Schwarzenegger Names New Corrections Chief
September 14, 2006 SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, struggling to find an answer to the ongoing woes inside the state prison system, named a new corrections chief Wednesday — the man who since this spring has run the department. Schwarzenegger said he was handing the reins of the massive Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to James Tilton, a three-decade veteran of state government who has been acting secretary since April. Tilton, 57, will earn $220,000 a year, making him one of the state's highest-paid employees. His predecessor, Roderick Q. Hickman, earned $131,412 a year when he stepped down in February. The governor offered no explanation for the dramatic, nearly 70%, raise, but noted in a statement that "California's correctional system is at a crisis point." Schwarzenegger said Tilton would "deliver cost-effective solutions to relieve the dangerous overcrowding in our state prisons, as well as prepare inmates so they do not re-offend when they return to our communities." Tilton was unavailable for comment. As corrections secretary, he occupies what is probably the most challenging job in state government. He oversees a department with a budget of more than $8 billion, 58,000 employees and 33 adult prisons holding roughly 172,000 inmates. He is also responsible for the state's 3,000 juvenile prisoners, as well as more than 110,000 parolees. In recent years, the state prisons have been beset by problems that include overcrowding, a deteriorating inmate medical care system and a recidivism rate that is the nation's highest, with more than half of all parolees returning to prison within several years. The job is also complicated by the role the federal courts have come to play. This year, a federal receiver was put in charge of the healthcare system for inmates and a special master oversees mental health care in prisons under the supervision of a federal judge. And then there is the 30,000-member prison guards union that has exceptional clout in Sacramento. The union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., is deadlocked in negotiations with the Schwarzenegger administration over a contract to replace one that expired in July. When he was appointed acting secretary earlier this year, Tilton said his tenure would be temporary, while the administration conducted a nationwide search for a permanent chief. His top priority, he said then, was to "put the department's fiscal house in order" and "assemble a management team to turn the department around." Since then, he has brought in top assistants and recently said he relished the opportunity to revive a correctional system that has been widely maligned by legislators, judges and other critics. Before his appointment, Tilton served as a program budget manager for the Department of Finance, overseeing corrections, consumer services and other areas. In the 1980s and '90s, he was deputy director of administrative services in corrections, responsible for peace officer selection, personnel, training, budget matters and environmental health and safety.
Posted on Wed, Sep. 13, 2006
Schwarzenegger appoints state finance expert to top prison post
Associated Press SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday appointed James Tilton, a state finance expert, to take control of California's troubled prison system. He has led the department on a temporary basis since April. In a statement Wednesday, Schwarzenegger said the state's correctional system was at a "crisis point" and called Tilton - his third choice in a year to lead the department - the right man for the job. Tilton, 57, took over as acting secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in April, replacing Acting Secretary Jeanne Woodford, who retired in July. She had replaced Roderick Hickman, who resigned in frustration in February. Schwarzenegger this summer called a special session of the Legislature to address prison overcrowding. With 172,000 inmates, the state's system is about 70 percent over capacity. The Legislature rejected Schwarzenegger's $6 billion proposal to build new prisons, and his administration has since said they are considering using emergency powers to ease crowding - including, perhaps, contracting with other states to take prisoners. "Jim's experience with fiscal and correctional issues spans more than three decades," the governor's statement read. "He is poised to deliver cost-effective solutions to relieve the dangerous overcrowding in our state prisons, as well as prepare inmates so they do not re-offend when they return to our communities." Tilton, a Republican from Sacramento, was the Department of Corrections' deputy director for administrative services from 1985 to 1998, responsible for the adult prison system's budget along with its personnel and training. He also was chairman of the Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission during that time. Much of the rest of his career has been with the state Department of Finance. Since 2003, he has managed the budgets of the corrections department and judiciary. When he took the corrections post in April, Tilton said he planned to step down as soon as he made needed changes and installed better financial managers. At the time, he also promised to work closely with Robert Sillen, the court-appointed receiver overseeing the state's inmate health care system. He also pledged to work with the powerful prison guards' union, which opposed Hickman and Woodford. The union did not immediately return phone calls Wednesday. In the statement issued Wednesday by the governor's office, Tilton said he shares Schwarzenegger's dedication for prison reform: "I look forward to working with the governor to act immediately and ensure the safety of the public, correctional officers, and the men and women in our custody." The $225,000-a-year post requires Senate confirmation.
From the Los Angeles Times HARD TIME Why I Quit the Prison System
August 6, 2006 I SPENT NEARLY three decades working in California's prison system, beginning in 1978 when I arrived as a 24-year-old corrections officer at San Quentin. During that time, I watched the inmate population grow from about 26,000 to more than 170,000 in 2006. Prison capacity tripled during this same time period, yet our prisons are more overcrowded than ever. The budget of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will exceed $8 billion in 2007, and yet we will still lack the funds to meet even the health and mental health needs of the offenders we house, much less to fund the programs that offenders need to prepare them to be successful in society. I was personally thrilled two years ago when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed adding the word "rehabilitation" to the name of the California Department of Corrections. For me, this change reflected an important transition from the old punishment model that we'd lived with for so many years. The new "California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation" was supposed to research and implement new practices and programs that would help prisoners succeed when they were released and thereby help bring down California's extraordinarily high recidivism rates. July 1, 2005, when the new agency was baptized, was indeed a bright day, filled with hope for the beginning of an improved criminal justice policy for California. But despite high hopes at the inception, the reality is that not much has changed. Because of short-term political concerns on the part of state legislators, pandering campaign tactics that make politicians scared to be seen as soft on crime, and the extraordinary power of the correctional officers union, it's been impossible to truly turn around the system. Chronic underfunding and prison overpopulation continue, and the recidivism rate remains the highest in the country. Earlier this year, I left my job as acting head of the corrections department in part because of frustration over the inability to push through the kinds of changes I thought were necessary. How has this situation come about? For the last three decades, California criminal justice policy has developed haphazardly, through laws passed by politicians whose chief goal was to appear to be tougher on crime than their opponents. Any attempt to have a serious discussion about California criminal justice policy (or the lack thereof) has been stymied by campaign accusations designed to scare voters and weaken reform-minded candidates. The result has been an overburdened, expensive system lacking clear sentencing guidelines or parole policies. For instance, because we insist on putting every offender on parole upon release from prison — including nonviolent, one-time offenders — we exhaust our resources trying to supervise everyone instead of focusing on cases that pose the greatest threat to public safety. Such initiatives have the unintended consequence of placing the public in harm's way. When a parolee commits a new crime, for example, authorities will often fail to prosecute, instead allowing the parole revocation to serve as the only penalty; this means that some offenders are serving 12 months or less for serious crimes. As California's corrections costs continue to escalate, other states (also facing increasing pressures) have begun to rethink their entire criminal justice systems — from arrest to incarceration to reentry — and to review the role of each of the three branches of government in the sentencing of criminals and post-sentencing supervision. There are many successful models that can provide tried and tested programs and practices that can be replicated here. Michigan, Washington, Oregon and Ohio are examples of states that have applied the science of corrections and offender behavior to bring about true criminal justice reform. Changes in policies and programs in these states have resulted in violent criminals serving longer sentences. But they also have led to programs that help ensure that those prisoners who are released will survive better on the outside. Oregon's Prison Reform and Inmate Work Act, for instance, requires that inmates engage in "meaningful work" 40 hours a week and has effectively strengthened education and other treatment programming in the state's correctional system. In Washington, the "Neighborhood-Based Supervision" program allows parole officers to work directly within the community, cooperating with police officers and community members while supervising offenders who live nearby. Other states are beginning to target their resources to ensure that they are used in addressing the risks and needs of those who pose the greatest threat of re-offending. Often, treating nonserious, nonviolent offenders is not a good use of state dollars. Many voters believe that as a result of our state's tough-on-crime policies, such as the three-strikes law and mandatory sentencing, average sentences are longer today than they used to be. Although it's true that people convicted under three-strikes serve longer terms than they would have previously, the average sentence for all inmates has actually declined. That's because the lack of jail space, coupled with overburdened district attorneys' offices and court systems, has resulted in more plea bargains, which promise shorter sentences. The unintended consequence is that some offenders are getting out of prison who should not be, and, yes, other nonviolent offenders are being incarcerated for too long when other safe options are available. One obstacle to serious reform in the California prisons is the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the correctional officers union, which wields tremendous political power. Even legislators who understand the issues involved in transforming the prison system have been unable to do what they need to do because of the union's willingness to use dollars and scare tactics against reform-minded politicians. A meaningful discussion about California's criminal justice policy must include a reexamination of sentencing and the role of the courts. It must include a conversation about how to apply the right sentence to the right offender. It must address post-release supervision and the role of local communities in helping keep ex-offenders from backsliding. We must discuss increased latitude for judges and the curtailing of plea bargains. And any discussion must be bipartisan, with a focus on the science of criminal behavior — not on tough-on-crime bromides that are designed to scare the public. It is well past time to rethink our criminal justice policy in California.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14270431p-15081245c.html Report: Prison reform derailed
