Reform
August 26, 2011
“Legislature shies away from criminal justice reform”
If yesterday's news is any indication, the legislature is not looking to make any big leaps towards reversing California's tough sentencing laws any time soon. Two reform bills met their end (or at least major roadblocks) yesterday: Senator Loni Hancock's effort to end the death penalty, and Senator Leland Yee's ongoing attempt to allow the possibility of parole to inmates who were sentenced to life in prison as children.
In a statement, Hancock said she withdrew her bill, which would have been a first step towards ending the death penalty in California, because “the votes were not there...”
LINK - KALWNews.org
May 10, 2011
Juvenile justice reformer urges collaboration
California’s state prison population has remained stubbornly high over the past decade. The new Alameda County Chief Probation Officer wants to lead his department in a new direction, one that focuses on prevention. David Muhammad, an Oakland native, favors an approach that promotes incentives to good behavior, rehabilitation and alternatives to incarceration. These are the kinds of methods, according to Muhammad, that get the best results – fewer people in prison and on probation and parole.
“Basically, if we assess you to be low risk, we are going to leave you alone,” Muhammad said in a recent talk to journalists at UC Berkeley. “If the person is high risk, we want to provide services and opportunities, not just the old trail you, nail you and jail you...”
LINK - HealthyCal.org
March 9, 2010
State’s policy on parole notes being reviewed
Three years of field notes from parole agents supervising John Albert Gardner III after his release from prison on a 2000 molestation conviction were destroyed under a state policy that is being reviewed as he faces charges of raping and murdering Chelsea King.
California prison officials said pertinent information on parolees is transferred to a central file and retained before agents’ notes are burned or shredded.
But Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, who represents the Poway area where Chelsea lived and went missing, wrote to state prisons Secretary Matthew Cate Monday, expressing alarm that the department destroys any records after one year...
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)
March 8, 2010
Budget cuts slash California rehabilitation program for prisoners
California prison officials began touting a new public safety reform in January that would encourage inmates to complete a rehabilitation course and earn six weeks per year off a sentence.
Inside Folsom State Prison, though, inmates and instructors leading such courses are skeptical it will work.
In reality, they say, budget cuts approved by legislators last year, needed to cope with an unprecedented fiscal crisis, are devastating programs that are the basis for the new credit and for helping inmates stay straight once free...
LINK - SacBee.com
February 4, 2010
US Supreme Court Justice Kennedy on Calif prisons and CCPOA
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy criticized California sentencing policies and crowded prisons Wednesday night, calling the influence that unionized prison guards had in passing the three-strikes law "sick."
In an otherwise courtly and humorous address to the Los Angeles legal community, Kennedy expressed obvious dismay over the state of corrections and rehabilitation in the country. He said U.S. sentences are eight times longer than those issued by European courts.
"California now has 185,000 people in prison at $32,500 a year" each, he said. He then urged voters and officials to compare that expense to what taxpayers spend per pupil in elementary schools….
LINK - LATimes.com
January 6, 2010
Assembly creates new prison reform oversight committee
Hot on the heels of smack-talking a campaign rival's self-funding, Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, D-Newark, today announced a new role in which he could either boost or undermine his campaign for state Attorney General: He'll chair the new Assembly Select Committee on Prison and Rehabilitation Reform.
In a state now renowned for dysfunctional government, the prison and rehabilitation system takes the cake: rampant overcrowding, copious contraband, heavy gang influence, runaway recidivism, a health-care system so bad it's been placed in federal receivership, etc…
LINK - IBABuzz.com
October 7, 2009
Local politician advocates for correction reform
The cost of the corrections system in California, and its effect on the state budget and public safety, are weighing upon Assemblymember Nancy Skinner. The local politician visited campus last Thursday, October 1.
Skinner is the Assemblymember for California's 14th District which includes Moraga as well as surrounding areas such as Walnut Creek, Berkeley and Oakland. Joining Skinner in the panel discussion was Jeanne Woodford, former director of the California Department of Corrections, Professor Ron Ahnen of Saint Mary's, and Captain Mike Newman of the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office. According to Skinner, "this issue of prison reform is the reason I wanted to run for office."
