CALIFORNIA PRISON SYSTEM IS BROKEN
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- Start date
Well believe it
"Today California law enforcement, under "supposed probable cause", went to C-Bo's home and kicked in the door. Once inside the officials found a carpenter's box cutter along with toy numbchucks puchased at Toys-R-Us. Law enforcement considered those items to be a violation of C-Bo's parole."
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=54816040&blogId=337620741
LOL
"Today California law enforcement, under "supposed probable cause", went to C-Bo's home and kicked in the door. Once inside the officials found a carpenter's box cutter along with toy numbchucks puchased at Toys-R-Us. Law enforcement considered those items to be a violation of C-Bo's parole."
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=54816040&blogId=337620741
LOL
FROM UC BERKELEY INSTITUTE OF GOVERNMENT STUDIES
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
Introduction
The California Prison system is the third largest penal system in the country, costing $5.7 billion dollars a year and housing over 161,000 inmates. Since 1980 the number of California prisons has tripled and the number of inmates has jumped significantly. In the past few years controversies involving prison expansion, sky-rocketing costs, and claims of mismanagement and inmate abuse have put the California prison system under heightened public scrutiny.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) is the California prison guards' union. In recent years the CCPOA has become a major player in California politics. Its political influence has grown to the point that it is widely considered to be one of the most powerful political forces in Sacramento. Its lobbying efforts and campaign contributions have greatly facilitated the passage of legislation favorable to union members.
The CCPOA takes the position that correctional personnel perform a vital public service that puts them under great danger and stress, and therefore makes no apologies for its aggressive promotion of member interests and its high-profile role in California correctional policy. CCPOA's critics argue that the union has become too powerful in California politics, that it has used its power to unfair advantage, and that it has been an impediment to constructive debate and openness about the state of California prisons.
History
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association began in 1957 as the California Correctional Officers Association (CCOA). Prior to the 1980s, the group was politically weak with its membership divided between the California State Employees' Association and the California Correctional Officers' Association. The CCPOA's rise to prominence began in the 1980s, when Don Novey became the group's president. Novey, the son of a prison guard and a guard himself, led a successful effort to combine Youth Authority supervisors and parole officers with prison guards, and the CCPOA's membership soared. Novey is credited with fostering a positive public image for the union, which under his leadership spent over half a million dollars a year during the 1980s on public relations. Novey was also an aggressive lobbier and propelled the union to a position of great influence in Sacramento politics. With a strategy of large campaign contributions and adroit political maneuvering, the CCPOA rose to become one of the most powerful unions in the state. The union's impact can be gauged by the rising annual prison guard salary (from $14,440 In 1980 to $54,000 in 2002), the growth in number of state prisons (from 13 in 1985 to 31 in 1995), and large increases in the California Department of Corrections budget (from $923 million in 1985 to $5.7 billion in 2004).
By 1992 the CCPOA was the state's second largest political action committee. The union contributed over a million dollars to various senatorial and assembly candidates that year. Many analysts believe the CCPOA helped Pete Wilson win the governorship with a contribution of over a million dollars, the largest independent campaign contribution on behalf of a candidate in California history. The CCPOA backed Gray Davis for his governorship bid in 1998 against Dan Lungren. Many believe the CCPOA's support was instrumental in Davis' win.
The CCPOA has been active in funding and promoting the victims' rights movement in California. In 1991 the CCPOA assisted the movement in creating the Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau, and in 1992 the Crime Victims United of California, a political action committee which received over 95% of its startup costs from the CCPOA. In addition, the CCPOA has supported campaigns pushing longer prison terms and more "punitive" sentences for criminals. The CCPOA made large contributions to the 1994 campaign for Proposition 184,* the "three strikes" initiative which put repeat offenders behind bars, and is credited with helping the proposition to pass with over 70 percent of the vote.
*Ballot text and arguments can be found in the California Ballot Propositions Database.
Political Challenges
In light of prominent abuse scandals that rocked California prisons in the last few years, as well as allegations of large scale overspending without regard for the California budget, Governor Schwarzenegger and his administration formed a 40-member "California Corrections Independent Review Panel" in February 2004, headed by Former Gov. Deukmejian. After three months of investigation, the panel released "Reforming California's Youth and Adult Correctional System", a 300-page report which offered more than 200 recommendations to overhaul the system. The report focused on a prison culture it claims is "dysfunctional" and cited a "code of silence" that protects abusive prison workers. The report openly criticized the CCPOA's power over the system, stating that the agreement between the state and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association "clearly has resulted in an unfair and unworkable tilt toward union influence." (Sec. 10, Labor Contract).