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's promise of "fantastic prison reform" has been undermined by his chief of staff reopening lines of communication earlier with the state's powerful correctional officers' union, a court-appointed special master states in a report made public Wednesday. By conducting meetings with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, Schwarzenegger's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, prompted the resignations of two Cabinet-level prison secretaries, "confused" the correctional agency's top leadership about who was in charge and sent signals that the "zero tolerance" policy of barring wrongdoing among officers was a thing of the past, Special Master John Hagar wrote in his report. "Integrity and remedial plan efforts must begin at the top, and then percolate down," Hagar wrote in his 36-page report, dated Tuesday. "Beginning January 2006, however, it appears that the requisite leadership has been absent from the governor's office. Evidence before the special master indicates that the governor's office may have given the code of silence in California's prisons a new lease on life." Hagar said he is planning to conduct public hearings in San Francisco federal court on July 12 as a result of "these disturbing developments." Kennedy did not respond to a request for comment on the Hagar report. The Governor's Office issued a statement by spokeswoman Margita Thompson saying that the state's prisons are in a "crisis," and quoting from a recent inspector general's report that says the administration has undertaken "a sustained good-faith effort" to comply with the assorted federal court orders governing prison operations ranging from health care to use of force, internal discipline and its mental health system. "Much remains to be done," Thompson's statement says, "but only by having open lines of communication can we see the reforms through to completion." A spokesman for the CCPOA, however, fired back that the special master's report borders on "lunacy," especially in blaming the union for the February resignation of former Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Rod Hickman. "We are not running the show," union spokesman Lance Corcoran said. "This is something of a gut-punch. I find it amazing that Mr. Hagar would have written this." State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, co-chairwoman of the Legislature's joint legislative oversight committee on corrections, said Hagar made "a fundamental mistake" by blaming Hickman's departure or any of the system's troubles on Kennedy. Romero said Hickman, who resigned of his own volition, quit "because he failed as a leader." "When Susan Kennedy came in, one of the smartest things she did was open the door and say, 'Yes, you've got to talk to the union,' " Romero said. Steve Fama, attorney with the Prison Law Office, which brought the original lawsuit that led to the appointment of Hagar as special master in 1995 by U.S. District Court Judge Thelton E. Henderson, said the state prison system has become a national "pariah" as a result of the union's "undue influence." "It's extremely concerning that the prisons appear to be returning to the unfortunately long-standing practice of letting the workers run the system," he said. Hagar has been paid $125 an hour up to $140,000 a year in the special master's job, according to corrections spokeswoman Elaine Jennings. Initially appointed to oversee internal discipline and use of force at Pelican Bay State Prison, Hagar two years ago sought and obtained an order from Henderson to expand his reach on those issues over the entire prison system. He also obtained authority from Henderson to oversee provisions of the CCPOA's 2002 labor contract. His report was prompted by the resignations this year of Hickman and his successor as corrections secretary, Jeanne Woodford. Hickman, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, cited CCPOA's influence with the Schwarzenegger administration as a reason for his quitting. Woodford listed personal reasons. The special master says in his report that the administration's opening to the union came at the same time the CCPOA was getting ready to begin talks on a new contract to replace the one that expires next month. Hagar says he "has learned" that Kennedy and Schwarzenegger Cabinet Secretary Fred Aguiar took steps to "purge" top negotiation managers in the Department of Personnel Administration at the outset of contract talks by forcing their resignations from state service. DPA spokeswoman Lynelle Jolley denied those assertions. She said that the two officials cited in the report -- Director Mike Navarro and Deputy Director Bill Avritt -- had both intended to retire next month on their own. Hagar, in his report, mistakenly referred to Avritt as Bill Avery. Jolley said there is no Bill Avery who works for DPA, and that Avritt has nothing to do with contract negotiations. "They were not purged," Jolley said. Hagar states in his report that he "obtained information" that Woodford quit as corrections secretary because the CCPOA torpedoed her pick to help run the labor relations department. CCPOA officials strenuously denied trying to thwart the appointment of Tim Virga as acting assistant labor relations secretary. The special master also infuriated union leaders by saying in his report that the CCPOA is trying "to intimidate staff and enforce the code of silence," a practice where law enforcement employees refuse to report wrongdoing by fellow employees. Union officials have long maintained that the code is not a widespread problem in the state's prisons because correctional officials have the authority to compel officers to testify in internal investigations or face termination. "Do the investigations correctly," Corcoran said. "If you can't find
dirty cops with the ability to compel them to testify against themselves,
I'm sorry, that's something that's wrong with you, not with the fact that
we're still in the room."
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High Cost of Prisons Not Paying Off, Report Finds
June 8, 2006 SACRAMENTO — Americans spend $60 billion a year to imprison 2.2 million people — exceeding any other nation — but receive a dismal return on the investment, according to a report to be released today by a commission urging greater public scrutiny of what goes on behind bars. The report, "Confronting Confinement," says legislators have passed get-tough laws that have packed the nation's jails and prisons to overflowing with convicts, most of them poor and uneducated. However, politicians have done little to help inmates emerge as better citizens upon release. The consequences of that failure include financial strain on states, public health threats from parolees with communicable diseases, and a cycle of crime and victimization driven by a recidivism rate of more than 60%, the report says. "If these were public schools or publicly traded corporations, we'd shut them down," said Alexander Busansky, executive director of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons, established by a private think tank in New York. Rather, the commission said, Americans view prisons with detachment or futility, growing interested when a riot makes the news and then looking away, "hoping the troubles inside the walls will not affect us." With 20 members representing diverse perspectives, the bipartisan panel urges Americans to ignore the costs of incarceration no longer. Launched in early 2005 amid what panelists called "accumulating doubts about the effectiveness and morality of our country's approach to confinement," the commission will deliver its findings to a Senate subcommittee in Washington today. Among the highlights in the 126-page report: • Violence remains a serious problem in prisons and jails, with gang assaults, rapes, riots and, in Florida, beatings by "goon squads" of officers. Crowding is one cause, with most lockups so packed that they feature a "degree of disorder and tension almost certain to erupt in violence." Idleness also compromises safety. "But because lawmakers have reduced funding for programming, prisoners today are largely inactive and unproductive." Family ties — another proven factor in promoting safety and successful paroles — are strained by prisons' location in remote areas and by a culture that does not welcome visitors. There are even barriers to receiving phone calls, with the cost of a collect call from prison far higher than what is charged in the free world, amounting to "a tax on poor families." • High rates of disease in prison, coupled with inadequate funding for healthcare, endanger inmates, staff and the public, with staph infections, tuberculosis, hepatitis C and AIDS among the biggest threats. In California, healthcare has been deemed so bad — claiming one inmate life in an average week through incompetence or neglect — that a federal judge seized control of prison medical care from the state and recently handed it to a receiver. • The rising use of high-security segregation units is counterproductive, often causing violence inside prisons and contributing to recidivism. Although designed to isolate the most dangerous inmates, segregation units increasingly house those who may appear unmanageable but who pose no danger to others or are mentally ill. Prisoners are often released from solitary confinement — where they experience extreme isolation from human contact for long periods — directly to the streets, despite the proven risk of doing so. The commission recommends more rigorous screening, an end to conditions of severe isolation and proper treatment for the mentally ill. • Prison culture — the "us-versus-them" mentality — endangers inmates and staff and harms the families and communities to which convicts return. Many states are pursuing a new approach, which the commission called more than a "feel-good idea." "Security and control — necessities in the prison environment — only become a reality when dignity and respect are inherent in the process," said former Minnesota Warden James H. Bruton, one of scores who provided testimony. Change will require recruitment and retention of high-quality officers and leaders, so the field — which employs 750,000 people — is not viewed as one of "knuckle-draggers in dungeons." • Despite increased professionalism in corrections, resistance to outside scrutiny and oversight remains. In California, the Office of the Inspector General acts as a watchdog, investigating reports of abuse, assaults and fatalities. But the media are limited in their access to the state's 33 prisons, and legislative efforts to overturn such restrictions have been vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his predecessor, Gray Davis. The commission includes members who run correctional systems and attorneys for inmates, as well as lawmakers and others from the criminal justice field. The panel spent a year exploring problems — the first comprehensive, national effort of its kind in three decades. Its co-chairmen are former U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge John J. Gibbons and former U.S. Atty. Gen. Nicholas deB. Katzenbach. State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) also served on the panel, which was staffed and funded through the Vera Institute of Justice. All 20 members supported the report's findings, concluding that "we should be astonished by the size of the prisoner population, troubled by the disproportionate incarceration of African Americans and Latinos, and saddened by the waste of human potential." The report can be found at http://www.prisoncommission.org .
