CDCR Star

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Partnership revamps Tehama County welcome sign
Under the direction of Cal Fire, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmates prepare to put the final touches on a revamped welcome sign along Interstate 5 near Cottonwood.
Red Bluff Daily News

COTTONWOOD- The north Tehama County welcome sign on Interstate 5 has been completely revamped.

The Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce along with Cal Fire and Sierra Pacific Industries partnered to replace and upgrade the county sign at the Shasta County line on I-5.

REALIGNMENT

County to Spend More Money on Jails, Not Services
Alameda County continues to invest heavily in jail cells while failing to put public safety funds toward critical social services for the formerly incarcerated.
Sam Levin, East Bay Express

Andre Wiley knows how hard it can be for formerly incarcerated people to rehabilitate their lives and find housing and employment. Since he was released from prison in 2012 — after spending two decades behind bars for a gang-related crime — the 45-year-old Union City resident has worked to make the reentry process easier for former inmates in Alameda County through his organization Timelist Group.

UPDATE: High-speed chase causes three crashes
Daily Press

VICTORVILLE — A car chase that reached speeds of 80 mph and caused three collisions ended with a man detained on Amargosa Road near the Nisqualli Road offramp around 3:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Roughly 30 minutes earlier, deputies were called to a home in the 15000 block of Manzanita Street in Hesperia, responding to a call of a domestic disturbance.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Sentence reduction law sparks sharp drop in L.A. County jail crowding
Abby Sewell, The Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles County’s long-overcrowded jail system saw a sharp decline in new inmates after California voters approved a law last year reducing penalties for a wide array of nonviolent crimes.

According to a report delivered Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors, law enforcement officials said that with the passage of Proposition 47, which downgraded many drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, the jail population has begun to dip, although they said it was too early to project if that trend would continue.

Lancaster Officials Aim For Stiffer Fines To Support Law Enforcement Efforts
KCBS

LANCASTER (CBSLA.com) — City Council members in Lancaster want to go after the pocketbooks of criminal offenders.

In what officials say is an “effort to preserve the safety of its residents and businesses,” the City Council is considering an initiative to counteract changes to state law that mandates certain criminal offenses must now be charged as misdemeanors.

25 surprising things you can buy at a prison commissary
Sarah Heise, WTAE Pittsburgh

Many privileges are taken away from people once they go to prison, but most inmates are allowed to buy their own items at a prison commissary. Check out these 25 items available for sale to prison inmates -- some of the items may surprise you. (Information provided by California Department of Corrections.)

Prop. 47 brings a shift to longer time spent behind bars
Marisa Gerber, Abby Sewell and Cindy Chang

For decades, Los Angeles County jail inmates divided their sentences by five, 10 or 20 to calculate the time they would actually spend behind bars.

Because of overcrowding, they left after completing as little as 5% of their sentences.

San Bernardino County to pare down sex-offender ordinance
Joe Nelson, San Bernardino County Sun

Registered sex offenders in San Bernardino County will be able to move more freely within their communities after the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved repealing restrictions on offender presence and movement in the county’s unincorporated areas.

The gutting of the county’s 8-year-old sex offender ordinance would fulfill the terms of a legal settlement between the county and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci, reached in December.

SVSP officer suspected of brandishing loaded gun during drunken argument
Ana Ceballos, The Monterey County Herald

San Ardo- A Salinas Valley State Prison correctional officer is under legal and administrative scrutiny after he was arrested on suspicion of holding another man at gunpoint.

Brian Gertsch, 35, was arrested Sunday during a traffic stop. Inside the vehicle, deputies said they found a loaded 40-caliber semi-automatic handgun.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

CALPIA donates to Folsom’s project for visually impaired
The Folsom Telegraph

The California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) presented a check for $4,304 to Don Ring of the Folsom Project for the Visually Impaired at the Folsom Lion’s Club Annual Crab and Shrimp Feed fundraising event Saturday. CALPIA’s donation comes from the proceeds of CALPIA’s Golf Benefit in Folsom.

The Folsom Lions Club administers the Folsom Project for the Visually Impaired, which employs offenders at Folsom State Prison who refurbish and calibrate donated eyeglasses for the needy.

REALIGNMENT

Vallejo man found with multiple weapons, say sheriff’s officials
Jessica Rogness, The Reporter

A Vallejo man and three other people were arrested Tuesday during a sweep that checked up on inmates who have been released into the community.

The Solano County Sheriff’s Enforcement Team focused on people currently on Post-Release Community Supervision (PRCS) under Assembly Bill (AB) 109, said Deputy Sheriff Daryl Snedeker. People placed on PRCS were convicted of crimes considered non-serious, non-sexual and non-violent and are now overseen by the Solano County Probation Department, following the passage of AB 109 in 2011.

Paroled prisoners said to cause child abuse spike
County social workers detail rising caseload since 2011
Seth Nidever, The Sentinel

County jail crowding (and the early releases that go with it) is one of the most widely-described effects of realignment -- the state policy, beginning in 2011, of shifting low-level offenders from state lockups into county custody.

Child welfare workers detailed a less well-known effect at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors’ meeting: A rise in child protective services cases directly attributable to realigned prisoners out in the community on supervised release because of crowding in the Kings County Jail.

DEATH PENALTY

Justices Stay Executions of 3 in Oklahoma, Pending Decision on Lethal Drug Protocol
Adam Liptak, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the executions of three Oklahoma inmates who were challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol on the grounds that it might cause intense suffering.

In a brief, unsigned order, the court banned Oklahoma from executing the inmates using the particular chemical they challenged, the sedative midazolam. “It is hereby ordered that petitioners’ executions using midazolam are stayed pending final disposition of this case,” the order said, leaving open the possibility that the executions could proceed if the state obtained and used a substitute chemical.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Brother's Keepers: a suicide support group for inmates
Louis A. Scott, KALW

Recently, a 65-year-old man fell to his death from the fifth tier in West Block at San Quentin State Prison. Although the coroner hasn’t officially ruled it a suicide, some inmates believe he jumped to his death. Such deaths are rare, but when they happen they create shockwaves.

Inmates need support with handling trauma, and in 2005, Dennis Pratt co-founded Brother’s Keepers, a support group that works with inmates to prevent suicide and help each other through crises.

Will Prop 47 affect prisoner firefighting program?
Abby Divine, The Union Democrat

The statewide release of 1,700 inmates since November has not compromised the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s ability to run the state’s 43 inmate fire camps, according CDCR spokesman to Bill Sessa.

The inmate release comes in the wake of the November voter-enacted Proposition 47.

Salinas Valley Prison Attack Leaves Inmate Injured
KCBA News

Soledad, Ca – Salinas Valley State Prison officials are investigating an alleged four-on-one attack that has left one inmate injured with wounds from an apparent inmate-made shank.

The fight broke out at around 10:00 am this morning when four inmates are said to have ganged up on a fifth.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Jail population plummets, sheriff budget increases
Karen Yelie and Daniel Blackburn, Cal Coast News

Jail inmate numbers in San Luis Obispo County have dropped by more than 25 percent since last year following initial implementation of Prop. 47, but San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson’s spending continues to climb.

Proposition 47 reduces the classification of most “nonserious and nonviolent property and drug crimes” from a felony to a misdemeanor. People charged with misdemeanors are usually released after a few hours in custody in contrast to those charged with felonies who often spend months in jail awaiting trial.

For-profit prison group drops plans for third jail in Adelanto
Geo Group Inc. runs ICE and Desert View facilities
Brooke Self, Victorville Daily Press

ADELANTO — Geo Group Inc., a global for-profit prison operator, has decided to vacate plans to construct a 1,050-bed facility in the city, officials said Wednesday.

The Adelanto City Council was expected to vote to accept Geo Group’s request to drop its plans at a City Council meeting on Wednesday.

Soboroff calls for probe of meeting featuring ex-Mexican Mafia member
Richard Winton, Ruben Vives and Kate Mather, The Los Angeles Times

The president of the Los Angeles Police Commission called for an investigation late Wednesday into the decision to use LAPD resources to arrange a downtown meeting between a convicted ex-member of the Mexican Mafia, a group of business leaders and local police chiefs.

From about noon until the evening, police secured a section of downtown L.A. near Spring and 6th streets, where the meeting took place. Unmarked sedans dropped off uniformed officers who filed into the building. Later, a bomb squad vehicle briefly stopped outside.

Organizers cancel California crime victims rally over security concerns
Don Thompson Associated Press

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- An annual crime victims rally that has drawn law enforcement, governors and other dignitaries to the state Capitol has been canceled this year over worries about rising anti-police sentiment.

Harriet Salarno, founder of Crime Victims United of California, said Wednesday that demonstrators have shown up at the National Crime Victims' Rights Week march and rally each of the past two years.

A full docket
County supervisors fund extra help for Proposition 47 resentencing cases
Ken Smith, News & Review

This past November, California voters passed Proposition 47, which redefined some nonviolent felonies as misdemeanors, and Butte County legal authorities braced themselves for a flood of petitions from those seeking resentencing for reduced charges. Later that month, District Attorney Mike Ramsey told news sources he expected about 600 Butte County residents charged with eligible offenses—particularly drug possession and property crimes of less than $950—to take advantage of the new law, which supporters dubbed the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.

Salinas Valley prison officer focus of loaded weapon allegation
The Monterey County Herald

San Ardo - A Salinas Valley State Prison correctional officer being investigated for allegedly holding a man at gunpoint has been temporarily removed from the position he has held for the past six years.

As of Tuesday, Brian Gertsch has been temporarily assigned to administrative duties pending the investigation, said Lt. Eduardo Mazariegos, a spokesman with the prison.

CDCR NEWS

Prisons reach court-ordered inmate levels a year ahead of schedule
Sam Stanton, The Sacramento Bee

California’s prison system has hit a milestone, with new figures showing that the inmate population inside the state’s 34 adult prisons has fallen below a court-ordered cap more than a year ahead of schedule.

Following legal battles that went as far as the U.S. Supreme Court, the state’s prison population has been decreasing steadily in recent years, and a report posted online Thursday by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation puts the latest inmate numbers at 113,463, below the cap of 137.5 percent of capacity set by a panel of federal judges in 2009. The prison system’s design capacity is 82,707 inmates, and the population as of midnight Thursday was 137.2 percent of capacity.

Long Beach City Prosecutor’s Office announces IMPACT Award winners
Greg Yee, Press-Telegram

LONG BEACH- The Long Beach City Prosecutor’s Office announced the seven winners of its annual IMPACT Awards late Wednesday.

The awards are presented to individuals and groups who work with the prosecutor’s office and make a positive impact in the city within the last year. This is the awards’ fourth consecutive year.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Inmates take ice bucket challenge for charity
Jessica Rogness, The Reporter

The cold never bothered them anyway.

Inmates at California State Prison, Solano took the “ice bucket challenge” to raise money for the Special Olympics Northern California on Thursday.

Some inmates donned water wings, life vests, goggles or fun hats as costumes as they dumped buckets of water and ice over their heads. Songs from the Disney movie “Frozen” played in the background at the prison’s gym facilities.

The father missing from Marshawn Lynch's life
Josh Peter, USA TODAY

OAKLAND — Marshawn Lynch is playing himself in a movie about his life, titled "Family First the Marshawn Lynch Story,'' and a list of roles to featured in the film has a noticeable omission.

There is no father.

