Safety Issue
April 21, 2012
Prison realignment hasn’t yet compromised safety in Butte County
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said, up to this point, realignment is being achieved without a serious compromise to public safety.
"Unfortunately, the major consequence of AB109 is that there will be people out on the street that shouldn't be there and in the past would have been in custody," Ramsey said.
The Sacramento-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation claims offenders who now qualify for local jail or treatment under AB109 are already being arrested for new felonies, including violent crimes. The new law prevents criminals whose most recent conviction is for one of a host of theft- or drug-related felonies from being sentenced to state prison...
LINK - OrovilleMR.com
April 21, 2012
CMF cell phone issue concerns grand jurors
California Medical Facility in Vacaville should have a plan to control unauthorized use of cell phones among inmates, the Solano grand jury recommended in a report issued Friday.
The jury, which regularly reviews and reports on various government institutions, said its concern is that inmates' can use unauthorized cell phones for illegal purposes which poses a threat to staff and inmate safety, according to the report.
"CMF staff stated there is a problem with cell phones being smuggled in by staff members and vendors for inmates' illegal use," the report noted...
LINK - TheReporter.com
April 21, 2010
Corrections officers say cuts raise safety issues
NORCO - Less than a year after Chino's destructive prison riot, state corrections officers say cost-cutting could contribute to another just like it.
The safety of the public and of prison officers is imperiled by a 3 percent to 5 percent reduction in staffing levels statewide, according to dozens of local corrections officers who protested the decreases on Tuesday at the California Rehabilitation Center.
The officers said inmates receive less supervision, which encourages them to take advantage of less-secure situations.
"My main concern is knowing the troops are being denied proper coverage," said James Howell, a corrections officer at the CRC.
"We're already outnumbered from the get-go. This is about safety. Somebody is gonna get hurt..."
LINK - DailyBulletin.com
April 14, 2010
Colorado investigates disturbance at prison
HUDSON, COLO. — The Colorado Department of Corrections is investigating a disturbance at the Hudson Correctional Facility, a private prison that houses inmates from Alaska.
Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti says the disturbance happened late Tuesday or early Wednesday and is reportedly under control. Details of the disturbance were not immediately available.
Cornell Companies Inc. built the 1,250-bed, medium security prison last year and hoped to house up to 1,000 Alaskan inmates there. Company spokesman Charles Seigal did not immediately return a message...
LINK - SFExaminer.com
April 14, 2010
Inmates Take Over Part Of Private Colo. Prison
HUDSON, Colo. - A private prison in Hudson was locked down Wednesday morning after a handful of inmates took over part of the facility.
The Hudson Correctional Facility at 3001 N. Juniper St. houses about 100 inmates from Alaska, according to a spokesman for the facility.
Charles Siegel of the Cornell Companies in Houston said that 7 or 8 inmates took over one module of the 1,250-bed, medium security prison. No guards were injured and there were no hostages, Siegel said...
LINK - TheDenverChannel.com
March 17, 2010
State issues report on 2009 Calif prison riot
A state report issued Tuesday on a gang and racially motivated riot at a California prison last year recommends changes in managing inmate gang members as well as improvements in communication and use of technology to identify inmates during disturbances.
The report by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation analyzed a two-hour rampage that erupted at the California Institution for Men in Chino on Aug. 8 as a result of Hispanic and white inmates attacking black inmates at a portion of the facility where inmates are received into the prison.
Nearly 1,200 inmates were involved, including 249 who required medical treatment for injuries. Six dormitories at CIM's Reception Center West were heavily damaged...
LINK - Google News (AP)
March 17, 2010
Prison policy weighed: Size, gangs may cause fits for cell integration
In preparation for a statewide plan to integrate individual prison cells, much was said about Texas and its largely successful attempts to do the same in the early 1990s.
Now that Folsom State Prison has become the fourth California institution to implement a prison cell integration policy, the promise and challenge of the Lone Star example are drawing more scrutiny.
James Hernandez is a professor of criminal justice at California State University, Sacramento, and a skeptic of the integration policy. An expert on various street gangs, he cautions against holding Texas prisons up as the model for California’s overcrowded institutions.
“With California, a lot of the problem is sheer numbers,” he said...
