Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Pubdate: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 CORCORAN GUARDS THWARTED PROBE, DA TELLS LAWMAKERS Special Hearing On `Blood Sport' Fights A district attorney told legislators yesterday that prison guards used a code of silence to block his investigation of brutality at California State Prison at Corcoran. The prosecutor testified before a special committee looking into operations at the San Joaquin Valley prison, where eight guards were indicted in February on federal charges of staging ``blood sport'' fights among inmates in which one convict was killed. King County District Attorney Greg Strickland told the committee that guards refused to speak to his investigators unless they were accompanied by a representative of their union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. ``In every incident we have been involved in, they have refused to speak unless they have their union representative present,'' Strickland said. ``I can't put a gun to their head and tell them to talk to me. ``They (prison guards) are sworn officers, but they refused to cooperate with the district attorney's office and tell us what has occurred in prison,'' he said. The prosecutor's testimony echoed that of James Maddock, special agent in charge of the FBI's Sacramento office, who openly criticized state authorities at the time the indictments were announced. ``Despite intentional efforts on the part of correctional and other officials to stymie, delay and obstruct our inquiry, we will continue until all culpable parties are brought to justice,'' he said. Corcoran is California's most violent prison and houses a ``security housing unit'' for the most violent convicts in the system. The only other SHU is at Pelican Bay, which is under investigation by the FBI for possible violations of inmates' rights. Much of the Corcoran controversy centers on how vigorously the Department of Corrections and Department of Justice investigated wrongdoing. Governor Pete Wilson's office insists that the Department of Corrections withdrew from the investigation after being told by the FBI that it was handling the case. A corrections investigation of the 1994 shooting of inmate Preston Tate found no wrongdoing, and Attorney General Dan Lungren, the Republican candidate for governor, opened a criminal investigation but did not look into issues being probed by other agencies. To back its contention that the FBI urged corrections investigators to stay away, the Wilson administration released letters from the FBI. ``I would like to take this opportunity to request that your Special Services Unit personnel refrain from conducting any further investigation regarding the shooting death of inmate Preston Tate and the ongoing pending civil rights inquiry,'' the FBI's Richard Ross wrote the department on Oct. 13, 1994. But Ross' successor, Maddock, wrote last week to Senator Ruben Ayala, D-Chino, ``The FBI did not seek to limit the scope of the renewed CDC investigation or the investigation conducted by the attorney general.'' Maddock said the initial letter was partly ``prompted by a confrontation between FBI agents and SSU personnel in the Fresno area.'' At that time, state investigators chased FBI agents at speeds of as high as 90 mph for 45 miles. The federal agents had a state witness in their car. The Department of Corrections has denied that the incident ever occurred. 1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A16 - ---