Skinner began the discussion with the fact that the state of California allocates the same amount of the budget to higher education as it does to the state prisons. For a state which prides itself on the quality of education it provides to citizens, Skinner doesn't like those numbers. According to Skinner, the state puts a lot of effort into improving public safety, but she isn't sure that goal is being accomplished with its current policies…
LINK - SMCCollegian.com
September 26, 2009
Contra Costa County leaders urging parole reform
With a recidivism rate for ex-offenders of 65 percent to 70 percent statewide, Contra Costa County communities identified as crime hot spots are seeking ways to improve the parole system.
Leaders of communities such as Richmond, Pittsburg and Bay Point say they may be able to take a huge bite out of the crime rate if they can coordinate health care, job training and placement, housing, mental health and substance abuse treatment for parolees and probationers.
"We have a fragmented and disconnected system now," said DeVone Boggan, who heads the office of Neighborhood Safety in Richmond. "People paroled into Contra Costa get $200 and a backpack…"
LINK - InsideBayArea.com
September 15, 2009
Legislature stopped short: Prison reform inadequate
The only major legislation the Assembly and state Senate managed to push through before ending the regular session in the wee hours Saturday will slash nearly $1 billion from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation budget and reduce the prison population by about 16,000 inmates.
That might seem like an accomplishment but, unfortunately, it is inadequate on both counts.
The state was supposed to find a way to trim $1.2 billion from corrections. Now California's perilous budget is at least $200 million off kilter…
LINK - TheReporter.com
August 19, 2009
Schwarzenegger tours devastation after prison riot
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday toured the Southern California prison where 175 inmates were injured in a riot earlier this month, likening the devasation to a scene from one of his movies.
More than 1,000 inmates were involved in the Aug. 8 riot at the California Institution for Men in Chino. The melee left dormitories so badly damaged that inmates have been shipped to other prisons while the dorms are being repaired. One unit was burned, while toilet seats, pipes and other materials were ripped out to be used as weapons.
"Entire housing units were burned," Schwarzenegger said during a news conference after surveying the damage. "It looks like a scene from one of my movies, except this is real danger here and real destruction…"
LINK - Google.com (Associated Press)
August 19, 2009
Governor highlights his prison plan at site of a recent prison riot
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today visited the California Institution for Men in Chino, the site of a prison riot earlier this month that sent 55 inmates to hospitals and caused millions of dollars worth of property damage.
Schwarzenegger said his main motivation was to thank prison guards who were able to quell the unrest without "loss of life," but the governor wasted no time in making a pitch for his prison reform package that would save the state $1.2 billion this year by reducing the state prison inmate population by about 27,000.
Prison overcrowding has been one of the biggest issues for the state, and the issue was highlighted when fights broke out among inmates at the Chino prison, where nearly 6,000 prisoners are housed in a facility built for 3,000 inmates…
LINK - SFGate.com
July 20, 2009
Calif. Leaders Urged to Reform Costly Prison System
The leader of a Christian organization dedicated to criminal justice reform is urging California's "irresponsible leaders" to pull the state's prisons out of the vicious cycle they've been in over the past decade or two.
"Even 'tough on crime' Texas has made dramatic changes that will reduce their prison population by punishing many offenders in the community, where they have access to treatment programs, and are close to their families and work," noted Prison Fellowship Vice President Pat Nolan, who leads Justice Fellowship, Prison Fellowship's public policy arm.
"California on the other hand is going in the opposite direction," he added in a commentary that appeared this week in the Huffington Post…
LINK - ChristianPost.com
June 10, 2009
Editiorial: One man’s journey through prisons and parole brings problem into focus
…The Reception Center at San Quentin is a warehouse, a place where people await their next jail cell. It is not a place where people like Scott learn to mend their ways. It's a Petri dish of recidivism. Jailers acknowledge that there is no attempt at rehabilitation of any kind. You are more likely to get mental health services on the moon.
