Source: Orange County Register (CA) Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Pubdate: Sat, 2 Aug 1998 Author: John Jacobs, Political Editor of McClatchy Newspapers CRIMINAL JUSTICE: HOARY STORIES FROM CALIFORNIA'S STATE PRISONS Sacramento-While he was chief of staff to Gov. George Deukmejian,Sacramento attorney Steve Merksamer said,in an oral history,he worried that a prison riot could start somewhere in California. Given the massive growth of prisons and the increase in prisoners incarcerated between 1983 and 1990, his was not an irrational fear. Luckily for Deukmejian, and indeed for California, no riot happened on his watch. It now appears, eight years later, that the Wilson administration has not been so fortunate. But in a twist, the riots have come not from the inmates but from some bad apples among correctional officers, men and women with guns and a license to shoot whose preparation for the job consists of a high school degree and six weeks of training. The ultimate question at hand, as raised in recent newspaper articles, in U.S. Department of Justice indictments of prison guards and in extensive and sometimes explosive legislative hearings in Sacramento last week, is whether the Wilson administration, and to a lesser extent Attorney General Dan Lungren, covered up or whitewashed allegations of serious wrongdoing in the Department of Corrections. No evidence has emerged to tie any coverups either to Wilson or Lungren, and both Wilson administration officials and Lungren heatedly deny any such thing. The Department of Corrections concedes there had been troublesome incidents, but maintains that it took appropriate disciplinary action against correctional officers who violated rules and procedures. But questions remain: Did they punish whistle-blowers and reward prison officials who contained the damage at Corcoran, described as the deadliest prison in America? Seven inmates were killed and 43 wounded over a sever-year period at a prison housing some of the state's most violent and incorrigible prisoners. Seven officers have been indicted for arranging gladiator-style fights between inmates. Other investigations are continuing into charges of racial beatings of inmates by guards, of guard-sanctioned rapes of inmates by other inmates and of other instances where guards may have used excessive and deadly force. There were serious problems in the prisons, especially at Corcoran, and these problems raised scant concern among top corrections officials, other than to protect their backsides. Investigation by local district attorneys were hampered by the refusal of guards to testify and by insistence that union representatives by present for all interviews. Others who witnessed improper behavior testified last week that they were never interviewed by the appropriate authorities or, if they were or if they went to the FBI, they were hounded, harassed and threatened by colleagues and superiors. If there was no coverup or white wash, there certainly appears to have been a concerted effort by some to sweep things under the rug. Prisons are bad places, inhabited by bad people. Correctional officers have a tough and often dirty job, although their union, which contributed some $1 million to Wilson and Lungren and more to many others over the years, has won them rich packages of pay and benefits. Their pay raises over the past decade far exceed those of other state workers, indicating that the California Correctional Peace Officers Association is the favorite union of a famously antiunion governor. Meanwhile, the public attitude most often appears to be: Put the bad guys away, do what you have to do and don't bother us with the details. But the details that have emerged from these articles and hearings are too outrageous to ignore. It is troubling that poorly trained prison guards can shoot and beat inmates with seeming impunity; that a rich and powerful union can successfully quash investigations through its members' refusal to cooperate; and that higherups in the Department of Corrections can apparently intimidate the whistle-blowers and ignore complaints of horrendous behavior until they are forced to acknowledge them. Corcoran is a safer place now than it was in the mid-1990s. And Cal Terhune, the new head of corrections, does seem to be making a serious effort to clean up the system. "The biggest mistake California government made." Terhune told The Sacramento Bee's, "was when the prison boom started, it didn't do one damn thing for internal affairs. There was a massive staff increase, a green staff. They made stupid mistakes, and there was no way to investigate them." In another meeting with the Bee, Lungren said, "If you ask me how to prevent it, you start on the front end, not the back end, and put more money into the prison system. Not just bricks and mortar, but recruitment and longer training. Six weeks is not sufficient. You need continuing education and better training of supervisors. It takes money." Lungren, as a conservative Republican, is thus in the anomalous position of advocating that we "throw money" at the problem. Alas, it will take far more than money to cure what ails California prisons. - --- Checked-by: "Don Beck"