CALIFORNIA INMATES

In California's fire fights, partnerships soften blow of prison realignment

Audioboom

Cal Fire says the impact from prison realignment isn't as bad as some anticipated, thanks to partnerships.

Juvenile lifers deserve a second chance

Jody Kent Lavy, The Intelligencer

The men — some just teenagers, others in their early 60s — have all been told they will die in prison.

All were teenagers at the time of their crimes. All were tried as adults and convicted of murder. Some, more specifically, were convicted of felony murder, meaning they weren't the primary perpetrators and may have not even known the crime would take place. Yet here they are, at San Quentin State Prison, where I visited them in mid-July.

These men are not just sitting around doing their time. They are determined to reflect on their crimes, acknowledge the harm they caused and better themselves. They are part of an innovative program called Kid CAT: "Kid" because they were kids at the time of their offenses, and "CAT" for "creating awareness together."

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Deaf Dogs Rescued From Sand Fire Find Temporary Home in Prison

The owners of Deaf Dog Rescue of America decided to evacuate the animals from their Santa Clarita kennel Sunday night, after the fire moved closer and closer to the property. They were invited to bring them all to the prison

Sam Bergum, NBC

Nearly 50 deaf dogs threatened by the Sand Fire have found a temporary home: behind bars. The rescue dogs are waiting out the fire in the Lancaster prison.

The owners of Deaf Dog Rescue of America decided to evacuate the animals from their Santa Clarita kennel Sunday night, after the fire started moving closer and closer to the property. Though they were not under mandatory evacuation, Mark and Lisa Tipton decided they were better safe than sorry.

"We knew if we had an issue in the middle of the night, [we] would be here alone with 45 dogs to load up," she posted on the rescue's Facebook page. "Not a can-do."

DEATH PENALTY

Death Penalty Duel: Voters to Decide between Props. 62, 66

Lindsey J. Smith, San Jose Inside

Moments before Richard Allen Davis was sentenced to death in a San Jose courtroom for the kidnapping and murder of Polly Klaas, the young girl’s father addressed the court.

“He broke the contract; for that he must die,” Marc Klaas said on Aug. 5, 1996. “Mr. Davis, when you get to where you’re going, say hello to Hitler, say hello to Dahmer and say hello to Bundy. Good riddance, and the sooner you get there the better we all are.”

Davis entered the Klaas family’s life on Oct. 1, 1993, when he broke into Polly Klaas’ mother’s home in Petaluma and kidnapped the 12-year-old. The ensuing two-month search engrossed the nation, and ended when Davis led investigators to the young girl’s body. But for Marc Klaas, the torture was far from over, as the case evolved into an emotional three-year trial. At sentencing, Davis, who was also convicted of attempting lewd acts on Polly, delivered a final blow, alleging the young girl had begged him, “Just don’t do me like Dad.”

With the death penalty on the ballot, officials vet a local case.

Ana Ceballos, Monterey County Weekly

Come November, California voters will have a say on whether to abolish the death penalty or speed up the process of the 37-year-old state law.

Proposition 62 would replace capital punishment with life in prison without the possibility of parole. Backers of the ballot measure argue that keeping the death penalty is too costly for taxpayers. This initiative is spearheaded by former M*A*S*H* actor Mike Farrell.

Supporters of the competing measure, Prop. 66, propose expediting executions both by limiting appeals and hastening the appeals process, which proponents say would save taxpayers millions of dollars a year. Both proposals would require the 743 inmates currently slated for death to pay restitution to victims as they complete their sentences. Since the death penalty was enacted in California 1978, 13 inmates have been executed.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

30 Years Later, Still No Arrests in Killing of Retired Folsom Prison Guard

Ty Steele, Fox 40 News

EL DORADO COUNTY -- It has been more than 30 years, and there are still no arrests in the senseless killing of retired Folsom prison guard Halley Wing.

Now, the El Dorado County Office of the District Attorney is releasing never-before-seen evidence in hopes of solving the case.

“We’re going to find the person, if at all possible, and hold them accountable for their actions,” said El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson as he stood in front of the public memorial for Halley Wing at the community center in Rescue, California.

Prisons see three times as much spending growth than schools

Overall less is spent on prisons, but they've seen a larger increase

Daniel Wheaton, The San Diego Union-Tribune

The amount of money spent on prison and jails is outpacing that for education, a new government report found.