This is not to say that Scott deserves kid gloves. He either can't or won't improve his condition and as a result he leaves a trail of victims everywhere he goes. His convictions include vehicle theft, fighting and obstruction of a police officer. He has never followed the instructions of his parole officer and here's betting he never will. He can be combative. He is unapologetic. He is frightening at worst and at best merely frustrating.
And he'll be back. Trust me. It's an uncertain world, but this much I know: James Scott will return here upon his release for a matter of days before he does something that gets him thrown back in jail, where you and I can pay for his three hots and a cot for another few months…
LINK - HMBReview.com (Half Moon Bay Review)
June 1, 2009
Editorial: “Bill would help revamp our state’s failing probation system”
What happens to the 200,000 people who are convicted of felonies in California each year? About 40,000 a year go directly to our overcrowded prison system.
But 160,000 are sentenced to probation and a short time in county jail or to probation alone, mostly for drug offenses. This means they are supervised by a probation officer in their home communities and must meet conditions, such as holding a job, doing community service, paying restitution to victims and participating in drug or alcohol programs.
That probation system is under serious strain, and many offenders get lost in it. The result: 40% of new prison admissions are offenders who have failed on felony probation at the local level…
LINK - FresnoBee.com
June 1, 2009
Editorial: “A good deal on state prisons”
The budget crisis gripping the state just may have some positive long-term effects, at least as it relates to the state's overcrowded corrections system and its runaway spending.
Last week came news that California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Matt Cate and Clark Kelso, the man appointed by a federal judge to bring medical care in the system up to constitutional standards, reached broad agreement on construction of two long-term health care facilities for inmates, one of them possibly in San Diego, with a total of 3,400 beds. Under the agreement, medical facilities also would be improved at each of the state's 33 existing prisons…
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)
May 1, 2009
Program Helps Female Parolees Stay Out of Prison
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is holding its first graduation for female parolees from the Female Residential Multi-Service Center (FRMSC) in Sacramento. The FRMSC is the first of its kind in California and provides gender specific programs and services for female parolees.
The FRMSC opened its doors on April 28, 2008 in a residential area of Sacramento. Bridges Professional Treatment Services is the contract provider and with the help of CDCR staff has been helping women who suffer from trauma and substance abuse issues.
"This program gets to the heart of why women fail on parole," said CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate. "This new approach is part of the overall strategy to provide rehabilitative services that address the specific needs of female offenders throughout incarceration and parole…"
LINK - CDCR.ca.gov
April 30, 2009
Felons learn how to find jobs and lose problematic tattoos
For parolee Bradley Thrash, the tattoos on his arms and face are not just a constant reminder of a past he's trying leave behind — they are an obstacle to the successful future he sees for himself.
"A first impression is major in the job market," the Corona resident said. "Tattoos are a hindrance."
And so it was that on Wednesday, Thrash, 38, attended the New Beginnings Resource Day at the Department of Public Social Services building in Rubidoux to get information on low-cost tattoo removal….
LINK - PE.com
April 29, 2009
Riverside County DA urges reform of death-penalty process
Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco called for overhauling the state's death-penalty system during a Capitol rally Wednesday for crime victims.
Pacheco, the keynote speaker at the 20th annual Victims March on the Capitol, criticized the years-long delays between when a criminal is sentenced to death and when the execution takes place.
Pacheco singled out the 1992 death sentence for Andrew Lamont Brown, of Riverside, for killing 17-year-old Christina Ann Ramirez, of Riverside, during a carjacking. Brown remains on death row.
"How has this animal not received justice?" Pacheco said, choking up. "He has been sitting on death row at our expense for $90,000 a year for 17 years…"
LINK - PE.com (Press-Enterprise)
March 24, 2009
Prison guard union calls for reform at Hastings conference
Currently, a special three-judge panel has held that the overcrowding problems contribute to the poor health care delivery and have told the state it can't build its way out of the problem with new prisons but should reduce the numbers by more than 50,000 inmates. That decision is currently on appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Speaking to a University of California Hastings College of Law prison reform conference, Michael Jimenez, the president of California's powerful prison guards' union, he backs a state sentencing commission to reform prison terms. "We can't overcome the gridlock [in the Legislature]. We need a sentencing commission," he said…
LINK - LALegalPad.com
September 28, 2008
Some of state’s best schools are behind bars
Students in the Palmetto Unified School District in South Carolina have no Internet access, no PTA, no Friday night football. Their school is in a prison.
