California prisons breed violence and diseases--increasing
the injustice of a long sentence.
A few decades ago, some psychologists set up an experiment placing people
in the roles of guards and prisoners. The study was set up to see how people
would react in a guard versus prisoner situation when the roles were
reversed. The study had to be cut short, however, because of some
disturbing results. The first group of people who played the guards
became observably over-controlling and abusive towards the prisoners.
And, when the roles were reversed, the new guards became just as abusive to the
new prisoners. In fact, such psychological experiments are not allowed
any longer in the U.S. because it was considered such a traumatic experience
for the participants.
All prisons are degrading and present special harms to prisoners--both
physically and psychologically. In California, the degree of harm to
prisoners seems to be especially high in recent years. This is probably
due to the fact that there has been a huge expansion of the prison system that
has become staffed primarily by young, under-trained guards. The huge
expansion of the system has also increased the number of people promoted to
management positions who have had very little management experience
before. The result is that poor decision-making has taken place and the
"prison-guard mentality" of over-control is at an all time high.
Prisons are also breeding grounds for disease and bad health. It is a
rare prisoner that can keep from catching the flu or a bad cold when an
outbreak starts in a prison. Other more severe diseases like hepatitis C
and AIDS are also floating around the prisons at extremely high rates when
comparing the prison population to the general population.
In addition, the disabled in prison suffer extreme problems as the prison
facilities lack design features for their ability to move around and use the
facilities.
The following are some statistics and comments from books and articles on
the increasing harms facing prisoners in the California prison system.
PLEASE SEND US NEW DATA AND ARTICLES IF YOU HAVE THEM.
California 3-Strikers likely to be harmed in
prison.
Because of the length of their sentence, California 3-Strikers are
classified as level IV prisoners and sent to the maximum security prisons with
the murderers and violent felons. In 1995, 4,017 inmates and guards were
assaulted in California's 32 prisons (reported cases). OC-LATimes, 6/5/97. One does not
have to be an expert in statistics to understand that being with violent felons
and having a lengthy stay in prison increases the odds of being harmed (or
possibly killed) while in prison.
$2.2 Million to Inmate Shot at Corcoran Prison
In one of the largest prison brutality settlements ever, the state of
California has agreed to pay $2.2 million to an inmate paralyzed for life by a
guard's bullet during a yard fight at Corcoran State Prison in 1993. Vincent
Tulumis, 33, was shot in the neck during a fight allegedly set up by officers
in the prison's Security Housing Unit, according to depositions in the case.
Neither Tulumis nor his rival was carrying a weapon or posing serious harm to
each other when the gun post officer fired the 9-millimeter bullet. LATimes,
5/16/99 and SFGate, 5/16/99.
15 employees at juvenile prison are forced out because of
a sex scandal.
As a 2 1/2-year investigation of the scandal-plagued Ventura School neared
completion Monday, officials at the juvenile prison said 15 employees have been
fired or forced to resign for having improper relations with inmates. Five of
the workers were forced out after California Youth Authority officials
concluded they had sex with inmates, Supt. Greg Lowe said. LATimes, 6/15/99.
Jury awards $2.3 million to family of prisoner shot by
prison guards
In a blow against the use of deadly force in California's prisons, a
federal court jury awarded more than $2.3 million in damages November 30,
1998--most of it against California's former prison system director--for the
fatal shooting of an inmate by a San Quentin guard.
The 10-member jury found unanimously that convicted murderer Mark Adams,
killed while fighting with another prisoner in March 1994, was the victim not
only of a bullet gone astray but of what attorneys called a negligent state
policy on lethal force in prisons. Los
Angeles Times, 12/1/98.
16 inmates killed in California prisons in 1997.
More inmates died violently in 1997 in California's overcrowded and
racially divided state prisons than at any time in more than a decade,
according to statistics compiled by The Associated Press. "Prison deaths
highest in more than a decade," by Steve Geissinger,
The Associated Press, 2/21/98.
5 officers tell of "gladiator fights" and other
abuses at Corcoran State Prison
Five officers at Corcoran State Prison no longer could stay quiet about
abuses their brethren inflicted on prisoners. Bolstered by internal memos and
confidential prison documents, five officers described a feckless warden and a
clique of supervisors who ran one of the nation's most brutal prisons.
It was common practice, they say, for guards to pair off rival inmates like
roosters in a cockfight, complete with spectators and wagering, then sometimes
shoot those who wouldn't stop fighting.