The U.S. Department of Education Policy and Program Studies Service analyzed spending on correctional facilities and education, and found that expenditures for education increased from $258 billion to $534 billion nationally, while expenditures for correctional facilities increased from $17 billion to $71 billion from the 1979-80 to 2012-13.

That means during those years, spending for schools increased by 107 percent, while spending for prisons increased by 324 percent during the same time period.

CDCR NEWS

Police: Knife-wielding man shot by off-duty officer outside Modesto Costco

Suspect is listed in critical condition, police say

KCRA 3 News

MODESTO, Calif. (KCRA) —A suspect armed with a knife was shot by an off-duty corrections officer Thursday, the Modesto Police Department said.

The 61-year-old man was taken to the hospital, where he is listed in critical condition. Police said his condition has been stabilized.

The shooting happened after 5 p.m. outside of the Costco near Pelandale Avenue, police said. Modesto police got reports of a man who was armed with a knife inside of the store.

"He had one glove on with a knife in his hand. He was walking around. He looked really confused. I don't know what his deal was,” witness George Kunkel said.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

California State Prison in Lancaster takes in animal evacuees after Sand Fire

Leo Stallworth, abc

LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) -- The California State Prison in Lancaster took in 50 animals that were evacuated from The Deaf Dog Rescue of America (DDRA) in Acton after their community was threatened by the Sand Fire.

The DDRA had an extremely hard time finding a place that would take these animals in. The prison was the only place that opened their doors.

"It was very scary. Not having a place for the dogs to go, not knowing what we were going to do, but then thank the warden for letting us come here," Mark Tipton with DDRA said.

Former Folsom prison dental assistant awarded $1 million

Darrell Smith, The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento jurors, in a $1.1 million verdict Wednesday, sided with a state corrections employee who claimed her higher-ups did little or nothing to protect her from threats made by one of her subordinates, then retaliated against her when she complained of the threatening treatment.

Jurors awarded Onalis Giunta, a supervising dental assistant at Folsom State Prison when she filed the 2012 lawsuit against California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, $990,000 for noneconomic losses and mental suffering along with another $107,000 in past and future earnings, in their verdict, court documents showed.

Vacaville prison guard’s lost check costs taxpayers a tidy sum

Jess Sullivan, Daily Republic

VACAVILLE — A lost paycheck at California State Prison, Solano in Vacaville is costing taxpayers nearly $10,000 – according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Merle Deloney worked as a prison guard for 31 years when he retired in December 2014. When he went to get his final paycheck, he got the runaround from prison bureaucrats until they figured out that the paycheck had been lost.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Lawyer wants California court to parole Manson follower Leslie Van Houten

OC Register

LOS ANGELES – A lawyer for a Charles Manson follower who was convicted in the 1969 murders of a California couple said Thursday he will ask a court to overturn Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to deny her parole.

Attorney Rich Pfeiffer said he will file a petition Friday seeking the release of 66-year-old Leslie Van Houten after a parole board found she posed no threat to society.

Parole agent exchanged bus passes and gift cards for pills from parolee, prosecutors say

Sarah Parvini, The Los Angles Times

A parole agent was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of handing over gift cards and bus passes in return for narcotics prescribed to a parolee.

Scott Patric Keblis, 49, of Chino, was charged with one felony count of embezzlement by a public employee and one misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance,the Orange County district attorney’s office said.

Keblis was released from custody Thursday after posting $20,000 bond.

East Bay child molester: Deny my parole

Angela Ruggiero, East Bay Times

SOLEDAD-- In an unexpected twist, a convicted child molester Thursday asked at his own hearing that he be denied parole after learning the son he molested for years killed himself 14 years ago.

Ron Roy Choss, 63, was convicted of charges related to child molestation and rape of his son, Ronaldo Choss, and stepdaughter Michele Choss.

In 1989, Choss, a former Emeryville police officer, was sentenced to 75 years in state prison, but recent regulations designed to ease prison overcrowding made him eligible for a parole hearing. Because he is over the age of 60 and has served more than 25 years, Choss was granted Thursday's parole hearing in Soledad State Prison.

Brown: More carrot, less stick

Dorothy Mills-Gregg, Capitol Weekly

Gov. Jerry Brown has a lot riding on the November ballot.

Voters will decide on his Proposition 57, which Brown says would let nonviolent inmates become eligible for parole sooner, create “good behavior” credits for state prisoners and let judges decide whether to try a juvenile as an adult. With California’s prisons crowded and facing a court-imposed population cap, and thousands of inmates housed outside the state, Brown says his measure makes sense.