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14246009p-15063995c.html Another corrections leader quits
The state's correctional agency, which "has been in kind of a disastrous situation for a long time," according to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, took another hit Thursday when it lost its second leader in less than two months. Jeanne Woodford, who was named acting secretary after Rod Hickman resigned in February, cited personal reasons for stepping down from the $129,000-a-year position heading the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which has long been plagued by overcrowded prisons, inmate violence and contentious labor relations. It is operating under multiple court orders governing health care, employee discipline, mental health treatment and other matters. The back-to-back resignations have captured the attention of the special master appointed by U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson of San Francisco to oversee, among other items, the department's internal disciplinary process. "I will be issuing a follow-up report" to Henderson on the resignations, special master John Hagar said in an interview Thursday, "and these issues will be discussed." Hagar did not elaborate. Besides Woodford's resignation, the problems facing the department continued to mount Thursday when the Department of Finance disclosed that the prison system is going to need another $150 million this fiscal year and an additional $231 million on top of its $8 billion budget next year to conduct its operations. Finance officials attributed most of this year's deficit to added medical care mandated under the settlement of a federal class action suit. Most of next year's extra spending also is largely being driven by added medical costs. Woodford, 52, will be replaced as acting secretary by James Tilton, a career civil servant with an expertise in finance. Tilton said in a conference call Thursday that he intends to focus on improving "the whole fiscal organization" of the department, installing a new management team and rebuilding rehabilitative programs for inmates that have deteriorated over the past decade. Tilton, who worked as a corrections administrator for 13 years until he moved to the Department of Finance in 1998, said he has spent the last two months studying corrections spending and that he was struck by the decimation of inmate rehabilitation programs in the eight years since he left. "They're not there anymore," Tilton said. "That was shocking to me. Those are fundamental, necessary issues to make inmates have an opportunity ... when they behave. There are a lot of inmates who would love to (participate in programs), and they're just sitting in their bunks all the time." Tilton said he intends to stay on the job until he puts the new management team in place. "Whenever I get that done, I will probably move on," he said. Schwarzenegger Cabinet Secretary Fred Aguiar said the state will launch a nationwide search to find a permanent replacement. Steve Fama, an attorney with the Prison Law Office in San Rafael, said the state will need to substantially increase the secretary's $129,000 annual salary to attract Aguiar's goal of "the best and the brightest" qualified candidate. "That gives you at least a fighting chance of attracting someone with the experience and skills to stay in the job," Fama said. With more than 170,000 inmates crowded into space designed for barely half that many, the department has been one of the most difficult agencies of state government to manage, one that Schwarzenegger targeted for an overhaul in the early days of his administration, but with only limited success. "As you know, our prison system has been in kind of a disastrous situation for a long time," Schwarzenegger told reporters at a press conference Thursday. "That's why when I came into office I was very committed to straighten out the mess. And it is a slow process. It's something that for the last 10 or 15 years has been going on, and so now to undo that is a big challenge." Tilton and Aguiar said in the conference call that they are in the process of establishing a better working relationship with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which represents about 30,000 line officers who work in the adult and juvenile prisons. The two officials confirmed that the administration is conducting regular talks with the union that some view as exerting too much control over the state's prison operations and that Schwarzenegger had held at arm's length for more than a year. Tilton, 57, for the past three years has been a program budget manager in Finance. He had served as deputy director for administrative services in the old Department of Corrections, a job that he said regularly brought him in contact with the CCPOA. Tilton said he intends to re-establish his connection with the union in his new job "so we have an open dialogue." "It seems unusual to not have an ongoing relationship with the union as you manage the department," Tilton said. "I expect them to be a voice to identify issues that I need to address." CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran described Tilton as "a finance guy" who "has been around." "We can live with anybody," Corcoran said.
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Posted on Fri, Feb. 03, 2006 Prisons chief testifies reforms are under way
SACRAMENTO - The head of the state's prisons boasted to a capitol hearing Thursday his accomplishments in beginning to turn around the troubled system. But even while listing dozens of successes, the chief of California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Roderick Q. Hickman, was promptly interrupted by testy exchanges with his lead critic, Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles. Romero took issue with the pace of reforms and the department's ballooning budget, and suggested his re-confirmation to the prisons post could be in jeopardy. And she chastised him even more for leaving the four-hour hearing before it ended. Hickman was the lead witness in the first of an ongoing series of hearings before the Senate Select Committee on the California Correctional System to determine whether the state's prison leaders -- heavily criticized by state and federal courts for overcrowded conditions, lack of health care and unsafe juvenile jails -- are making progress. Romero repeatedly asserted the system was highly deficient. The inspector general and the state auditor praised Hickman for implementing some changes such as improving employee discipline, but they also agreed that much work remains to be done. And leaders of prison employee unions flatly stated they don't trust administration officials. ``We're leading down a road toward disaster,'' said Mike Jimenez, president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. Hickman, who has been the top prison official in the Schwarzenegger administration, oversaw a major bureaucratic reorganization of the system last summer. ``Our organization, from top to bottom, is thoroughly engaged in changing our system for the better,'' Hickman said. ``We are literally changing the tires on a moving car.'' He acknowledged that reform takes time, but insisted his department was making meaningful strides. Among the reforms that are under way, he said, are creating a comprehensive plan to prevent lawsuits, receiving ideas from outside experts, implementing a satellite tracking system to monitor paroled sex-offenders, joining with colleges to further inmates' education, hiring medical experts, and improving treatment of female offenders. Hickman also mentioned improvements in the Division of Juvenile Justice, though the youth prison system will be the focus of a later hearing. The hearing also served as Romero's fact-finding mission for the Senate Rules Committee, which will open confirmation hearings this spring on top prison officials. If Romero has influence over the rules committee, of which she is not a member, Hickman's confirmation could be headed for trouble, based on her apparent lack of confidence in his oversight of the department's $8.1 billion budget, its flawed projection that the prison population would decrease, and the relatively small number of inmates in rehabilitative programs. Hickman complained that Romero was dwelling too much on the department's challenges. He said the system's problems predated the reorganization, which was the result of legislation. After his testimony, Hickman and other prison officials grabbed their binders and left the hearing room, and never returned. An employee from the prison system's legislative office, Joyce Hayhoe, took to the witness table to announce that Hickman was told only the day before that his presence was requested for the entire meeting, and he couldn't stay because of other obligations. To which Romero responded: ``I don't accept that.''
Contact Edwin Garcia at egarcia@mercurynews.com or (916) 441-4651.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-union15nov15,0,2109821.story?coll=la-home-headlines Guards Union Is Giving Prisons Chief Hard Time
SACRAMENTO — A year after he was hired to straighten out the state's dysfunctional prison system, California Corrections Secretary Roderick Q. Hickman is weathering resistance from one source above all others: the labor union that represented him for 20 years. When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Hickman, a lifelong prison guard and manager, correctional officers rejoiced that, finally, one of their own would be running the show. At the same time, skeptics questioned whether he would stand up to the union, a formidable force inside the prisons and beyond. In a reversal of expectations, it is the union — the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. — that is most displeased with Hickman thus far. In speeches, legislative hearings, media interviews and private Capitol meetings, its leaders routinely bash the secretary as, in the words of President Mike Jimenez, "an embarrassment." The attacks represent a new style of aggressiveness on the part of the union as it duels with prison managers over the rights and benefits of its 31,000 members. Once a welcome presence in the inner circle of corrections leadership, union officials now say they are increasingly left out of decisions that affect their rank and file. "There's a change in the way the Department of Corrections and the union communicate, a chill on our conversation," said union Executive Vice President Lance Corcoran. "The management team is trying to distance themselves from the stakeholders who deliver the message on the front lines." A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said the governor is aware of the union's criticism and proud of Hickman "for showing courage and moving forward, especially given this much abuse." "The governor has told him, 'If the union wasn't this upset at you, you wouldn't be doing the job right,' " added Rob Stutzman, the governor's communications director. Critics of the union hope the feud portends a waning of its influence on corrections policy and the day-to-day running of prisons. In a January report, a federal court investigator charged that the union's reach was so pervasive that it had successfully pressured a former corrections director to kill a perjury investigation of two guards, and then to conspire with others to conceal his actions. "I've never seen the union lash out like this," said Donald Specter of the Prison Law Office, a group that tracks conditions in California prisons. "I think it's symptomatic of an organization being pushed to a place where they don't want to go." Hickman said he is taking the attacks in stride. As a political appointee, he said, "I expect to take shots from time to time." He added that the union — like the 17 other bargaining units in state prisons — "obviously has a role in certain arenas. But they do not have a role in every arena," he said, "and I think that's a change from how things operated in the past." Hickman made that definition of roles particularly clear recently by appointing a deputy secretary of labor, Brigid Hanson. The move, he said, was a signal to the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. and other unions that when it comes to most labor disputes, "this is the person you call — not me … not the 33 wardens." Appointed by Schwarzenegger late last year, Hickman has focused much of his energy on purging the prison system of a "code of silence" that he and others say deters prison guards from reporting misconduct by colleagues. Under pressure from a federal judge, he also launched an employee disciplinary system that toughened penalties for wrongdoing. Adding teeth to such moves, Hickman has approved the dismissal of 15 correctional employees linked to the alleged beatings of inmates. In one case that received national attention over the summer, a videotape showed correctional counselors at a youth prison beating two young convicts. Six prison employees were eventually fired over that incident. More recently, nine officers at Salinas Valley State Prison were dismissed over a 2003 incident involving an inmate who was beaten after refusing to leave an exercise area and return to his cell, corrections officials said. After the beating, the guards allegedly conspired to cover it up. "It's been a rough year for the union on a lot of fronts," Specter said, "and they're making Hickman the focal point for their anger." Hickman began drawing fire from the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. right from the start. Once an insignificant player in the Capitol, the union has grown over the last two decades into one of the most powerful forces in state politics. A generous donor supporting both Democratic and Republican candidates, the union spent more than $1 million to defeat this year's Proposition 66, which sought to soften the three-strikes initiative. Corcoran, the union executive, said Hickman's testimony describing the code of silence during a January Senate hearing was "particularly demoralizing, because it cast all of us in the same bad light. We've never said everyone who's wearing a badge should be wearing a badge, and we've never said that bad cops should be tolerated," he added. "But we do believe in due process." Since then, union leaders have kept up a steady chorus of criticism. In May, they sent legislators a flier depicting Hickman's smiling face on a milk carton under the word "Missing," accusing him of failing to defend the rank and file as criticism — from legislators and the courts — rained down upon them. More recently, a top union official sent a letter to every warden in the state, urging them to "take a stand for the troops" and resist changes underway in the 165,000-inmate system. Drawing a parallel with the tale of "The Emperor's New Clothes," the Nov. 5 letter urged the wardens not to "passively follow along and remain silent, knowing that it is wrong." The most biting barbs have been delivered through an Internet site called "PacoVilla's CCPOA blog." While billed as a forum for debate on "all things correctional," the weblog spends an inordinate amount of space on Hickman, nicknaming him "Spud," belittling his reforms and depicting him as the Cowardly Lion from "Wizard of Oz." One posting slammed Hickman for spending "untold staff resources developing an encyclopedic 'Mission, Values and Vision' statement which aspires to do everything short of finding a cure for cancer while ignoring … public safety." Another said: "Spud is asleep at the wheel. He's out cutting ribbons for convict clinics, posing for CDC 'Today' photos and declaring war on CCPOA … while [officers] are being beaten nearly to death." The blog also featured a major union complaint — that Hickman reneged on a July deal that would have permitted roughly 3,000 prison lieutenants, sergeants and others to dictate to managers which shifts they would work. "Your actions are inexcusable," union Supervisory Vice President R.A. Dean said in a letter posted on the site. "Managers are expected to lead by example." Union leaders say they have no formal connection with the blog, and do not know who is behind it. But the union has periodically promoted the blog on its telephone hotline and in postings on prison bulletin boards. Corcoran said that although "some of the stuff on there is troublesome … it's good for morale for staff to have an outlet to vent." Not all correctional officers take it so lightly. Several dozen African American guards, for instance, wrote letters to union president Jimenez, calling the blog's contents a racist attack on Hickman, the state's first black corrections secretary. Roy Mabry, president of the Assn. of Black Correctional Workers, said he asked the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. president to "put a stop to this stuff, because it's giving us a bad image." "They've never attacked other secretaries the way they're attacking Hickman, and it ought to stop," Mabry said. "He didn't create our problems, and he's taking steps to fix them." Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) is one of several legislators occasionally mocked by the PacoVilla weblog. The chairwoman of a special Senate committee on corrections, Romero said that though it's distasteful, the blog "falls under free speech." She added that she has become so disturbed by the disintegrating relationship between the guards union and prison management that she convened a recent meeting between Hickman and top union officials. Romero said the meeting showed "there is a lot of hostility in the air," but that "everyone shook hands at the end," and progress was made. Others said it was an angry session, replete with coarse language, accusations by union officials and an early exit by state officials. In an interview, Hickman said he does not worry about the attacks on his performance, but that he receives many calls and e-mails from officers and supervisors concerned about the criticism and supportive of his work. Pulling out his hand-held computer, Hickman shared two new e-mail messages — one from an associate warden, another from a sergeant — praising a recent videotape he distributed on the code of silence. "We're heading in a new direction," Hickman said. The prison guards union "can get on the train or get left at the station."
