Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 1998
Editors note: Some may consider this editorial and related news slightly
off topic. But another group of our readers has a personal interest in how
the prison industry conducts itself as they have loved ones jailed as part
of the War.  Folks involved with The November Coalition, for example,
frequently newshawk items for this service. They have a superb website at:

http://www.november.org/

Check it out! - Joel W Johnson, DrugSense News Service Editor
- -------------------------------------------

EDITORIAL -- PRISON GUARDS INDICTED

FEDERAL INDICTMENTS against eight Corcoran State Prison guards for staging
gladiator fights among inmates should be just the beginning of a thorough
investigation of the California Department of Corrections.

The guards were indicted on Thursday ``despite intentional efforts on the
part of correctional and other officials to stymie, delay and obstruct our
inquiry,'' said the FBI, raising serious questions about official
misconduct that must be answered.

According to federal investigators, the Corcoran guards entertained
themselves by instigating ``blood sport'' fights among rival inmates. On
April 2, 1994, inmate Preston Tate was shot to death by a guard when he
failed to stop fighting on command. But Tate was only one of seven convicts
shot to death by guards at Corcoran since the prison opened in Kings County
in 1988. More than 40 other inmates have suffered gunshot wounds under
similar circumstances.

Clearly, other correctional officers knew of or were involved in the staged
gladiator fights and killings besides the eight indicted guards. And who
are the officials who tried to obstruct the investigation?

Attorney General Dan Lungren, a law- and-order candidate for governor,
conducted a 10-month investigation of violence at Corcoran and filed no
criminal charges. The Department of Corrections also investigated and found
no wrongdoing.

Both Lungren and Governor Pete Wilson were all too quick to downplay the
reports of brutality. One top Wilson aide called us last year to smugly
predict that The Chronicle would look foolish for giving prominent play to
the prison scandal.

Since California's leaders don't seem to want to know what's going on in
the state's 33 prisons, the federal government should continue to root out
the shameful barbarism among guards and punish the officials who allowed it
and covered it up for so long.

)1998 San Francisco Chronicle  Page A18