Lynch's dad, Maurice Sapp, is serving a 24-year sentence for burglary and been convicted six times, twice on felonies — grand theft and burglary — according to records reviewed by USA TODAY Sports. He is absent from the movie that's in post production, just as he was absent from much of Lynch's life.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

California must move 2,100 inmates at risk of valley fever
Don Thompson, The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO — California will have to move more than 2,100 inmates from two Valley prisons because they could be susceptible to contracting a potentially deadly illness, officials said Thursday.

Test results showed that another 3,050 inmates have already been exposed to the soil-borne fungus that causes valley fever and could be moved to the prisons near Fresno.

DEATH PENALTY

'Selfish' Scott Peterson Deserves Death, CA Says
William Dotinga, Courthouse News

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Before Scott Peterson, the sleepy town of Modesto, Calif. - population 201,000 - made its name as the birthplace of wine behemoths Ernest and Julio Gallo and legendary filmmaker George Lucas, who immortalized the town in his 1973 ode "American Graffiti."

But on Christmas Eve, 2002, Peterson's wife of five years Laci - eight months pregnant with the couple's first child - went missing. Peterson said he had left early that morning to go fishing at the Berkeley marina on the San Francisco Bay, 90 miles away, and that Laci was alive and well when he left.

Tentative Ruling: California Must Adopt Execution Process
The Associated Press

California must adopt a new process for executing condemned inmates after nearly three years of delays, a state judge ruled Thursday in a lawsuit filed by crime victims.

The tentative ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shellyanne Chang does not order the state to resume executions, which have been on hold since 2006. But she said corrections officials can't wait any longer to find a new way to conduct executions if they are reinstituted.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Vacaville Police Look For Missing Sex Registrant
Lonnie Wong, Fox 40 News

VACAVILLE-Police are looking for a registered sex offender who apparently cut off his GPS ankle bracelet and disappeared.

UPDATE: Kurtis Chambers was apprehended Thursday night and is in the San Joaquin County Jail.

REALIGNMENT

Search of Vallejo home leads to arrest
Times-Herald

NOTE: The writer has been informed that nobody is released early from prison due to Realignment.

A search by Solano County Sheriff’s Enforcement Team on Tuesday resulted in the arrest of a Vallejo resident, according to the Solano County Sheriff’s Office.

Alan Moore Almeida, 31, of Vallejo was arrested at his home in the 400 block of Wilshire Avenue for possession of a firearm, ammunition and for violating the terms of Post Release Community Supervision, deputies said.

Matthew Warner: Accused baby killer was free due to ‘realignment’

Father charged with sexual assault, murder of infant daughter previously freed through AB 109
Jim Holt, Santa Clarita Valley Signal

Matthew Brendan Warner — charged with torturing, sexually assaulting and murdering his 19-day-old daughter — would likely have been incarcerated at the time of the slaying if not for the state’s prison realignment program, which freed him on probation, officials with law enforcement, probation and corrections said this week.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Santa Cruz murder trial explores defendant’s mental illness history
Jessica A. York, Santa Cruz Sentinel

SANTA CRUZ - Just days before Charles Anthony Edwards III was arrested for the slaying of Shannon Collins in 2012, he stood in front of a wall at the Homeless Services Center, talking to himself and saying he wanted to leave, a center employee testified Wednesday.

“I don’t know the difference between happy talking to yourself and mad talking to yourself. It was aggressive, and that concerned me,” said Homeless Services Center employee Stephen Nelson.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Inside the California Prison Where Inmates Train Rescue Dogs
Josh Sanburn, TIME

Prison may seem like the worst possible place to train a dog, especially at a facility like the California State Prison in Los Angeles County, home to the kinds of criminals we often think of as society’s worst.

But last year, a select group of the prison’s inmates—many serving life sentences for heinous crimes of murder and kidnapping—helped give rescue dogs a second life by caring for them, training them, and after an intensive 12-week program, turning them over to an adoptive family. Over the summer, photographers Shaughn Crawford and John DuBois spent six days inside the prison, capturing these often surreal scenes of inmates and their dogs lounging in cells, playing in the prison yard, going through obedience training, and, ultimately, bonding.

Father of Seattle Seahawks star Marshawn Lynch behind bars - where he will watch the son heartbroken by his father's absence take on the Patriots tomorrow
Daniel Bates and Hugo Daniel, Daily Mail

When Marshawn Lynch runs out at the University of Phoenix stadium for the Super Bowl tomorrow, his dad will be watching with a pride that only a father can feel.

But Maurice Sapp will not be sitting with the rest of Lynch’s family in Oakland, California, to savor one of the happiest days of his life.

Instead he will be viewing from the maximum security prison 2,000 miles away in Mississippi where he is serving a 24-year sentence for drug possession and burglary.

OPINION

California’s prison-population reduction is good news
San Francisco Chronicle

After years of legal troubles, California’s prison system is finally on the right track. The state’s prison population has declined significantly in recent years, and last week it fell below the maximum number demanded by a federal court in 2009.

The prisons are designed to carry a total of 82,707 inmates, and the federal judges set maximum capacity at 137.5 percent. As of midnight Thursday, the population was 113,463 — 137.2 percent of capacity.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

LTCC Board approves initial Measure F Plan
Isaac Brambila, Tahoe Daily Tribune

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE -- The Lake Tahoe Community College Board of Trustees approved an initial projects plan for the use of the $55-million Measure F bond during its regular meeting Tuesday evening.

The board also approved an instructional agreement with High Desert State Prison that would provide inmate students the opportunity to complete college courses.

'Pickle-sucker' remark riles prison nurses
Allison Gatlin, The Salinas Californian

Even Peter Piper would avoid this pickle.

Salinas Valley State Prison nurses said they were embittered Friday that the federal receivership seemingly addressed recent complaints by telling them to "take the pickle out of [their] mouths."

Now, those nurses say they're considering filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging sexual harassment for what they call a blatant double entendre.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Gov. Jerry Brown weighs parole for killer in controversial LAPD lecture
Kate Mather and Victoria Kim, The Los Angeles Times

Rene Enriquez boasts an impressive law enforcement resume.

Author. Expert witness. Government consultant. College lecturer.

But he achieved such respected standing because of his earlier life's work: Killer, drug dealer and Mexican Mafia "shot caller."

DEATH PENALTY

Death Debate At High Court
Justices set April argument over lethal -injection protocol.
Marcia Coyle, The National Law Journal

The nation's lethal-injection landscape has changed profoundly in the nearly seven years since the U.S. Supreme Court last confronted the issue. And that is reason enough for the justices to take a new look at this execution method, opponents and supporters of the death penalty say.

In late April, the justices will return to what has become a litigious, unsettled area of the law when they hear arguments in Glossip v. Gross, a challenge to Oklahoma's lethal-injection protocol.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Former gang members speak at a community forum on preventing violence in Salinas.
Sara Rubin, Monterey County Weekly

Their stories are painful, and all too familiar: Yesica Rubio, who turned to gang life for social comfort as a seventh grader when she was bullied at Harden Middle School, survived a drive-by shooting when she was 15. Brian Contreras spent his youth in jail and then in Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad. As he grew up, Ed Gonzalez watched his Salinas-area friends die young from drugs and gang violence.

These three have each turned their lives around dramatically, becoming advocates for alternatives to youth violence. And they'll all appear Saturday at the Boys & Girls Club in Salinas for a daylong forum on preventing gang violence.

Cheyenne Man Charged With Threatening To Kill Obama
Tom Morton, k2 Radio

Federal authorities arrested a Cheyenne man with a violent criminal history for threatening to kill President Obama, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday afternoon.

David Dwayne Perry called from the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center to the Cheyenne police dispatch center at 8:25 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 24, and said, “‘I’m gonna bomb the White House and I’m gonna kill Obama,” according to the affidavit by U.S. Secret Service Agent Rick Near.

Judge grants class-action status in Salinas jail suit
Allison Gatlin, The Salinas Californian

Salinas inmates embroiled in a two-year legal battle against their jailers scored a win Thursday when a federal judge granted their lawsuit class-action status.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal delivered his opinion in a 50-page document that outlined the dangers inmates face from allegedly inadequate medical and mental health care as well as the threat of violence from fellow inmates.

Chicago may take after trend in California
Bianca Martinez, Columbia Chronicle

Although bills and petitions that would allow prisoners access to condoms have been shot down in Illinois, California passed legislation last year for condom distribution in prisons, which could provide insight into how similar laws in Illinois could lower the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in prisons.

Illinois Representative Monique D. Davis (D-Chicago) introduced a bill in 2009 that would allow prisoners to buy condoms, but it did not succeed.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

San Diego Bike Program For Ex-Offenders Takes Off
Dwane Brown, KPBS

Transportation is crucial to getting around San Diego County and a new program will make it easier for ex-offenders to use refurbished bikes to get to work and other reentry programs.

The program, Providing Ex-Offenders Driving Alternatives for Life or PEDAL, is sponsored by the San Diego Crime Commission. It sends donated or confiscated bikes to the inmates at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility who refurbish them. The bikes are then given to ex-offenders who are transitioning back into society.

Inside the prison system’s illicit digital world
Kevin Roose and Pendarvis Harshaw, Fusion

In this three-part Tech Behind Bars series, we’re exploring the points of intersection between digital culture and America’s correctional system.

On January 2, 2014, a vendor truck approached the entrance to the Sierra Conservation Center, a mid-sized state prison nestled in the sleepy foothills town of Jamestown, California. Guards were stationed at the entrance, along with Duchess, a female Belgian Malinois who works in the K-9 contraband unit of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. As the driver waited to be let in, Duchess began to sniff around the rear of the truck. Suddenly, she began whining excitedly. Something, it seemed, was in there.

Whatever Happened To Escaped Cold-Blooded Killer Glen Stewart Godwin?
Tony Lopez, CBS

FOLSOM (CBS13) — A cold-blooded killer who was sentenced to 26-years-to-life behind bars at Folsom State Prison only served five months before his escape.

The water moves now as it did back then along the stretch of the American River at the foot of Folsom State Prison, where granite-chiseled walls stand tall and towers hover over dreams that would slowly die.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Charles Manson marriage license to expire: He's still single
Ryan Parker, The Los Angeles Times

The course of true love never did run smooth, especially when one is an infamous mass murderer serving a life sentence.

Charles Manson, 80, and 27-year-old fan Afton Elaine Burton have yet to wed despite time running out on their marriage license, said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Rap mogul Suge Knight facing life in prison over fatal hit-and-run
The Malay Mail

LOS ANGELES, Feb 3 — Rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight was charged with murder and attempted murder yesterday in connection with an incident in which prosecutors say he ran over two men in a Southern California parking lot last week, killing one of them.

Knight, the 49-year-old co-founder of influential hip hop label Death Row Records, was charged with one count each of murder and attempted murder, and two counts of felony hit-and-run, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.

Inside the Small California Town with a Lot of Prisons, but Not Much Opportunity
Matt Tinoco, VICE

Adelanto, California, is a small high desert town just a two-hour drive northeast of Los Angeles, but it feels a long, long way away from Southern California's stereotypical palm trees and beaches.

This is a town, like many others around the country, that exists largely thanks to America's overgrown prison industry. There are three incarceration facilities within its city limits, providing beds for up to 3,340 inmates. Two of these facilities are privately owned and operated by GEO Group, one of the US's largest private prison operators. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's department operates the third. On Adelanto's border with its neighbor city Victorville is a gigantic federal complex that's home to another 4,600 inmates.