Shackled inmates arriving from other prisons were pummeled by officers in
an intimidation rite called "greet the bus," they say. Other inmates
were forced to stand without shoes on scorching asphalt, their severe burns
blamed on games of "barefoot handball."
In discussing the large number of inmates killed and wounded,
paradoxically, the guards all gave the same reason for resorting to deadly
force: They were trying to stop inmate fights from turning deadly. Internal
investigations and shooting review boards appointed by the state Department of
Corrections routinely cleared the officers of wrongdoing.
"Gunfire was ringing our nearly every day and many of these shootings
were not justified," said Steve Rigg, a lieutenant at Corcoran from 1988
to 1994 who is one of several officers cooperating with the FBI. "The
fighters posed no imminent and serious harm to each other." And sometimes,
he added, "the wrong inmate was killed by mistake."
The accounts of what took place within Corcoran's walls emerge from
interviews with prison officials, attorneys, prisoner rights groups and five of
the officers cooperating with the FBI, and from thousands of pages of prison
and legal documents.
The unmasking of Corcoran began when a young gung-ho officer, Richard
Caruso, said he became convinced that his superiors were covering up the Tate
slaying. One night in 1994, he sneaked out of the prison with an armful of
documents and gave them to the FBI, which began an unusual federal
investigation of inmate abuse inside a state prison.
Two years later, the grand jury in Fresno continues to weigh possible
criminal indictments of prison staff.
In November of 1989, guards wanted to inspect the cell of Reginald Cooke,
who spit and exposed himself and would not leave his cell. After
"extracting" Cooke from his cell, a lieutenant ordered Cooke's pants
lowered and delivered a jolt to his genitals with a Taser gun. Another
lieutenant told the extraction team to omit any reference to the Taser in its
report. Kings County prosecutors tried to investigate but concluded that the
correctional officers union had pressured witnesses not to cooperate.
After that, an escalation of violence against prisoners evolved. Officers
staged "gladiator" fights and then used guns, gas guns and wooden
pellet guns to break up the fights. During these fights, 7 inmates were killed
and over 50 wounded.
Shooting review boards made up of the three officials from other prisons
became "vehicles for whitewash," critics said. "The shooting
review boards are nothing but a rubber stamp," said Capt. Simpson.
"You don't go into another man's house, his prison, and tell him his floor
is dirty. You'd be stupid to anger the warden at Corcoran because at some point
he's going to be on a panel to judge your prison."
Prison press releases were often part of the cover-up. With regards to the
killing of Preston Tate, "My jaw dropped," said Caruso upon reading a
newspaper of the killing. "The prison's press release said that Tate was
the aggressor and that he was shot after failing to heed all warnings. Even the
incident report said he was the victim."
Caruso and the others argue that Director Gomez was reluctant to clean
house at Corcoran for fear of angering the powerful correctional officers
union. In 1990, the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. contributed
more than $1 million to the reelection of Gov. Pete Wilson and key legislators
in both parties. "The union is very strong and militant at Corcoran,"
said Capt. Mineau, a former union board member. "Sacramento didn't want to
believe there was a problem. It took a long time for the light to come
on." Union leader Don Novey did not return phone calls from The Times.
LA-Times, 8/21/96.
Federal Grand Jury Indicts 8 for Abuses Inside State
Prison
After a four-year FBI probe, on February 26, 1998, a federal grand jury
indicted 8 guards and supervisors for betraying their badges and abusing
inmates, including the 1994 shooting death of one prisoner for
"amusement" and "blood sport."
Federal authorities accused officers and superiors at Corcoran State Prison
of setting up fights between the rival gang members and then using the fights
as pretext to shoot inmates in the recreation yards. Included in the
indictment was the killing of Preston Tate, a 25-year-old Los Angeles gang
member. LATimes, 2/27/98.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which represents
the state's prison guards, expressed "shock and outrage" at the
indictments. "This is a 4-year-old matter that has been thoroughly
investigated by the California Attorney General's Office and the Department of
Corrections, including the shooting review board," Lance Corcoran, vice
president of the association, said in a written statement.
"They tried to cover it up from the beginning," Bill Tate, father
of killed Preston Tate said. "You know how it goes when the state
investigates the state. "I'm just glad the feds jumped in," he
said. "If it wasn't for the feds, it wouldn't have gone
anywhere." OCRegister,
2/27/98.