In addition to the panel's report, the CCPOA met political challenge when the 2004-05 California state budget negotiations put the union at the center of a struggle over scheduled salary increases for correctional officers. The salary increases, part of a five-year contract giving a cumulative 37 percent pay raise to the union's 31,000 members, were opposed by the Schwarzenegger administration and the California Senate. Schwarzenegger requested that the union give back $300 million from its contract, a large piece of the $465 million he's seeking from all unions to help trim the state's budget deficit. In late May 2004 the state senate challenged the union by publicly vowing to undo the contract if the union did not agree to renegotiate salaries. The effort to annul the contract along with Schwarzengger's refusal to accept CCPOA campaign contributions in the October 2003 recall election represents a significant change in political support for the CCPOA and may mark a turning point in the union's influence in California politics.
In early July 2004, the Schwarzenegger administration reached a deal with the CCPOA that would delay the scheduled union pay raise by several years. While not a reversal of the contract, the compromise is expected to save $108 million in 2004-2005. Instead of receiving the original 10.9 percent raise, the guards received 5 percent on July 1st and are scheduled for another 5.9 percent on Jan. 1, 2005 . The 2005 and 2006 pay raises would also pay out every six months. In return for agreeing to the deferral, the CCPOA won guarantees against layoffs for two years, additional healthcare for guards at rural prisons, more control for supervisors and shorter weeks for local union officers.
On July 21st 2004, U.S. District judge Judge Thelton Henderson, publicly condemned the deal that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger struck with the state's prison guards union, saying it gives the union too much power. In a letter he sent to the Schwarzenegger administration, Henderson said that he was considering appointing a receiver to run the state Corrections Department and demanded a meeting with the governor. Judge Henderson is overseeing the settlement of a lawsuit originating from complaints about inmate abuse and poor conditions at Pelican Bay State Prison. While it is rare for Court-ordered receiverships to be ordered, at least ten other states have experienced radical court appointed changes in prison system operations. Critics of Judge Henderson claim he has no jurisdiction to order a change to the entire system. Several legislators spoke out that the deal Schwarzenegger had reached with the union was fundamentally flawed and that the governor had rushed to secure a contract by June 30, 2004.
In November 2004, Judge Henderson ordered an investigation into the state's labor contract with California's correctional officers, asking whether it gives the CCPOA too much control over prison management. In addition, the judge asked a court-appointed special master working for him to examine whether the contract hinders the state's ability to conduct fair investigations of guard misconduct. He also ruled that the practice of allowing union officers to be present at disciplinary meetings at Pelican Bay prison poses a conflict of interest.
Prison Reform
The CCPOA made news during the winter and spring of 2005 for joining with legislators and victims rights organizations in opposing Gov. Schwarzenegger's prison reform proposals. In January, 2005, Gov. Schwarzenegger announced plans for major reforms in California government during his "State of the State" speech. Among his reforms was a proposal to re-structure the California prison system. One piece of his proposal would give a governor-appointed secretary direct control over operations of the state's prison and parole systems. The Department of Corrections and the California Youth Authority would be abolished and replaced by separate units of youth and adult operations that would report to the secretary through a chief deputy secretary. The new agency would be called the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and would cost $6 billion. Some critics claim the governor's move was designed to break up CCPOA influence of state prison leadership. In April 2004, Gov. Schwarzenegger struck a deal with legislative Democrats that eliminated his new agency plan. In return, Democrats agreed to give up their power to confirm wardens at state prisons. Some pundits believe that CCPOA influence on the California state Assembly and Senate led to the dissolution of Gov. Schwarzenegger's plan.
Another part of Gov. Schwarzenegger's key prison reforms was dropped in April 2005 under pressure from the CCPOA and their allies. The governor's plan targeted parollees and involved sending parole violators to halfway houses or community-based drug abuse programs instead of returning them to prison. Adminstration advocates claimed that more than half of California's convicts released on parole return to prison within 2 years of their release. They claim that the prisons are already too overcrowded to accomodate delinquent parolees. Schwarzenegger's plan was launched in 2004 and was built on a program initiated under the Gray Davis administartion. The Department of Corrections began allowing some parolees to enter half-way houses and substance abuse facilities last year and the program was on its way to full implementation in 2005. Officals at a Senate hearing in March claimed the system was not working, however, and the CCPOA, Crime Victims United of California and other victims rights groups launched a television ad campaign against the proposal. Some analysts believe that the attacks from the CCPOA and their allies were successful when Schwarzenegger abandoned the parole program mid-April.