CDCR NEWS

Federal judge orders California to stop isolation housing of disabled inmates
Paige St. John, The Los Angeles Times

A federal judge in Oakland has ordered California to stop the "regular" practice of putting disabled inmates into segregation units because it lacks room elsewhere in its prisons.

The order by Judge Claudia Wilken, who also is hearing a class-action lawsuit over the state's use of solitary confinement, comes following hearings last week. Wilken on Tuesday ruled that California was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as repeated court injunctions by confining disabled prisoners in cellblocks used to isolate those who violate rules.

Handshakes have a lot to say
Nigel Poor & Tommy Shakur Ross, KALW

When volunteering at a prison there are many rules to follow: there are dress codes, restrictions on what can be brought in and out, and physical contact between volunteers and inmates is strictly forbidden.

At San Quentin, rule number seven in the volunteer handbook states: Do not hug inmates or engage in any other form of physical contact other than a handshake.

“Note: The text above was published on a webpage to promote an interview on a local public radio station KALW. The archive audio of the discussion can be found by clicking on the link.”
http://kalw.org/post/handshakes-have-lot-say

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

After years behind bars, can prisoners re-enter a digital world?
Kevin Roose and Pendarvis Harshaw, Fusion

It’s a stunning, drop-everything-and-go-outside day at San Quentin State Prison, and the prison yard, with its billion-dollar view of Mount Tam and a pristine bay below, is full of inmates in state-issued blue and gray uniforms. Some are doing bicep curls with weighted-down laundry bags. Others are running laps around a makeshift track. Still others are playing tennis, taking batting practice, or hanging out shirtless at the recreation shack, enjoying the sunshine.

Nearby, in a dimly-lit industrial building that used to be a print shop, 18 inmates are hunched over wooden desks, pursuing a less conventional form of daytime recreation. They’re learning how to code.

Sundt-Layton Begin Housing Project at RJ Donovan Complex
Correctional News

OTAY MESA, Calif. — A new 317,000-square-foot housing facility is being constructed at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Complex, located in the San Diego community of Otay Mesa. Construction broke ground in April 2014, and the project is slated for completion in 2016.

Tempe, Ariz.-headquartered Sundt Construction and joint-venture partner Layton Construction, with offices in Phoenix, are serving as the design-build contractor, while Phoenix-based Arrington Watkins Architects is serving as the architect on the $169 million project. The project will include three, Level II, 264-bed housing units for a total of 792 inmates. In addition to these housing units, the project will include programming, health care, visitation and other support functions.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Cellmate is suspected in prison inmate’s death in Folsom
Cathy Locke, The Sacramento Bee

An inmate found in his cell at California State Prison, Sacramento, in Folsom on Tuesday morning with stab wounds has died and another inmate has been identified as a suspect in the death.

Inmate Roberto Baldizon, 35, was discovered at 9:55 a.m. in his cell in the prison’s maximum-security housing with multiple stab wounds and was pronounced dead at 10:27 a.m., according to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation news release. Staff members found an inmate-manufactured weapon at the scene, officials said.

Jury out in 2012 downtown Santa Cruz murder trial
Jessica A. York, Santa Cruz Sentinel

SANTA CRUZ - Depending on who is describing it, the outwardly calm stroll Charles Anthony Edwards III took two and a half years ago down Broadway, shedding a blood-covered jacket and locking blade knife as he went, is a sign of mental psychosis or premeditated savvy.

Closing arguments in Edwards’ three-week murder trial ended before lunch Tuesday, sending the jury out to deliberate Edwards’ guilt. The Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office is seeking a verdict of first degree murder, but Edwards also may face lesser charges of second degree murder or involuntary manslaughter.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Parolee carrying loaded handgun arrested
Jessica Rogness, The Reporter

A wanted parolee found carrying a loaded handgun was arrested by a sheriff’s deputy early Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Just before 2 a.m. Tuesday, Solano County Deputy Sheriff Coy Caulfield stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation in the area of Rollingwood Drive and Lockwood Drive in Vallejo, according to Deputy Sheriff Daryl Snedeker.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Inmate Populations Falling in Once-Crowded California County Jails
KFBK News

Inmate populations are falling in once-overcrowded California county jails since voters decided in November that certain drug and property crimes should be treated as misdemeanors instead of felonies.

While early figures show Prop 47's working as voters intended, some like Christine Ward, executive director of the Crime Victims Action Alliance wonder at what cost.

Officials: County could expand pretrial release program
Allison Gatlin, The Salinas Californian

Fewer than 20 percent of Monterey County Jail inmates assessed for pretrial supervision were actually released from custody between 2012 and 2014, according to a report by the Probation Department.

But that number could increase if Superior Court is successful in obtaining a one-time Community Recidivism Reduction Grant, said Marcia Parsons, probation chief.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

California to make condoms available in prisons statewide
FSRN

Last September, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill mandating that condoms be available in all of the state’s 34 adult prisons. California is only the second state, after Vermont, to provide condoms to inmates. Health advocates say condoms in correction facilities can save lives and prevent the spread of disease. But laws against sex in lock up, fears of illicit use and maybe a lack of political will mean California might be the last state to do this for a while. FSRN’s Larry Buhl has more.

Throughout the more than thirty years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic health advocates have urged condom use to prevent the spread of that virus and other sexually transmitted diseases. And they say condoms should be available for everyone.

Feds offer Fresno help planning bike-share system
Ellie Silverman, The Fresno Bee

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will help Fresno plan a bike-share system to improve air quality and offer an inexpensive method of transportation as part of the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program.

Besides Fresno, the program awarded grants to 21 other communities out of more than 100 applicants to help them develop programs that address local needs. Fresno received the program’s Bikeshare Planning tool, which includes planning a bike-share system for the city and California State University, Fresno.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Drummond: Legendary black revolutionary freed 46 years after UCLA murders
Tammerlin Drummond, Oakland Tribune

On the morning of Jan. 11, Watani Stiner, 68, was released from San Quentin on parole. Almost no one knew.

It was a far cry from the last time he left prison -- as an escapee convicted of murder. On that adrenaline-fueled flight in 1974, Stiner and his brother, George, escaped to South America, where Watani Stiner lived as a free man for 20 years, married a woman in Suriname and fathered six children.

Man guilty of Orange County murder of woman strangled in RV
The Associated Press

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A parolee who strangled a woman in his recreational vehicle and stuffed her body into a sleeping bag has been convicted of second-degree murder in Orange County.

Ean Keith Brown, who was convicted Wednesday, is a three-strikes candidate who could face 55 years to life in prison.

OPINION

Conservatives are still trouncing liberals on prison reform
Robert Greene, The Los Angeles Times

States don’t get any bluer than California, so last November’s vote adopting Proposition 47 – reducing six felonies to misdemeanors – could easily be taken as evidence that liberals and Democrats are leading the nationwide de-incarceration movement.

And that stands to reason. In image, at least, conservatives carry the tough-on-crime banner while liberals favor lenience and prefer rehabilitation to incarceration. The Obama administration won federal sentencing reforms. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that in 2014 the federal inmate population dropped – the first net reduction since 1980. Liberal officials, liberal policies, right?

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Legislation seeks to end isolation in juvenile facilities
Part of it comes down to the meaning of ‘confinement’
Kelly Davis, SD City Beat

Ask probation officials if juvenile-detention facilities use solitary confinement and you’ll likely get a “no.”

That might be because you’re using the wrong words. In San Diego County, for instance, the oversight body that inspects the county’s seven juvenile-detention facilities has been told by probation officials that confinement is not used, according to recent inspection reports. But a complaint filed last July with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division shows otherwise.

Prop 47 impacts: Fewer inmates, staying longer
Carol Ferguson, Eyewitness News

That's the snapshot a few months after the November election put the new law in place that makes some crimes into misdemeanors, instead of felonies.

"What Prop. 47 has done, it's allowed us to keep more of our offenders for longer periods of time," Lt. Greg Gonzales told Eyewitness News on Tuesday. He said that time can be used to get those inmates into more classes and treatment programs.

Impacts of Prop 47 in Humboldt County
Too early to tell if inmate releases are affecting crime
Tyler Dahlgren, North Coast News

EUREKA, Calif. -It’s been several months since the passage of Proposition 47, the "Reduced Penalties for Some Crimes" initiative in California. The initiative that reduces the classification of most “non-serious and nonviolent property and drug crimes,” from a felony to a misdemeanor.

In October, the average daily inmate population inside the Humboldt County Jail was 354 inmates per day. The Sheriff’s Office said as of Thursday, their inmate population is at 317.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Folsom Prison Museum may soon be on the move
Laura Newell, The Folsom Telegraph

Recently, Assemblywoman Beth Gaines reintroduced legislation that would remember the history of Folsom Prison and recognize the work of current and former corrections officers.

Assembly Bill 166 allows the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Department of General Services to enter into a long-term lease for a proposed museum located on vacant land adjacent to Folsom Prison.

Call Me Mandi
The life of a transgender corrections officer.
Richard Ross, The Marshall Project

‎Just north of the city of San Francisco, at the tip of the Marin County, stands San Quentin State Prison, workplace of Mandi Camille Hauwert, 35, the only transgender prison guard in the facility.

Hauwert, who is six feet tall with a solid build, entered the correctional system after serving four years in the Navy, where she was deployed in the Pacific as a damage control and assessment officer. In early 2012, after seven years of working at San Quentin where she primarily patrols the visiting areas, Mandi began wearing earrings and makeup, and she let her hair grow. For the past three years, she has been taking hormones.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Group Protests Convicted Priest Killer’s Parole Hearing
Kay Recede, Fox 40 News

STOCKTON- A group of protesters gathered outside the California Health Care Facility in Stockton on Thursday.

They’re asking a parole board to keep a Santa Cruz man convicted of murdering Greek Orthodox Priest John Karastamatis 30 years ago behind bars.

L.A. parolees nabbed in Yuba County
Monica Vaughan, Appeal-Democrat

Yuba County deputies had guns drawn on Highway 70 on Thursday evening when two at-large parolees attempted to dodge arrest.

Flor Rodriguez, 20, and Francisco Magaña, 28, were taken into custody at about 6:20 p.m. without injury.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

PD: Man arrested in case of woman found in Manteca dumpster
Stockton resident accused in 22-year-old's death
Sarah Heise, KCRA 3 News

MANTECA, Calif. (KCRA) —A Stockton man was arrested Wednesday in connection with the death of a 22-year-old woman whose body was found in a Manteca dumpster last year, police said

Richard Howard Watkins, 49, was formally charged in the killing of Kelly Marelich, according to Manteca police.

REALIGNMENT

Marijuana siezed during search warrant
Big Bear Grizzly

Deputies from the Big Bear Sheriff’s Station served a search warrant in Sugarloaf Feb. 5 and arrested three men on drug-related charges.

Gary Simrak 48, Kirk Wood, 53, and Gerard Hurtado, 33, are in custody. Deputies served the warrant at 8:30 a.m. in the 600 block of Wabash Avenue. A large amount of marijuana, methamphetamine and packaging materials consistent with drug sales were seized.

OPINION

Editorial: Proposition 47 good for criminals, bad for everybody else
Chico Enterprise Record

Trying to put lipstick on a pig, some apologists for criminals are bragging that formerly overcrowded county jails are sufferable again thanks to the voters’ approval of Proposition 47 in November.