“This is a very positive possible improvement if the voters embrace it because it will allow individuals to take some – take real control of their lives,” Brown, a Democrat, said when he unveiled the proposal earlier this year. “It will allow judges to take back their power of judging,” an apparent reference to a provision that allows judges — not prosecutors — to decide whether a juvenile should be tried as an adult.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Prisoner's death a homicide, coroner says

The Bakersfield Californian

An inmate found dead in his cell at a Delano prison last week died from asphyxiation caused by neck compression and his death has been ruled a homicide, coroner’s officials say.

Kern Valley State Prison staff found Jason M. Christner unresponsive about 8 p.m. July 21 and were unable to resuscitate him. He was pronounced dead 20 minutes later.

Prison Inmate Escapes From L.A. Halfway House

Shane McCain, 40, was transferred from the California Institution for Men to the local facility on Wednesday and ran away later that night.

PATCH

LOS ANGELES, CA - Authorities sought the public's help Thursday to find a state prison inmate who ran away from a Los Angeles County re-entry facility.

Shane McCain, 40, was transferred from the California Institution for Men to the local facility on Wednesday, and ran away later that night, said Bill Sessa of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Ex-schools chief Deasy's next step: build alternative juvenile prisons

Joy Resmovits, The Los Angeles Times

John Deasy, the controversial former superintendent who led the Los Angeles Unified School District for three-and-a-half turbulent years, is embarking on a new venture that could prove just as challenging: keeping juvenile offenders from returning to jail.

Deasy wants to do that by opening alternative juvenile prisons in Los Angeles and Alameda counties that could include activities such as yoga, meditation, art, counseling, athletics and education. His goal is to reduce recidivism by 50%.

New Sentencing Report Shows CA Trends for 2009-2014

Erica Webster, Beyond Chron

The California Sentencing Institute (CASI) criminal and juvenile justice interactive map now shows annual criminal and juvenile justice statistics for 2009-2014. The map provides users with county-by-county visual comparisons illustrating law enforcement practices, incarceration rates, and trends over the course of six years.

Given the shift in criminal justice policies stemming from Public Safety Realignment in 2011 and juvenile justice realignment in 2007, the CASI map provides a useful visual tool for understanding and monitoring how counties implement statewide policy changes. When all relevant 2015 data becomes available, this map will be updated to show changes in California justice practices after the implementation of Proposition 47.

OPINION

Repent in prison, Manson killer

Debra J. Saunders, SF Gate

“If the word ‘Manson’ was not attached to Leslie, she would have been out 20 years ago,” attorney Rich Pfeiffer told me about his client, convicted Manson “family” killer Leslie Van Houten, who is serving a life sentence for her role in two 1969 murders. On Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown reversed a parole board recommendation to parole Van Houten, 66, because she is remorseful, has accepted responsibility for her crimes and no longer poses a danger to society. “As our Supreme Court has acknowledged,” Brown wrote, “in rare circumstances a crime is so atrocious that it provides evidence of current dangerousness by itself.”

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

California Inmates Care for Deaf Dogs Evacuated From Shelter Due to Sand Fire

Avianne Tan, abc News

A group of inmates at a California state prison are providing shelter, care and love for dozens of deaf dogs that were recently forced to evacuate a nearby shelter threatened by a wildfire.

Nearly 50 dogs at the Deaf Dogs Rescue of America in Acton, California, were evacuated this past Sunday evening after the shelter's directors -- Lisa Tipton and her husband Mark Tipton -- noticed flames from the Sand Fire blowing in their direction.

"We're pretty high up on a hill and we didn't want to take a chance on floating embers 'cause all it takes is one to light this whole place up," Lisa Tipton told ABC News today. She said she called dozens of local centers, shelters and other rescues, but only the California State Prison in Los Angeles County offered to take all the dogs, no questions asked.

Knife-wielding man shot at Costco wanted to commit suicide, sister says

Erin Tracy, The Modesto Bee

The knife-wielding man who was shot by an off-duty correctional officer at Costco on Thursday had been released from Doctors Behavioral Health Center two hours before the shooting, his sister said.

Gary Harlan Scott, 61, was suicidal and had spent most of July in the hospital, said sister Suzanne Perez.

Perez went to pick up her brother when he was discharged from DBHC about 3 p.m. Thursday, but he refused to go with her. She said Scott told her he wanted to kill himself, so she called police, but he got on a bus and left the area before they arrived.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

KQED Newsroom Special: Stand Up San Quentin

KQED

Once known only as a violent and dangerous place, San Quentin State Prison now has some of the most innovative rehabilitation programs in the California prison system. We get an inside look at a program where inmates write and perform their own stories. We’ll also hear from Dionne Wilson, a victims' rights advocate whose husband was murdered, and from former San Quentin inmate Troy Williams.