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10143541.htm Posted on Wed, Nov. 10, 2004
Governor seeks rise in prison spending By Mark Gladstone
SACRAMENTO - As he seeks to rein in California's budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is finding that there's some state spending even he can't control. With the state's prison population surging to an all-time record, the Schwarzenegger administration in late September alerted lawmakers that it might need an additional $109 million to manage the nation's largest correctional system, according to documents obtained Tuesday by the Mercury News. Coincidentally, that is roughly equal to the $108 million in labor concessions the governor negotiated earlier this year with prison guards. Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, a critic of the prison system, blasted the budget woes as ``indefensible.'' She said Schwarzenegger could discard his entire plan to reform government and still save taxpayers money if he focused just on cutting costs in the prison system. The latest cost-overrun comes on top of more than $700 million in overspending during the past four years driven by rising labor costs. The new problems surfaced in September, just three months after the fiscal year began July 1. Corrections Director Jeanne Woodford told the Department of Finance in a Sept. 30 letter that her agency was spending money ``at a rate exceeding the budgeted levels'' in the fiscal year that began July 1. ``The actual inmate population is significantly higher than projected'' last May, she wrote. The prison population on Aug. 31 was 164,604, up 4 percent from the department's projections. With inmates sleeping in hallways and gyms, the population has reached twice what the state's 32 prisons are designed to hold. If these trends continue, Woodford said, the department would rack up $109 million more in expenses than anticipated. Overall, state spending on corrections runs about $6 billion a year. Last month, the Schwarzenegger administration's Finance Department told legislative budget writers about the higher figures. H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the department, said Tuesday that the administration has ``made significant strides toward fiscal responsibility.'' But Speier is unconvinced. ``There is no bigger credit card in the state than the credit card the governor has given the Department of Corrections,'' she said. ``If he wants to make good on his promise to tear up the credit card, he needs to start there.'' Speier chairs the Senate Government Oversight Committee, which has examined the prison system. Speier said that she wasn't sure if she believed the latest prison population figures, which are considerably higher than projected. George Kostyrko, a corrections spokesman, said department estimates were off largely because counties are sending the state more criminals than anticipated. The prison population growth comes as violent crime in the state's largest
cities and counties actually dropped 3.8 percent in the first six months
of the year, according to the state Department of Justice. During the same
period, property crime rose 0.5 percent.
Contact Mark Gladstone at mgladstone@mercurynews.com or (916) 325-4314.
THE STATE
July 21, 2004 SACRAMENTO — Criticizing the Schwarzenegger administration for a "business as usual" attitude toward reforming California's $6-billion prison system, a federal judge warned the state Tuesday he may appoint a receiver to take over the state Department of Corrections. If U.S. District Judge Thelton E. Henderson were to make good on that threat, it would be a blow to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a beleaguered system reeling from a string of scandals. Prison oversight by federal judges is not unheard of. But experts said placing day-to-day operation of an entire correctional system under an outsider may be unprecedented. Henderson requested a meeting with the governor and expressed "disappointment and concern" over the administration's "noncompliance" with some of his earlier orders. The San Francisco-based judge said he is particularly disturbed by a renegotiated labor pact between the state and the prison guards union. That agreement, struck last month, deferred raises for corrections officers but granted the union new powers, protections and benefits worth millions. Henderson said the pact grants the union too much control over prison management and he suggested that Schwarzenegger was not serious about fixing the "systemic problems" in corrections "condoned for many years by the highest level of California officials." Peter Siggins, Schwarzenegger's legal affairs secretary, said the administration was disappointed by the judge's strong words. "We think nothing that was done in connection with the negotiations … impairs or impedes our obligation or our ability to ensure that state employees meet the highest ethical standards." He said Henderson's comments came as a surprise because the judge had complimented the administration's actions on July 7. "It seemed at the time that the court was very satisfied with the progress we were making," Siggins said. In a reply sent to the judge Tuesday, Siggins said that the governor would be glad to meet with Henderson, but that it was not necessary to ensure that the governor was committed to improving the state's prisons. Henderson's warning marked another chapter in a long-running dispute that began as a civil rights case involving Pelican Bay State Prison, on California's North Coast. Ruling on that suit in 1995, Henderson found that brutality by guards and poor medical care at the prison had violated the rights of inmates. To ensure improvements, the judge appointed a special master to oversee progress. In January, the special master, John Hagar, issued a report saying that Pelican Bay and the entire prison system were infected by a "code of silence" that protects rogue guards, corrupts recruits and is condoned by top officials. In that report and a subsequent one last month, Hagar pointed the finger at the powerful guards union, saying their labor contract with the state, negotiated by former Gov. Gray Davis, allowed them to interfere in disciplinary investigations. That interference, he said, has prevented the department from fairly and impartially punishing employees who did wrong. Two senators who have led oversight hearings on corrections said the judge's firm warning should motivate the Legislature to reject the new labor agreement when it comes up for a vote, perhaps as early as today. "It is puny, it is a policy swindle and I believe it goes backwards in our efforts to restore some sense of integrity to the system," said Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough). "If we don't act, Judge Henderson is going to start running the Department of Corrections." Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) agreed that the union pact was a bad deal, but said it "absolutely does not warrant a federal takeover." "I think this threat is an overblown statement by the judge, and I'm disappointed," Romero said. "When he sits down with the governor, he will see there has been a pattern of progress in corrections." Leaders of the guards union, known as the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., bristled at the judge's characterization of their new labor pact, saying it represented a good-faith effort to help the state during tough fiscal times. By deferring the full raise that guards were to receive July 1, the deal saves the state $108 million over this fiscal year and next. Lance Corcoran, the union's executive vice president, said if legislators rejected the deal and sought to block the raises in total, "some sort of job action" by guards would be likely. Scholars who track prison reform say that placing a state correctional system under federal receivership is rare. More commonly, a court places an individual prison, or prison program, under a receiver. Such was the case in Washington, D.C., where the Department of Corrections' medical and mental health programs were in receivership for five years until 2002. In other instances, judges have threatened to hold top officials in contempt, or appointed "special masters" to ensure that court orders are carried out. What Henderson is considering for California "is so extraordinary it's hard to imagine," said James Jacobs, a professor and prison litigation specialist at New York University School of Law. "A move like that would be almost revolutionary," he said, especially with a system that is the largest in the nation with 32 prisons, 162,000 inmates and 49,000 employees. "Displacing the authority over such a large agency would be very disruptive and it would certainly be subject to a legal challenge," Jacobs said. "So it sounds to me like a negotiating tactic to get someone's attention." In recent months, Schwarzenegger's new team of corrections leaders has revamped its disciplinary process and, at the July meeting with the team, Henderson seemed pleased with the progress. But then came details of the renegotiated labor pact with the union. Soon after his election, Schwarzenegger had pledged to win back as much as $300 million in pay and benefits from the guards to help bail the state out of its financial mess. He could have vetoed the guards' raises from the state budget, but the union had a binding contract and made clear it would sue. Instead, the governor negotiated a deal in which union officials deferred the full 10.9% raise for the coming year. Instead, members would get a 5% raise starting this month and another 5% on Jan. 1. The pact also grants the union new powers. Among other things, it allows about 3,000 sergeants, lieutenants and other supervisors — rather than prison managers — to decide their work shifts. Veteran officers already have that power, but critics said it gives undue workplace influence to the union. In his three-page letter, Henderson said the new pact effectively "transfers management authority to the union." "If the state of California is no longer willing to manage the necessary corrective actions," the judge wrote, "I must consider the appointment of a receiver to bring California's correctional system into full compliance with the court's orders." Siggins, however, said in his letter that the administration agreed to the new contract "only after its prison professionals concluded the agreement would not significantly impair management prerogative." Though the fate of the labor pact remained uncertain, Senate leader John Burton (D-San Francisco) said he, for one, was inclined to support it. Burton said he met Tuesday with the governor's chief of staff and legal affairs secretary and decided that "there is a fair amount of misinformation circulating in the Capitol" about the contract. For example, Burton said, a provision allowing guards to obtain videotapes of assaults — so they can use them in public relations campaigns showing the dangerous conditions of their workplace — permits such access only after a disciplinary case related to any footage has been closed. Not forcing the union to file a public records request to get the videotapes seemed reasonable, Burton said. "Clearly, we had hoped to get more money from the [guards union]," Burton said. "But we got no money from the Highway Patrol or the firefighters [unions], and clearly [the prison guards agreement] is better than a sharp poke in the eye with a stick." * Times staff writers Robert Salladay, Jordan Rau and Gabrielle Banks contributed to this report.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prison2jul02,1,1582101.story?coll=la-home-local Drastic Prison Overhaul Urged