LINK - FolsomTelegraph.com
March 2, 2010
Pot, cell phones, chargers and tobacco packed into footballs, thrown onto CRC’s yard
Two footballs filled with pot, tobacco and cell phones sailed over a prison fence before dawn today in Norco prompting the arrest of two San Diego County residents, according to Riverside County sheriff's officials.
"The footballs were taped closed with packing tape and tossed over the perimeter fence line ... into a preselected area," Sgt. Adam Vallejo said in a written statement. "A correctional officer from the prison saw the footballs being thrown ... and summoned additional (officers) to collect the items and detain the suspects.
The incomplete passes were made at 3:10 a.m. at the California Rehabilitation Center at Fifth Street and Wilson Avenue. The footballs contained about an ounce of marijuana, about eight ounces of tobacco and 11 cellular phones complete with chargers and instruction booklets, according to the statement....
LINK - PE.com
February 25, 2010
Racial de-seg at Folsom prison
When news swept through Folsom State Prison that a new statewide policy was looking to break down racial barriers in individual prison cells, the response wasn’t exactly welcoming.
“Initially there was a lot of apprehension,” acknowledged Lt. Anthony Gentile, spokesman for the prison. “We were all a little skeptical” about the policy.
But since officially introducing the new prison cell integration policy on Feb. 1, the prison hasn’t experienced any significant problems, Gentile said.
So what went right?...
LINK - FolsomTelegraph.com
February 24, 2010
Women Call Private Prison Guards Predators
Two former inmates of a Corrections Corporation of America prison say CCA employees preyed on them sexually and banished them to solitary lockdown when they complained. One woman claims a CCA guard paid her "sugar daddy" on the outside, then demanded, and received, sex in prison.
Jessica Rubio and Serbennia Chase filed separate, $20 million federal lawsuits against the private prison contractor, alleging civil rights violations at the company's Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF) at the District of Columbia Jail.
Rubio, who was arrested and sentenced in 2008 for sexual solicitation, says CTF employee "Sgt. Powell" paid her for sex four times when he should have been helping her "turn her life around..."
LINK - CourtHouseNews.com
November 5, 2009
$110M Chino prison project outlined
Nearly 3,000 more beds and an influx of new correctional officers are part of the $110 million conversion of a local youth prison into California Institution for Men operations.
Prison officials informed Chino Mayor Dennis Yates that the plan would add 400 to 500 more correctional officers to the new facility at Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility.
A riot in August at CIM forced the closure of a reception center and moved about 750 of its adult inmates to Stark…
LINK - DailyBulletin.com
October 7, 2009
Feinstein pushes to ban prisoner cell phone use
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein wants to pass a new law to ban the use of cell phones by inmates in federal prisons.
She has teamed with Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa to introduce a bill that would do just that.
It's an attempt to prevent prisoners from committing crimes while inside prison walls. The bill would close a loophole by prohibiting the use or possession of all cell phones and wireless devices, which would be considered contraband. Any person who provided or attempted to provide an inmate with a cell phone could face a prison sentence of up to one year…
LINK - SacBee.com
October 2, 2009
Thousands of cellphones confiscated in California prisons
State prison officials have confiscated 4,130 contraband cellphones this year, more than all those seized in the previous three years combined, according to an internal report released Thursday.
The findings sparked concern among legislators that the proliferation of cellphones in state lockups is a growing security problem.
More than 100 illegal phones were discovered at the California Institution for Men in Chino, including 10 in August, according to the report from Matthew Cate, head of the state prisons system. But he said there is no evidence that inmates used the devices during a riot that occurred there Aug. 8.
"Investigations conducted within California prisons have supported allegations [that] cellphones have been used by incarcerated felons to participate in criminal activity," wrote Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation…
LINK - LATimes.com
September 11, 2009
Prison on the brink: Correctional facilities like Chino are overcrowded and dangerous
It's nearing noon inside the central wing of the California Institution for Men, and it's not hard to find evidence of how this has become Exhibit A in California's prison crisis.
A gymnasium is a sea of bunk beds. The 213 inmates inside are quarantined on this day, the result of worries about a swine flu outbreak. In a room like this, there is nowhere for a virus to go but directly to another inmate never more than a foot or two away. The basketball hoops and theater stage are reminders that this decaying part of the prison was never meant to house prisoners.