Renowned poet, playwright takes craft to prison

Linda Meilink, Paradise Post

Claire Braz-Valentine goes where few women have ever gone: down of the halls of the men’s High Desert State Prison in Susanville to teach male inmates to get in touch with their sensitive side.

Along with her partner, Anthony Peyton Porter of Chico, she travels to Susanville every Wednesday during the school year to encourage hard-core offenders to learn new ways to express themselves.

Out of the Blue: Loved Ones Search for Answers in Shaylene Graves' Prison Death

Victoria Law, Truthout

Wednesday, July 27, should have been the day that 27-year-old Shaylene Graves walked out of prison a free woman. After eight years in prison, Graves, known as Light Blue or simply Blue to her friends, was looking forward to her first meal out of prison and the welcome-home party her family was planning.

Her family never got to throw that party. At 6:30 am on June 1, Graves' mom Sheri was sitting in her car waiting for her oldest son Michael. As they did every weekday morning, the two were planning to drive from their home in Corona to Irvine where Sheri worked as a nurse and Michael as a barber. As she was backing the car out of the driveway, Sheri's cell phone rang. On the other line was an officer at the California Institution for Women (CIW), the prison where Shaylene was finishing her sentence. He told Sheri that her daughter was dead.

Michael grabbed the phone and asked how his sister had died. "He said, and you can quote me on this, 'We found her hanging. She hung herself,'" Michael told Truthout.

Kennewick kidnapper faces lengthy prison term

Kristin M. Kraemer, Tri City Herald

A California man faces at least 50 years in prison after terrorizing a Kennewick family five years ago when he forced his way into their home and ordered the father to open his jewelry store.

Vicente Guizar Figueroa, 21, already is doing 30 years in a Southern California prison for a nearly identical robbery outside Bakersfield.

And he and his brother are charged in Yakima with a similar crime involving the owner of a pawn shop in January 2011.

Woman sentenced in prison-related tax fraud scheme

Cathy Locke, The Sacramento Bee

A Nevada City woman convicted in a tax fraud scheme involving California prison inmates has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.

Judy Ruth Mullin, 27, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. and ordered to pay $219,984 in restitution for her role in a conspiracy to defraud the United States with false claims for tax refunds, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release.

Court documents indicate that, beginning in 2011, Mullin and six co-defendants operated a tax fraud scheme out of the California Correctional Center in Susanville. Four co-defendants incarcerated at the correctional center obtained personal identification information of other inmates. That information was provided to Mullin and other co-defendants outside the prison, who prepared and filed false income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service, claiming refunds that they knew were false and to which the inmates were not entitled.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Election ‘16: Smith joins mayoral race

Candidate is former San Quentin guard

Lance Armstrong, Citizen

Garrett Smith, a 12-year resident of Elk Grove, became the fourth candidate for mayor of Elk Grove on July 22.

He will challenge Elk Grove Vice Mayor Steve Ly, Elk Grove Planning Commissioner Kevin Spease, and Joel Broussard in this November’s election.

Smith, 50, recalled when he became inspired to run for mayor.

“I read an article in the Citizen that said (Mayor Gary Davis) was stepping down and I figured there was going to be an election, so I said, ‘What the heck? Put my name on the ballot and go from there.’”

Something to sniff at: SUSD's newest K-9 aces first drug detection challenge

SUSD's newest spaniel aces first drug detection challenge

Nicholas Filipas, Record

STOCKTON — A handsome 2-year-old English springer spaniel named Luke leads his handler, Stockton Unified School District police Officer Bobby Page, around the outside of a large school bus.

Don’t scoff at Luke’s small stature. Although he’s not a typical breed used in law enforcement, his smaller frame allows him to duck underneath the massive vehicle to search for hidden narcotics.

Exonerated NorCal man now on death bed waiting for check from California

Wayne Freedman, abc News

ST. HELENA, Calif. -- In Napa County, the clock continues to tick for a man who is running out of time. The state of California owes Luther Jones almost $1 million for a wrongful death conviction that sent him to state prison for 18 years. But five months have passed, with no check.

The 72-year-old does not have much time left and he knows it. Jones redefines the phrase "victim of the system."