Of course the jails are less crowded. The prisoners were let out.

We certainly don’t feel any safer.

Proposition 47, the misnamed “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” sought to relieve overcrowding in jails by turning many so-called “nonviolent” felonies into misdemeanors. It means, for example, that a first-time offender who stole something worth $950 or fewer wouldn’t spend any time in jail. Rather, he or she would be given a ticket. It meant even possession of heroin wouldn’t necessarily result in jail time.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Can technology and prisons get along?
Kevin Roose and Pendarvis Harshaw, Fusion

Walking through the second floor of the Napa County Jail, in a unit housing roughly 50 of the facility’s 175 medium-security inmates, Bret Prebula is explaining his correctional philosophy. Behind him, an inmate washes himself in a shower stall. Another inmate talks softly in Spanish into a Reagan-era payphone. Fluorescent lights flicker overhead; the white concrete walls muffle any noise coming from inside the cells. The entire place has a drab, sterile feel to it, which makes Prebula’s next words come as a surprise.

“We want to be the Google or the Facebook of corrections,” he says. “And what I mean by that is innovation.”

Santa Rosa sex offender sweep finds most in compliance
Martin Espinoza, The Press Democrat

A countywide law enforcement check of registered sex offenders Thursday afternoon found that 94 of 119 offenders were in compliance with residential requirements, Santa Rosa police said.

The random checks are done to determine whether locally registered sex offenders are complying with Section 290 of the California penal code, which, among other things, requires that the registered sex offender live at the residence listed during their most current registration.

CDCR NEWS

Governor Brown Announces Appointments
Imperial Valley News

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments.

Ronald Rackley, 49, of Elk Grove has been appointed warden at Folsom State Prison, where he has served as acting warden since 2014. Rackley was acting warden at the California Health Care Facility from 2012 to 2014 and held several positions at the Deuel Vocational Institution from 1987 to 2012, including warden, chief deputy administrator, correctional administrator, captain, lieutenant, sergeant and officer. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $141,204. Rackley is a Republican.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

San Quentin Prisoners Learn Computer Skills
JoAnn Mar, Voice Of America

SAN QUENTIN PRISON, CALIFORNIA— Only 20 miles separate San Quentin State Prison from California's affluent San Francisco Bay Area, but for most of the men incarcerated there, the gap between them and the city’s high tech world seemed insurmountable — until now.

That's because some of them are learning computer coding, one of the most coveted skills on the job market.

Killer gets life sentence cut to 15 years after O.C. authorities misuse jail informants
Tony Saavedra and Kelly Puente, Orange County Register

A convicted killer once sentenced to life with no possibility of parole received a new, shorter sentence Thursday because Orange County authorities improperly used a jailhouse informant to gain information.

The killer, a Santa Ana gang member, could be free as soon as 2019, based on a plea deal announced Thursday by the Orange County district attorney. Leonel Vega originally was convicted in 2010 of chasing down and shooting a rival gang member in the head.

Bringing up baby behind bars: Poignant photos of inmates who give birth in prison - and the children who live with them IN JAIL
Christopher Brennan, Daily Mail

A photographer has documented the struggles of California women who give birth while in jail and others who are bringing up their children in prison.

Photojournalist Mae Ryan captured the images of women at facilities in Chino and Pomona who were among the estimated four per cent of state and three per cent of federal inmates that are pregnant.

California murderer extradited to Florida to face charges in 2002 College Park slaying
David Harris, Orlando Sentinel‎

A 48-year-old man already sentenced to more than a century in prison for a murder in California was extradited back to Florida on charges that he killed a woman here in 2002, authorities said.

DeMorris Hunter was arraigned Friday on a first degree murder charge for the May 26, 2002, death of Teresa Green, a 38-year-old Florida Hospital secretary.

Inmate files $10M suit against state prison system, guards
Jess Sullivan, Daily Republic

FAIRFIELD — An inmate at California State Prison, Solano in Vacaville sued the state’s prison system and three guards Friday seeking $10 million.

Inmate Jerome Chambers, 51, claims guards at Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy ignored his doctor’s orders that he be housed in a first-floor cell because he suffered from a seizure disorder as the result of being shot in the head in 1993.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Santa Cruz man denied parole for 1985 murder of priest
Calvin Men, Santa Cruz Sentinel

STOCKTON >> A Santa Cruz man convicted of killing a Greek Orthodox priest at a downtown Santa Cruz church in 1985 was denied parole for the fourth time Thursday.

Edward Lee Bowman was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after he pleaded no contest to first-degree murder in 1988. During the hearing at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, the board denied Bowman parole for five years because he continued to deny responsibility.

Convicted murderer of Sinatra's longtime friend paroled
After two decades, Jeffery Perrotte to be released in the death of Jilly Rizzo
Karen Devine, KESQ News

FRESNO, Calif. - KESQ has learned that the local man who killed Frank Sinatra's long time friend Jilly Rizzo in a firey car crash in Rancho Mirage in 1992 has been paroled.

According to the California Department of Corrections, Jeffery Perrotte was found suitable for parole in September. The exact release date or where Perrotte will be living has not been made public.

REALIGNMENT

Ontario police standoff with parolee ends peacefully Friday
Doug Saunders, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

ONTARIO >> Police were held at bay outside a motel Friday morning as they attempted to apprehend a man wanted for violating the terms of his parole.

Officers arrived at the American Inn in the 700 block of North Euclid Avenue shortly before 10 a.m., Lt. Dave McBride said.

Hesperia residents suspected of poisoning, robbing casino patrons
Daily Press

HIGHLAND — San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department officials said Friday evening that two Hesperia residents were among a trio arrested on suspicion of conspiring to poison and rob visitors at the San Manuel Casino.

Esperanza Maldonado, 52, and Eddie Lee Chapman, 41, both of Hesperia were arrested at their homes Thursday, authorities said, in connection to numerous incidents at the casino where they were allegedly seen drugging and robbing patrons. Cameron Dollar, 27, of Rancho Cucamonga was also arrested in connection to the alleged crimes.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Amador County: Eerie Preston Castle poised for new life
Carey Sweet, The San Francisco Chronicle

IONE, Amador County — A rocking horse sits on the beat-up wood floor in the dormitory of Preston Castle in Ione, lonely except for a kickball and a few small iron beds. The room is silent, but as shadows flicker across the dusty windows, it is easy to imagine the laughter of young boys playing with simple toys and happy whispers as they plotted some mischief long ago.

Many people claim that the building — the former Preston School of Industry reform institution — is haunted, both by its early wards of boys ages 7 to 18, as well as the ghost of housekeeper Anna Corbin, who was bludgeoned to death in the kitchen pantry by a never-convicted murderer in 1950.

‘Underground scholars’ reverse school-to-prison pipeline
Cathy Cockrell, Imperial Valley News

Berkeley, California - After transferring to Berkeley in his early 30s, Danny Murillo did a research project on suspension practices in the public schools, looking at discipline meted out, in particular, to young black men.

As an ethnic-studies major, Murillo had a strong academic interest in what has been called the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

Why Are So Many Americans in Prison?
Leon Neyfakh, Slate

Criminal justice reform is a contentious political issue, but there’s one point on which pretty much everyone agrees: America’s prison population is way too high. It’s possible that a decline has already begun, with the number of state and federal inmates dropping for three years straight starting in 2010, from an all-time high of 1.62 million in 2009 to about 1.57 million in 2012. But change has been slow: Even if the downward trend continues, which is far from guaranteed, it could take almost 90 years for the country’s prison population to get down to where it was in 1980 unless the rate of decline speeds up significantly.

What can be done to make the population drop faster? Many reformers, operating under the assumption that mass incarceration is first and foremost the result of the war on drugs, have focused on making drug laws less punitive and getting rid of draconian sentencing laws that require judges to impose impossibly harsh punishments on people who have committed relatively minor crimes. But according to John Pfaff, a professor at Fordham Law School, neither of those efforts will make a significant dent in the problem, because they are based on a false understanding of why the prison boom happened in the first place.* Having analyzed statistics on who goes to prison, why, and for how long, Pfaff has emerged with a new and provocative account of how the problem of mass incarceration came to be. If he’s right, the implications for the prison reform movement are huge and suggest the work needed to achieve real progress will be much harder than most people realize.

OPINION

EDITORIAL: More to do to fix prisons
The Press-Enterprise

As of Jan. 31, the California prison population dropped below the 137.5 percent capacity limit ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011. While it remains to be seen if this population threshold can be sustained, Sacramento needs to ensure that it can keep the prison population and corrections costs in check.

After years of legal battles alleging unconstitutional provision of mental health services and medical treatment in the state prison system, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that overcrowding was a major contributing factor to the system’s problems, and it ordered a relatively arbitrary population limit to assuage the problems.

The case for Internet access in prison
Ben Branstetter, The Washington post

As the Internet becomes an inescapable part of our daily lives, it becomes increasingly harder to imagine life without it. For the hundreds of thousands of convicts released from prison every year, though, this is an ongoing struggle: The astonishing pace of technology can make the adjustment back to civilian life all that more difficult.

As a recent Newsweek report points out, the majority of prisoners are still relying on older forms of communication like snail mail to keep up with the outside world, as only four states “permitted some Internet access to inmates, though in all cases it was limited.” Newsweek’s Max Kutner continues, “In Kansas, only minimum-security inmates had access. In Louisiana, the Internet was only available to inmates within 45 days of release and for the purpose of job searches.” This lack of technology in prisons unfairly denies inmates basic life skills, creating yet another barrier to exiting the system by encouraging recidivism.

How California Reduced Its Prison Population
Magnus Lofstrom, Brandon Martin, Public Policy Institute of California

After years of struggling with a 2009 federal court order to reduce the population in the state’s overcrowded prisons, the inmate population has reached the target of 113,700 (based on current capacity), roughly a year ahead of schedule. A look at historic prison and jail data reveals that this milestone has been achieved to a significant extent by adding capacity and simply shifting inmates to institutions not subject to the court order. As a result, cost savings from the various efforts appear lacking so far. The state’s spending on corrections is now at a historic high.

Since reaching its peak in 2006 of about 163,000, the institutional prison population has dropped dramatically, by slightly more than 49,000. The court order mandated that inmate population be reduced to 137.5 percent of design capacity, or the number of inmates the facilities were intended to house.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Vest protects officer from stabbing by inmate
Lyndsay Winkley, U-T San Diego

SAN DIEGO — An inmate at an Otay Mesa prison attacked a correctional officer with a homemade weapon Sunday night, a state official said Monday.

Jason Harmon rushed the 27-year-old officer as inmates were getting medication about 8:05 p.m. at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. Harmon stabbed the officer with the pointed end of the weapon, but struck the officer's protective vest, said Robert Brown, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

OPINION

Yes, California, there is a death penalty
Debra J. Saunders, The San Francisco Chronicle

What happened to California’s death penalty? There has not been an execution since 2006, when a federal judge ruled against the state’s three-drug lethal injection protocol. In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld three-drug executions. It didn’t matter. Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris both personally oppose capital punishment, but as candidates promised to uphold the law. In real life, they’ve let things slide. Fed up, two men related to murder victims have filed suit to push the state to carry out the law.

