Governor asks for probe into 2002 Folsom Prison riot

[justvicki]

Saturday, February 07, 2004 - Associated Press

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked a federal prosecutor to probe the 2002 Folsom State Prison riot yesterday, two weeks after witnesses told state Senate committees that prison officials helped trigger the 90-second gang fight and then covered up their mishandling of the riot and its aftermath.

McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California that includes Sacramento and neighboring Folsom, said in a statement he will consult with other agencies before deciding whether to conduct an investigation. A spokeswoman said there is no timetable for a decision.

Excluding California's massive budget deficit, the state's adult and juvenile prison system has flared as Schwarzenegger's largest and most unexpected policy crisis since he took office in November. Within the last month the system has been criticized by a federal overseer, national experts, state Senate witnesses, all amid reports of rampant overspending.

The administration also said yesterday it has ended the California Youth Authority's practice of using wire cages to contain misbehaving youths after criticism from national experts and state senators last week. Schwarzenegger, among others, found the cages "offensive," said Legal Affairs Secretary Peter Siggins.

Schwarzenegger also reversed his plan to sharply cut funding and staff for the independent Office of the Inspector General. Senators had criticized his proposal to merge the office into the same Youth and Adult Correctional Agency the inspector general is charged with overseeing.

The administration said Schwarzenegger's call for a federal probe of the Folsom riot is "unprecedented" in California.

"I don't remember a governor ever asking the federal government to come in and review a prison. In fact, I've often fought them when they've tried," Siggins said. He spent 14 years as top deputy to state Attorney General Bill Lockyer and heading the attorney general's correctional law section before joining Schwarz-enegger's new administration.

Acting Department of Corrections Director Rick Rimmer told senators two weeks ago that he was temporarily reassigning the entire Folsom administration during an independent investigation of the April 2002 riot, a probe he said could involve state or federal prosecutors.

The U.S. attorney has powers such as federal civil rights laws that aren't available to state or county prosecutors, and doesn't have the potential conflicts that the state attorney general would while acting as the state's lawyer, Siggins said. Lockyer's office agreed with Schwarzenegger's request.

Folsom's warden was fired last year. Rimmer said the new investigation will probe allegations by Folsom guards that the acting warden on the day of the riot had ties to the Southern Mexicans, or Mexican Mafia, one of the two gangs involved in the brief battle.

Twenty-five inmates were wounded, one correctional officer suffered a permanent disability as he helped break up the fight, and another committed suicide after complaining about his treatment by prison officials in the riot's aftermath.

The gangs, which had been separated for 12 weeks because of a previous incident, were supposed to be released into the prison exercise yard in small groups to prevent another fight. Instead, they were released all at once even after a correctional officer questioned the move, a question that was later deleted from the audio portion of videotapes of the riot.

[justvicki]

Don't stop with Folsom, Arnie! Probe each and every CDC facility!!!!!!

[Kittie]

Probe every institution. You would be amazed as to what one would find. Someone needs to probe San Quentin. Fifteen inmates on one inmate is a little bit to much. I guess the inmates weren't screened for weapons before they were released to the yard. Getting a little sloppy I would say.

Originally Posted by guysgal

Don't stop with Folsom, Arnie! Probe each and every CDC facility!!!!!!

[Kathy]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...home-headlines
THE STATE
Governor Calls for U.S. Probe of Folsom, Boosts Prison Oversight
By Jenifer Warren and Carl Ingram
Times Staff Writers

February 7, 2004

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the U.S. attorney here Friday to investigate allegations that officials at Folsom State Prison orchestrated a riot two years ago and then conspired to cover it up.

Facing a wave of troubles in all corners of California's far-flung penal system — the nation's largest — he moved on several other fronts as well.

The governor said he was reversing an earlier decision to greatly reduce the state's lone correctional watchdog agency and would instead restore its funding and give it new law enforcement powers, including the authority to issue subpoenas and seek search warrants.