In part, CCPOA resistance against the governor is rooted in union resentment of his new "rehabilitation" agenda towards reforming the California prison system. Schwarzenegger advocates a less punitive approach in dealing with prisoners, one that would re-orient parolees and ex-convicts into society. His stance is a contrast to the last 20 years of state government leadership on prisons. During the 1980's and 90's, the CCPOA and other prison advocates pushed California elected officials to focus on imprisonment and punishment rather than the idea that convicts can be rehabilitated into society. The union has traditionally supported tough anti-crime initiatives such as Proposition 184 and pushed California governors Pete Wilson and Gray Davis to maintain hard-line attitudes towards California corrections. Schwarzenegger's endorsement of rehabilitation is based on his claims that California prisons are dangerously overcrowded and rehabilitation will clear more space, keep prison costs down and reform convicts more adequately than imprisonment. The CCPOA and anti-crime groups believe that rehabilitation will allow dangerous felons onto the streets and that the Governor's new stance is soft on crime. They say they will fight the loosening of parole and incarceration standards. Administration advocates deny the charges, pointing to Schwarzenegger's role in defeating Proposition 66 which would have ammended state's current "three strikes" law. Schwarzenegger supporters also say that violent offenders would not be allowed into parole and rehabilitation programs.
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
Introduction
The California Prison system is the third largest penal system in the country, costing $5.7 billion dollars a year and housing over 161,000 inmates. Since 1980 the number of California prisons has tripled and the number of inmates has jumped significantly. In the past few years controversies involving prison expansion, sky-rocketing costs, and claims of mismanagement and inmate abuse have put the California prison system under heightened public scrutiny.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) is the California prison guards' union. In recent years the CCPOA has become a major player in California politics. Its political influence has grown to the point that it is widely considered to be one of the most powerful political forces in Sacramento. Its lobbying efforts and campaign contributions have greatly facilitated the passage of legislation favorable to union members.
The CCPOA takes the position that correctional personnel perform a vital public service that puts them under great danger and stress, and therefore makes no apologies for its aggressive promotion of member interests and its high-profile role in California correctional policy. CCPOA's critics argue that the union has become too powerful in California politics, that it has used its power to unfair advantage, and that it has been an impediment to constructive debate and openness about the state of California prisons.
History
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association began in 1957 as the California Correctional Officers Association (CCOA). Prior to the 1980s, the group was politically weak with its membership divided between the California State Employees' Association and the California Correctional Officers' Association. The CCPOA's rise to prominence began in the 1980s, when Don Novey became the group's president. Novey, the son of a prison guard and a guard himself, led a successful effort to combine Youth Authority supervisors and parole officers with prison guards, and the CCPOA's membership soared. Novey is credited with fostering a positive public image for the union, which under his leadership spent over half a million dollars a year during the 1980s on public relations. Novey was also an aggressive lobbier and propelled the union to a position of great influence in Sacramento politics. With a strategy of large campaign contributions and adroit political maneuvering, the CCPOA rose to become one of the most powerful unions in the state. The union's impact can be gauged by the rising annual prison guard salary (from $14,440 In 1980 to $54,000 in 2002), the growth in number of state prisons (from 13 in 1985 to 31 in 1995), and large increases in the California Department of Corrections budget (from $923 million in 1985 to $5.7 billion in 2004).
By 1992 the CCPOA was the state's second largest political action committee. The union contributed over a million dollars to various senatorial and assembly candidates that year. Many analysts believe the CCPOA helped Pete Wilson win the governorship with a contribution of over a million dollars, the largest independent campaign contribution on behalf of a candidate in California history. The CCPOA backed Gray Davis for his governorship bid in 1998 against Dan Lungren. Many believe the CCPOA's support was instrumental in Davis' win.
The CCPOA has been active in funding and promoting the victims' rights movement in California. In 1991 the CCPOA assisted the movement in creating the Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau, and in 1992 the Crime Victims United of California, a political action committee which received over 95% of its startup costs from the CCPOA. In addition, the CCPOA has supported campaigns pushing longer prison terms and more "punitive" sentences for criminals. The CCPOA made large contributions to the 1994 campaign for Proposition 184,* the "three strikes" initiative which put repeat offenders behind bars, and is credited with helping the proposition to pass with over 70 percent of the vote.
*Ballot text and arguments can be found in the California Ballot Propositions Database.