Kermit Alexander wants to see the law work on Tiequon Cox, convicted of killing the former football player’s mother, sister and two nephews in 1984 — Cox went to the wrong address for a $3,500 contract killing. Bradley Winchell is sick of waiting for the execution of Michael Morales, who raped, hammered, strangled and stabbed to death his 17-year-old sister, Terri, in 1981. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shellyanne Chang ruled in their favor Friday after Harris challenged them on the dubious grounds that crime victims and the general public “lack standing” to sue the state.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Ask Sacto 911 crime Q&A: What happened to father, son accused of 2003 shooting death at Taco Bell?
Cathy Locke, The Sacramento Bee

Q: Any information on the outcome of the father and son Taco Bell murder? I believe the last name was King.

Steve, Sacramento

A: Three people were convicted of murder and attempted murder in the August 2003 shooting death of 24-year-old Allen Qualls and the wounding of another man.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Transgender inmate charged as a man, sentenced as a woman
Michael Walsh, Yahoo News

A transgender woman was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting another woman nearly a decade ago, when she still identified as a man.

Harold Seymore, 31, was born intersex and, in 2005, was arrested for sexually assaulting a schoolteacher from Chicago who had been vacationing in South Beach, Florida, the Miami Herald reported. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison but will likely serve fewer than four more years because of time already served.

CDCR NEWS

Pay for California prison officers up 5 percent
Jon Ortiz, The Sacramento Bee

Union members' pay increases
Average full-time total pay for members of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association grew 5.9 percent last year, according to state wage data, after remaining virtually flat from 2012 to 2013.

Why did pay increase? Furloughs ended in mid-2013. Raises for top-tier state workers started at the same time, but in 2014 their impact ran a full year instead of just six months. (The "total pay" number takes into account regular salary, overtime and other regular and non-recurring pay received by CCPOA members.)

DEATH PENALTY

Judge wants death penalty issue to move forward
Jennie Rodriguez-Moore, The Record

A Sacramento Superior Court judge has denied a bid from the state to toss out a lawsuit that pushes for the execution of condemned murderers, such as Stockton’s Michael Morales, whose case has led to an indefinite moratorium on executions in California.

One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is the brother of Terri Lynn Winchell, who as a 17-year-old was raped and tortured to death by Morales in 1981.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Governor reverses parole board decision to release Marin double-murderer
Gary Klien, Marin Independent Journal

Citing a continuing risk to the public, Gov. Jerry Brown reversed the state parole board’s decision to release a man who helped kill a Terra Linda couple and burn their bodies 40 years ago when he was a teenager.

Charles David Riley, 59, “continues to downplay his active role in planning and carrying out these murders,” Brown wrote.

Carjacking, Pursuit Suspect Identified As 29-Year-Old Parolee
CBS

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A carjacking suspect who led police on a high-speed chase across the Southland has been identified as a 29-year-old parolee, authorities said Tuesday.

Aaron Lorta was stable at County-USC Medical Center with gunshot wounds after a pursuit that began in Boyle Heights and ended in Montebello on Monday evening.

Children of victim upset that Mexican Mafia killer may be paroled
Kate Mather, The Los Angeles Times

The girl was 8 years old and her little brother 6 when their mother was fatally shot and left in a vacant lot. Although Cynthia Gavaldon's body was identified on Christmas Eve, the children's' father waited until after the holiday to tell them their mother was in heaven.

For years, they had unanswered questions. It was only two decades later, when the daughter was reading a book about former Mexican Mafia shot-caller Rene "Boxer" Enriquez that she found out more: He had ordered her mother killed.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Riverside: Defendant makes first appearance in teen shooting
A Riverside Poly High teen was shot to death in 2012. A co-defendant is in state prison and will answer charges at a later date
Gail Wesson, The Press Enterprise

One of two defendants charged in the shooting death of a Riverside Poly High School student nearly three years ago appeared in court Friday afternoon, Feb. 6, but his arraignment was postponed.

REALIGNMENT

New jail in San Jose: Planning gets go-ahead from Santa Clara County supervisors
Eric Kurhi, San Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE -- With the inmate population rising and existing cell blocks deteriorating, county leaders agreed on Tuesday that it's time to take the first steps toward the construction of a brand new jail.

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to move forward with design work that will be necessary to compete with other counties hoping to secure part of $500 million in jail funding from the state, expected to be granted later this year.

OPINION

AB 109 not at fault in Warner case
Jeffrey Callison, Letter to The Santa Clarita Valley Signal

A former state assemblyman recently wrote that he voted against Assembly Bill 109 when it was presented to the Legislature in 2011. Unfortunately, the assemblyman seems to misunderstand what AB 109 did.

AB 109 does not make any offenders eligible for early release. Not one inmate has ever been released early from prison under AB 109.

Timm Herdt: A milestone in state's prison crisis
Timm Herdt, Ventura County Star

It happened with little notice and no fanfare, but at the end of last month California reached what one of the state’s leading public safety analysts calls a “historic milestone.”

A year ahead of a court-ordered deadline, the inmate population in state prisons dipped below the level the U.S. Supreme Court said is necessary for the state to meet constitutional standards.

Editorial: Why prison, jail population dropping
The Monterey County Herald

A declining state prison population and fewer people locked up in county jails is one of those “on the one hand … but on the other …” kind of developments.

Earlier this month the state reported its prison population, which has been declining in recent years, finally dropped below the maximum number demanded by a federal court in 2009. The prisons are designed to carry a total of 82,707 inmates — but the federal judges set maximum capacity at 137.5 percent of that total. At the end of January, the prison population was 113,463, or 137.2 percent of capacity.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

These Programs Are Helping Fix A Broken U.S. Prison System
Robbie Couch, The Huffington Post

Most experts would argue the U.S. prison system is in need of change, and a number of programs are tackling this challenge in cities nationwide.

A study by the Vera Institute of Justice released on Wednesday found that local and county jails across the country are being misused. Instead of holding people who are viewed as a flight risk or too dangerous to release while waiting for trial, jails have become filled with those who are too poor to afford bail and people with mental health issues or a history of drug addiction, the report found. On any given day, the number of people housed in local facilities has spiked from 224,000 in 1983 to 731,000 in 2013.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Man who died in Sacramento police custody identified as parolee, 50
Marissa Lang, The Sacramento Bee

The man who died in Sacramento police custody last week after he was loaded, screaming, into a police cruiser and taken to jail was a 50-year-old parolee who had been in and out of prison since the mid-’90s, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

His name was Thomas Jessie Ramirez, according to the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.

Mexican Mafia killer-turned-snitch could walk free this month
Tony Saavedra, Orange County Register

Former Mexican Mafia boss Rene “Boxer” Enriquez, who admits he has killed more people than he can remember, could be released from prison by the end of the month because of his work as one of the state’s top jailhouse informants.

Police and prosecutors from throughout California, including a prosecutor in the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and an Anaheim police official, have written letters to the California parole board on behalf of Enriquez.

Parolee accused of attacking San Bernardino halfway house owner, man to be in court
Beatriz Valenzuela, The San Bernardino Sun

BIG BEAR- A parolee accused of attacking the owner of a San Bernardino halfway house with a brick then fleeing to Big Bear Lake is scheduled to be in court on Friday, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s officials said.

Travest Hill reportedly spent Monday night in the wilderness near Lucerne Valley and Big Bear Lake before being caught early Tuesday morning, officials said.

REALIGNMENT

AB 109, Prop. 47: To What Effect?
Perry Smith, SCV News

While it might be too early to draw conclusions about AB 109 and Proposition 47, representatives from county Supervisor Michael Antonovich’s office recently shared data on the laws’ combined impacts to the county jail system so far.

AB 109, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in October 2011, created a controversial program known as “realignment,” whereby “newly convicted low-level offenders without current or prior serious or violent offenses stay in county jail to serve their sentence,” according to the state’s website.

Police ask for help finding man accused in Elk Grove homicide
Moses Valdez, 38, is wanted in Marissa Pineda De Almanza's death
Michelle Schultz, KCRA News 3

Police are searching for a man with an extensive criminal history who's accused of killing his 37-year-old girlfriend in Elk Grove late last year, officers said Wednesday.

Marissa Pineda De Almanza was found dead in her apartment, in the 9200 block of Franklin Boulevard, just before 5 p.m. Nov. 5, 2014, according to a news release from the Elk Grove Police Department.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Resource Fair gives information, hope to inmates
Grace Wong, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

DEVORE- Eula Charles has been in jails before. She has been on drugs before. She has lost her children before.

And Wednesday, she was at Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center. But this time, she was there to help.

“They’re me,” Charles said of the inmates housed at the center. “Everywhere they’ve been, I’ve been. But I’m 20 years clean and sober. I couldn’t be where I am today if somebody didn’t come into someplace like this and allow me to know it was okay for me to change my life and keep it real. Because it’s hard. I want them to know that change is possible.”

Long Beach PD North Patrol Division arrests six in pilot
OC-Breeze

On Monday, Feb. 9, 2015, officers from the North Patrol Division concluded a three-week pilot program which launched on Jan. 21, 2015, designating available patrol units to an Auto Crimes Operation to focus enforcement efforts towards combating automobile crimes, specifically auto theft and auto burglary.

The operation consisted of uniformed and undercover officers from North Division Patrol and the Directed Enforcement Team, with the assistance of a California Department of Corrections Parole Officer. Officers assigned to the operation identified, detained, and arrested individuals associated with auto related crimes.

A horse on the force, of course
Folsom Police Mounted Unit connects with local youth
Lydia McNabb, The Folsom Telegraph

Some of the best known members of Folsom’s law enforcement are making the rounds to connect with the community on all four hooves.

Officially established in 2004, the Folsom Police Mounted Unit includes four officers and five horses with a sixth in training. Three of the horses are housed at the police department in Folsom in partnership with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, with the others living offsite.

How Prison Inmates Get on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Seth Ferranti, VICE

These days, just about everyone is getting up-to-the-minute notifications from their smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers about what people they know are doing, to the point where it gets annoying. It's just the way the world works now. You don't have to see anybody face to-face; everything is virtual and instantaneous. Friend, follow, like, post, comment, tweet, status update, check in, upload a photo—social media seems to compromise the majority of our interactions these days.

Inside the belly of America's prison-industrial complex it's harder for inmates to live online the same way—especially since they're not allowed to have cell phones—but in practice, they're all over social media.

In a Prop 47 World, Are Tougher Fines the Answer?
Chase Scheinbaum, KCET

Officials in Lancaster passed a divisive ordinance Tuesday to, in their words, "counteract" the effects of Proposition 47 on their city in northern Los Angeles County.

The city council approved a measure to levy fines for offenses such as shoplifting and receiving stolen property that the November voter initiative reduced from felonies to misdemeanors. The ordinance allows police to issue a $500 ticket for the first offense and a $1,000 ticket for any subsequent offense.

OPINION

Finally, a movement to roll back the prison industry
Van Jones, The Sacramento Bee

The “tough on crime” movement of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s ended up as a movement toward mass incarceration. The “lock ’em up” mentality succeeded at turning the home of the free into the land of the imprisoned – but it failed at making us safer.

Today, we are seeing the rise of a new movement – one that aims to roll back the prison industry by using hard science, objective data and innovative models that work.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

The prisoners trying to code their way to a better life
Richard Taylor, BBC News

San Quentin state prison in California has begun a ground-breaking programme to teach prisoners how to code.