Still, they have performed well enough to earn their school district behind bars an "excellent" rating on the South Carolina Annual School Report Card the past five years.
Prisons across the nation are using education programs to reduce the rate of recidivism and to give inmates hope for their future…
LINK - GreenvilleOnline.com
September 5, 2008
Stopping the School to Jail Pipeline in California
Recent media accounts have reported on the rising rates of school suspensions in California. Clearly, the problem is statewide, but is worse in neighborhoods already stressed by high rates of violence and poverty. We seem to be staring directly down the "school to jail pipeline"—meaning that youth that have behavior issues walk a fine line between school and the corrections system. Before we fall back on the hackneyed and disproven solution of more police (especially officers untrained to handle teens) or more punitive responses, we owe it to our youth to think carefully.
We have a right to ask a great deal of our schools; they must be safe, respond to the current realities of the families they serve, and strive for high student achievement. However, they need the tools and resources to do all we ask of them. School budgets are in dire straits. We have cut everything from music, sports, and after-school programs, to counselors and mental health services. Teachers lack training in handling difficult student behavior. They have less freedom to respond to the varied learning styles of their students and more pressure to conform to standardized tests. We must not resign ourselves to an increasingly harsh school culture…
LINK - CaliforniaProgressReport.com
August 8, 2008
Re-entry prison views are aired
Residents aired their views on community safety vs. parolee rehabilitation at a community meeting Thursday night to discuss the proposed building of a state prison re-entry facility in Salinas.
More than 60 Salinas-area residents attended the two-hour meeting at Sherwood Hall, some of them weighing in on the issue before Monterey County and Salinas city leaders vote to decide whether the state can build a prison re-entry facility which would house up to 500 nonviolent inmates serving the last year of their sentences.
"If we want to lower crime (in the county) we need to turn the tide and this is the first step," said Monterey County Sheriff Mike Kanalakis…
LINK - TheCalifornian.com
August 4, 2008
Ex-con pushes for re-entry facility
Charles Russell swears by the power of God and vocational training.
After a rough upbringing in South Central Los Angeles and 20 years in and out of state prison, the 51-year-old Greenfield resident credits his current life with wife, children and his own home to finding religion and learning a trade during his last stint at the California Correctional Center in Susanville.
When he walked out of there 14 years ago, he had a job, a house waiting for him and the determination to not go back…
LINK - MontereyHerald.com
August 2, 2008
Opinion: “Re-entry program a good choice”
Make no mistake: Hundreds of state prison inmates who've done their "time" return to Monterey County every year.
AdvertisementBy law, the state sends them back to their county of residence.
Until now, they were given a bus ticket home and stepped off the coach with $200 in their pocket. Some of the drug addicts among these parolees would find the nearest pusher and pick up where they left off. Those parolees who actually sought a positive change for themselves arrived "cold turkey" back in the community with few if any job skills, no social orientation or preparation for their return to society. In effect, the chances were slim that they would "make it" back in the real world. The system proved them right: Seven in 10 parolees ended up back in prison…
LINK - TheCalifornian.com
July 23, 2008
CDCR Says: “Design would limit re-entry site’s use”
Design and financing restrictions for California's re-entry facilities would make it difficult to transform them into high-security prisons, a team from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation assured Monterey County officials on Tuesday.
Responding to concerns expressed by the Board of Supervisors - who in turn have heard constituents' concerns - Paula Gutierres, CDCR's deputy director of facilities planning and construction management, said the 500-bed re-entry facility planned for the old Natividad hospital site would be designed with no watchtowers, no barbed wire fences and no visible sign that the building is housing inmates…
LINK - MontereyHerald.com
July 23, 2008
Prisons make a case for facility
Each year, hundreds of parolees return to Monterey County after serving their prison terms.