One of the prison guards a federal grand jury indicted on charges of
setting up inmates for gladiator fights at Corcoran State Prison and then
shooting them had been promoted to a special unit within the Department of
Corrections entrusted with investigating such wrongdoing.
That chilling fact adds troubling substance to the charge by the special
agent in charge of the FBI office in Sacramento that "guards and other
officials" intentionally sought to "stymie, delay and obstruct"
the federal probe into deadly misconduct by prison guards at the state prison
at Corcoran. It also lends credence to the charges by whistle-blowing
corrections officers who say their lives were threatened and their careers
ended when they "broke the code of silence" and told the truth about
crimes and cover-ups at the Kings County prison. When they attempted to report
criminal activity to higher authorities, those same officers say they were
ignored. Sacramento Bee, 3/5/98.
The CDC, of course, is going to pick up the legal tab for the 8 officers
who are indicted. More money that comes from the taxpayer's
pockets. Sacramento Bee,
3/14/98.
Later investigations have also shown a concerted effort by Gov. Pete Wilson
to keep all state investigations under his umbrella and to give the public and
legislature minimal information.
``The Legislature is not receiving detailed information about the
effectiveness of the current, increasingly costly internal affairs operations
... because the legislation containing a reporting requirement was vetoed by
the governor,'' said a budget study by Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill, the
Legislature's nonpartisan fiscal adviser. "Case spotlights fight over new
investigative agency," The Bakersfield Californian, 3/3/98.
Racial tensions at High Desert State Prison cause two
recent deaths.
High Desert State Prison, 150 miles northeast of Sacramento, is so plagued
by racial strife that the death toll of two inmates in 1996--the first full
year of operation--was higher than any other state prison. In addition,
two racial brawls broke out in recent months which resulted in the guards
killing two prisoners. Since 1995, six inmates have died violent deaths
here.
A reporter was told by convicted murderer Robert George that he blames
prison officials for the recent deaths. "We didn't have racial
violence here but it was brought to a head" by prison policies, George
said. "It seems more and more buttons are being pushed up and down
the state by the administration, Sacramento, headquarters.
Among the policies: purposely mixing up the different races and gangs
to diffuse tensions. The policy sometimes backfires when the numbers tip
to one side or the other, leaving one group greatly outnumbered.
OCRegister, 3/10/98.
Eight inmates killed in Pelican Bay in a little over
two years.
Eight inmates have been killed in Pelican Bay since February of 1996. Six
of the killings are believed to be linked to an internal Aryan Brotherhood
struggle between the 50 or so members of the prison gang who are housed there,
officials said.
Del Norte County Deputy District Attorney James Fallman asked for a federal
investigation into the way the Department of Corrections has handled the
killings at in the past two years, according to a Feb. 13 brief filed in
Superior Court. "Eighth inmate dies in custody," The Bakersfield
Californian, 2/24/98.
FBI probes deaths at Pelican Bay and Susanville.
As part of the federal government's growing scrutiny of California prisons,
the FBI is launching civil rights investigations at the Pelican Bay and
Susanville penitentiaries into the role guards may have played in the beatings
and killings of inmates.
FBI officials said the decision to investigate follows a number of recent
assaults and deaths of inmates at the two maximum security prisons in Northern
California. LATimes, 3/19/98.
10 officials suspended for shearing prisoners as if they
were sheep.
In February of 1997, 10 officials were suspended as a result of a 1995
incident at Corcoran State Prison in which prisoners' hair was sheared as if
they were sheep. Linda Seebach, editorial page editor of the Valley Times in
Pleasanton and the San Ramon Valley Times in Danville, in The Orange County
Register, March 27, 1997, California Focus.
Up to 14 LA jail deputies under investigation for
encouraging beatings.
At least six and possibly as many as 14 Los Angeles County sheriff's
deputies are under criminal investigation for allegedly encouraging trusties at
the Men's Central Jail to beat inmates accused of child molestation, according
to sources and department officials.
LATimes, 2/26/98.
CDC bans reporters from "face-to-face"
interviews with prisoners.
In November of 1995, the California Department of Corrections put into
place a regulation that "Inmates may not participate in specific
face-to-face interviews." The CDC invoked emergency procedures that
claimed "operational necessity" even though there was nothing
resembling an emergency.