Political Challenges
In light of prominent abuse scandals that rocked California prisons in the last few years, as well as allegations of large scale overspending without regard for the California budget, Governor Schwarzenegger and his administration formed a 40-member "California Corrections Independent Review Panel" in February 2004, headed by Former Gov. Deukmejian. After three months of investigation, the panel released "Reforming California's Youth and Adult Correctional System", a 300-page report which offered more than 200 recommendations to overhaul the system. The report focused on a prison culture it claims is "dysfunctional" and cited a "code of silence" that protects abusive prison workers. The report openly criticized the CCPOA's power over the system, stating that the agreement between the state and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association "clearly has resulted in an unfair and unworkable tilt toward union influence." (Sec. 10, Labor Contract).
In addition to the panel's report, the CCPOA met political challenge when the 2004-05 California state budget negotiations put the union at the center of a struggle over scheduled salary increases for correctional officers. The salary increases, part of a five-year contract giving a cumulative 37 percent pay raise to the union's 31,000 members, were opposed by the Schwarzenegger administration and the California Senate. Schwarzenegger requested that the union give back $300 million from its contract, a large piece of the $465 million he's seeking from all unions to help trim the state's budget deficit. In late May 2004 the state senate challenged the union by publicly vowing to undo the contract if the union did not agree to renegotiate salaries. The effort to annul the contract along with Schwarzengger's refusal to accept CCPOA campaign contributions in the October 2003 recall election represents a significant change in political support for the CCPOA and may mark a turning point in the union's influence in California politics.
In early July 2004, the Schwarzenegger administration reached a deal with the CCPOA that would delay the scheduled union pay raise by several years. While not a reversal of the contract, the compromise is expected to save $108 million in 2004-2005. Instead of receiving the original 10.9 percent raise, the guards received 5 percent on July 1st and are scheduled for another 5.9 percent on Jan. 1, 2005 . The 2005 and 2006 pay raises would also pay out every six months. In return for agreeing to the deferral, the CCPOA won guarantees against layoffs for two years, additional healthcare for guards at rural prisons, more control for supervisors and shorter weeks for local union officers.
On July 21st 2004, U.S. District judge Judge Thelton Henderson, publicly condemned the deal that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger struck with the state's prison guards union, saying it gives the union too much power. In a letter he sent to the Schwarzenegger administration, Henderson said that he was considering appointing a receiver to run the state Corrections Department and demanded a meeting with the governor. Judge Henderson is overseeing the settlement of a lawsuit originating from complaints about inmate abuse and poor conditions at Pelican Bay State Prison. While it is rare for Court-ordered receiverships to be ordered, at least ten other states have experienced radical court appointed changes in prison system operations. Critics of Judge Henderson claim he has no jurisdiction to order a change to the entire system. Several legislators spoke out that the deal Schwarzenegger had reached with the union was fundamentally flawed and that the governor had rushed to secure a contract by June 30, 2004.
In November 2004, Judge Henderson ordered an investigation into the state's labor contract with California's correctional officers, asking whether it gives the CCPOA too much control over prison management. In addition, the judge asked a court-appointed special master working for him to examine whether the contract hinders the state's ability to conduct fair investigations of guard misconduct. He also ruled that the practice of allowing union officers to be present at disciplinary meetings at Pelican Bay prison poses a conflict of interest.
Prison Reform
The CCPOA made news during the winter and spring of 2005 for joining with legislators and victims rights organizations in opposing Gov. Schwarzenegger's prison reform proposals. In January, 2005, Gov. Schwarzenegger announced plans for major reforms in California government during his "State of the State" speech. Among his reforms was a proposal to re-structure the California prison system. One piece of his proposal would give a governor-appointed secretary direct control over operations of the state's prison and parole systems. The Department of Corrections and the California Youth Authority would be abolished and replaced by separate units of youth and adult operations that would report to the secretary through a chief deputy secretary. The new agency would be called the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and would cost $6 billion. Some critics claim the governor's move was designed to break up CCPOA influence of state prison leadership. In April 2004, Gov. Schwarzenegger struck a deal with legislative Democrats that eliminated his new agency plan. In return, Democrats agreed to give up their power to confirm wardens at state prisons. Some pundits believe that CCPOA influence on the California state Assembly and Senate led to the dissolution of Gov. Schwarzenegger's plan.