In a third move, administration officials announced plans to phase out the use of steel-mesh cages to confine unruly juveniles in the California Youth Authority. The cages, used only in California, were singled out recently as dehumanizing by experts who studied the juvenile system.

Officials considered asking Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer to undertake an investigation, but concluded that the U.S. Department of Justice had resources and other tools that gave it an advantage, including sweeping civil rights laws under which prosecutions might be brought.

Peter Siggins, the governor's legal affairs secretary, said the attorney general, who represents state agencies in legal matters, also might have faced potential conflicts of interest in an investigation of Folsom.

Political analysts called the governor's decision to summon federal investigators extraordinary and said they could not recall it happening before in California.

They suggested that the unfolding scandal in the state's vast adult and juvenile prison system had become a nagging distraction for the young Schwarzenegger administration, and that the governor hoped decisive moves would help stem the troubles.

"It's consistent with his pledge of 'action, action, action,' " said John Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, citing a phrase Schwarzenegger used in his first days in office. "It's also consistent with his effort to establish himself as a reformer. He's the political outsider who's going to come in and clean out the stables."

The investigation probably will examine the conduct of Folsom prison guards, who are represented by one of the most politically powerful and entrenched employee unions in the state. The California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. was a heavy financial contributor to former Gov. Gray Davis, and during his tenure won lucrative contract concessions, including the right to review prison investigative files.

In a statement, Schwarzenegger said he was "gravely concerned" about disclosures of alleged corruption and other problems in corrections, and would "bring to justice those individuals who do it dishonor by their misconduct.

"Prison employees who engage in misconduct bring disgrace … to the many hard-working professionals who daily go to work and do their best to serve the public and effectively manage this state's criminal population," Schwarzenegger said.

Siggins said the governor decided to ask for the federal investigation in part because of explosive testimony at hearings held by two state Senate oversight committees last month.

Among other charges, whistle-blowers at those hearings said a "code of silence" discouraged guards from reporting wrongdoing — such as the events surrounding the April 2002 Folsom riot — for fear of reprisals.

McGregor W. Scott, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, said he had received Schwarzenegger's request Friday and would review the matter "to determine the appropriateness of an investigation."

Capitol veterans said they could not recall an instance in which a California governor had sought the aid of the U.S. attorney's office and with it, the FBI. Among them was attorney Steve Merksamer, who was chief of staff to former Gov. George Deukmejian.

Merksamer praised Schwarzenegger's decision and said it "tells me that there are some extraordinarily serious problems" in the penal system.

Earlier this week, state officials released a series of studies by independent experts criticizing the California Youth Authority for its high levels of violence and failure to provide adequate medical care, psychiatric treatment and education to the 4,500 wards it incarcerates.

Those disclosures came less than two weeks after a federal court investigator's report portrayed the adult prison system as having lost its ability to investigate and discipline rogue guards. The report said pressure from the guards union influenced decisions at the very top levels of management.

Shortly before its release, former state Corrections Director Edward Alameida — accused in the report of killing an investigation at the behest of the guards union — resigned.

Meanwhile, two state senators — Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) and Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) — have been focusing on the penal system as well. At two days of hearings in January, whistle-blowers — some in tears — described a dysfunctional system in which those who reported wrongdoing were penalized with demotions or other forms of retaliation by a fraternity determined to protect its own.

A prominent case in point was the Folsom riot. Though it lasted just 90 seconds, the fracas left 24 inmates injured and one guard permanently disabled — and may have played a role in the suicide of another officer. More recently, it also led to the firing of the warden and the reassignment of 10 other top officials.

Whistle-blowers said the riot in the exercise yard was caused when officers broke with procedure as they integrated members of two rival gangs that had been locked in their cells for months — the Mexican Mafia and Nuestra Familia. Instead of inmates of each group being released a few at a time to ensure that no fights broke out, more than 80 with gang affiliations were released all at once.