Likewise, a "day room" once envisioned as a place for inmates to play cards or watch TV is stacked with bunk beds, 54 beds for 54 prisoners who have little room to stand. In one corner, there is a shower and a toilet. Large fans stir the fetid air…
LINK - MercuryNews.com
August 13, 2009
CIM inmates sent to Stark after riot
More than 700 adult inmates left with no place to stay after last weekend's prison riot are being housed near juvenile inmates at the nearby Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility.
The adults are among the 1,155 California Institution for Men inmates moved to other state prisons from CIM's Reception Center West, where incoming prisoners are housed for evaluation.
The reception center was badly damaged in the melee.
Among public concerns is the safety of Stark's youth wards, said CIM spokesman Lt. Mark Hargrove…
LINK - DailyBulletin.com
August 12, 2009
Prison riot to cost California millions in repairs
California's corrections chief says it will cost taxpayers $5 million to $6 million to make repairs and clean up from last weekend's prison riot.
Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate said Wednesday it will cost more if the state rebuilds a dormitory destroyed by fire at the California Institution for Men in Chino.
Cate says the state does not expect significant costs from transferring 1,155 inmates to other facilities after the riot Saturday in San Bernardino County. Employees from the damaged prison are being sent to oversee those inmates at the other facilities…
LINK - Google.com Associated Press
July 6, 2009
San Quentin H1N1 Quarantine Expanded
A limited quarantine imposed at San Quentin State Prison last week because of four probable cases of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, has now been expanded to quarantine 2,100 inmates, a prison health care spokesman said Monday.
The quarantine began last week after four inmates suffering from an out-of-season flu were found to have a 97 percent chance of having the H1N1 virus and 26 others showed potential symptoms of the virus…
LINK - CBS5.com
June 9, 2009
Family of Slain Correctional Officer Jose Rivera Files $100 Million Claim Against the Federal Bureau
According to the claim, on June 20, 2008, at the USP Atwater in Atwater, California, United State Federal Correctional Officer Jose Rivera, in only his 10th month with the United States Bureau of Prisons, was fatally stabbed by two apparently intoxicated inmates: Jose Cabrera Sablan and James Ninete Leon Guerrero (the assailants) both serving life terms. The US Attorney General's office is seeking the death penalty against the assailants. Sablan, previously convicted for Murder, Attempted Murder, and Felony Escape, also had a significant disciplinary history: Assaulting with Serious Injury, Fighting, Possessing a Dangerous Weapon, Possessing Drugs and Intoxicants, and Physically Assaulting a Female Correctional Officer. Guerrero, previously convicted for Conspiracy to Commit Armed Bank Robbery, has a history of assaulting staff, including several incidents of serious assault and fighting with inmates…
LINK - EarthTimes.org (Official Press Release)
June 8, 2009
Report points to prison security failures
A government inquiry into the most recent fatal assault of a federal correctional officer details multiple security breakdowns and underscores a fear among federal officials who say inmates have grown increasingly violent in their dealings with prison staff.
Jose Rivera's June 20 killing, captured by surveillance cameras inside the high security U.S. Penitentiary Atwater in California, provides a chilling view into the U.S. prison system where weapons are plentiful and some violent inmates are allowed to "sleep off" bouts of drunkenness fueled by homemade cocktails, according to a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) report obtained by USA TODAY.
During the attack, Rivera, a 22-year-old Iraq war veteran, struggled for his life while a locked door blocked several of his colleagues from responding…
LINK - USAToday.com
April 14, 2009
Cell phone problem in prisons target of legislation
When prosecutors revealed last month that a Baltimore man accused of using a contraband cell phone in jail to order the killing of a witness was again caught with an illegal phone behind bars, the judge's jaw dropped. He couldn't fathom how this keeps happening. It's "amazing," said U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett.
