move forward to hire a consultant to prepare the grant application.The grant, from Assembly Bill 900, passed last year as the Public Safety and Offender Rehabilitation Services Act, could provide up to $30 million toward a new jail. At present, the county jail has only 76 beds, but is expected to need 165 beds by 2010 and 217 beds by 2030, according to a report presented to the board last week by Harry Munyon of TRG Consulting in Rancho Mirage…
February 14, 2008
Delano residents air thoughts on prison plan
North Kern State Prison appears to be a good neighbor, but the road that leads to it could use some improvements. That's what state environmental planners heard from several people at a meeting Thursday regarding plans that would add more buildings and beds so inmates don't have to sleep in areas such as gyms and dayrooms. The growth is part of Assembly Bill 900, which gave the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation authority to design, construct or renovate prison housing and other structures to add up to 16,000 beds in several phases at state facilities, including North Kern…
LINK - Bakersfield.com
February 11, 2008
Re-entry Facility Considered for Adalanto
The Adelanto City Council may pass a resolution Wednesday in support of becoming a site for a state department of corrections and rehabilitation re-entry facility. The facility would house inmates 12 months or less prior to their release date and would provide services to prepare them to become members of the community again, said Glen Pratt, the deputy chief of corrections and detentions for San Bernardino County…
LINK - VVDailyPress.com
February 6, 2008
Re-entry Facility is Mystery for Paso
Paso Robles officials are struggling to find answers to their questions about a re-entry facility for state prison parolees that could be housed at what's now El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility. The city is suddenly in the middle of a statewide effort to revamp the way prisoners are paroled into their communities, officials said Tuesday night at a City Council meeting, and it needs more information before deciding whether Paso Robles would welcome such a facility…
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
February 6, 2008
Contra Costa County May Allow Prison; Expand Jails
County supervisors are looking into a plan that would allow the state to build a small prison in Contra Costa County while at the same time expanding capacity in the county's jails, largely on the state's dime. While they are two separate projects, the proposals are part of an incentive program that aims to relieve overcrowding in the state's 33 prisons. If the county agrees to let the state build what it calls a "re-entry facility" within its borders, the county then becomes eligible for a state grant that would cover up to 75 percent of the construction costs for county jail expansion…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
February 1, 2008
Hacienda State Prison?
Carissa Phelps (www.carissaproject.com/) got it right when she warned the community that if they did not act fast, a private corporation was going to develop the old Hacienda Hotel into a state prison, complete with razor wire, correctional officers, and high security. Phelps said that some city officials approved of the plan because it would provide some emergency housing for homeless women and it passed the Planning Commission on a 7-0 vote. Going into Wednesday night's "Truth on the Table" tour, set up by Fresno mayor Alan Autry, the proposal seemed like a slam dunk…
LINK - IndyBay.org
January 25, 2008
Meeting Gives Answers About Re-entry Facility
A grandfather worried about jail escapees, animal lovers wanted a new shelter to take priority, and some wondered about more help for Juvenile Hall. But most of the nearly 90 people attending Wednesday's public forum to discuss four potential county projects seemed focused on a potential state re-entry facility, which would house prison inmates from Shasta County and provide rehabilitative services during the last year of their sentences. "Will having a prison in the community benefit Redding?" Linda Soloniuk of Redding asked just before the meeting. "I think the answer is 'no.'"…
LINK - Redding.com
January 24, 2008
Will Reality of Re-entry Facility Match Promise?
Amid a surge of local skepticism, Shasta County and state prison officials will hold community meetings this week to give the public a much-needed chance for a closer look at a proposed new re-entry facility. On paper, the new state lockup is a promising idea…
LINK - Redding.com
January 20, 2008
Could a state prison replace boys school?