Eighteen inmates have been selected to take part in a six month course which teaches them essential web coding languages and aims to make them more employable when they leave prison.

Man charged with ‘tanning bed murders’ to be extradited to Tennessee
Joseph Pleasant, WKRN

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – The man charged with killing two teens at Exotic Tan for Men, an adult business, in February 1996 is set to be extradited to face murder charges in Tennessee in August.

Patrick Streater was indicted on two counts of murder in Feb. 2013 for the murders of Melissa Chilton and Tiffany Campbell.

California prison inmates seek to expand lawsuit
Chico Enterprise-Record

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Inmates held in isolation at California's Pelican Bay State Prison are seeking to expand their lawsuit alleging cruel and unusual punishment to include inmates who were transferred to another prison.

A federal judge in Oakland heard arguments Thursday in the case. Attorneys for the inmates say some inmates have been transferred from Pelican Bay to the California Correctional Institute in Tehachapi, where they are in solitary confinement under substantially similar inhumane conditions.

Prosecutor believes convicted Oakdale sex abuser had more victims
Rosalio Ahumada, The Modesto Bee

A prosecutor believes Paul Birmingham sexually abused other boys, but he was convicted of sexually abusing only one boy over a five-year period that started when the child was 13.

“If they are not able, ready or interested in disclosing what happened to them, I hope they are finding some solace in knowing that Birmingham has finally been discovered, sentenced and branded as the predator that he is,” said Stanislaus County Chief Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees.

HEMET: Sentence for triple-fatal crash is reduced on appeal
California Supreme Court’s ruling will remove three years from the term of a woman found at fault in the 2009 collision.
Gail Wesson, The Press Enterprise

A Hemet woman found at fault for triggering a crash on Highway 74 that killed three people in 2009 has had her prison sentence reduced by three years because of a California Supreme Court ruling.

Victoria Samantha Cook was sentenced to nine years and eight months in state prison after a Riverside County Superior Court jury convicted her of three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter, causing great bodily injury and driving on a suspended license. Three years of that sentence were because of the great bodily injury conviction.

Modesto man responsible for 2008 fatal crash gets more prison time for new DUI conviction
Rosalio Ahumada, The Modesto Bee

When authorities found Craig Kyle Nelson driving drunk last summer, he was on parole for driving while intoxicated and hitting and killing bicyclist Michael Richey near Modesto six years earlier. That’s why a judge has sentenced him to seven years in prison for his latest conviction for driving under the influence.

Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Linda McFadden handled both of Nelson’s DUI cases. Prosecutors said the judge told Nelson during his Jan. 22 sentencing hearing that she had hoped he would get his life together.

Modesto man gets prison for raping, impregnating girlfriend’s underage daughter
Rosalio Ahumada, The Modesto Bee

A 38-year-old Modesto man has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for raping his girlfriend’s daughter and impregnating the teenage girl.

Alejandro Rodriguez on Thursday was serving his sentence in San Quentin State Prison. He was convicted of aggravated sexual abuse of a child after pleading no contest to the charge as part of a plea deal.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Children fight to keep parents' killer behind bars
Marc Brown and Lisa Bartley, KABC-TV

Cheryl Effron stood ankle deep in dried blood. Splatter could be seen everywhere. Even 37 years after her parents' brutal murder, the crime scene remains burned into her mind.

"It was horrendous, it was rage, it was anger -- and when I close my eyes, that's what I see," said Effron, daughter of murdered Southern California couple James and Essie Effron.

Trial begins for parolee, once on Santa Ana's Most Wanted list, in killing of retired fire marshal
Kelly Puente, OCRegister

A man on the Santa Ana Police Department’s 10 Most Wanted list strangled his employer to keep him from telling police about a woman’s rape accusation, a prosecutor said.

Trial began Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court for Gerald Guy Byrne, accused of killing Charles Samo in his Santa Ana condo on July 19, 2009 – Samo’s 69th birthday, prosecutors said.

Infamous Mexican Mafia Hitman Rene "Boxer" Enriquez Could Be Free in Weeks
Former mobster Rene "Boxer" Enriquez earned high praise for his work as a snitch from the FBI, Los Angeles Police Department, and the district attorney’s offices in LA, Orange and Ventura counties
Michael Larkin and Robert Kovacik, NBC Southern California‎

A convicted Mexican mafia hitman could be free from his California jail cell in weeks after local law enforcement agencies endorsed him for parole.

Former mobster Rene "Boxer" Enriquez earned high praise for his work as a snitch from the FBI, Los Angeles Police Department, and the district attorney's offices in LA, Orange and Ventura counties at a recent hearing.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Movers & Shakers: Tiburon woman named James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award recipient
Megan Hansen, Marin Independent Journal

Jody Lewen, of Tiburon, has won a James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award for 2015.

Lewen’s award was announced by Sen. Mike McGuire during a special ceremony held on the Senate floor Feb. 5. Lewen is executive director of the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison, which is the only fully on-site program in the state prison system to grant college degrees. The program offers both college preparatory and college credit classes to approximately 330 men every year.

Local Assemblyman's Prison Safety Bill Calls for Investigation Into Death Threats Against Correctional Officer
AB 293 Establishes Protocols for Investigating Death Threats Against Correctional Officers
Renee Schiavone, Patch

The following was submitted for publication by the office of Assemblymember Marc Levine:

Assemblymember Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) has introduced Assembly Bill 293, to help improve safety in our prisons. This bill will require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish statewide guidelines for investigating death threats against California Correctional Peace Officers.

Court: Marin judge erred by tossing injury lawsuit by San Quentin guard
Gary Klien, Marin Independent Journal

A Marin County Superior Court judge erred in dismissing a lawsuit by a San Quentin guard who was injured while walking to work from his apartment on the prison grounds, a state appeals court ruled.

The three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal reversed the decision and ordered the now-retired guard, Monnie Wright, to be refunded his costs of appeal.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

New countywide support system hopes to reduce prison recidivism
Nate Gartrell, Contra Costa Times

PITTSBURG -- As Roosevelt Terry finished giving his speech at the First Baptist Church, inspiring a standing ovation from a room packed full of law enforcement officials, church and business leaders, and politicians, the irony was probably a little much to bear. Three years ago, Terry's life couldn't have been more opposite -- he was known to law enforcement only as a career criminal and serving a life sentence that came from a conviction for petty theft -- his third strike.

Today, thanks to Prop. 36 and a mentorship program, Terry is back on the streets and doing well, and his life story is being touted by Contra Costa County officials as an example of the good that can come from a new program that uses compassionate strategies to reduce prison recidivism rates.

OPINION

Foul man, flawed system
Michael Fitzgerald, The Record

In 1981, Michael Morales, high on PCP and wine, choked 17-year-old Terri Winchell with a belt as she fought for her life.

The belt snapped. So Morales pounded her head with a hammer 23 times, crushing her skull.

Scott Wilk: Realignment Plan is a failure
Scott Wilk, Santa Clarita Valley Signal

Note: The following opinion article was inspired by an inaccurate news report in the same newspaper. Another opinion piece making similar points as this one was published late last week. Earlier this week, the Signal published a letter from CDCR’s press secretary pointing out the errors in the news report and the first opinion piece.

A few weeks back, while driving up Newhall Avenue, I witnessed a flurry of activity that included a TV news truck, police cars and an area quarantined by police caution tape.

Later that afternoon, I was shocked to learn that a Santa Clarita man allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered his own 19-day-old baby girl.

CDCR NEWS

Law enforcement agencies honor outstanding officers

The Californian

The Monterey County Peace Officers Association is set to honor three members of two law enforcement agencies – Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and Monterey County District Attorney’s Office — at the 45th Annual Outstanding Officer of the Year Dinner at the Embassy Suites in Seaside on Feb. 28.

Monterey County Sheriff’s Deputy Sheriff David Vargas will be honored for his actions on Oct. 5, when about half an hour after midnight, a structure fire was reported on Broadway Street in King City. Vargas, who was assigned to patrol King City, was dispatched and arrived on scene within two minutes of the original call. There he found one trailer was fully engulfed in flames and began conducting evacuations at a second trailer, which was also on fire.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

AP Exclusive: Sex offenders are often targets as California prisons see high rate of homicides

Don Thompson, Associated Press

SACRAMENTO (AP) — Shortly after 2 a.m. on April 6, 2010, a guard at Salinas Valley State Prison noticed Alan Ager's cellmate trying to stuff something under a mattress. It was Ager, blood trickling from his mouth and a cloth noose tied around his neck.

The convicted child molester died 10 days later without regaining consciousness, his death earning his cellmate a second life sentence.

California state prisoners are killed at a rate that is double the national average — and sex offenders like Ager account for a disproportionate number of victims, according to an Associated Press analysis of corrections records.

Some things to know about protective housing units in California prisons

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO — California began identifying certain vulnerable inmates as needing special protective housing starting in the late 1990s and created so-called Sensitive Needs Yards for those inmates beginning in early 2002.

However, an Associated Press investigation found that the yards have developed their own problems, helping to push California's inmate homicide rate to double the national average.

The AP found that male sex offenders make up about 15 percent of the state's prison population but accounted for nearly 30 percent of the 78 California prison killings reported by corrections officials since 2007.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

California man's murder case prompts new state law

Sudhin Thanawala, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — This much is not in dispute. William Richards' wife, Pamela, was strangled and her skull smashed in the summer of 1993. A California jury convicted Richards of the slaying after hearing now-recanted bite-mark testimony.

But California judges have disagreed about whether that change in testimony was grounds for tossing Richards' conviction. Now, almost two decades after Richards was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, his attorneys are hopeful a new state law inspired by his case will set him free.

Police conduct forces dismissal in 1986 homicide

Mike Donoghue, Burlington Free Press

A Vermont prosecutor said Friday the possible botched handling of critical evidence by police has forced her to throw out a murder count against a California inmate recently charged in the 1986 killing of a Manchester golf pro.

Bennington County State's Attorney Erica Marthage said the conduct of a police investigator required her to dismiss the first degree murder charge — at least temporarily — against David Allan Morrison, 54, who was charged in June 2012.

Marthage said that during a review of the physical evidence in the Morrison case, it was determined the case officer had made a substantial error in the handling and processing of a piece of trace evidence.

REALIGNMENT

Six make it to first Sacramento ‘re-entry’ court graduation

Andy Furillo, Sacramento Bee

To the cheers of probation officers, a couple of deputy DAs and judges, a scattering of sheriff’s deputies and public defenders, and a roomful of thieves and recovering drug addicts, California saved itself a little money last week.

The occasion last Friday was the first-ever graduation ceremony for Sacramento County’s experimental “re-entry” court; the savings resulted from the 38-plus years of jail time a judge wiped off the books for six longtime, low-level offenders who made up the Class of 2015.

Sacramento officials launched the re-entry court in late 2013 as a local twist on Gov. Jerry Brown’s realignment program, which moved thousands of lower-level offenders from state prison to county oversight. The aim behind the special court is to redirect repeat offenders cycling in and out of prison whose crimes are mostly drug-related. The deal: They agree to plead guilty or no-contest to their latest offense and are sentenced to years in custody. But that sentence is suspended as long as they enroll in rehabilitation, education and vocational programs and actually succeed at them.

Butte County officials to ask Oroville, other cities to collect development impact fees for jail expansion

Oroville News

OROVILLE — With pressures from prison realignment and a growing population, Butte County officials are in the process of asking cities to collect development impact fees for new construction for future jail expansion.