July 2, 2004 SACRAMENTO — California's $6-billion correctional system, once a national model, is a failure on most fronts and should be placed under the control of a civilian commission, a report by a team of experts appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger concluded Thursday. Led by former Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, the panel said that only a radical restructuring of leadership can repair a prison system plagued by runaway costs, a high rate of repeat offenders and abusive officers who often go unpunished. "Management in corrections has been deficient and dysfunctional," said Deukmejian, a conservative on law-and-order issues who oversaw the rapid expansion of state prisons in the 1980s. "It's extremely important that we have an independent commission to lead the way and monitor what's going on." Schwarzenegger's aides moved quickly Thursday to dismiss the central recommendation of the governor's handpicked panel. Giving oversight power to a civilian commission, spokeswoman Terri Carbaugh said, "would reduce accountability for the governor and grant it to a politically appointed board." Aside from that, she said, the report offered "many laudable and practical solutions that will help assure the correctional system protects public safety" and better prepare inmates for freedom. The exhaustive report, which contains 239 recommendations as disparate as employee ethics and the use of satellites to track high-risk parolees, will be the subject of public hearings in August. Many of the reforms would require the Legislature's approval, Carbaugh said, but some could be included in the governor's budget for the 2005-06 fiscal year. Criminal justice experts applauded the report's conclusion that more education, drug treatment and job-training programs are essential to cut the proportion of parolees who fail and return to prison. "This is a breath of fresh air and the sort of reforms that we have been looking for for many years," said Barry Krisberg, president of the Oakland-based National Council on Crime and Delinquency. He said that the panel's recommendation to "move back to a rehabilitation model" is something that has won substantial public support in recent opinion polls. But state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) expressed disappointment. "This is less about blowing up boxes than about rearranging the chairs on a Titanic that we are promised will be leakproof," she said. "My initial thought is: Is this all there is?" State Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) added that while the panel's work marks "an outstanding step forward" in resolving the prison crisis, the civilian commission does not make sense. "I can see an advisory commission, but not a commission to hire and fire an inspector general," she said. "They will be civilians with no experience in the prison system." With 40 adult and youth prisons, 308,000 inmates and parolees and about 54,000 employees, California's system is the largest in the nation. From the 1940s through the 1970s, the panel's report said, California was viewed as the national leader in corrections, "a jewel" that pioneered standards copied by other states. But now, the report said, the system falls short by almost every measure. It has been hit by a string of costly lawsuits — on inmate healthcare, treatment of disabled prisoners and conditions in juvenile lockups, among other issues — and a judge recently threatened to place the adult prisons under federal receivership. Compounding the problems have been corrections managers who lack "the courage or integrity to stand up to political pressure," especially from the powerful prison guards union, the report said. Shortly after his election, Schwarzenegger vowed to clean up the system and asked Deukmejian to investigate problems and suggest reforms. For four months, a staff of 36 interviewed 470 experts, evaluated 400 reports and studied how things are done in the federal system and 25 other states. The result: Recommendations for change in everything from how wardens are picked to how long ex-convicts should be on parole. "I was frankly stunned by the disarray and extent of problems," said the panel's executive director, Joe Gunn, who formerly held the same title at the Los Angeles Police Commission. "There is no accountability, no uniformity, no transparency…. We are recommending a drastic reorganization of corrections." Among the findings and suggestions: • Inmates and parolees: With more than half of ex-convicts returning to prison on parole violations or for new crimes, California must provide better education, drug treatment and other programs to prepare inmates for release — beginning the day they arrive, the panel said. "The current system — of punishment only — does not work, and waiting until someone is 30 days away from release doesn't work," said Gunn. "There ought to be goals set for the prisoner right up front." Other suggestions include identifying elderly inmates who could safely be released early from prison, and ending state supervision of low-risk parolees three months after their release from prison, instead of three years. • Organization: Blaming the structure of the correctional system for many of its woes, the panel suggests a radical reorganization as well as consolidation of some youth and adult services. • Atop the pyramid: A new, five-member Civilian Corrections Commission should be created, with appointees named by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Dubbed the linchpin of the panel's recommendations, the commission would direct policy, provide oversight and hold bimonthly public meetings. • Union control: The state's controversial contract with the 31,000-member Correctional Peace Officers Assn. "has resulted in an unfair and unworkable tilt toward union influence" in how prisons are run, the panel said. The panel cited as particularly egregious a system that allows seniority — rather than merit — to dictate how 70% of job assignments are filled. "It is crucial that management have the ability to post its best employees in the most critical situations," said the panel. "The union should have no say in this matter." The report also criticized rules that have led to increases in overtime and sick leave, as well as a contract requirement that managers give guards accused of misconduct details of the allegations before they meet with investigators. "This practice encourages 'the code of silence' afflicting the state correctional system and could contribute to retaliation against 'whistle blowers,' " the report said. The union's executive vice president, Lance Corcoran, said he was disheartened to see the attack on such contract provisions, noting that many were negotiated while Deukmejian was governor. • Training: The report condemned the training system for correctional officers, saying, "A hiring plan is nonexistent and background investigations for applicants are weak." The department of corrections, it said, spends about one-quarter as much time investigating job candidates as the Highway Patrol does. Noting a "severe problem in recruitment of dedicated individuals," the report said that many officers either failed in attempts to get jobs with other law enforcement agencies or went into corrections solely for the competitive salary and benefits. While exhaustive, the report is conspicuously silent on one point: cost. Gunn said that forecasting the fiscal consequences of many of the reforms would take time, and that the panel's work was designed as a long-term blueprint. Deukmejian acknowledged that the investment — in money and energy — would be substantial. But he said public safety demands a change. "We are a leadership state, and we demand a correctional system that reflects that," Deukmejian said. "But it will not happen overnight." * Recommendations on prison reform California's $6-billion prison system has 40 youth and adult prisons, about 54,000 employees and 308,400 inmates and parolees. Because of recent scandals, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked experts, headed by former Gov. George Deukmejian, to suggest reforms. Their report has 239 recommendations and can be found on the Internet at http://www.report.cpr.ca.gov/corr/index.htm . Among the report's goals: • Reorganizing the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency and establishing a civilian oversight commission. • Changing the correctional culture, eliminating a "code of silence" among guards and urging strong ethical behavior. • Improving recruitment of quality candidates and training. • Clarifying employee discipline and use-of-force policies. • Better preparing inmates to reenter the community. Jenifer Warren * Source: California Independent Review Panel Los Angeles Times
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/9151005p-10076598c.html Problems, blame abound in prison system
The jaw-dropping moment came right at the beginning of a hearing in a room tucked away near the top of the state Capitol building. Lawmakers wondered: Was anybody managing spending at the state's adult prisons, which had blown their budget by a half-billion dollars this year? The one-word answer they got from a Finance Department official at the March hearing: No. More than two decades after California started toughening its sentencing laws and building new prisons to deal with rising crime rates, the mammoth penal system it created is embroiled in financial and management turmoil. The adult corrections system has overspent its budget by a cumulative $1.6 billion since 1999. Annual overtime costs for correctional officers have tripled in the past six years. The price of inmate medical care has doubled in five years as officials handed out no-bid contracts to health providers. And a recent watchdog report called the state's parole system a "billion-dollar failure" because more than two-thirds of inmates released from prison end up returning. On top of it all, corrections officials last month declared a state of emergency so they could cram three prisoners into cells originally designed for two after they were faced with an unexpected surge of inmates. News of the prisons' budget mess has come as the Legislature also investigates discipline problems among prison officers and rampant violence and substandard care for juvenile inmates at the Youth Authority. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed a panel of experts to recommend reforms and said he will cut $400 million from the corrections budget next year. But while it may sound like an unfolding catastrophe, the problems in California's $5.3 billion corrections system are nothing new. Concerns about prison management and costs date back to the 1980s. Watchdogs and fiscal experts such as the state auditor have been warning about financial and management chaos at the Department of Corrections every year for the past five years. So far the state has not succeeded in controlling the system's costs, which are driven not only by administrative problems but by demographic and political forces. Some point fingers at the power and pay hikes the state has given the members of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the union representing 31,000 prison employees. The Department of Corrections blames lawmakers, who consistently have passed budgets that underestimate the real price of running the prisons. At the same time, federal courts have found the system violated inmates' civil rights by failing to provide decent medical and mental health care. Court-ordered improvements have added to costs but have not always been reflected in the budgets. "There's plenty of blame to go around," James Tilton, the Finance Department official in charge of the corrections budget, told legislators at the March hearing. The current crisis is erupting after 25 years of expanding criminal penalties and prisons in California, where the adult penal system has 162,000 prisoners, the most of any state in the nation. The change over time has been dramatic. In the early 1980s, the state spent about 3 percent of the general fund, its main tax-funded bank account, on the Department of Corrections. The prison system held about 42,000 prisoners, about one out of every 600 Californians. As the number of prisoners swelled in the 1980s and 1990s, the state built 21 prisons. It tripled prison staff. Today, the state spends $5.3 billion, nearly 7 percent of the general fund, on the Department of Corrections. One of every 222 Californians is incarcerated in a state prison. Though 22 prisons with thousands of beds have been added since the 1980s, the system continues to run at nearly double its designed capacity. Crime rates have dropped by about a third since the early 1980s. But the state's prison population is still expanding, thanks to tougher sentencing laws such as "three strikes" and a system that sends many parolees back to prison for violations such as failing a drug test. Another factor in the prisons' unchecked growth was the long history of political connections between the correctional officers union and the administrations of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson and Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, said Franklin Zimring, a University of California, Berkeley, law professor who has studied the prisons for decades. All the while, no one has focused on management, Zimring said. "The system has been running as a headless horseman without any overarching purpose except warehousing for at least 20 years, and that's fine with most of its constituencies," Zimring said. "It's just when it can't count and can't budget and tell you where the money goes that we have ... an administrative governance crisis." Wardens at each of the 32 prisons are largely in charge of their own budgets, and staffing levels have been left up to their discretion. Lawmakers recently discovered that prison officials added, and paid for, 1,000 extra staff positions that weren't in their budget this year. The prisons "are medium-sized companies, and they're being run by individuals who may or may not have a college education," said state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, who with Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, has been holding hearings into all aspects of the corrections problems. "These are people who are the equal of CFOs who may not have accounting or finance experience," Speier said. "We have to professionalize the entire operation." It has always been hard to pinpoint an exact budget for the prison system, where staffing costs can be driven by outbreaks of violence, fluctuations in the inmate population, and other security concerns. But beginning in the late 1990s, the problem seemed to get worse. The Department of Corrections started showing up regularly at the end of each fiscal year with its hand out, needing millions more dollars than its budget allowed. Part of the problem was that the budget, for years, simply did not meet the basic costs of the prison system. In fact, Schwarzenegger's proposed spending plan for next year includes almost $500 million to cover the cost of raises and retirement benefits that the state is contractually bound to pay prison employees but failed to include in last year's budget. Some say the problem goes beyond recent raises granted to prison employees, who could see their salaries go up by at least 37 percent in the next three years. In inflation-adjusted dollars, correctional officers this year are making about the same amount of money as they did 10 years ago: an average of about $54,000, not including overtime. The main problem, some say, is that the people at the top of the corrections system either had, or exercised, little control. Under Davis, problems with the Department of Corrections often were ignored by the governor's top staff, said Robert Presley, the Cabinet official in charge of the department at the time. Presley, who ran the system from 1999 until this year, said in a recent interview that he submitted a five-year plan for the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency to Davis' Cabinet secretary, but never got a response one way or the other. "Davis never wanted to rock the boat in any way," Presley said. "He just wanted to maintain pretty much status quo." Presley said he also was hamstrung by union members' say over work rules and assignments. Under the current agreement, correctional officers sign up for 70 percent of work assignments based on seniority. And, even though Presley headed the agency, an entirely separate arm of government - the Department of Personnel Administration - negotiated the contract for prison staff. "Unions have their place on bread-and-butter type issues, salaries and that type of thing," Presley said. "But when they get into management and operations, it's too much. I would tell them that. But of course they weren't too concerned with what I thought, because they already had it in the contract. So it didn't matter a lot." Steve Maviglio, who served as Davis' spokesman when he was governor, blamed Presley for failing to get control of the prisons. "The governor was focused on the big issues of the day, which were energy and the budget," Maviglio said. "It's Mr. Presley's job to keep his house in order." Maviglio added: "It's not like anything was swept under the rug. We tried to do everything we could." From the time that California state employees were first allowed to collectively bargain, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association has represented prison officers and other correctional staff. It has grown from about 2,500 members in 1982 to about 31,000 today. To the union, which has donated millions of dollars to the campaign funds of state lawmakers, including Davis, the benefits and control they have won are their due in a dangerous job that has not had parity with other law enforcement agencies. "Corrections for years was the doormat of public safety, and I think we have upped our stature with respect to the law-enforcement community," said Lance Corcoran, executive vice president of the CCPOA. Corcoran argues that the state consistently has underestimated how much staff it takes to maintain security. But auditors' reports have found that prison officers use overtime as a privilege, with senior officers getting first dibs on extra hours. That, too, drives up costs because the state is paying time and a half on the senior officers' higher salaries. Meanwhile, the prison officers' contract limits how often the state can use cheaper, part-time workers to fill schedule gaps. State Auditor Elaine Howle has been examining these problems since 2000. Her office has come up with a host of recommendations - among them, cutting down on overtime and the use of sick leave. Since her office began weighing in, results have been mixed. The Department of Corrections has cut its staff vacancy rate from 12 percent to 2 percent in an effort to reduce overtime. But the latest prison officers' contract, signed in 2002, got rid of a program that tracked sick-leave use. Since then, sick leave among prison employees has risen by more than 8 percent. "There has been some improvement," Howle said. "But would I consider it significant improvement? No." Three decades of California's prison system 1977: California's determinate sentencing law goes into effect. The old system of open-ended sentences is replaced with a system in which offenders serve fixed sentences before being released to parole. 1980: The state prison system has 23,500 inmates and is operating at 99 percent of capacity. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association has 5,000 members, and the average annual salary for correctional officers is $14,400. 1982: The Ralph C. Dills Act, allowing state employees to bargain collectively, is implemented. The CCPOA negotiates its first contract. 1985: Inmates at San Quentin fatally stab Sgt. Howell Burchfield, the last California correctional officer to be killed in the line of duty. 1985: The state prison system has 47,000 inmates and is operating at 158 percent of capacity. 1984-1997: To deal with the growing inmate population in its already crowded facilities, California builds 21 new prisons. 1990: The state prison system has 94,000 inmates and is operating at 177 percent of capacity. 1994: "Three-strikes" law goes into effect, doubling prison terms for second-time felons and instituting sentences of 25 years to life for third-time felons. 1995: A federal judge begins oversight of Pelican Bay State Prison after finding that inmates were being subjected to excessive force and inadequate medical care. A federal judge in a separate case begins monitoring services for mentally ill inmates. 1995: The state prison system has 131,000 inmates and is operating at 177 percent of capacity. The CCPOA has 20,000 members, and the top salary for a correctional officer is $46,000. 1998: Corrections officials restrict rifle fire to incidents in which inmates pose threats of death or serious injury to officers or each other. A dozen state inmates had been killed by officers' gunfire from 1994 to 1998, twice the total of all other U.S. prisons combined. 2000: Six Corcoran State Prison officers accused of setting up gladiator-style fights between inmates in 1994 are acquitted by a federal court jury. 2000: A racially motivated riot at Pelican Bay leaves one inmate dead and 32 wounded. Correctional officers fire 24 shots. 2000: California voters approve Proposition 36, allowing people convicted of drug possession to get treatment instead of prison. 2000: The state prison system has 162,000 inmates and is operating at 192 percent of capacity. 2002: Correctional officers get a new contract that gives them a roughly 37 percent pay raise over five years. 2002: A riot between members of rival gangs at Folsom State Prison leads to injuries to 25 inmates and correctional officers, and the firing of the warden after state investigators find that prison officials failed to head off the brawl. 2002: Two Pelican Bay correctional officers are convicted and sentenced to federal prison for beating inmates and soliciting prisoners to attack other inmates in the early and mid-1990s. 2002: State settles a class-action lawsuit alleging that inmate medical care is abysmal. State agrees to overhaul medical care in the prisons and spend more to ensure inmates get timely medical treatment. 2003: Federal prosecutors turn over information to state corrections officials indicating that some prison officers perjured themselves during the trial of the Pelican Bay guards. 2004: The federal official in charge of overseeing Pelican Bay alleges that corrections chief Edward A. Alameida and his deputy, Thomas Moore, improperly quashed the perjury investigation under pressure from the CCPOA. Alameida and Moore resign. 2004: State prison system has 162,456 inmates and is operating at 194 percent of capacity. The CCPOA has 31,000 members, and the average salary for a correctional officer is $54,771. Source: state Controller's Office, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice,
Bee research
The Bee's Clea Benson can be reached at (916) 326-5533 or cbenson@sacbee.com .