A proposal by Sheriff Pat Hedges to use the soon-to-close El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility as a state prison re- entry facility has angered Paso Robles city officials. The city learned of the plan earlier this week, said City Manager Jim App, when Hedges told Paso Robles police Chief Lisa Solomon about it at a meeting. The idea could help the county receive state funds for a separate project to build a women's jail…
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
January 9, 2008
Assemblyman Suggests El Paso Staff go to Atascadero State Hospital
BREAKING NEWS: Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee would like to see some of the 350 jobs that will be lost when the El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility closes this summer absorbed into vacancies at Atascadero State Hospital. It was announced last week that the youth facility would close no later than July 31…
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
January 3, 2008
Opinion: “Time for Prison Reform”
A showdown is in the air, and it appears that 2008 will be the year California's dysfunctional prison system is reformed - come hell or high water. It's not the best of scenarios. It would have been preferable that our governor or legislators corralled the beast, but even concerted efforts fell flat. While the governor did manage to put through a $7.9 billion bond that would create 53,000 new prison and jail beds, and even set aside some money for rehabilitation, it appears that Assembly Bill 900, approved in April 2007, was too little, too late…
LINK - TheReporter.com
January 2, 2008
Tri-County Committee Works with State on Re-entry Facility
Calaveras County, in conjunction with Amador and San Joaquin counties, is breaking new ground in how prisoners are released back to communities. But local officials are still hammering out details with the state and have just begun the first negotiations to nail down funding for local rehabilitation programs. A Tri-County Executive Re-entry Committee is in the initial stages of laying out a plan for the first re-entry facility in the state, located in Stockton…
LINK - CalaverasEnterprise.com
December 14, 2007
Gov. Schwarzenegger Applauds Corrections Standards Authority Action to Prioritize Jail Funding for R
Governor Schwarzenegger today applauded the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA) for unanimously voting to prioritize the point system to award jail funding to counties that site re-entry facilities. Creating secure re-entry facilities is part of the $7.7 billion comprehensive prison reform plan that will add 53,000 beds throughout the state…
LINK - Gov.CA.gov
December 6, 2007
County Looks at Paroles Re-Entry Program
In an effort to help paroled prisoners adjust more smoothly into their community and stay out of jail, the county may work with the state to develop a reentry plan that could accommodate as many as 200 parolees…
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
September 1, 2007
Chapter 3: “They said, He said, We said”
This latest MOU negotiations information update is based upon a series of correspondence between the Legislative leaders, Governor Schwarzenegger and CCPOA President Mike Jimenez.
As you will see, the Legislature expressed its concern about the direction of the contract negotiations between CCPOA and DPA. They also expressed reservations about the ability of the state to successfully implement the prison reform plan (AB 900) without the state having a better working relationship with its employees (CCPOA).
The governor responded, declaring "I have been following these negotiations closely and will continue to do so."
"Following?"
Does it sound a bit odd that our Governor, California's Chief Executive, is simply "following the negotiations?" Aren't leaders supposed to lead?
This curious quote is followed by a series of inaccurate statements and untruths designed to convince the Legislature that his office wants to bargain fairly with us. You can read the entire letter and decide for yourself.
The last letter included in this collection is the response memo from CCPOA President Mike Jimenez, addressed to the Legislative leaders, which identifies and highlights the inaccuracies and misinformation within the Governor's letter.
These letters are followed by four additional attached documents containing recent arbitration decisions where CCPOA was forced to file grievances against the state when the state failed to honor the terms of the most recent contract it entered into with CCPOA.
The state wants a new contract with us, but still refuses to follow the terms of the most recent agreement it made with us. Moreover, the state refuses to supply us with the details of all the take-aways they are seeking and instead have simply stated, "trust us."
Incidentally, there were no take-aways required of the highway patrol association during their contract negotiations, which lasted just twelve hours.
"Trust Us," they say.
Not likely.
Please see below for related attachments:
ltr_frm_Arnold.pdf
ltr_frm_Jimenez.pdf
ltr_Arb_transfers.pdf
ltr_frm_legislators.pdf
ltr_Arb_mileage.pdf
ltr_Arb_Ch_Pres_RTB.pdf
ltr_sups_an_CHP.pdf
ltr_Arb_bultin_brds.pdf
September 1, 2007
Chapter 2: “Negotiations”
On July 13, 2006 principals representing the Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) and CCPOA met in an out of the way little restaurant, sat down to have a burger and discuss how the negotiation process might begin and per Dave Gilb "outline the issues to see where we need to go."