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Deaf Dogs Rescued By California Inmates — 50 Canines Threatened By Sand Fire Taken In And Cared For Under ‘Paws 4 Life’ Program

Alap Naik Desai, INQUISITR

Inmates in a California prison have become the guardians of deaf dogs that were rescued from a shelter threatened by wildfire. The rescue and care program, christened “Paws 4 Life,” involves matching prisoners with canines for mutual benefits.

California State Prison in Los Angeles County offered to care for all the dogs that had to be rescued from a shelter which was threatened by a raging wildfire nearby. The dogs, all of whom are deaf, are now being lovingly cared for by inmates housed in the correctional facility.

Female Inmates From Las Colinas May Be Next Calif. Firefighter Recruits

Twenty-four men and 12 women from San Diego County jails are currently working in the Fire Camp program.

Maggie Avants, Patch

SANTEE, CA — Inmates at the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility for women in Santee may be the next firefighters on the front lines of California's wildfires.

Twenty-four men and 12 women from San Diego County jails are currently working in the Fire Camp program — started in 1915 in California — and recently, a recruiting effort took place at Las Colinas.

The Fire Camp program allows low level offenders to complete their time outside as support crews to back up professional firefighters during wildfires all over the state. They also help with community projects including clearing brush, fallen tree or debris, restoring historical structures, flood protection and maintaining parks.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Suicides Put California Women’s Prison Under Mental Health Scrutiny

Halima Kazem, We News

SAN JOSE, California (WOMENSENEWS)— On June 1, when the phone rang at 6:30 in the morning, Sheri Graves thought it was her daughter, 27-year-old Shaylene, making her daily call from prison.

But Shaylene’s bubbly greeting wasn’t on the other end of the phone. It was a prison official, calling to tell her that her daughter had committed suicide the night before in her cell.

“I couldn’t believe it because I had just spoken to Shaylene and we were planning her release party, she was six weeks away from being let out of prison,” says Sheri Graves, 50, who lives in Jurupa Valley, California.

Two California Female Prison Wardens "Retire" In Big Housecleaning

Hillel Aron, LA Weekly

The wardens for both of California's female-only prisons "retired" on Friday. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is calling it a coincidence. But prisoner advocates say it's a housecleaning.

"They appear to be forced retirements," says Colby Lenz, a legal advocate with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners.

The two prisons – Central California Women's Facility (or CCWF) and California Institution for Women (or CIW) – have been the subjects of a lengthy investigation by the Department of Corrections, and inspectors had been camped out at both facilities for the last few weeks, according to sources with access to the prisons.

DEATH PENALTY

Competing death penalty ballot measures reel in $6 million

Jazmine Ulloa, The Los Angeles Times

Campaign contributions poured into dueling death penalty campaigns in California, reaching more than $6 million as of June 30, according to the latest campaign finance reports.

The highest total amount of contributions -- $3.6 million so far in 2016 -- has flowed to Proposition 62, which seeks to abolish capital punishment and replace it with life in prison without parole. The Nov. 8 ballot measure reported raising $1.3 million in donations during the latest reporting period, which spanned from April to June.

Exonerated Man Gets $10 Million, but What He Wants Is to End the Death Penalty

Californians will choose in November whether to abolish or to speed up capital punishment.

Sean Eckhardt, TakePart

Franky Carrillo spent 20 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit before being exonerated and released in 2011. The 42-year-old doesn’t seem to have wasted one day since. He’s purchased a home and proposed to his girlfriend, and his second son was born in 2013.

Recent months brought two major life changes: He earned his bachelor’s degree after four years of studying sociology at Loyola Marymount University, and he reached a settlement for $10.1 million with Los Angeles County for his wrongful conviction, which breaks down to $500,000 for every year he spent in prison.

But he’s not taking that life-changing sum as an excuse to stop trying to save the lives of others.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

College receives grant for inmate program

Christine Huard, The San Diego Union-Tribune

CHULA VISTA — Inmates at Donovan Correctional Facility who are pursuing an associate degree through a new Southwestern College program will get help with the cost of textbooks through a federal pilot program.

The U.S. Department of Education chose Southwestern for its Second Chance Pell pilot program, which opens up Pell Grant money to U.S. citizens who are serving time.

Southwestern is one of 67 colleges and universities chosen for the nationwide program, and one of three community colleges in the state to be selected.