Under the old model of prison release, they're let go with $200 and a bus ticket, said Kathy Prizmich, deputy chief of external affairs for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
That's proven to be a failed approach, Prizmich said, because 70 percent of parolees are back in prison within three years…
LINK - TheCalifornian.com
July 22, 2008
State seeks prison re-entry site in Salinas
On Tuesday, state prison officials made their case to the Board of Supervisors for building a re-entry facility near Monterey County Jail in Salinas.
Under the plan, male inmates housed at the facility would receive job training and counseling for a year before they're released.
In addition to job training, inmates would receive everything from drug counseling to housing assistance to anger management. Inmates would not be allowed to leave the state-run facility while housed there…
LINK - TheCalifornian.com
July 14, 2008
Another try for parolee ID plan
Valid state-issued identification, something many people take for granted, may be missing for some California residents – those getting out of prison.
Some lawmakers hope to change that with Assembly Bill 2099, which would set up a test program at three prisons with the goal of handing a valid state ID to parolees before they walk out the front gates.
"This is a very simple, sensible, small step to help former prisoners reintegrate into society and become tax-paying citizens," said the bill's author, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley. "If only two parolees don't return to prison, this program will pay for itself."
Legislative analysts peg the cost of the test program at $55,000. Housing two prisoners for a year costs about $71,000…
LINK - SacBee.com (The Sacramento Bee)
July 13, 2008
Opinion: “Get-tough policies cause more crime, deny inmates a future”
U.S. taxpayers spend at least $60 billion a year on a growing body of state and federal prisons, county jails and local lockups. With jail and prison populations that have increased nearly eightfold over the past 35 years, the United States has become the world's leading jailer.
More than one in every 100 U.S. adults is locked up — and 5 million more are on probation or parole. At any given time, one in 32 adults is under the supervision of the criminal justice system.
Tough-on-crime policies, not increases in crime, are mostly responsible. Mandatory drug sentences, three-strike and so-called truth-in-sentencing laws, as well as high recidivism rates, have created our Incarceration Nation…
LINK - FreeP.com (The Detroit Free Press)
July 12, 2008
Editorial: Drop tasty carrots here
If you want to get everyone in the neighborhood to come to a meeting, tell them there's a plan to build a jail nearby. About the only thing that might stir up more interest and worry would be plans for a landfill or a power plant.
It makes perfect sense that some in Salinas are upset by the idea of 500-bed re-entry facility for state prison inmates at the Natividad Medical Center/sheriff's office/county jail complex along Natividad Road.
Call it a jail, call it a prison, call it a re-entry facility. Whichever, it would be filled with guys who were locked up in the first place because of their tendency to do bad things. Who in their right mind would ever welcome such a place into their neighborhood?…
LINK - MontereyHerald.com
June 29, 2008
Opinion: “We need to plan for that day the cell door opens”
It is as important to provide re-entry programming for incarcerated individuals as it is to offer rehabilitative services to them while imprisoned, especially for youth offenders.
Juvenile delinquency is a major pipeline to the adult prison system, which is already bursting at the seams. The truth is that very few people in prison stay there forever.
It is in our best interest to invest in helping those who pay their debt to society, whether juveniles or adults, find their way back and assist them in pursuing successful living. The reality for persons returning to society from incarceration is that most must come back to the environment they were in when they got into trouble…
LINK - CommercialAppeal.com Tennessee
June 12, 2008
Alabama: State explains new offender re-entry idea
For years, people have turned to community and faith-based organizations when something bad happens. The strength of that support helped rebuild local lives after recent hurricanes and other disasters, said Bill Johnson, director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.
On Wednesday, Johnson said the state is now asking businesses, faith-based and community organizations for support in what some may consider a more difficult challenge: helping prisoners successfully transition into the community.
"We know with your involvement, we will make the situation better," Johnson told the more than 100 representatives of various organizations who attended a regional meeting at Faulkner State Community College. "All we are trying to do is tap into this great desire of people to help with folks that actually need the help"…
LINK - AL.com (Everything Alabama)
June 11, 2008
Opinion: “Getting more out of Texas prisons”
When it comes to the criminal justice system, Texans get what they pay for. Funding is largely based on volume — as Texas' prison population has quadrupled during the last two decades, the cost to taxpayers has risen proportionally.