The procedures were so irregular that on Oct. 28 the state's Office of
Administrative Law refused to approve the restrictions. However, CDC
immediately announced it was readopting the restrictions without change, still
claiming an "operational necessity."
The troubling aspect of CDC's ban is that it is happening at a time when
the CDC is being investigated for many abuses.
The CDC has been so insistent on its actions that it is taking legislative
action in the California Congress to allow "face-to-face" interviews
to happen again. Linda Seebach, editorial page editor of the Valley Times in
Pleasanton and the San Ramon Valley Times in Danville, in The Orange County
Register, March 27, 1997, California Focus.
Corcoran investigated in death of Preston Tate.
In 1994, a Corcoran prisoner named Preston Tate was killed by gunfire from
guards during a fight. Investigations center on whether the guards set up
fights between members of rival gangs or ethnic groups and then shot them when
they didn't stop fighting. Linda Seebach, editorial page editor of the
Valley Times in Pleasanton and the San Ramon Valley Times in Danville, in The
Orange County Register, March 27, 1997, California Focus.
State legislative analyst says CDC ineffective in
deterring personnel misconduct.
In February of 1997, the state legislative analyst said, "We do not
believe that the CDC has an effective and efficient program in place to deter
personnel misconduct, to investigate misconduct when it does occur or to
discipline those who violate departmental policies or the law." Linda
Seebach, editorial page editor of the Valley Times in Pleasanton and the San
Ramon Valley Times in Danville, in The Orange County Register, March 27, 1997,
California Focus.
8 prison officials fired over beating of black inmates.
Eight supervisors and correctional officers at the Corcoran State
Prison--including an associate warden--have been fired for their alleged roles
in the June 1995 beating of several black inmates as they were being processed
into the maximum-security prison.
Attorneys and prisoner rights groups say the firings were long in coming
and underscore what they have charged for years: that Corcoran is a prison out
of control where guards routinely exploit gang rivalries and bait prisoners
into fights so they can be shot for sport.
Don Novey, president of the California Correctional Officers Assn.,
acknowledged that it was extremely rare for an associate warden and three of
his top men to be fired for an alleged beating. But the appeals hearing will
show that their actions during the incident were justified. "They were
doing what they were instructed to do in our line of work," he said.
The eight officials fired were: Associate Warden Bruce Ferris Jr., Captain
Lee Fouch, Sgt. Richard Garcia, Sgt. John Misko, R.A. Parra, Ellis McCant,
Harold McEnroe and Robert Dean. LATimes,
4/11/96.
Study shows that 41.4% of California inmates have
hepatitis C
Studies by the state estimate that 54% of incoming female inmates and 39%
of incoming male inmates are infected with hepatitis C. One random study in
1994 found that 41.4% of male and female prisoners in the sample group had the
hepatitis C virus. Nationally, public health experts report that 40% or more of
U.S. prison inmates may be infected.
During a legislative oversight hearing, Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los
Angeles) grilled officials from the state health and corrections departments
about why there is no plan in place for widespread screening and treatment for
hepatitis C, particularly in state prisons. Health department officials said
they are awaiting development of a national plan for tackling the virus, to be
introduced by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within 6
months.
The disease attacks the liver, and the virus is spread through contact with
mucus and blood, especially from the sharing of drug needles and cocaine
paraphernalia, tattoos, body piercing. Unlike its better-known cousin,
hepatitis B, there is no known vaccine against hepatitis C.
As many as 4.5 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C, which is
the leading cause of liver failure and liver cancer.
LATimes, 10/29/97.
Hepatitis C kills 8,000-10,000 people every year. 15% of people who
get it recover; 5% die from it. OCRegister, 7/15/98.
This means that of the 156,000 current California inmates, approximately
3,200 will die from Hepatitis C. Makes you wonder who is getting the real
death penalty?
CDC takes away privileges of prisoners and proposes to take more away
In January of 1998, CDC officials began enforcing new grooming standards
that require men’s hair to be closely cropped, a measure that prompted at
least 100 inmates at Folsom Prison to stage a short-lived hunger strike on New
Year’s Day.
In addition, CDC plans on removing many weights and law books from the
prisons. The extraordinary moves come as officials issue increasingly strident
warnings about overcrowding in California’s 33 prisons, and as prisoners
and their advocates say the tense atmosphere behind the walls is getting worse.
