CA: Prisons need permanent oversight to force reforms, witnesses say

Associated Press | Jan. 21, 2004 | DON THOMPSON

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SACRAMENTO - The deeply flawed California prison system needs permanent oversight to force reforms, witnesses and senators said Wednesday during the second of two days of Senate hearings.

The system's former watchdog joined the committee co-chairs in criticizing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for proposing to sharply trim and merge the Office of Inspector General into the agency it is supposed to oversee, and for replacing the head of that office with his own appointee.

If new Youth and Adult Correctional Secretary Roderick Hickman was serious about reform, he would have resigned rather than let that happen, said former Inspector General Steve White. What once was a 117-employee office would be reduced to four investigators and two clerks under Schwarzenegger's plan.

Hickman said he supports Schwarzenegger's merger proposal but isn't committed to it if lawmakers object. The co-chairs of the Senate Select Committees on Government Oversight and the California Correctional System said they believe Hickman's vow to reform a system he inherited after Schwarzenegger took office in November.

Hickman said he will take more than six months to draft a reform plan in response to a federal court-appointed monitor's highly critical report last week. The monitor recommended the former corrections director and chief internal investigator be charged with criminal contempt of court for blocking a probe of whether Pelican Bay State Prison guards committed perjury in inmate abuse trials.

More than a dozen whistleblowers told the committees how they have faced reprisals and been ostracized for breaking a "code of silence" to report wrongdoing by fellow employees. A correctional officer from Salinas Valley State Prison testified wearing a bulletproof vest; an associate warden at Folsom State Prison asked for police protection after receiving death threats.

"We have witnessed the tears of grown men and women who feared for their lives, who feared for their loved ones, because they did the unthinkable: They told the truth," said Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Daly City, one of the co-chairs. She called that unwritten code "a cancer that will continue to grow unless we cut it out."

Tuesday's hearing focused on problems within the California Department of Corrections, while Wednesday's was a search for solutions for problems particularly affecting internal investigations of employee wrongdoing.

"The nation is watching how California" attempts to reform the country's largest prison system, said co-chair Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles.

White said the inspector general's office, already enshrined in law, should be given a tamperproof budget, its reports immediately made public and its director given a set term in office to protect against political influence. White was appointed a Sacramento County superior court judge by former Gov. Gray Davis.

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association enjoys political and monetary influence that permeates every level and every decision in the department and Hickman's agency - but only because "there's a vacuum of power where it belongs," White said. "Pretty soon, wardens aren't running their prisons and directors aren't running their departments."

Hickman said his employees need more training to change "the culture and ethics" of a department where silence is encouraged and whistleblowers are punished.

Speier said the system needs an investigatory arm that is free from outside influence and internal conflicts of interest.

Donald Spector, director of the Prison Law Office that brought the Pelican Bay case on behalf of inmates, said the department "must teach a course in how to point fingers and avoid responsibility" because so many errant employees escape punishment. He said employees must be held accountable and should be required, as sworn peace officers, to aid internal investigations.

Spector said county prosecutors are often reluctant to pursue cases against prison guards because of the power of the guards' union and the political stigma against prosecuting a law enforcement officer. He said the state attorney general should be in charge of all such investigations.

For the all the promises and good intentions, White said continued public and legislative oversight is essential.

Without it, he said, "heads will roll, butts will get kicked, and in three months - when you're not looking - things will be back to normal."

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On the Net:
Oversight committees: www.sen.ca.gov/oversight
California Department of Corrections: http://www.corr.ca.gov
California Correctional Peace Officers Association: http://www.ccpoanet.org