Dave Gilb, then recently appointed Director of the Department of Personnel Administration (DPA), shared with us that the State was mainly interested in making progress on six areas of our contract. He said, "We want to focus on very specific things in the MOU-not everything. We want to get an agreement to start building trust." He also said that the leadership of the CDCR felt that they were "unable to properly manage" with sections of the contract that spoke to sick leave, post and bid, grievances and the "entire agreement" (Section 27.01) section of the contract. He further broke the State's wish list into six fairly narrow items:
- Addressing sick leave "offenders"
- PIEs calling in sick after being hired for a shift causing triple costs for coverage of one post.
- More flexibility on post and bid
- Changing the DJJ staffing ratio to conform to staff increases in the Ferrall consent decree.
- Modifying 27.01 to allow management flexibility
- A more effective grievance process
Mr. Gilb also spoke about the need for some "technical clean-up" of language in the contract that was antiquated or no longer applicable in light of the change in the name and mission of the departments. Mr. Gilb made it a point to tell us that the Administration wanted to make a deal. He stated several times in several different ways that the Governor understood how critical the situation in the prison system had become. Declaration Of Emergency He also said that the Governor knew how much overtime was being forced and how many vacancies existed. Mr. Gilb said the Governor knew that real reform would cost a lot, but his commitment was to fix it.
Mr. Gilb only spoke briefly about pay, but indicated that our formula wasn't a big problem except for classifications at the high end of the pay scale (PAs, CC1s, CC2 Specialists, etc.) and asked if we would entertain a set dollar amount for all members, but still maintain the formula for top step Correctional Officer. His hook was neither accepted nor rejected, we weren't negotiating.
Taking our turn at sharing wish lists, we presented five items (coming in Chapter 3). Overall it was a reasonably cordial meeting, professionally conducted by all present, including Dennis Batchelder, the State's specially contracted Chief Negotiator. Job Bulletin The meeting closed with Mr. Gilb assuring us that he would demonstrate the need for his proposed changes, that he would "justify and defend" each and every proposed language change the State negotiators planned to present.
We departed with the customary exchanges of handshakes and contact information. CCPOA's Chief of Labor/Chief Negotiator, Steve Weiss made arrangement to resume negotiations later in the week.
Moving back in history a small bit let me tell you what preceded the quaint luncheon I've just recounted.
The very first negotiation session between the parties took place at CCPOA Headquarters on June 9, 2006.
The State team arrived and gathered in their appointed conference room. After a short period the Chief Negotiator for the State, Dennis Batchelder, (hired specifically to negotiate against CCPOA) Batchelder Hired knocked on the door to the main conference room and announced that his team was ready to bargain. For our part, team members had read and discussed each of the member questionnaires, studied the issues important to both sides and felt fully prepared. To demonstrate our organization's commitment to the process, achieving an equitable outcome and our collective support for the team, every Executive Council member of CCPOA was present. We also wanted the Batchelder consortium to know that we were perfectly willing to engage in the process if circumstances warranted.
We were also prepared to record negotiations, admittedly an unprecedented act. We had arranged video and audio equipment so the entirety of negotiations would be available for the Legislature, the courts, the media and the general public to review. We felt recording the meeting was appropriate in light of all the attention being drawn by the Governor's very recent declaration of "a crisis in the prison system." In fact, the Legislature had been directed to enter in to a "special session" to pass legislation to rescue the severely overcrowded system.
Once again we knew, no matter what kind of agreement was made, it would be CCPOA alone defending it to the world. It seemed that both audio and video records of the process would be an adequate answer for anyone willing to watch and/or listen to hours and hours of what tends to be mostly boring exchanges. Verification seemed appropriate, considering three of the State's negotiators had also participated in the (2004) amendment to our 2001-2006 MOU, which resulted in a bitter arbitration concerning our pay. CCPOA was victorious achieving a decision that resulted in a large cash settlement. (Pay Arb. #1) Certainly we are all familiar with the cliché, "Fool me once; shame on you, fool me twice; shame on me."
Why wouldn't we want to record the process of negotiating a new contract? If for no other reason, it would reduce any potential for damage to the employer/employee relationship borne from fighting over who said what, which proposal was put across the table last, how a formula works and what is included, and who was present on any given day. Consider that any time one our members are questioned about our acts or omissions, we are questioned while a tape is rolling. Many of us work under the constant vigil of a recording device.