Although warehousing works to the extent that inmates cannot commit another crime while in prison, 99 percent of inmates ultimately will be released — usually while still in their prime criminal years. Many of the same offenders are recycled through the system; 60 percent of Texas prison intakes are revoked probationers and parolees. The three-year re-incarceration rate of released Texas inmates has hovered around 30 percent during the past decade.
Leaders from the Texas Capitol to European houses of parliament are increasingly recognizing that reducing recidivism is crucial to controlling future incarceration costs and the incalculable human costs to victims and communities from criminal activity. This realization inspired a 111-page manifesto released in March by England's Conservative Party, titled Prisons with a Purpose: Our Sentencing and Rehabilitation Revolution to Break the Cycle of Crime…
LINK - Star-Telegram.com
June 10, 2008
Prison overseer tells Calif. gov. he needs $7B
The court-appointed receiver who oversees medical care in California's prisons asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday to invoke his emergency powers to provide $7 billion to improve inmate care.
Court-appointed receiver J. Clark Kelso has been given broad authority by federal courts to fix the nation's largest state prison system's medical and mental health care, treatment so poor it has been ruled unconstitutional.
Kelso and the Legislature, however, have been unable to agree on where the funding to fix it should come from. The state Senate has blocked borrowing that Kelso says he needs to fix medical care for the state's more than 170,000 prisoners.
If the receiver doesn't get his way, a judge could order the money taken directly from the state treasury…
LINK - AP.Google.com (Associated Press)
June 6, 2008
This time, parolee has a plan — a halfway house to help him stay out of prison
Paroled out of San Quentin at 8 a.m. Saturday, Ronald Eugene Williams hopped two buses and by 4:45 p.m. had rolled into the Greyhound-Amtrak station in Old Town Roseville.
From there, the nine-time convicted felon got a ride to an Auburn halfway house for drug addicts and alcoholics that he will call home for the next six months.
On Monday, he checked in with his new parole agent and shocked her world…
LINK - SacBee.com (The Sacramento Bee)
May 22, 2008
Ionia jail attempts to educate parolees to keep them from returning
IONIA — In a small gym in the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility, about 20 prisoners from Kent and Allegan counties sat in front of Grand Rapids police officers, much like the ones who put them behind bars in the first place.
Prison officials teamed up with law enforcement officers as part of the Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative, which aims to change prisoners' perspectives about police rather than viewing officers as waiting for them to do something wrong. The program connects those soon to be paroled with the resources needed to succeed in their new lives.
The hope is to keep them from returning to prison…
LINK - MLive.com (Everything Michigan)
May 2, 2008
Delco Prison: “Too many deaths”
Too many inmates are dying at Delaware County's jail.
Since 2005, at least eight inmates have died at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Thornton, the only privately run jail in Pennsylvania. The latest fatality is Kenneth Kallenbach, 39, who died April 24 after contracting pneumonia at the lockup. He had been held there awaiting trial since mid-March. Last year, a woman died at the jail after being held there for six weeks. She suffered from a thyroid condition; her family said she was not receiving her medication. In 2005, five inmates died in five months. Two were apparent suicides; one was a heroin overdose.
GEO Group, which operates the facility, has faced lawsuits over these deaths. It has problems elsewhere. In Texas, where GEO runs more than a dozen prisons, it has come under criticism for alleged mismanagement and foul conditions. One inspector called an adult facility in Texas operated by GEO the worst he'd ever seen…
LINK - Philly.com (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
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)
May 1, 2008
Report: More improvements needed at state prisons
Improvements have been made to the state prison system since the 2005 death of an inmate held locally, but more needs to be done, says an Inspector General audit.
In 2005, Wasco State Prison inmate Daniel Provencio died after a guard shot him in the head with a 40 mm foam bullet during a fight in a prison day room. Provencio, who was drunk at the time, had been yelling and walking towards a guard when he was hit.