The Oroville City Council will formally consider the county’s request during a public hearing at the council’s next meeting on Tuesday.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

LBPD makes 12 arrests in three-week auto-crime operation

Signal Tribune

The Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) made 12 arrests, issued 41 traffic citations and recovered more than a dozen stolen vehicles during a pilot program targeting vehicular crimes, according to police.

Officers from the North Patrol Division of the LBPD on Feb. 9 concluded the three-week pilot program, which launched on Jan. 21, designating available patrol units to an auto-crimes operation to focus enforcement efforts on combating automobile crimes, specifically theft and burglary.

The operation consisted of uniformed and undercover officers from North Division patrol and the directed enforcement team, with the assistance of a California Department of Corrections parole officer. Officers assigned to the operation identified, detained and arrested individuals associated with auto-related crimes.

Police chief traces increase in burglaries to sentencing policies

Caroline Anderson, Easy Reader News

In response to community concerns over an increase in residential burglaries, the Manhattan Beach Police Department held a standing-room only town hall on Feb. 11.

Police Chief Eve Irvine attributed the uptick to the November passage of California Proposition 47, which reduced felonies for certain drug and property crimes to misdemeanors.

“We recognize there’s a problem,” said Irvine. “The problem is not just in Manhattan Beach.”

Crime, Punishment, Good Intentions and Skid Row

Eddie Kim, DT News

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - Last November, Californians overwhelmingly approved Proposition 47. Its backers touted the move to rehabilitate nonviolent offenders and keep them out of prison. It garnered endorsements from prominent supporters including the Los Angeles Times, the American Civil Liberties Union and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Several months later, as it is being implemented, Prop 47 is provoking uncertainty. Some law enforcement members and community advocates worry about the effect that the measure will have on Skid Row, and fear that it could lead to an increase in crime and the homeless population.

OPINION

Chief Concerns: Rising crime under Prop. 47

Police Chief Brian T. Uhler for Tahoe Daily Tribune

California voters were duped by Proposition 47’s misleading title, “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” It is not surprising that this effort passed, as more than $9 million were spent in support of Proposition 47. The funding proponents included a New York billionaire ($1.4 million) and the American Civil Liberties Union ($3.5 million). The majority of those who reside in El Dorado County, including South Lake Tahoe residents, voted against Proposition 47.

California has a history of lowering the consequences for committing crime.

In 2000, the “Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act” was passed. The main focus of this effort was to allow those convicted of drug offenses to avoid incarceration. In 2011, Assembly Bill 109, known as “Realignment,” reduced certain criminal offenses from felonies to misdemeanors.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Drug dogs visit Lassen High
Lassen News

Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015 — High Desert State Prison’s narcotic dog, Blitz, sniffs vehicles in Lassen High School’s junior parking lot. He is with his handler Mark Martinez.

Drug sniffing dogs came onto Lassen High School’s campus sending a statement illegal substances are not tolerated.

Experts: Trim California crowding to reduce inmate deaths
Rate of prison homicides rekindles population debate
Don Thompson, KCRA Sacramento

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —California's extraordinary rate of prison homicides is rekindling a debate over whether the state needs to further reduce its prison population to ensure inmates' safety.

Experts say trimming the inmate population is also the best hope for protecting sex offenders. Their recommendations respond to an Associated Press report that the state's long-term inmate homicide rate is twice the national average and that sex offenders make up a disproportionate share of those killed.

CDCR NEWS

Advisors push Brown administration to estimate prison savings
Paige St. John, The Los Angeles Times

Analysts for the state Legislature determined the state could save $20 million in private prison costs due to Proposition 47, the statewide ballot initiative voters approved in November that makes drug possession and minor theft charges misdemeanor crimes.

However, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office cautioned that the potential savings is difficult to estimate because Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration has not yet provided the usual four-year projection of the state’s prison population.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Ask Sacto 911 crime Q&A: What happened to suspect in 2012 North Sacramento homicide?
Cathy Locke, The Sacramento Bee

Q: In July 2012, a man named Wesley was killed in the 600 block of El Camino Avenue, but his body was found in an alley by the library in North Sacramento. An arrest was made. Where is the suspect?

Bee Reader, Sacramento

A: Winzer Deandre Hayden was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 18-year-old Wesley Wheeler.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

The last time Mexican Mafia boss was paroled, two people died. Has he changed?
Tony Saavedra, OC Register

NOTE: Governor Brown actually has until Feb. 20 to decide how to act in this case. If parole is granted, Enriquez could be freed within a few days.

The last time Rene “Boxer” Enriquez was paroled out of California state prison, in 1988, he ordered a hit on one person and put five bullets into another.

Nevertheless, Enriquez could see his two life sentences for those murders turn into parole, yet again, in part because an Orange County prosecutor and an Anaheim police official say the former Mexican Mafia boss has become one of the best snitches they’ve ever had.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Oroville City Council delays decision on county impact fee request
Barbara Arrigoni, Oroville Mercury Register

Oroville- Despite voicing support for collecting money from new development projects in the city for future jail expansion, some on the Oroville City Council wanted time before deciding whether to approve an agreement with the county.

The council raised a few questions about the proposal during a public hearing Tuesday night. Two councilors wanted more time to think about it and to allow the public to give input.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Parole Hearing Postponed for Charles Manson Follower
Don Thompson, The Associated Press

California corrections officials say a parole hearing for a follower of cult leader Charles Manson has been postponed.

A board was expected to consider parole Thursday for 67-year-old Robert Beausoleil. He has spent 45 years in prison and been denied supervised release 17 times.

REALIGNMENT

The county’s new probation chief talks about the past and future of reforming criminals.
Sara Rubin, Monterey County Weekly

When Marcia Parsons got her start in the criminal justice system, she was just out of college with a sociology degree from San Jose State. She became a social worker, then a probation officer. She quit in 1970 – “to raise a family and play tennis,” she says – and then returned to work in 1989 after a divorce.

Probation had changed drastically: Most notably, officers were armed to handle a more violent clientele. Parsons became the first female armed probation officer in Monterey County, and in December, was appointed by the County Board of Supervisors as the first woman probation chief. (Today, the gender ratio of sworn officers is close to 50-50.)

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Insights from California state pay data
Jon Ortiz, The Sacramento Bee

What do you think of these numbers?

Last year, full-time state workers’ average total wage rose 6.8 percent to $73,776, according to The Sacramento Bee’s analysis of the latest state payroll data. Negotiated pay raises and the end of furloughs in mid-2013 had a lot to do with it.

The figure, sifted from state payroll data obtained each year by The Bee, includes overtime, supplemental earnings for skills or certifications and lump-sum payments such as leave cash-outs. It doesn’t include part-timers or the cost of benefits for employers or employees.

OPINION

Editorial With Prop. 47, cities and counties have savings to count, decisions to make
The Los Angeles Times

Just over 100 days have passed since California voters adopted Proposition 47, which reduced six specific felonies to misdemeanors; and it will be nine more months before the state quantifies and distributes the first year's worth of savings it will accumulate by no longer imprisoning so many felons. So, of course, it's far too early to assess what the initiative has accomplished and what problems, if any, have emerged.

Still, there is enough early information to allow the state Legislative Analyst's Office to note, as it did Tuesday, that in addition to those expected state savings, California's 58 counties are already being relieved of spending “several hundred million dollars annually” that they formerly had to allocate for prosecuting, locking up and supervising suspected and convicted felons locally. Proposition 47 backers focused their campaign on the state savings; the local windfall that is currently materializing is a bonus.

NPR Lauds Prop. 47, Ignores Rising Crime
William Bigelow, Breitbart News

NPR public radio station KQED released an article lauding the results of Proposition 47, which was passed last November and resulted in a number of inmates being released from state prisons and county jails. But KQED managed to complete the piece without mentioning crime. The piece states loftily of Prop 47, “So far, it seems to be working.”

Prop. 47 took crimes such as drug possession, shoplifting, and theft of less than $950 and altered their status from felonies to misdemeanors. Inmates who were convicted of those crimes had their sentences reduced, allowing many to roam free again. KQED blithely states, “The result: fewer inmates in state prisons and county jails,” then quotes the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) gushing that starting in 2016, Prop. 47 will save California $100 million to $200 million every year. Furthermore, KQED rejoices, “The LAO believes Gov. Jerry Brown’s new state budget underestimates the reduction of inmates due to the implementation of Prop. 47.”

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Parole Hearing for Charles Manson Follower Postponed
Don Thompson, The Associated Press

A parole hearing set for Thursday for a Charles Manson follower has been postponed because of an allegation that he broke prison rules, a California corrections spokesman said.

Parole officials want to wait until the allegation against Robert Beausoleil is resolved before they consider his possible release.

REALIGNMENT

One Man, Two Teens Arrested In Connection With Fairfield Home-Invasion Robbery
The three suspects were apprehended Thursday for the reported robbery on Broadway.
Susan C. Schena, Patch

A Fairfield man, 31, and two teens, both 17 years old, were arrested on multiple charges Thursday after the Fairfield Police Department investigated a home invasion robbery reported Wednesday in the 700 block of Broadway Street.

The two victims told police that three suspects had entered the residence -- two armed with handguns -- retrieved property and then fled the home, said Lieutenant Stephen Crane.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Napa County Jail Provides Inmates Learning Tablets
It is a pilot program offered by the Napa County Department of Corrections in partnership with Jail Education Solutions.
Susan C. Schena, Patch

Jail finds innovative ways to promote inmate educational programming.

By March 2015, inmates in the Napa County Jail will experience a new method of educational and rehabilitative programming through a pilot program offered by the Napa County Department of Corrections in partnership with Jail Education Solutions.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Shakespeare at Solano program provides art education, therapy to inmates
Jessica Rogness, Vallejo Times Herald

Toil, but no trouble, please.

Inmates who are in a new arts program at California State Prison, Solano are working on the first Shakespeare performance the prison has seen.

Marin Shakespeare Company Managing Director Lesley Currier and drama therapist Lynn Baker have been visiting the prison every Saturday since the end of September. They lead rehearsals and are preparing both Level II and Level III inmates for their upcoming Shakespeare debut on May 16, a performance that will be open to staff, family and guests.

Inmate-Trained Service Dog Graduates From Prison
Andie Adams, NBC San Diego

An adorable dog named Dante was released from prison Friday, but his time behind bars wasn’t for any crime. He was the first to graduate from a training program run by inmates.

Prisoners at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility have teamed up with Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs to prepare animal assistants for helping wounded veterans and people with autism.

Prisoners train animals to become service dogs
AM 760 KFMB

SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) – A local prison is teaming up with Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs to train puppies to become service animals.

One of the Donovan Correctional Facility inmates who trained the first graduate of the Pooch Program says it took a lot of patience to get Dante ready for the job as a service dog.

Eureka native broke barriers at San Quentin in 1970s
Dante Geoffrey, Eureka Times Standard

Wendy Woods wasn’t trying to make a statement, she was just trying to support her family.

Intentional or not, barriers were broken when Woods — a Eureka native — became the first female guard at San Quentin State Prison in the early 1970s, an experience Woods wrote about in her recently published book, “Flowers and Guns.”

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Denial of parole for Mexican Mafia killer a relief to victim's family
Victoria Kim and Kate Mather, The Los Angeles Times

Rene Enriquez's eloquence on the subject of the Mexican Mafia prison gang has impressed many. He wrote two books on the topic, prosecutors used him as an expert witness in gang trials, and numerous law enforcement officials turned to him for training sessions and conferences.