Some of us have become victims of poor quality video, and a complete absence of audio, in the department's recordings. Despite any concerns we may have with being recorded, we still go to work and do the job that we are paid to do. Heroic and courageous acts are also recorded but are seldom seen by the public. One might think the management team would just accept our videotaping and consider it an aspect of the job. One would be horrifically wrong if they made that assumption.
We signed in, asked a few perfunctory questions and passed the State's negotiators and document acknowledging that they had full authority to negotiate all of the proposals presented in the State's "sunshine" package, which they refused to sign Authority to Bargain. Mr. Batchelder received a note from a member of his team. He immediately called a caucus (timeout) meeting with his team and they all exited the room. After fifteen or twenty minutes, Mr. Batchelder returned and asked Steve Weiss to step out of the conference room. Mr. Weiss returned and informed our team that "under no circumstances" would the State team return to the negotiating table with any recording devices present. Video Cameras In hindsight, this single dispute would reveal more about the DPA's motives, objectives, and tactics than we ever imagined.
It's the absence of an objective record that has allowed DPA to declare impasse without having a single proposal on the table. Because no records exist beyond handwritten notes, except for two days of transcription and our brief recording, the DPA is able, and more than willing, to deceive the world by saying they have done everything possible to make a deal.
Later, using the Governor's bully pulpit, with the media as his audience, Mr. Gilb knows that he will be able to portray us as greedy guards Billion $ Statement and won't be challenged by any of the "invited guests" or be affected by the truth. The Governor will remain a media darling and reporters will still jump at the opportunity to interview him. Any serious challenge to the Administration could jeopardize the chance of a lifetime for a reporter. Its all "he said/she said" anyhow. Because none of it was recorded and DPA's design will have been preserved.
Fast forward to late July 2006:
After meeting the week prior without success in our attempts to negotiate ground rules, we set negotiations for Sunday, July30th. The CCPOA team was seriously interested in moving negotiations along in hopes of having something for the Legislature to vote on before adjournment in early September. After all, there was a Special Session of the Legislature underway and we were in the eye of the storm.
We were also cautiously optimistic that Mr. Gilb was basically genuine in luncheon meeting when he said the Administration wanted to move forward on prison reform. This optimism wasn't based solely on Gilb's assurances though. In the widely publicized meetings between CCPOA and the Administration's Senior Staff, there were numerous discussions about the Governor's thoughts on rehabilitation, and the impossibility of accomplishing significant reform without the support of Bargaining Unit 6.
It now appears that some cost/benefit analysis was done and the Administration has decided the cost of reform wasn't worth the benefit of rehabilitating anyone. Besides, the Administration had apparently already developed a plan to carry out the first rule of ALL bureaucrats: HAVE SOMEONE ELSE TO BLAME! The Governor has made this an art form. With just a little prompting, he once again took aim at state employees.
Unaware they were again forming a plan to blame Correctional Peace Officers for all the failings of the overcrowded prison system, CCPOA's negotiating team worked hard (without recording) all week to achieve ground rules so the real issues of bargaining could begin. At about five o'clock on a hot Sunday afternoon, after CCPOA compromised on nearly every issue concerning ground rules, the state refused to sign them. After a week of debating, time, location, number of team members, travel costs, travel time, supervisory presence, room size, room costs, recording devices, transcribers, length of caucuses, length of workdays, what would and what wouldn't be negotiated, and everything else in between, Dennis Batchelder refused to sign ground rules.
Ground Rules They Passed Ground Rules We Passed
Mr. Batchelder then decided ground rules were unnecessary. Oddly, it was Batchelder who refused to negotiate with recording devices present, clearly an element of ground rules, but with cameras out of the room, rules aren't needed. In the interest of making a deal, we had softened on all the issues that Mr. Batchelder said were important for him to be able to move the State team towards a deal. CCPOA Executive Council members had stepped away from the negotiating table as an exercise in good faith to give the negotiating teams a chance to start working collaboratively in an environment apart from the pressures of press and politics.