A videotape of the incident showed that one officer, Capt. Doug Pieper, expressed concern about a possible riot and tried to take action, only to be overruled. In the aftermath, Pieper raised questions about the incident with superiors, but was demoted and pressured to sign a document saying he had voluntarily changed jobs, according to testimony at the hearing from his wife. A year later, he committed suicide, leaving a note saying, "My job killed me."

Also testifying at the Senate hearing was a sergeant in the prison's investigative unit, who said he was ordered by superiors to remove the audio portion of the videotape because it made it appear the riot should have been stopped. He said he refused, and was demoted six weeks later.

On Friday, one correctional officer at the stately old prison in Folsom, just east of Sacramento, reacted with optimism to news of a possible federal investigation. The officer requested anonymity, fearing, like so many in the prison system, retaliation for expressing what might be an unpopular view. "I think it's a good thing, I think it's fair," said the officer, a 16-year veteran.

Investigations by corrections' own internal affairs staff, he said, are invariably tainted by personal connections that often diminish or block sanctions that are merited. "If you're good with someone downtown, then they won't look as closely," the officer said. "It's bias is what it is."

Speier also welcomed the federal probe, calling it "long overdue," and she and Romero said they were gratified that Schwarzenegger had done an about-face on his bid to slash the budget of the independent Office of the Inspector General. In his January budget proposal, he had recommended gutting the office and moving it inside the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, a plan widely criticized by those who feared that investigators would lose their ability to work free of influence.

Speier said the hearing "dramatically underscored the need for an independent inspector general…. I give [Schwarzenegger] credit for recognizing that the inspector general is the beacon of truth."

An official with the guards union, meanwhile, said he was pleased to hear that a federal investigation might occur.

"He has to make sure there is no stone overturned. We're big fans of the governor," said Lance Corcoran, executive vice president of the union.

Though he has "no idea" where the investigation is headed, Corcoran said the union has nothing to fear from the probe. "Follow due process, don't violate anybody's rights, and you'll never hear from CCPOA," he said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Times staff writers Dan Morain and Eric Bailey contributed to this report.

[justvicki]

Governor tackles prison woes
He seeks a federal probe of riot, won't cut state watchdog office.
By Gary Delsohn -- Bee Capitol Bureau - (Published February 7, 2004)
Stung by a recent barrage of bad news concerning the state's prison system, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took two steps Friday that he hopes will begin to stem the flow.


In a move administration officials called "unprecedented," Schwarzenegger asked the U.S. attorney in Sacramento to investigate a 2002 riot and administrative cover-up at Folsom State Prison.


And, Schwarzenegger backed off his earlier plan to diminish the independence and budget of the Office of the Inspector General, which is charged with investigating prison mismanagement and corruption.


The agency would continue to report directly to the governor and would undergo a "needs assessment" to determine how it could be strengthened.


Earlier in the week, Schwarzenegger said he will soon appoint a commission of experts to study the state's prison system and recommend reforms.


"I am gravely concerned with what I have recently learned about internal operations within the California prison system," Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement about his request to U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott.


"Prison employees who engage in misconduct bring disgrace and dishonor to the many hard-working professionals who daily go to work and do their best to serve the public and effectively manage this state's criminal population.


"It is a priority of my administration to reform the California prison system and bring to justice those individuals who do it dishonor by their misconduct."


In his own prepared statement, Scott said his office "will review this matter and consult with all necessary agencies to determine the appropriateness of an investigation."


Administration officials said Schwarzenegger asked the U.S. attorney to investigate the riot, rather than the state attorney general or the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office, because the federal office has broader investigative authority and can pursue criminal charges regarding civil rights violations.


Schwarzenegger, who's trying to focus almost exclusively on his "Fiscal Recovery Plan" on the March primary ballot, has been hit recently with a series of highly critical state reports, hearings and news accounts that have shown California's prison problems in stark terms.