The $12,500 Second Chance grant will give 25 students $500 each to cover the costs of textbooks for four higher education classes. The $46 per unit cost of enrolling in the courses is funded by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors Fee Waiver.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Amy Ho recreates memories shared from inside San Quentin at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary Gallery

Sarah Burke, East Bay Express

When Oakland artist Amy Ho asked San Quentin Prison inmate Bruce Fowler to recall his favorite place as a kid, he described an old Cadillac with black leather seats. Fowler grew up in Los Angeles but always became motion-sick in the car. So, on long drives, he would lay down on the plush carpet covering the floor of the spacious backseat and soak in the new-car-smell as the world whipped past.

That experience is one of five memories belonging to San Quentin inmates that Ho will recreate as immersive installations for her seriesSpaces from Yesterday. The first, created with help from Bobby Dean Evans Jr., will be shown at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary from August 5 through September 29.

For years, Ho's art installations have investigated perception of space. Interested in what spatial awareness reveals about the connection between mind and body, Ho often attempts to trick her viewers into thinking space exists where it doesn't — usually by building miniature rooms out of card stock, lighting and photographing them, and then convincingly projecting those images onto walls.

During the past four years, Ho has also been teaching art classes at San Quentin Prison. "I'm closer with them than I am with friends I have on the outside," she said of inmates.

DEATH PENALTY

Death Penalty Duel

Lindsey J Smith, Bohemian

Moments before Richard Allen Davis was sentenced to death in a San Jose courtroom for the kidnapping and murder of Polly Klaas, the young girl's father addressed the court.

"He broke the contract; for that he must die," Marc Klaas said on Aug. 5, 1996. "Mr. Davis, when you get to where you're going, say hello to Hitler, say hello to Dahmer and say hello to Bundy. Good riddance, and the sooner you get there, the better we all are."

Davis entered the Klaas family's life on Oct. 1, 1993, when he broke into Polly Klaas' mother's home in Petaluma and kidnapped the 12-year-old. The ensuing two-month search engrossed the nation, and ended when Davis led investigators to the young girl's body. But for Klaas, the torture was far from over, as the case evolved into an emotional three-year trial.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Why inmates should never be allowed to watch an officer search their area

Anthony Gangi, Corrections One

A recent episode of Tier Talk gave light to a concern that needs to be addressed immediately, “Inmates watching officers conduct searches.” Our number one priority in corrections is the safe and secured running of our respected facility. An inmate supervising an officer conducting a search violates our ability to maintain that priority.

“An inmate’s presence during a search violates the safety of the officer and exposes the officer’s method of search. I think policies allowing the presence of inmates, no matter how well intentioned, strike a blow at the ability to secure an institution.” said Russell Hamilton, Retired Sergeant, California Department of CorrectionsDave Wakefield, Retired Deputy Secretary for Corrections said, “Besides the obvious safety reasons, it gives the inmates “Intel” into the methods and tactics officers use to find contraband.”

Hamilton added, “When an inmate watches a search he can identify deficiencies in the technique or routine. The presence of the inmate may also pressure the staff to feel they must rush the search.”

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

New Avenal warden tells women to 'go for it'

Ndoh brings education background to top prison job

Mike Eiman, The Sentinel

Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Hanford resident Rosemary Ndoh, 54, as the warden at Avenal State Prison late last month.

Ndoh started her career as an educator, and with more than two decades of experience in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, has worked her way up to being the prison's top administrator.

Avenal State Prison, activated in 1987, is a low-medium security institution that provides housing for general population and sensitive needs inmates. The prison is made up of six facilities with 17 dormitory housing units, one cell housing unit and six open-dorm buildings.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Inmate’s Death At Corcoran Believed To Be Possible Homicide

CBS

At 4:31 p.m. Tuesday, staffers were called to a cell where they found a 43-year-old inmate unconscious. Lifesaving measures were initiated, but the inmate was pronounced dead about an hour later.

His name is being withheld pending notification of his next-of-kin.

Officials have named the dead man’s cellmate, 36, as a suspect. He has been placed in the prison’s Administrative Segregation Unit pending the outcome of the investigation.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

State parole agent charged in deal with parolee in H.B. for prescription drugs

Jeremiah Dobruck, The Los Angeles Times

A California parole agent was arrested Wednesday on charges that he embezzled a gift card and bus passes from his employer and traded them to a parolee in Huntington Beach for prescription drugs.

The Orange County district attorneys' office said it has charged Scott Patric Keblis, a 49-year-old Chino resident, with one felony count of embezzlement by a public employee and one misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance.

He could face up to three years in state prison and one year in county jail if he's convicted on both counts.

