This much is clear to everyone: California’s prisons are a mess.
We believe the federal courts must intervene and dictate a
solution.
John Hagar, the special master appointed by a federal judge to
report on conditions in the prisons, found gross mismanagement,
perjury and cover-up at the top levels of the California Department
of Corrections. His report concludes the biggest obstacle to
changing the system is the power of the California Correctional
Peace Officers Association, the state prison guards union.
This much is clear to everyone: California’s prisons are a mess. We believe the federal courts must intervene and dictate a solution.
John Hagar, the special master appointed by a federal judge to report on conditions in the prisons, found gross mismanagement, perjury and cover-up at the top levels of the California Department of Corrections. His report concludes the biggest obstacle to changing the system is the power of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the state prison guards union.
The union paints a much different picture of the problems destroying the prison system. As CCPOA President Mike Jimenez and others see it, … the real problem is incompetence in the department’s leadership. … They say the union is being unfairly targeted to obscure the department’s failings.
Who is telling the truth? It is clear the state simply cannot be relied on to clean up its prison system.
Despite the presence of Sens. Jackie Speier and Gloria Romero, who convened last week’s eye-opening hearings, we don’t think the rest of the Legislature has the political spine to take on the union. These same legislators approved contracts with the guards that make it virtually impossible for even the most conscientious wardens to run their own prisons, control runaway costs or discipline rogue guards.
The only viable answer lies in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who appointed Hagar. Henderson, who is hearing a decade-old suit alleging a variety of abuses in California prisons, should take control of California’s prison system and appoint a strong and independent leader to run it and to fully investigate every aspect of its activities.
Solutions to these problems cannot wait until another riot erupts, or more competent leadership is hired or a new generation of correctional officers or their widows step out of the shadows and tell the ugly truth. If California is serious about reforming the Department of Corrections, it must have help from the outside. Federal courts have monitored this crisis for years. The situation is deteriorating. The courts must intervene.