Despite the hard work and anguish associated with early compromise, nothing had been accomplished. Then, to add insult to injury, Mr. Batchelder chose a rare Sunday session to drop a three-hundred-fifty-page package proposal State Package Offer on the table and add that the State was done for the day. With that, the State's negotiating team got up, collected their belongings and walked out of the room.
The next day's session, scheduled to begin at nine o'clock, signified what would soon become typical of the State's effort for future meetings: it started late and ended early. Our entire team was present on time, despite spending long hours the night before digesting the State's "package deal" and still seething over its actions the day before. It wasn't just the waste of an entire week's effort, nor was it the cavalier attitude displayed when the State team tossed down what they had to know was a completely unacceptable and reprehensible proposal and left the building. Even the collective effort by DPA staff to negotiate in bad faith, by itself, wasn't enough to provoke my response on that last day in July. All of the issues combined, when viewed in the context of the existing situation, created an explosion. The blast was fueled by the frustration of genuine effort and time wasted. The flames were fanned by the unmitigated gall of DPA to pick six issues we care about and make a mockery of them by burying them in three hundred fifty pages of garbage. And the fuse was ignited when Dennis Batchelder told us that the State expected us to pay half of the cost of the transcriber he hired.
Yes, there was a tirade and it went on for several minutes. The transcript is nothing we should be or are proud of. Certainly my mother would not be pleased to hear many of the words that flew from my mouth that morning. The State's total lack of concern about the dangers of overcrowding referenced in the Administration's Emergency Declaration became a catalyst for that mounting fury. My mind's eye could not dislodge the image of young children, friends and family members mourning the deaths of brave, honest men and women like Sgt. Birchfield, YCC Baker or Officer Gonzalez, all killed during my career by the cold deliberate and preventable inmate acts. These images haunt my sleep and keep me awake at night. The words of a father missing his child still rings in my ears constantly. That anyone, let alone the likes of Batchelder, Gilb or our current Governor, could imagine that those three-hundred-fifty-pages represented anything akin to a deal worth the sacrifice could only cause a more reasoned man than I more rage than I have the capacity to express.
I do not apologize for, nor do I justify my behavior that day. It is what it is, I said what I said, and I still feel what I felt. This is not the time for apologies. Promises were made, insults were exchanged and the business at hand has yet to be attended. But if an apology is what is needed to give the negotiators for the State what they need to begin anew in earnest, I can deliver as much. They should know up front that if any of them think it is OK to be cute, clever, or play games and recklessly endanger the lives of the men and women who walk our beat every day and night so the citizens of California can sleep safely, work and play without fear, I'll likely be apologizing again.
I do not fear apologies. I welcome the opportunity to express my passionate respect and appreciation for the membership of CCPOA, the professionalism and dedication they exhibit everyday as they perform a necessary and despicable job under the most adverse of circumstances. For years our union has been falsely credited with being the most powerful labor force in the State of California. If this were true, after 30 years, we would not still be trailing the meter maids of the State's highways in respect, working conditions and compensation. We would not still be burdened with the false public image of being the villains of law enforcement. We already work the toughest beat in the state; how much more punishment should our members endure for the failures of the last few generations of the Corrections Agency's leadership?
July 10, 2007
Letter from Mike Jimenez, July 10 2007
Dear Speaker Nunez, Senator Perata, Assemblymember Villines and Senator Ackerman,
This letter is intended to respond to the letter from the Governor to you dated June 26, 2007, regarding the status of negotiations between the Governor's representative (DPA) and CCPOA.
The Governor states that "we've been negotiating with CCPOA for more...
June 26, 2007
A Letter From Arnold June 26 2007
Dear Speaker Nunez, Senator Perala, Mr. Villines and Senator Ackerman,
Thank you for your letter regarding negotiations between my administration and the California Correctional Peace Officers' Association (CCPOA). I have been following these negotiations closely and will continue to do so.
As you know, we've been negotiating with CCPOA for more than a year, both in formal negotiations and infonnal discussions. We've explored alternatives and held frank conversations about our differences, leading us to place an offer on the table valued at more than $250 million per year which, over four years, would exceed $1 billion.