REALIGNMENT

Prison realignment responsible for ⅓ of local jail inmates

Fox News 5

SAN DIEGO — The state’s realignment of the corrections system, which directed more offenders to local custody instead of state prison, accounted for nearly ⅓ of inmates in local jails last year, according to a study released Wednesday by the San Diego Association of Governments.

Because of realignment, the inmate population in San Diego County’s detention facilities was older and included more males than four years earlier, when the program took effect.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Boxing gym provides officers space to train and mentor youth

Anthony Victoria, IECN

California Institution for Men (CMI) correctional officer Refugio Serna had a memorable boxing match in the recent edition of the Battle of the Badges–a charity boxing event that helps raise thousands of dollars for after school programs.

Despite losing to Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy William Adams, the 36-year-old father still considers himself a winner. He said the time he spends mentoring his 8-year-old son Julian and other youth at the Cops4Kids Gym in Colton has helped him see community growth first hand.

“These are four days of the week that I can be closer to my son,” Serna explained. “He comes here because he wants to like all these kids. It’s good seeing their hard work and progress. They put it all out there.“

Warning issued for prison guards, officers about possible attacks from 'Black Guerilla Family'

Dan Noyes, abc

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) - An urgent bulletin is going out to law enforcement Wednesday, warning of a new threat of attacks against officers on the street and in prisons.

It has to do with what's called Black August.

I-Team Reporter Dan Noyes has a source in law enforcement that leaked the bulletin to him. He wants you to understand the potential dangers officers are facing. In his words, when it hits the fan, you'll know the reason why.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons, Sacramento Intelligence Unit and the FBI's National Gang Intelligence Center have issued a bulletin to law enforcement, warning of increased risk for violence during Black August.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

California wardens retire amid prison abuse, suicide claims

Don Thompson, The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The wardens at California's two major women's prisons have retired amid allegations of pervasive problems at both institutions, including sexual abuse of female inmates at one prison and suicides at the other.

The complaints are the latest problem for the corrections department, and come months after the California inspector general found a culture of racism and abuse at a men's prison. A series of lawsuits in recent years forced the state to lower its inmate population and cede control of prisoner health care to a federal receiver.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

'High risk' sex offender suspected of attending Sonoma County Fair arrested

Angela Hart, The Press Democrat

Santa Rosa police arrested a man known as a “high-risk” sex offender Thursday night after he was suspected of entering the grounds of the Sonoma County Fair, which police said amounted to a parole violation.

The man, identified Andrew Lloyd Olsen, 32, was arrested at 10:30 p.m. Thursday about three miles from the fairgrounds, near the intersection of Summerfield Road and Montgomery Drive.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Crews struggle to contain mountain wildfire (UPDATE)

Pilot fire chars 4,500 acres near Silverwood Lake, prompting aggressive response. Official say wildfire is 5 percent contained as of 7 a.m. Monday.

The Press-Enterprise

A wildfire fire burning in the San Bernardino Mountains covered 4,500 acres Monday morning, Cal Fire officials say.

The fire, dubbed the Pilot fire, ignited Sunday afternoon and had reached 1,500 about eight hours later. Firefighters had the fire 5 percent contained by 7 a.m., officials said.

The 3,000-acre jump, from the 1,500 acres reported late Sunday night, could be due to inaccurate first-day figures.

Cal Fire spokesman Eric Sherwin said firefighters worked throughout the night to keep the flames away from homes. The fire died down overnight but was expected to become more active during the day, when winds pick up and temperatures rise.

The exact number of people evacuated since the fire started wasn’t immediately clear Monday morning.

Cuesta College chosen for inmate second chance program

Cal Coast News

The U.S. Department of Education has chosen Cuesta College as one of five California colleges to participate in a pilot program with a goal of reducing recidivism for inmates through education.

As part of the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program, beginning in the spring of 2017, selected California Men’s Colony (CMC) inmates will receive Pell Grant funds to cover the costs of Cuesta College courses and books. Cuesta College expects to have 250 students at the CMC enrolled in a 21-course program that leads to a transferable degree in sociology.

Students will be taught in-person by Cuesta College instructors working at the CMC.

Art made by inmates created for fundraiser, on display in Sonoma

Dianne Reber Hart, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Some of the latest artwork to emerge in Sonoma Valley isn’t on canvas or part of a juried show. It’s on white paper bags, the type used to pack lunches.

The paper sack artists aren’t part of a trendy new class or experiment in self-expression. They are prison inmates, some serving life sentences, with the time and talent to create art for a cause.