Another part of Gov. Schwarzenegger's key prison reforms was dropped in April 2005 under pressure from the CCPOA and their allies. The governor's plan targeted parollees and involved sending parole violators to halfway houses or community-based drug abuse programs instead of returning them to prison. Adminstration advocates claimed that more than half of California's convicts released on parole return to prison within 2 years of their release. They claim that the prisons are already too overcrowded to accomodate delinquent parolees. Schwarzenegger's plan was launched in 2004 and was built on a program initiated under the Gray Davis administartion. The Department of Corrections began allowing some parolees to enter half-way houses and substance abuse facilities last year and the program was on its way to full implementation in 2005. Officals at a Senate hearing in March claimed the system was not working, however, and the CCPOA, Crime Victims United of California and other victims rights groups launched a television ad campaign against the proposal. Some analysts believe that the attacks from the CCPOA and their allies were successful when Schwarzenegger abandoned the parole program mid-April.
In part, CCPOA resistance against the governor is rooted in union resentment of his new "rehabilitation" agenda towards reforming the California prison system. Schwarzenegger advocates a less punitive approach in dealing with prisoners, one that would re-orient parolees and ex-convicts into society. His stance is a contrast to the last 20 years of state government leadership on prisons. During the 1980's and 90's, the CCPOA and other prison advocates pushed California elected officials to focus on imprisonment and punishment rather than the idea that convicts can be rehabilitated into society. The union has traditionally supported tough anti-crime initiatives such as Proposition 184 and pushed California governors Pete Wilson and Gray Davis to maintain hard-line attitudes towards California corrections. Schwarzenegger's endorsement of rehabilitation is based on his claims that California prisons are dangerously overcrowded and rehabilitation will clear more space, keep prison costs down and reform convicts more adequately than imprisonment. The CCPOA and anti-crime groups believe that rehabilitation will allow dangerous felons onto the streets and that the Governor's new stance is soft on crime. They say they will fight the loosening of parole and incarceration standards. Administration advocates deny the charges, pointing to Schwarzenegger's role in defeating Proposition 66 which would have ammended state's current "three strikes" law. Schwarzenegger supporters also say that violent offenders would not be allowed into parole and rehabilitation programs.
PRISON GUARD SALARIES ARTICLE IN THE SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE
Prison guards lock up bundle in OT pay
2,400 officers made more than $100,000
By Steve Schmidt
STAFF WRITER
February 28, 2006
Roughly one out of 10 California prison guards was paid more than $100,000 last year, fueled largely by a jump in overtime.
Some 2,400 rank-and-file correctional officers' pay exceeded $100,000 in 2005, compared with 557 the year before, a San Diego Union-Tribune analysis of payroll figures shows.
Graphic:
Big bucks in the big house
One guard grossed $187,000, making him the highest-paid correctional officer in California, according to data provided by the state controller's office.
At the historic San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco, one out of five guards was paid more than $100,000 last year.
To many lawmakers and others, the ballooning figures offer fresh evidence that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's drive to overhaul the $8 billion prison system has stalled.
State Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, said the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation remains one of the “most failed” agencies in California.
The payroll figures, she said, “hit me hard in the belly. ... Reform has been slow in coming,and I would say largely it's nonexistent.” She was shown the figures analyzedby the Union-Tribune.
The governor's promised shake-up appeared to suffer a blow over the weekend when prisons chief Roderick Q. Hickman abruptly quit after two years on the job. Hickman reportedly said he lacked the political support from the governor and legislators to carry out major revisions.
Corrections officials attribute the guards' rising payroll costs primarily to conflicting trends: The inmate population is swelling, and many prisons remain hobbled by guard shortages.
Elaine Jennings, a spokeswoman for the prison system, said yesterday the sharp growth in correctional officer overtime mirrors the growth in the prisons'population.
She disagrees with those who see the figures as further evidence of dysfunction within the prison system. “I don't think it's a sign of disorganization or of failed leadership,” Jennings said.
State guards last year collected an average base pay of $57,000, an increase of 27 percent since 2003, but less than the average base pay of a Highway Patrol officer or a San Diego police officer.
To cover gaps in staffing, however, thousands of correctional officers often worked longer than the standard 41-hour week, substantially boosting their pay.
Cash-strapped California spent $277 million last year on guard overtime, twice as much as in 2004.
The Union–Tribune analysis reviewed three years of raw payroll data – 2003 through 2005 – provided by the state controller's office at the newspaper's request.
Paul Sutton, a criminal-justice professor at San Diego State University, called the paychecks obscene.
“Sure, some of them work very hard. But a lot of people work very hard and don't make a fraction of what most correctional officers make,” he said. “That is just upside down in a state that is struggling financially and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.”
Lawmakers and others say the state exacerbated the guard shortage in late 2003 when it suspended classes for several months at a correctional officer training academy near Sacramento.
Prison officials vowed early last year to clamp down on overtime after repeated warnings from state budget analysts about runaway payroll costs.