But jail administrators will tell you it's not. Cell phones are smuggled into prisons in Maryland and around the world by the thousands through visitors, corrupt guards and, in Brazil, carrier pigeons. They're thrown over barrier walls, carried in body cavities and delivered by UPS. Inmates use them to run drug operations, intimidate witnesses, plan their escapes, harass victims' families and pass the time, calling girlfriends and grandmothers without fear of officers listening in. A single jail phone, passed from one inmate to another, can rack up thousands of calls per month…
LINK - BaltimoreSun.com
April 2, 2009
Grand Jury: Prison Cell Phone Use A Danger
A Solano County grand jury report has sounded a warning over the the growing number of cell phones smuggled into the Department of Corrections medical facility in Vacaville. It says their use by inmates is potentially dangerous for people in and out of prison.
"It's a huge security risk for staff," said medical facility spokesperson Lt. Mary Brewer.
Thirty one were confiscated last year at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville…
LINK - Fox40.com Sacramento
April 2, 2009
LGBT prisoner bill clears first hurdle
A bill by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) that seeks to create a safer environment in state prisons for transgender inmates cleared its first hurdle Tuesday, March 31 when it passed out of the public safety committee on a bipartisan vote of 7-0.
Committee Chair Assemblyman Jose Solorio (D-Anaheim) called the testimony of Shelly Resnick, a transgender woman who served time in state prison, "compelling."
Resnick, 38, a legal advocate for the TGI Justice Project, spoke of her experience as a 19-year-old transgender woman incarcerated at California's Tehachapi and later Kern Valley state maximum security prisons for men…
LINK - ebar.com (Bay Area Reporter)
April 2, 2009
California prepares to expand 3 prisons
The head of California's prison system said Wednesday that he will soon ask state legislators to approve expanding three prisons to hold an additional 2,800 inmates, adding to what already is the nation's largest state prison system.
The construction projects would be the first to draw money from a nearly $8 billion bond measure approved by lawmakers two years ago. The money has been stalled ever since by drafting problems that were corrected in the budget legislation that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law in February.
Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate said he plans to seek approval within weeks to build cellblocks for about 900 inmates each at high-security Kern Valley and medium-security North Kern state prisons, both near Delano…
LINK - SacBee.com (The Sacramento Bee)
April 2, 2009
Canadians in California prison caught in crossfire of Mexican gang violence, mother says
The mother of a Canadian imprisoned in a California jail on marijuana charges is pleading with Ottawa to do something to help her son and other Canadian inmates living in violent conditions among those she describes as hardened Mexican gang members.
Sirah Vettese, a Canadian-born author and psychologist now living in Santa Monica, says her 36-year-old son, imprisoned for operating a San Diego-area grow-op, is afraid for his life as gang violence breaks out regularly in the California City Correctional Center east of Los Angeles.
There have been two lockdowns in recent weeks after violence erupted at the facility, which only houses "deportable aliens," not U.S. citizens…
LINK - Google.com AP News
September 5, 2008
Prison officers to get vests
Correctional officers at U.S. Penitentiary Atwater will have stab-resistant vests within six weeks — but officers and union officials are warning the vests aren't enough.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which oversees USP Atwater, signed a contract last week to buy stab-resistant vests for all federal correctional officers who want them. The company that sells the vests, Armor Express, began measuring Atwater officers for the custom-fit gear Thursday, with the vests to be delivered within six weeks.
Union officials began demanding the vests, among other safety reforms, after USP Atwater correctional officer Jose Rivera was stabbed to death by inmates at the high-security prison in June…
LINK - MercedSunStar.com
July 23, 2008
Prisons to desegregate: Lode facilities first in state to comply with court mandate
Inmates and staff at two California prisons in the Mother Lode face the prospect of turmoil and possible violence this summer as they take the state lead in complying with a court-mandated effort to desegregate prison dormitory bunk assignments and prison cells.
"This is a big change for everybody," said Jerry Vasquez, 38, a member of the Fresno Bulldogs gang who is serving the final months of a nine-year robbery sentence in the minimum-security wing at Sierra Conservation Center. "Everyone's used to living with their own race."
Sierra Conservation Center and Mule Creek State Prison in Ione are the first two California prisons scheduled to end the practice of assigning cellmates and bunkmates by race or ethnicity. The change was scheduled to begin July 1 but has been delayed due to the need to hold discussions with a number of prison employee unions, including the California Correctional Police Officers Association, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman at corrections headquarters in Sacramento….
LINK - RecordNet.com