Among the other new restrictions, prisoners will not be allowed to receive
packages from outsiders and will be required to wear white prison jumpsuits.
Lawyers representing prisoners and other advocates are trying to block the
moves, and Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-San Jose) plans to hold a hearing on what
he calls the "profoundly silly" proposals. But many other legislators
support the changes, and the department has broad authority to invoke what it
calls emergency powers to change its rules.
Taken together, the steps hark back to the era before the prisoners rights
movement of the 1960s, when inmates gained expanded privileges and prison
officials, especially in California, placed a far greater emphasis on
rehabilitation.
California lawmakers gave civil libertarians one
of their most far-reaching victories on behalf of prisoners by approving the
so-called Inmates Bill of Rights.
Signed into law by Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1968 and
expanded in 1974 by Gov. Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr., the
single-paragraph statute stated that prisoners retained all rights except those
that had to be denied in order to protect prison security and public safety.
Inmates, for example, could wear their hair as
they pleased. They could subscribe to almost any publication. They had access
to courts and news reporters. They even gained the privilege during
Reagan’s tenure of having private overnight visits from spouses.
Citing a 1996 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing prisons to limit law
libraries, the state Department of Corrections persuaded U.S. District Judge
Susan Illston in San Francisco to lift the 1972 injunction, opening the way for
the department to remove most law books. Deputy
Atty. Gen. Peter Siggins, head of the state Justice Department unit that
represents prisons, said the department intends to remove case books and code
books but not so-called hornbooks that describe the law in general terms or
forms and guides that inmates can use to file lawsuits.
The nonprofit Prison Law Office based in San Rafael is trying to block the
department from removing the books, by pressing their case in federal courts
and before the state office of administrative law, which must approve such
changes. Attorney Steve Fama, of the legal aid group, warned that removing law
books will "put prisoners in a position where they don’t have a real
stake in our society."
John Irwin, recently retired sociology professor
at San Francisco State University, is appalled at the changes. He helped
write the Inmates Bill of Rights, and had a personal understanding of the
issues. He spent five years in the 1950s at Soledad Prison for armed robbery,
at a time when rehabilitation was the main goal of California prisons.
"We’re going back decades and decades in terms of
punishment," Irwin said. He predicted that because of the changes,
parolees will have a far harder time reentering society than he did.
"Along with losing their mobility, they are
losing what little choices they had inside prison," Irwin said. Imagine
spending years having everything determined for you. It’s maddening.
Convicts come out and they’re enraged."
LATimes, 2/9/98.
Assembly rejects disabled prison plan
Fearful of coddling bad guys, the state Assembly refused March 26, 1998 to
spend $6.5 million to fix state prisons for disabled inmates. The bill needed a
two-thirds vote of 54, but fell 10 votes short. Lawmakers from both parties
hesitated in an election year to vote for a prison bill that does anything but
punish criminals.
Prisoners don't have access problems, since they're easily able to get inside
the walls, said
Assemblyman Bernie Richter, R-Chico.
The state has been sued under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and
has responded with a construction program at 16 state prisons. The bill would
provide $6.5 million to pay for new doorways, ramps, toilets and sinks,
handrails and visual and audio signals.
Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, said she would try again with her
bill at a future session. "Assembly rejects disabled prison
plan," The Bakersfield Californian, 3/26/98.
28 Los Angeles deputies held liable for $28 million in
beatings of Samoan Americans
Jurors and judges found their misconduct so repellent they awarded $23
million to the victims of a melee with 28 Los Angeles County sheriff's
deputies, the largest monetary judgment ever imposed on an American law
enforcement agency.
But in the nine years since a group of Samoan Americans were beaten by the
deputies at a bridal shower in Cerritos, none of the deputies sued in
connection with the fight has been disciplined. And, according to Sheriff
Sherman Block, it is unlikely that any ever will be.
LATimes, 5/12/98.
Ku Klux Klan harassment reported at women's prison.
A local NAACP official is demanding a federal investigation into alleged Ku
Klux Klan harassment at a women's prison. A cross and ``KKK'' reportedly were
scratched on the hood of one car, and someone smeared blood in the shape of a
cross on another vehicle. Employees also claim they've received threatening
notes.
``It ties right into hate crime,'' said Willie Douglas, second vice president
of the Stockton branch of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People. ``It's a hate situation. We need to put a clamp on it.''
"NAACP wants fed probe into prison," The Bakersfield Californian,
3/5/98.
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