The promises came in the wake of the governor's pledge to overhaul the sprawling prison system – a pledge that strikes many critics today as hollow.
Early in the Schwarzenegger administration, administrators vowed to reduce the inmate population by expanding rehabilitation programs.
But today the system houses a record 170,000 inmates, and the governor recently proposed the construction of two prisons.
State officials argue that growth in the adult inmate population is inevitable, given the increase in California's overall population. They said more prison space is needed as part of a planned expansion of rehabilitation programs.
Meanwhile, the annual corrections budget has grown from $6 billion in 2004 to nearly $8 billion.
“And, incredibly, the governor wants to build new jail cells,” said Rose Braz, director of Critical Resistance, a penal-reform group based in Oakland. “We're going in the wrong direction.”
Julie Soderlund, a spokeswoman for the governor, sharply disagreed last night. She said the governor remains committed to reform, including resolving issues that have dogged the system for years.
“We have a long way to go,” Soderlund said. “Change doesn't happen overnight.”
One of the thorniest problems is providing adequate inmate medical care. Earlier this month, a federal judge appointed an outside receiver to improve the prison system's long-troubled health care system.
On a separate issue, Hickman said last year he would seek significant changes in the labor agreement with the prison guards union, the politically powerful California Correctional Peace Officers Association. The union contract expires July 2.
The contract includes provisions tied to guard overtime and sick leave that some say are too generous. “It's the sweetest contract you can ever imagine,” said state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough.
Voluntary overtime, for example, is assigned by seniority. That drives up overtime costs because veteran guards, who are at the peak of the hourly pay scale, earn far more when they work a long day than junior officers.
The contract also allows prisons to draw on a pool of reserve guards when a regular correctional officer calls in sick. These fill-in employees, however, can decline an assignment by saying they're sick and receive a full day's pay.
When that happens, a prison can end up paying a handful of people sick leave to cover a single absence.
Last year, the state spent $1.3 billion, including money for sick leave, to pay the base salaries of 22,800 guards. That's 10 percent more than the previous year.
Lance Corcoran, the union's chief of governmental affairs, said his organization will stand behind its hard-won rights during upcoming contract negotiations.
“Anyone who thinks that we are going to go into these negotiations with our tail between our legs is sorely underestimating the will of our membership,” he said.
Corcoran blamed the staffing gap on mismanagement by corrections officials in Sacramento, noting the temporarysuspension of guard training classes in 2003. “That was a very boneheaded thing to do,” he said.
He believes the staffing issue has damaged guard morale, jeopardized staff safety and undermined the governor's reform drive.
“When a correctional officer is tired and not very happy because they have to work overtime, the whole idea of rehabilitation goes out the window,” he said.
SDSU's Sutton, who regularly tours California's prisons, said the guards take their work seriously. But at the same time, he said, “many of them are even a bit giddy about what they earn.”
Last year, among the state's 32 adult prisons, nearly 8 percent of the guard positions on average were not filled.
Among the guard vacancy rates, by facility: San Quentin State Prison, 7 percent; Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa, 8 percent; and High Desert State Prison in Susanville, 16 percent.
Prison officials are bracing for more vacancies due to a recent drop in the guard retirement age, another provision of the labor agreement.
To address the shortage, prison officials recently opened a second correctional officer academy in Stockton. They plan to train as many as 3,700 guards between this summer and next.
Starting pay for a state correctional officer is $39,700 a year.
An analysis of state payroll data shows the average base pay last year for a guard was $57,000.
CHP officers were paid, by contrast, an average of$64,000 in base pay last year. A veteran patrol officer with the San Diego Police Department was paid an average of$69,000.
Prison guards received an average of$15,000 in other pay, mostly in overtime.
Thousands of guards also earned $2,400 bonuses – known as “rattlesnake pay” – if they worked in desert regions where it's tough to attract and keep employees.
Add it up, and the average year-end gross pay for a stateprison guard last year was $72,000.
Last year, San Quentin had the greatest number of correctional officers earning more than $100,000 – 182, or about one out of five rank-and-file guards.
Donovan, with 132 guards earning more than $100,000, had the fourth highest. Centinela State Prison near El Centro had 39 earning more than $100,000.
The highest-paid guard in the state last year was John L. Mattingly at High Desert. He grossed $187,000, including $114,000 in overtime. He could not be reached for comment.
Two other correctional officers received more in 2005, but their amounts included several years of back pay.
The highest-paid correctional officer at Donovan in 2005 was Rafael Esquilin Jr., who earned $152,000. He wasn't available for comment.