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/Stories/0,1413,206~11851~2123079,00.html# Pasadena Star-News
CDC should have disclosed prisons' 'emergency' status
Sunday, May 02, 2004 - AN official state of emergency in several California prisons should not have been kept secret from the Legislature and is an indicator of more extensive problems. Perhaps more significant than the news that an official of the state prison system declared a state of emergency at several state prisons almost a month ago is the fact that the Department of Corrections never bothered to inform anybody, not even the state Legislature. With prison-related issues near the forefront of current budget discussions and three-strikes law reform slated for the November ballot the wider interest should have been apparent to prison officials. CDC spokeswoman Margot Bach says state law did not require telling the Legislature about the memo ... by Richard A. Rimmer, a deputy director of the California Department of Corrections, which declares emergencies due to overcrowding at the Folsom, Pleasant Valley, Solano, Avenal and Chuckawalla Valley facilities. Perhaps most telling about Rimmer's memo is what it says about how accurate the "experts' have been about prison issues. "The spring projections indicating a decrease in population has not materialized,' he wrote. "The unanticipated population increase has restricted the Department's ability to move inmates' and will require putting three prisoners in cells designed for two. ... The emergencies are likely to require overtime pay for prison guards, an issue that has been a sore point for critics concerned about chronic cost overruns in the prison system. The overcrowding crisis should prompt legislative inquiries and an end to the culture of secrecy that lets officials think it's fine to keep such actions within the CDC "family.' And it might lead Gov. Schwarzenegger to consider releasing some nonviolent offenders. The overcrowding issue makes it all the more important that California voters approve the "three-strikes' reform initiative in November. The Orange County Register
http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/opinion/opinionview.asp?c=104065 No ‘admire-ation’ here Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - Ruth Martin, Plymouth This letter is in response to William Admire’s guest commentary. It’s apparent that Mr. Admire has no concept of what inmates or their family’s lives are all about. It’s also clear that the mindset of a majority of prosecutors in district attorneys’ offices around the country is to lock ‘em up, throw away the key and forget ‘em. Their idea of justice is to win at any and all costs. The California Department of Corrections’ (CDC) focus on punishment rather than rehabilitation is based on California Correctional Peace Officers Association’s (CCPOA) gluttony for money and power with the idea the more inmates, the bigger the budget. It’s already a proven fact that substantially less is spent on rehabilitation than on punishment. I’m not advocating that we baby or coddle inmates. Violent offenders such as murders, rapists, pedophiles, predators, major drug dealers and child molesters deserve severe punishment. The majority of inmates are drug offenders and are, for the most part, users of drugs, not drug dealers. Most of these offenders sold drugs to supply their own habit rather than selling for profit. To cut costs these are the inmates that we should use our rehabilitation resources on. Prisoners’ lives are not a bed of roses nor should they be. The loss of freedom is in itself a punishment I can’t even begin to imagine. Mr. Admire’s idea of taking away all privileges is at best misguided. Even CDC recognizes that privileges are a way of keeping inmates in line. These privileges give correctional officers leverage over inmates’ behavior and are swiftly taken away for any infractions of “so-called” liberal visiting rules and conjugal visits. He obviously doesn’t know how stringent and rigid these rules are. Until the first of this year visiting for inmates was four days a week. These visits are overcrowded, noisy, hot in the summer and cold in the winter and not conducive to meaningful conversation between inmate and visitor. Visits have now been cut down to two days a week in effect meaning that relatives working on Saturdays and Sundays can no longer visit their loved ones. This has led to severe overcrowding, visitors standing during their whole visit, long lines of cars around the prison, longer processing times for inmates and visitors. Tempers often times flare while waiting in long lines for hours to see the inmate. As for conjugal visits, these visits are scheduled every four months and are only given to married inmates whose conduct merits these visits. These visits are quickly taken away for any misconduct on the part of prisoner or visitor. The cost of food during visits is borne by the spouse and not the prison and the menu from which the meals are chosen is very limited and costly. Conjugal visits are primarily to give continuity of the bond between inmates, their children and spouses. In fact, these visits consist mainly of spouses with children of inmates. The benefits from these visits are immense. Inmates and their families have the opportunity to once again be a family unit if only for a brief two days. It is my opinion that married inmates, incarcerated for the first time, who have children are the most likely to not commit future crimes. The expensive education and training Mr. Admire speaks of is laughable. Most inmates are required to have a job within the prison walls or participate in education in order to get half-time credits if they are qualified. The trouble is that vocational training for inmates has all but disappeared in prison because of the cost. Meals inside prison walls leave a lot to be desired, mostly consisting of chicken, rice, beans, bread and fatty foods. It’s no wonder many inmates are overweight. Excessive freedom of movement and unrestricted contact with other inmates is also something Mr. Admire knows little of. Inmates are categorized according to their propensity toward violent behavior and gang affiliation. Segregation of the classes of inmates is not always possible until incidents occur. Medical care in prison is a sham. There are incidents of inmates having heart attacks, lying on the floor for an extended period of time while guards walk over their prone bodies to seek help that was too late in coming. Incompetent medical staff is not unheard of. An incident earlier this year at Corcoran State Prison involved an inmate on dialysis who bled to death in his cell while guards ignored his screams for hours as they were too busy watching the Super Bowl. Anyone who reads the newspapers daily or watches the news on TV has heard of many other incidents and the problems within the adult and youth prison system. In closing, Mr. Admire’s association with the criminal justice system is all too clearly one-sided. He needs to understand the financial and emotional hardships inmates’ families endure while their loved one is incarcerated. I do, however, agree with Mr. Admire in that there is no benefit to the state or inmate for excessively long sentences of inmates convicted of crimes of a lesser degree, mainly that of drug violations. He is correct in stating if punishment is achieved at an early stage, lengthy incarceration becomes meaningless and in my opinion serves no other purpose than to keep the correctional budget ballooning higher and higher each new budget year. It is time to release inmates early who have good work records, who do not have write-ups or other incidents on their records. Inmates who obey the rules and whose good behavior and attitude have proven them to be good candidates for early release should be released sooner than later. California, whose incarceration rate is the highest in the nation, would benefit from such procedures in the form of reduced prison costs. Prisons, for too long, have become a big business costing taxpayers billions of dollars every year. It’s time to use prison as a punishment for violent criminals and to rehabilitate the lower echelon of drug offenders who can and want to be rehabilitated. I want to let the readers know that I am fairly savvy about the prison system because I am the wife of a current inmate in one of California’s state prisons.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/8756255p-9683652c.html Prison system ignores budget cuts
After former Gov. Gray Davis slashed the state personnel budget by $1.1 billion last year, most departments made do with less help. But the Department of Corrections kept spending money - enough to pay the salaries of more than 500 correctional officers whose positions were no longer funded in the budget. Documents released last week by the Department of Finance show the state's prison system still has not made most of the job cuts that officials were ordered to make last year. On their books, prison officials simply moved the costs into a category they called the "unfunded pay blanket." Most of the costs were for overtime and part-time help. The prison system has come under fire during recent legislative hearings for consistently ignoring its spending authority, running $500 million over budget this year, and adding 1,000 jobs to the payroll without prior authorization from the Legislature. "(Corrections) has been making unilateral decisions about who to hire, and the hiring decisions have no relationship to the amount of money budgeted, and that needs to end," said Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who chairs the Assembly budget committee. Steinberg said he plans to call department officials back before his panel later this month to ask how they plan to fix their spending and accounting problems. Prison officials said they were unable to make the cuts until they came to agreement with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the union representing prison guards. Those talks are nearing completion, said Tip Kindel, a spokesman for the Youth and Adult Correctional Authority. Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the CCPOA, said overtime costs and part-time workers were essential in a business where staffing needs change constantly with the fluctuations in inmate population. "Our workload doesn't go away," Corcoran said. "We're very concerned about staffing levels at all times." Officials also said lawmakers have consistently given the department less money than it needs to meet the terms of its contract with prison guards and to meet the safety levels mandated by various court orders. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may propose a solution in his revised budget in May that will take care of part of the problem by adding the equivalent of 328 new full-time staff salaries to the prison budget, Kindel said. Most of that would be used to pay overtime and part-time salaries for current workers. At the same time, the system will lose 422 other full-time positions, for a net loss of about 100 instead of the more than 500 it was supposed to cut last year. "It's a wash," Kindel said. The new staffing funds will go to relieve correctional officers when prison populations increase. At the same time, the department will reduce staff costs in other areas by cutting back on nighttime programs and inmate work crews that clean up parks. After those program cuts are made, Kindel said, the department will
be able to save enough money to make up for the $500 million in overspending
this year.
The Bee's Clea Benson can be reached at (916) 326-5533 or cbenson@sacbee.com .