A Senate committee held hearings last month on the Folsom riot, which began when supervising officers released rival gangs into a prison yard en masse. Diana Butler, the warden, was fired and nine other employees have been reassigned.


A few weeks before that, a Senate committee held hearings on the state's much-criticized parole system, called "a billion-dollar failure" in one recent analysis.


In mid-January, a federal court monitor issued a report that recommended perjury charges against the state's former prisons chief and said the system's discipline process is so corrupt that whistle-blowers are punished and correctional officers live by a "code of silence" that fosters cover-ups.


The administration was rocked again this week when a new report on the California Youth Authority said young offenders are often locked up 23 hours a day, with some kept in small cages during school sessions. Schwarzenegger found use of the cages "offensive," an aide said Friday, and the practice has been stopped.


There was also a report in the Los Angeles Times this week that an inmate at Corcoran State Prison near Fresno bled to death in his cell, after howling much of the afternoon. Officers reportedly were watching the Super Bowl on television and failed to check on him.


Schwarzenegger himself took considerable heat during some of the Senate hearings over a provision in his 2004-05 budget to cut funding for the inspector general. He also proposed putting that office under the Youth and Adult Corrections Agency, which oversees all state prison-related programs.


Since 1999, when the Legislature expanded its authority in the wake of prison scandals in the 1990s, the inspector general has been independent and reported directly to the governor.


Its budget has been cut the past few years, however, as there was a growing feeling in the Legislature that its work was duplicative of other state agencies.


Despite critics who said he was making a huge policy mistake because his budget proposal would have placed the agency in the position of investigating itself, Schwarzenegger called the Office of the Inspector General "a waste" and said it hadn't done its job.


But Friday, Peter Siggins, Schwarzenegger's legal secretary, called a Capitol press conference to announce that Schwarzenegger had reversed course and would preserve the inspector general's independence and beef up the office.


The change, Siggins said, resulted from a combination of factors.


"It was in part the hearings, it was in part his secretary at (the Youth and Adult Corrections Agency) who has been very forthright and very candid about problems that exist in the Department of Corrections, in the Youth Authority," Siggins explained.


"I think it is the governor's increasing familiarity with the work of state government and the institutions and organizations of state government. I mean, let's face it, he hasn't been at this state government business for a long time.


"And the one thing I think he's clear about is he's committed to reform. He's very concerned about this department. He's concerned about the way it does its business, serves its mission, and he wants to fix it."


Siggins said that while the inspector general had found examples of waste in prison programs, much of it was uncovered by other agencies or in lawsuits against the state.


"The bulk of their activities have been with bureaucratic reviews of financial practices at the Department of Corrections," Siggins said, "more so than personnel reviews and reviews of potential misconduct and staff misconduct."


He said Schwarzenegger has come to believe, "and I think correctly, that the inspector general's office as it has existed up to now just didn't prioritize correctly."


State Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, who has co-chaired the Senate hearings with Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, said she approved of both Schwarzenegger moves announced Friday.


"He's made the first right step -- restoring the inspector general's office and its independence," Speier said in a statement.


She said she plans to introduce legislation that would make the inspector general a term appointment of 10 years instead of serving at the pleasure of the governor.


She also wants to give the office the authority to refer cases to the attorney general for prosecution and to make its reports "public at the appropriate time." Such reports are now distributed only to the agency involved and the Governor's Office.


"We need to shine a strong light on what goes on inside prison walls," Speier said. "The inspector general is the beacon."

[justvicki]

Governor reverses stance on prison oversight
Schwarzenegger says he will fund watchdog panel
Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Saturday, February 7, 2004
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ


URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/02/07/MNG6P4RE1O1.DTL


Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reversed himself Friday and announced he would support an independent state agency to oversee prisons and would seek to increase its funding and clout.

Schwarzenegger also took two other steps aimed at shaking up a penal system reeling under accusations of corruption and cruelty. He asked federal prosecutors to investigate a 2002 riot at Folsom State Prison and demanded that California Youth Authority officials stop placing wards in steel-mesh cages.