Hickman, the departing state prisons chief, earned $131,000 over the same period.
By mid-2007, the prison system will house a projected 172,000 inmates, further straining the work force.
The proposed 2006-07 prison budget includes more money for inmate education and rehabilitation programs. However, the state legislative analyst's office issued a report last week calling many of the programs incomplete or unrealistic.
A state Senate panel chaired by Mike Machado, D-Linden, had scheduled a hearing for this week to discuss the budget. The hearing is expected to be delayed in light of Hickman's sudden resignation.
Schwarzenegger praised Hickman's service this week and named Jeanne S. Woodford, the state's No. 2 person for corrections, acting secretary.
Machado said Hickman's departure adds to the air of crisis surrounding the prison system, noting that it faces serious challenges on a range of complex issues.
“I think the governor has spoken eloquently about the need to address the issues, but I don't think he has put his shoulder to the grindstone to move them along,” he said yesterday.
Prison guards lock up bundle in OT pay
2,400 officers made more than $100,000
By Steve Schmidt
STAFF WRITER
February 28, 2006
Roughly one out of 10 California prison guards was paid more than $100,000 last year, fueled largely by a jump in overtime.
Some 2,400 rank-and-file correctional officers' pay exceeded $100,000 in 2005, compared with 557 the year before, a San Diego Union-Tribune analysis of payroll figures shows.
Graphic:
Big bucks in the big house
One guard grossed $187,000, making him the highest-paid correctional officer in California, according to data provided by the state controller's office.
At the historic San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco, one out of five guards was paid more than $100,000 last year.
To many lawmakers and others, the ballooning figures offer fresh evidence that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's drive to overhaul the $8 billion prison system has stalled.
State Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, said the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation remains one of the “most failed” agencies in California.
The payroll figures, she said, “hit me hard in the belly. ... Reform has been slow in coming,and I would say largely it's nonexistent.” She was shown the figures analyzedby the Union-Tribune.
The governor's promised shake-up appeared to suffer a blow over the weekend when prisons chief Roderick Q. Hickman abruptly quit after two years on the job. Hickman reportedly said he lacked the political support from the governor and legislators to carry out major revisions.
Corrections officials attribute the guards' rising payroll costs primarily to conflicting trends: The inmate population is swelling, and many prisons remain hobbled by guard shortages.
Elaine Jennings, a spokeswoman for the prison system, said yesterday the sharp growth in correctional officer overtime mirrors the growth in the prisons'population.
She disagrees with those who see the figures as further evidence of dysfunction within the prison system. “I don't think it's a sign of disorganization or of failed leadership,” Jennings said.
State guards last year collected an average base pay of $57,000, an increase of 27 percent since 2003, but less than the average base pay of a Highway Patrol officer or a San Diego police officer.
To cover gaps in staffing, however, thousands of correctional officers often worked longer than the standard 41-hour week, substantially boosting their pay.
Cash-strapped California spent $277 million last year on guard overtime, twice as much as in 2004.
The Union–Tribune analysis reviewed three years of raw payroll data – 2003 through 2005 – provided by the state controller's office at the newspaper's request.
Paul Sutton, a criminal-justice professor at San Diego State University, called the paychecks obscene.
“Sure, some of them work very hard. But a lot of people work very hard and don't make a fraction of what most correctional officers make,” he said. “That is just upside down in a state that is struggling financially and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.”
Lawmakers and others say the state exacerbated the guard shortage in late 2003 when it suspended classes for several months at a correctional officer training academy near Sacramento.
Prison officials vowed early last year to clamp down on overtime after repeated warnings from state budget analysts about runaway payroll costs.
The promises came in the wake of the governor's pledge to overhaul the sprawling prison system – a pledge that strikes many critics today as hollow.
Early in the Schwarzenegger administration, administrators vowed to reduce the inmate population by expanding rehabilitation programs.
But today the system houses a record 170,000 inmates, and the governor recently proposed the construction of two prisons.
State officials argue that growth in the adult inmate population is inevitable, given the increase in California's overall population. They said more prison space is needed as part of a planned expansion of rehabilitation programs.
Meanwhile, the annual corrections budget has grown from $6 billion in 2004 to nearly $8 billion.
“And, incredibly, the governor wants to build new jail cells,” said Rose Braz, director of Critical Resistance, a penal-reform group based in Oakland. “We're going in the wrong direction.”
Julie Soderlund, a spokeswoman for the governor, sharply disagreed last night. She said the governor remains committed to reform, including resolving issues that have dogged the system for years.