Past audits have led to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation improving the process of identifying maximum security inmates who shouldn't be placed in the general prison population. They have also improved weapons training, the report states…
LINK - Bakersfield.com (The Bakersfield Californian)
April 17, 2008
Prison guards express hope
Marty Aroian, former president of the California Institution for Men's chapter of the California Corrections Peace Officers Association and a correctional officer at the Chino prison, expressed hope for change. "I would certainly hope that Mr. Cate would concentrate more attention on the seriously declining infrastructure at the California Institution for Men," Aroian said. "We have serious plumbing and electrical problems at CIM."
Lt. Mark Hargrove, spokesman for the Chino prison, said he was sad that Tilton would be leaving.
"Under Mr. Tilton's leadership, the California Institution for Men has made many positive changes," Hargrove said. "He was attentive to the challenges we face on a daily basis and strived to make conditions better. He will be missed."…
LINK - SBSun.com (The San Bernadino Sun)
March 16, 2008
Judge ‘in it for long haul’ on prison reform
The federal judge at the center of the controversy over prison conditions in California said Saturday that judicial pressure is needed to persuade officials to respect inmates' constitutional rights.
"Correctional defendants are particularly resistant to courts ordering change," U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson of San Francisco said at a conference on penal reform at the University of San Francisco. "Prison personnel can be experts at the waiting game. I'm not going away. I'm here for the long haul."
LINK - SFGate.com (San Francisco Chronicle)
March 7, 2008
CSP-Solano: Pomp, praise for inmate graduates
Tolliver was one of 130 inmates at California State Prison, Solano, who graduated from myriad educational programs - through Vaca Valley Adult School - ranging from General Education Diplomas (GEDs) to certifications to college degrees.
Their smiles were a rare sight, Warden D.K. Sisto said, and a welcome one. Their achievements, he added, were extraordinary.
"It's actually the first step in turning their lives around," Sisto said. "It takes courage, dedication and endurance on their part, and love, support and sacrifice on (families') part."
LINK - TheReporter.com
March 5, 2008
Medical czar: Fixing prison health system won’t come cheap
The state's new prison medical czar said Wednesday it's going to be expensive to provide constitutional care to California inmates and that he will not shy away from fighting to obtain the resources he needs to fix the system.
Receiver J. Clark Kelso did not put a price tag on his fix-it plan during his talk at an issues forum sponsored by the state correctional officers union, his first public appearance since taking over the job six weeks ago.
Kelso said he expects that negotiations with legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration will be "difficult" amid the current budget crisis, but added, "I have to be able to work in the context of existing political conditions."
LINK - SacBee.com (Sacramento Bee)
March 5, 2008
America Behind Bars: Why Attempts at Prison Reform Keep Failing
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared plans in January 2005 to reform California's prisons, starting with a rebranding campaign (it's the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation now), his announcement signaled much-needed relief for California taxpayers, whose overstretched, scandal-prone prison system was screaming for an overhaul.
But three years later, California maintains the second-highest prison population in the country (171,444 in January 2008) and the highest recidivism rate (a staggering 70 percent).
From the start, people familiar with the embattled prison system were skeptical. "Everybody's going to get new business cards and letterheads," said Lance Corcoran, vice president of the powerful California Correctional Peace Officers Association, "but we haven't changed with respect to providing inmates anything different."
LINK - Alternet.org
March 2, 2008
AP finds 13,000 claims of abuse in juvenile detention centers
The Columbia Training School - pleasant on the outside, austere on the inside - has been home to 37 of the most troubled young women in Mississippi.
If some of those girls and their advocates are to be believed, it also is a cruel and frightening place.
The school has been sued twice in the past four years. One suit brought by the U.S. Justice Department, which the state settled in 2005, claimed detainees were thrown naked in to cells and forced to eat their own vomit. The second one, brought by eight girls last year, said they were subjected to "horrendous physical and sexual abuse." Several of the detainees said they were shackled for 12 hours a day…
LINK - AP.org (Associated Press)
February 29, 2008
Video: No Way Out of the California State Prison Merry-go-round?
This article originally ran in December, 1998, but may of the observations and issues remain.