But when asked by a parole board last year why he joined the powerful prison gang and led a criminal life rife with violence until he quit in 2002, Enriquez had trouble explaining himself.

Parolee captured near N. California school
David Jacobs, RGJ

A sheriff's K-9 deputy assisted in finding a parolee who was on the run, prompting those at a nearby elementary school to shelter in place, El Dorado County authorities said.

The parolee, identified as Jesse King, 35, ran from a home about 12:20 p.m. Friday.

CDCR NEWS

Nuestra Familia CEO sentenced to 35 years to life
Allison Gatlin, The Salinas Californian

Nuestra Familia CEO Vincent “Chente” Garcia was sentenced Friday in Salinas to 35 years to life in prison, a commitment that accounted for two prior strikes for attempted murder and burglary.

Monterey County Superior Court Judge Pamela Butler discounted an argument from defense attorney Bryan Hackett, who represented 47-year-old Garcia, that the 1996 and 1998 convictions were too “remote in time” to be considered as strikes.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Inmate Walkaway from California Conservation Camp in 2011 Apprehended
Imperial Valley News

Los Angeles, California - An inmate who walked away from Owens Valley Conservation Camp in 2011 was taken into California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) custody after being arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff during a sting operation.

Yahua Yang, 40, walked away from Owens Valley Conservation Camp in Bishop on March 17, 2011 and had since been at-large. Yang was arrested in Rosemead, California under the alias of Gvosheng Wu Zhong when he and three Mexican nationals were attempting to purchase 15 kilos of cocaine on January 27, 2015. Yang was booked into LA County Jail and held on a million dollars bail. Yang was subsequently released on bail prior to his true identity being discovered and given a court date for his new charges.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Prop. 47's effect on jail time, drug rehabilitation is mixed so far
Cindy Chang, Joel Rubin and Ben Poston, The Los Angeles Times

Jose Ibarra snapped on latex gloves, pushed aside an upturned sofa and rummaged through the belongings piled below an underpass in Silver Lake.

Under a thin, grimy mattress and the torn pages of a pornography magazine, the Los Angeles police officer discovered two needles and a glass pipe with a small amount of methamphetamine inside. The makeshift shelter's owner stood a few feet away, handcuffed as Ibarra's partner kept watch.

Court: New California law Prop 47 could threaten drug rehab program
Meghann m. Cuniff, Orange County Register

Sarah Jenkins once called her mother from the streets, drug addled, lost and wondering how people go about their days like nothing’s wrong, how they lead normal lives.

“I remember honestly not understanding how they did it without the use of drugs,” 24-year-old Jenkins said, recalling her young life, marred by a heroin addiction that began at 15 and pushed her to the point where she didn’t think she’d ever climb out.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Gov. Jerry Brown overturns parole board decision for O.C.'s 'devil cult' killer
Sean Emery and Kelly Puente, OC Register

A man who has spent decades in prison for his role in a notorious “devil cult” murder spree will remain behind bars for the foreseeable future, as Gov. Jerry Brown has overturned an earlier parole board decision that found the killer suitable for release.

Arthur Craig “Moose” Hulse is serving a life sentence for the slayings of Santa Ana gas station attendant Jerry Wayne Carlin, 20, and El Toro schoolteacher Nancy Brown, 29, in 1970.

Transient Parolee Arrested in Death of Homeless Woman
The suspect was being held without bail at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning as of Monday.
Renee Schiavone, Patch

A 52-year-old transient parolee was in custody Monday in connection with the murder of a homeless woman whose body was found in a desert lot over the weekend.

Authorities were sent about 8:10 p.m. Saturday to the lot northwest of East Mesquite Road and South Palm Canyon Drive, said Palm Springs police Lt. Mike Kovaleff.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Three prison visitors arrested
Chelcey Adami, Imperial Valley Press

CALIPATRIA - Three women visiting Calipatria State Prison were arrested in separate incidents over the weekend on suspicion of smuggling marijuana into the prison.

In the first incident, Wendy April Camel, 33, of Redondo Beach and two children were visiting inmate Carl J. Camal, a second-degree robbery convict, when staff were alerted to the smell of marijuana.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Stone bill aims to decrease recidivism
Jason Hoppin, Monterey County Herald

NOTE: The reporter has been informed that all CDCR institutions offer rehabilitative programs.

Sacramento With an eye on reducing the population in California’s overcrowded prisons, Assemblymember Mark Stone on Monday announced a new bill that could triple early-release credits for some inmates.

If passed into law, AB 512 would increase the credits inmates can earn for participating in rehabilitative programs, such as educational classes and vocational training, to up to 18 weeks per year. Currently, inmates can earn up to six weeks.

“We need to make sure that people in prison who will someday return to their communities have the opportunity to learn job and life skills that will help them stay out of trouble when they are released,” said Stone, D-Scotts Valley. “This bill provides inmates a stronger incentive to complete programs that have been proven to help reduce recidivism.”

States use secret surveys to predict inmates' future crimes; experts skeptical of effectiveness
The Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On a hot Friday last July, a parolee was mowing a lawn in a small cul-de-sac on the west side of the city when he stopped to ask for a glass of water.

The 70-year-old widow whose yard he was mowing told him to wait on her porch. Instead, she said, he jerked the storm door open, slammed her against the wall, forced her into the bedroom and raped her. The parolee pushed her with such force, she said, that her front teeth were knocked loose.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Actors Help Inmates Develop Empathy
Marina Cantacuzino, The Huffington Post

In some small corners of the Californian correctional system something remarkable is happening. A team of actors is helping the toughest and most violent of men learn to be vulnerable. The way they learn is through adopting a unique acting technique based in the physical and improvisational style of Commedia dell'Arte -- a form of community theatre that was played across village squares in 16th Century Italy and which awakened ordinary citizens to the narratives of others.

The same is happening in American prisons today as these same techniques are introduced to the incarcerated by members of the Actors' Gang, a theatre company founded by Shawshank Redemption actor, Tim Robbins. This ground-breaking work is all about gaining access to emotional states and thereby enabling prisoners to recognize, express and manage their emotions. The program has even won the support of the outgoing U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder. For seven years, feedback from staff and inmates has consistently demonstrated that by encouraging prisoners to take responsibility for their emotions they can learn to take responsibility for their actions. This in turn leads to making better choices and adopting new behaviours.

Murder suspect faces other charges
Jason Campbell, Manteca Bulletin

If the murder case won’t be enough to potentially keep Richard Howard Watkins behind bars for life, the other charges very likely will.

On Monday the 49-year-old DVI inmate that has been accused of murdering 22-year-old Kelly Marelich of Manteca and dumping her body in a dumpster behind a dental clinic on North Main Street appeared before a San Joaquin Superior Court judge for the first time since his arrest. In addition to the charge of murder, Watkins, who was at DVI on an unrelated case when Manteca Police Detectives arrested him several weeks ago, is also being charged with California’s Three Strikes law.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Convicted murderer granted parole after nearly 40 years
Marc Brown and Lisa Bartley, abc

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KABC) - A Southern California man convicted of killing an elderly couple 37 years ago has been found eligible for parole.

Cheryl Effron said she has no doubt the convicted killer of her parents will kill again.

"I guarantee you he will kill again," Effron told Eyewitness News. "The only thing I want to say to the parole board is that the blood of his next victim, whether it's me, someone I love or someone else, is going to be on them, and on the governor."

REALIGNMENT

Murrieta Police Nab Door Kick Burglary Suspect
Police believe the man is responsible for several home break-ins in neighborhoods near Cal Oaks Sports Park.
Renee Schiavone, Patch

Murrieta police Tuesday asked residents living near Cal Oaks Sports Park who believe someone may have recently tried to break into their residence get in contact with them as soon as possible. That’s because they’ve arrested a man they believe is responsible for multiple burglaries and burglary attempts in the area, according to Murrieta Police Lt. Tony Conrad.

25-year-old Byron Elisha Wilson was arrested Thursday, stemming from a incident that happened a day earlier, according to Conrad.

Placer County Approves Contract for Criminal Offender Services
Rocklin Today

The state system wasn't working. The decades-old model of incarcerating those convicted of crimes and simply letting them serve their sentences was producing an expensive and ineffective cycle of people leaving custody and engaging in behaviors that returned them to jail. The perpetual recycling of lower level felony offenders through the state correctional system had a 3-year post-release failure rate of 67 percent.

In 2011, the state of California passed landmark legislation - AB 109, also known as Public Safety Realignment - that shifted the responsibility from the state to the counties for tens of thousands of offenders.

Man arrested on firearms charges
Big Bear Valley News

Deputies from the Big Bear Sheriff’s Station arrested Robert Eaton on charges of possession ammunition. Eaton is a convicted felon.

On Feb. 24, deputies conducted a home check at a residence in the 300 block of Mojave Boulevard, in Big Bear City as part of the Post Release Community Supervision guidelines. Under AB 109, which is part of the governor’s prison re-alignment plan, nonviolent convicted criminals are released to county supervision.

OPINION

Officials should rely on science, not politics, to keep crime low: Guest commentary
James Austin, San Gabriel Valley Tribune

As a criminologist, nothing troubles me more than people playing politics with the facts about crime and safety. Blame games and misleading accusations often prevent a productive, meaningful discussion of what causes crime and how we can prevent it.

But that is just what has happened in California in recent years as the state implements reforms to reduce its prison and jail populations. Is it possible to reduce incarceration and crime rates? The scientific answer is that we can and we have.

Marin IJ Editorial: Costly sewer battle needs to end
Marin Independent Journal

A court ruling determining that the Ross Valley Sanitary District has a right to sue over losing San Quentin State Prison as a ratepayer should bring both sides together to settle this longstanding and costly legal fight.

Ross Valley is suing the Central Marin Sanitation Agency, of which it is a member, for taking away the prison as a ratepayer.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Guard sentenced for smuggling drugs into California prison
The Associated Press

LANCASTER, Calif. — A former guard at a state prison in Southern California has been pleaded no contest to smuggling drugs and other contraband to fellow gang members behind bars.

Andre Pierre Scott entered the plea Tuesday and was immediately sentenced to four years in prison.

High school seniors assess pros, cons of Prop. 47
Danielle Radin, abc

ANDERSON, Calif. - A group five high school seniors at Anderson New Technology High School chose to evaluate the positives and negatives of Proposition 47 for their senior project.

Prop 47 reduced many nonviolent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors in California. Some of these include property and drug crimes.

Monterey County gets $339K to expand pretrial release
Allison Gatlin, The Salinas Californian

Monterey County officials are betting nearly $339,000 that weeding out low-risk inmates will reduce overcrowding at the jail.

The one-time infusion of $338,754 comes in the form of a Community Recidivism Reduction Grant and courtesy of Senate Bill 105, said Nona Medina, public information liaison for Monterey County Superior Court.

Residents want more from police
Brianna Vaccari, The Post

Residents expressed concerns about the Parlier Police Department’s efficiency and job performance at the Feb. 18 meeting of the Parlier City Council.

The residents’ complaints about the police department stretched back years and were fueled by a history of community mistrust, a lack of funding for more police services and a recent violent streak in crime. A number of speakers said they came to the meeting as a last effort to try to address their issues.

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