The announcement that Schwarzenegger wants a stronger Office of the Inspector General came just a week after he called the office a "waste'' during questioning from reporters and stood by his earlier proposal to eliminate it. The office conducts financial audits and investigations into alleged wrongdoing in prisons but has been gutted slowly by funding cuts in the last two years.

Peter Siggins, Schwarzenegger's top lawyer, said Friday that after further review, the governor will "rebuild'' the inspector general as a way to "forge a meaningful and lasting change in the Department of Corrections.''

Schwarzenegger will spend $3.3 million to pay for the office this budget year and is likely to propose more money for the next budget year, which begins July 1, to expand the number of investigators.

The turnabout is another example of a Schwarzenegger habit that is unusual in politics: a willingness to reverse past decisions. The new governor proposed cutting funding for disabled Californians, for example, then abandoned the idea.

"Give him credit for realizing when he makes a mistake and changing his mind," said state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, one of two lawmakers leading the charge to reform state prisons. "It's a refreshing aspect of his leadership.''

Speier and Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, will introduce legislation soon to strengthen the inspector general by allowing the department's reports that are now confidential to be made public, requiring that any criminal activity uncovered by the office be referred to the state attorney general and making the inspector general a 6- to 10-year appointed position.

Siggins said the governor was interested in giving the office more clout but wouldn't discuss his specific ideas.

While notable for showing the new governor's willingness to reverse course, the proposal for a stronger inspector general isn't that controversial. Both prison watchdogs and the prison guards union favor the move.

A union official said he supported anything that helped clean up the corrections department. Union members have often complained that internal affairs investigations in the department were unprofessional and biased.

"We hope they bring in more staff from outside the department,'' said Lance Corcoran, executive vice president with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.

California's corrections system has faced a mountain of damning news in the last few weeks.

A federal report charged top corrections officials with squelching an investigation into perjury by three Pelican Bay State Prison guards. Legislative hearings revealed how a suspicious riot at Folsom State Prison could have been prevented and how administrators attempted to cover up mistakes. And this week, a series of reports on the Youth Authority portrayed juvenile prisons as violent, gang-dominated institutions.

Schwarzenegger responded to some of those criticisms Friday.

Siggins said the Youth Authority would discontinue use of 70 cages in four facilities. The cages, 6 feet tall with only room for a school desk, are designed to be used for one hour at a time in a classroom setting.

A report commissioned as part of a lawsuit against the Youth Authority determined that no other youth or adult correctional system in the country used similar cages. Siggins said the Schwarzenegger administration found the cages "offensive.''

The governor also asked the U.S. attorney's office to investigate the events surrounding a riot at Folsom -- an unprecedented move, according to Siggins.

"I don't remember a governor ever asking the federal government to investigate a prison,'' said Siggins, who was a lawyer in the attorney general's office for 15 years before going to work for Schwarzenegger.

Federal prosecutors will review reports about the riot before determining what to do, U.S. Eastern District Attorney McGregor Scott said in a press release.

According to an inspector general's investigation and testimony during legislative hearings, a riot in April 2002 that injured 24 inmates and left one guard disabled could have been prevented.

Prison officials failed to follow procedures and released two rival gangs into an exercise yard at once. Accusations at Folsom center on whether an associate warden with ties to one of the gangs delayed responding to the riot and whether the warden ordered a videotape of the riot to be altered.

The warden was fired and 10 other high-ranking prison officials have been reassigned, but Schwarzenegger said in a press release he wants to "bring to justice those individuals who do it (the prison system) dishonor by their misconduct.''

News of a potential federal probe "thrilled'' Evette Pieper, whose husband Doug, a captain at the prison, killed himself after the riot. Suicide notes indicate Doug Pieper was anguished over the riot and its aftermath.

"This is exactly what needs to happen,'' said Evette Pieper. "It needs to be taken out of the state's hands.''