December 1998 Atlantic Monthly
Interviews with prisoners and inmates illustrate a clear need for change in the California prison release program that is under consideration now. Prisons are run on fear. The gangs rule. Most inmates have no skills. They want and need education and training before they hit the streets.
David Rocha went into Section A at SAC (California State Prison outside of Sacramento) to talk to inmates and guards about the control gangs have over the lives of prisoners in prison and on the streets. The inmates in Section A are "no good" former gang members who have left their gangs and are in protective custody within the prison system. Some have release dates and hope for a new crime-free life outside of jail. Is there a way out for them?
LINK - IndyBay.org
February 29, 2008
Feature Article: The Prison-Industrial Complex
Correctional officials see danger in prison overcrowding. Others see opportunity. The nearly two million Americans behind bars—the majority of them nonviolent offenders—mean jobs for depressed regions and windfalls for profiteers.
In the hills east of Sacramento, California, Folsom State Prison stands beside a man-made lake, surrounded by granite walls built by inmate laborers. The gun towers have peaked roofs and Gothic stonework that give the prison the appearance of a medieval fortress, ominous and forbidding. For more than a century Folsom and San Quentin were the end of the line in California's penal system; they were the state's only maximum-security penitentiaries. During the early 1980s, as California's inmate population began to climb, Folsom became dangerously overcrowded. Fights between inmates ended in stabbings six or seven times a week. The poor sight lines within the old cellblocks put correctional officers at enormous risk. From 1984 to 1994 California built eight new maximum-security (Level 4) facilities. The bullet holes in the ceilings of Folsom's cellblocks, left by warning shots, are the last traces of the prison's violent years.
LINK - TheAtlantic.com
February 25, 2008
Budget watchdog’s plan finds fault with governor’s early-release proposal
The Legislative Analyst's Office is proposing to shift more than half of the state's parole population to county probation control. In its most recent analysis of the state budget, the LAO said the move could mean annual savings to the state of $500 million.
"We've been on record for something like 15 years advocating the idea of consolidating state parole supervision with county probation," said Dan Carson, chief of the LAO's criminal justice program. "What we've come up with this year is a specific proposal that takes the first step in that direction." Carson said the LAO proposal contrasts sharply with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plans to release 22,000 inmates in the final 20 months of their term and leave them and 18,500 more offenders essentially unsupervised but still subject to search and seizure…
LINK - SacBee.com
February 21, 2008
Van Tran wants state to check immigration status of prisoners
Assemblyman Van Tran has introduced a bill that would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations to verify the immigration status of any new prisoner taken into state custody.
The bill, which would require correctional officers to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal law, is aimed at reducing the state costs Tran sees related to the state's influx of illegal immigration. A Vietnamese immigrant himself, Tran says prison costs could be cut tremendously by deporting, instead of detaining, such criminals…
LINK - DailyPilot.com
January 15, 2008
Reforming Our Prisons in 2008: Can California Get Rational Sentencing
The outcry over Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal last week to release 22,000 prisoners as part of a budget deficit reduction plan has drawn some predictable responses - mostly expressions of horror and fear mongering ala Willie Horton about criminals coming to your neighborhood. It came as a shock to Assembly Republicans - and taking a look at what the Governor had to say repeatedly last year about prisoner releases, this is actually very understandable…
LINK - CaliforniaProgressReport.com
January 7, 2008
Opinion: “Prisoners of Panic”
The pattern has become all too clear. Our politicians, fearful of being labeled "soft on crime," react to sensationalistic coverage of a crime with knee-jerk, quick-fix answers. Only years later do the mistakes, false assumptions and unexpected consequences begin to emerge, and then the criminal justice system is forced to deal with the mess created by the bad lawmaking…
LINK - LATimes.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
November 18, 2007
Lock Up Prison Cash
Despite rosy expectations of a "100 percent" state-funded jail, Shasta County likely will be eligible for no more than $12.5 million - a fraction of the money it would need to build a 300- to 500-bed jail. The available financing is well short of the estimated $97 million construction cost for a 480-bed jail, as well as the $20 million estimate for a 120-bed jail…
LINK - redding.com