“We have a long way to go,” Soderlund said. “Change doesn't happen overnight.”
One of the thorniest problems is providing adequate inmate medical care. Earlier this month, a federal judge appointed an outside receiver to improve the prison system's long-troubled health care system.
On a separate issue, Hickman said last year he would seek significant changes in the labor agreement with the prison guards union, the politically powerful California Correctional Peace Officers Association. The union contract expires July 2.
The contract includes provisions tied to guard overtime and sick leave that some say are too generous. “It's the sweetest contract you can ever imagine,” said state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough.
Voluntary overtime, for example, is assigned by seniority. That drives up overtime costs because veteran guards, who are at the peak of the hourly pay scale, earn far more when they work a long day than junior officers.
The contract also allows prisons to draw on a pool of reserve guards when a regular correctional officer calls in sick. These fill-in employees, however, can decline an assignment by saying they're sick and receive a full day's pay.
When that happens, a prison can end up paying a handful of people sick leave to cover a single absence.
Last year, the state spent $1.3 billion, including money for sick leave, to pay the base salaries of 22,800 guards. That's 10 percent more than the previous year.
Lance Corcoran, the union's chief of governmental affairs, said his organization will stand behind its hard-won rights during upcoming contract negotiations.
“Anyone who thinks that we are going to go into these negotiations with our tail between our legs is sorely underestimating the will of our membership,” he said.
Corcoran blamed the staffing gap on mismanagement by corrections officials in Sacramento, noting the temporarysuspension of guard training classes in 2003. “That was a very boneheaded thing to do,” he said.
He believes the staffing issue has damaged guard morale, jeopardized staff safety and undermined the governor's reform drive.
“When a correctional officer is tired and not very happy because they have to work overtime, the whole idea of rehabilitation goes out the window,” he said.
SDSU's Sutton, who regularly tours California's prisons, said the guards take their work seriously. But at the same time, he said, “many of them are even a bit giddy about what they earn.”
Last year, among the state's 32 adult prisons, nearly 8 percent of the guard positions on average were not filled.
Among the guard vacancy rates, by facility: San Quentin State Prison, 7 percent; Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa, 8 percent; and High Desert State Prison in Susanville, 16 percent.
Prison officials are bracing for more vacancies due to a recent drop in the guard retirement age, another provision of the labor agreement.
To address the shortage, prison officials recently opened a second correctional officer academy in Stockton. They plan to train as many as 3,700 guards between this summer and next.
Starting pay for a state correctional officer is $39,700 a year.
An analysis of state payroll data shows the average base pay last year for a guard was $57,000.
CHP officers were paid, by contrast, an average of$64,000 in base pay last year. A veteran patrol officer with the San Diego Police Department was paid an average of$69,000.
Prison guards received an average of$15,000 in other pay, mostly in overtime.
Thousands of guards also earned $2,400 bonuses – known as “rattlesnake pay” – if they worked in desert regions where it's tough to attract and keep employees.
Add it up, and the average year-end gross pay for a stateprison guard last year was $72,000.
Last year, San Quentin had the greatest number of correctional officers earning more than $100,000 – 182, or about one out of five rank-and-file guards.
Donovan, with 132 guards earning more than $100,000, had the fourth highest. Centinela State Prison near El Centro had 39 earning more than $100,000.
The highest-paid guard in the state last year was John L. Mattingly at High Desert. He grossed $187,000, including $114,000 in overtime. He could not be reached for comment.
Two other correctional officers received more in 2005, but their amounts included several years of back pay.
The highest-paid correctional officer at Donovan in 2005 was Rafael Esquilin Jr., who earned $152,000. He wasn't available for comment.
Hickman, the departing state prisons chief, earned $131,000 over the same period.
By mid-2007, the prison system will house a projected 172,000 inmates, further straining the work force.
The proposed 2006-07 prison budget includes more money for inmate education and rehabilitation programs. However, the state legislative analyst's office issued a report last week calling many of the programs incomplete or unrealistic.
A state Senate panel chaired by Mike Machado, D-Linden, had scheduled a hearing for this week to discuss the budget. The hearing is expected to be delayed in light of Hickman's sudden resignation.
Schwarzenegger praised Hickman's service this week and named Jeanne S. Woodford, the state's No. 2 person for corrections, acting secretary.
Machado said Hickman's departure adds to the air of crisis surrounding the prison system, noting that it faces serious challenges on a range of complex issues.
“I think the governor has spoken eloquently about the need to address the issues, but I don't think he has put his shoulder to the grindstone to move them along,” he said yesterday.