Not above the rules Wednesday, February 18, 2004
URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/18/EDGLU510U31.DTL
GETTING TO the heart of the dysfunction within the California Department of Corrections is like peeling an onion, with layer after layer of scandal and deceit, and a stench that only gets stronger as each layer is removed. At a recent state Senate budget hearing, lawmakers were shocked to learn that CDC officials hired 1,000 employees -- apparently mostly prison guards -- during a three-year period without authority from the Legislature, costing taxpayers $100 million. This is merely the latest in a string of disturbing revelations about a department that seems to think it can set its own rules. Last month, a federal report concluded that top corrections officials purposely botched an internal investigation and lied to cover it up. Days later, exhaustive legislative hearings found widespread prison misconduct and a code of silence that included a staged inmate riot and physical intimidation of witnesses. Next, a series of reports chastised the California Youth Authority as a violent, gang-dominated agency where detainees are place in small, inhumane cages. Now this: Phantom employees and a hiring practice that officials are unable or unwilling to explain. Who actually hired these people? What jobs did they perform? How did this happen without Sacramento knowing about it before now? Unbelievably, nobody has an answer, but somebody must be held accountable. "I'm angry," said state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough. "They think they're untouchable ... that they can do anything.'' Indeed, the shadow workforce is yet another demonstration of the CDC's arrogance, and the clearest evidence yet that our chaotic prison system is incapable of supervising itself.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prisons12feb12,1,1629255.story?collla-headlines-california THE STATE
February 12, 2004 SACRAMENTO — The chief financial officer of the state Department of Corrections acknowledged Wednesday that state prison officials in recent years had hired an extra 1,000 employees — mostly prison guards — without authorization or funding. The disclosure, during a hearing by separate Senate committees probing runaway spending in the prison system, sparked an outcry by Democratic lawmakers who demanded to know how the hiring of so many employees could have been done without approval by the Legislature. "If they are not authorized by the Legislature, they are unauthorized by definition," said Sen. Byron Sher (D-Stanford). Wendy Still, chief financial officer for the Corrections Department, said the hiring was related to safety and security. California's prison system is the largest in the nation with about 161,000 inmates. Still said the staffing requests originated with prison wardens. But her explanation did not placate the lawmakers, who are examining myriad problems in the system, including extensive use of overtime and sick leave by guards that has led to hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns annually in recent years. "A warden can just say, 'Bring them on?' " asked an incredulous Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles). Still tried to explain that prison officials were operating within what they consider to be the department's policy. She described a system in which some prisons regularly spend more than their allocation and budget projections don't square with the reality in the field. The $5.7-billion correctional system has 46,793 employees. But it was the revelation about the 1,000 new employees that sparked the most indignation since it is the Legislature's role to authorize spending by state agencies and departments. "It's a travesty," said Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) after the hearing ended. "It's incumbent on us to pull in the reins and make people accountable." Speier said that if the prison system can hire 1,000 people without authorization, "the Legislature doesn't matter. The budget doesn't matter. They will spend it however they want." Even a representative of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance criticized the spending by prison officials. Budget analyst Todd Jerue told the Senate Select Committee on California's Correctional System and the subcommittee that reviews the prison budget that the new administration cannot continue to allow hiring without approval. Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer said it was a review by the Schwarzenegger administration that found that Corrections had roughly 1,000 unauthorized positions. Palmer said the administration would work with the Legislature to find out "how in the world could something like this happen. How does it come to pass that there are 1,000 more positions in the system that are above and beyond what the Legislature authorized." The budget revelations follow hearings that examined allegations that a code of silence has covered up examples of misconduct by prison officials in the treatment of inmates. And Schwarzenegger last week asked the U.S. attorney in Sacramento to investigate allegations that Folsom State Prison officials orchestrated a riot two years ago and then conspired to cover it up.
State Corrections Director Resigns for 'Personal Reasons' The prison department veteran led the system for two years. Critics contend he was too close to the guards union. By Jenifer Warren and Dan Morain Times Staff Writers December 12, 2003 SACRAMENTO — Edward Alameida Jr., the embattled director of the California Department of Corrections, resigned Thursday after two years heading the largest state prison system in the nation. Alameida cited "personal reasons" for his resignation during a meeting Thursday with Roderick Q. Hickman, the newly appointed secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency. "This was his own choice," said Tip Kindel, acting assistant secretary for external affairs for the agency. "It was something that was not expected. And it was not something that he was asked to do." But pressure was building on him to leave. Critics accused Alameida of blocking investigations into allegedly abusive guards and allowing the powerful corrections officers union to dictate policy. After testifying in a federal court proceeding in San Francisco three weeks ago, Alameida told a Times reporter that he hoped to remain on the job in the new administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "In fact, I'm looking forward to staying in the job," he said in November. Alameida, 54, spent his adult life working his way up through the ranks of the state Department of Corrections, beginning in the accounting office of Folsom State Prison in 1973. He became director in September 2001, overseeing 33 prisons, 160,000 inmates and almost 50,000 prison officers. Some legislators had called for his resignation. "I do think it was overdue," Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) said Thursday. "It was wise. More than anything, it is a new administration and I think it is time to bring changes." Added Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), who along with Romero has been holding hearings into prison management problems: "In my conversations with the governor, he expressed an interest in trying to shape up the department, which I applaud. And Edward Alameida has been a defender of the status quo." In the 1990s, policy in the Corrections Department permitted officers to shoot inmates who engaged in fistfights in prison yards. As a result, 39 prisoners were fatally shot, more than in the rest of the nation's prison systems combined during that time. Such incidents are rare now. But problems remain in the department. Earlier this year, the department disclosed that it was overspending its $5-billion annual budget this year by more than $500 million. In addition, audits over the years have shown that the department has been unable to control costs related to officers' sick leave and overtime. Perhaps most damaging, internal affairs investigators and their attorneys have alleged that Alameida, at the behest of the union that represents prison officers, thwarted investigations into wrongdoing by guards — charges that Alameida and the union have denied. On Thursday, Lance Corcoran, executive vice president of the union, said he was not surprised by the director's decision to quit, given the "lurid tales" about the internal affairs investigations. "I know he wanted accountability," Corcoran said. "I know cost overruns were very frustrating. We had our fights. But I know he put his heart into it. I think he probably was somewhat relieved." Alameida's rise began in the administration of Gov. Pete Wilson, who appointed him warden of Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy. Under Gov. Gray Davis, he became director. In that position, he made Hickman one of his chief deputies, overseeing field operations. It was Hickman, as the agency secretary, who accepted Alameida's resignation. Kindel said Hickman "expressed his appreciation for Mr. Alameida's professionalism and thanked him for his years of dedicated public service in the Department of Corrections." Alameida's resignation will be effective Jan. 5. The governor appoints the head of the prison system. No replacement has been announced.
No longer are prisons correctional institutions
URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/07/BAG0J2SML91.DTL
An administrator from the California Department of Corrections was giving a group of German criminal justice experts an overview of the state prison system in a San Francisco hotel meeting room Wednesday. Thirty-two prisons, he wrote on a pad of newsprint propped on an easel. A population of 159,390 inmates. An annual budget of $5.3 billion. "Billion?'' one German repeated, unsure he had heard correctly. "Billion. Milliarden,'' a colleague answered, using the German word as clarification. "Milliarden? Wow.'' The Germans shook their heads as they wrote the number in their notebooks. They were in San Francisco for a four-day German-American symposium on preventing hate crime. But Wednesday's sessions were mostly about prisons. They heard from folks from the Department of Corrections. They visited San Quentin and talked with the inmates and the warden. To see the California prison system through the eyes of a foreigner is to see how utterly backward and broken it has become. "I was astonished,'' said Ulrich Doverman, from Germany's Federal Agency for Civic Education, which runs anti-violence programs in German prisons. What struck Doverman and his colleagues was that everyone from the warden to the inmates agreed the system doesn't work. And they agreed on when the breakdown began: in 1978, when the state passed a law that imposed hard-and-fast prison sentences, called determinant sentencing. Before this, a judge could give a sentence range, for instance five to life. The parole board would decide when to release an inmate, depending on how well he followed his prescribed program for re-entering society. This obviously gave inmates incentives to take classes, learn a vocation, participate in therapy. Now when a criminal is sentenced, a clerk figures in certain credits and comes up with a release date. (The parole board decides the fate only of those imprisoned for murder and certain kidnappings.) "Determinant sentencing pulled the rug out from under prescriptive programming,'' said a state corrections officer who requested anonymity. "You had to prove to the parole board you were doing the right thing to be released. '' The prison population began to soar as inmates served out full terms no matter what. From 1978 to 1988, the number of inmates imprisoned for violent crimes doubled. And the number of inmates imprisoned solely on drug charges increased seven-fold. Building prisons became California government's biggest industry. We had 12 prisons in the state in 1980. We have built 20 since then to keep up with the demand. Another is slated to be built in Delano at a cost of $335 million. In the meantime, we haven't built a single new public university. "You are taking money and putting it into nothing,'' Doverman said. "The money you put in there would be better spent in education. It is cheaper to prevent crime than to punish it.'' When I found out how California's prison numbers compared to Germany's, I understood why the Germans were flabbergasted. California has a total population of 33 million people and 159,390 inmates. Germany has 82 million people and 56,000 inmates. Indeed, the California Department of Corrections employs nearly as many people as Germany imprisons. So if nearly everyone agrees the current system has become a counter- productive, money-devouring beast, why doesn't anyone change it? Because it would take action from the Legislature. And what politician would propose more flexible sentencing and more rehab services, knowing he or she would immediately be labeled "soft on crime''? "Correction officials can't say anything either because you're appointed by the governor, so you can't take a position that isn't approved by him,'' said the California official. Near the end of the morning session on Wednesday, corrections administrators spoke to the Germans about the effects of the state's huge deficit. They explained that they had to cut teachers and other support personnel. They had to cut programs geared toward helping inmates re-enter society. They have had to limit education opportunities. One of the Germans raised his hand. "Then you have to change the name,'' he said. "It is no longer a correctional facility. What do you correct?'' Maybe our new governor can assemble a Blue Ribbon committee to come up with an answer. E-mail Joan Ryan at joanryan@sfchronicle.com
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