Their original artwork, done in everything from crayons to acrylics, is part of an American Cancer Society fundraiser. The bags will circle a school track during an overnight Relay for Life event, each glowing by candlelight as a luminaria dedicated to someone battling or lost to cancer.

California Assembly bill makes prisoners in isolation eligible for early release

Lillian Dong, The Daily Californian

The California State Assembly passed a state Senate bill Thursday that will allow prisoners in Security Housing Units, or SHUs, to be eligible for early release based on good behavior.

The bill, SB 759, will also be applied to prisoners in psychiatric services and administrative segregation units and repeals an earlier provision that made prisoners in SHUs — also known as solitary confinement — ineligible to earn credits. Credits allow for earlier releases and are gained by staying “discipline-free” and by participating in rehabilitative programs.

Man “Too Dangerous for Hospitals” Gets Commitment Extended at California State Prison

Jamie Moddelmog, Vanguard Court Watch

The trial of Vernon Earl Rubidoux commenced Friday morning with Judge Samuel T. McAdams presiding. Rubidoux had been charged with a crime in 2007 in which he threatened a civilian with a knife, and had been found “not guilty by verdict of insanity”. He is currently in a mental health facility and has reached the end of the maximum sentence available.

The People have requested an “extension of commitment”, maintaining that Mr. Rubidoux poses a substantial danger of physical harm to others as a result of a metal defect, disease or disorder. Under California Criminal Code 3453, to be succeed in getting Mr. Rubidoux an extension of commitment, they must prove:

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

O.C.'s devil cult killer again denied parole

Sean Emery, OC Register

One of Orange County’s most notorious killers will remain behind bars. Gov. Jerry Brown has again overturned a parole board decision that a man who took part in a devil cult murder rampage is suitable for release.

The call to keep Arthur Craig “Moose” Hulse in prison follows a letter-writing campaign led by relatives of Santa Ana gas station attendant Jerry Wayne Carlin, 20, who along with El Toro teacher Nancy Brown, 29, was killed in 1970 by the Sons of Satan motorcycle gang.

DEATH PENALTY

The price of death: California voters have chance to change state’s capital punishment system

Adam Randall, Daily Journal

Two differing propositions on the November ballot could change the state’s death penalty by either abolishing it or expediting executions.

Mendocino County has only had two cases of an offender being sentenced to death, and seven life-without-parole convictions.

Robert Danielson committed suicide in 1995 while on San Quentin’s death row after a jury found him guilty of the 1982 Manchester killings of Benjamin and Edith Shaffer, who had been camping in their motor home on the coast when they were shot execution style.

Richard Dean Clark is still on death row after he was found guilty in 1987 of the July 1985 rape, stabbing and bludgeoning of Rosie Grover, 15, of Ukiah.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Inmates save some time by saving the environment with clean up service

Action News Now

The City of Oroville is a little safer today thanks to some unlikely help.

Out in Oroville today, the sheriff's office responded to several homeless camps with the help of 21 inmates

“We've cleaned up in Butte County 150 camps this year and roughly 500 yards of debris have been hauled to landfill," said Kevin Tuck, correctional deputy with Butte County Sheriff’s Office.

There's not much to salvage.

Marin City forum urges men to put youths on positive path

Stephanie Weldy, Marin Independent Journal

Marin City males gathered Saturday to discuss what defines a man.

At the Marin City Recreational Center, more than 100 boys, young men and seniors, predominately of African-American descent, danced, listened and shared at the “IMan Summit: Measuring Manhood.”

“It’s usually a father that tells his son when he’s a man, based on what he taught him or the growth he’s observed over time and the responsibilities he’s given him,” said Rev. Rondall Leggett, an event organizer and senior pastor at Marin City’s First Missionary Baptist Church. “What happens when you don’t have a father? Do your friends tell you how to be a man. It needs to be another man.”

Drug bust nets drugs, cash, arrest in Greenfield

Barry Brown, KION

GREENFIELD, Calif. - South Monterey County police officers arrested one man and seized cash and drugs Tuesday after serving separate search warrants in Greenfield and King City.

The Greenfield Police Department said anonymous information led them to arrest Samuel Juarez Martinez, 30, on suspicion of selling illegal narcotics. Investigators say there may be additional suspects.

Officers from the King City Police Department and the California Department of Corrections assisted in the arrest.

Book claims CIA, state created SLA – possible psychosurgery in Vacaville

Ryan McCarthy, Daily Republic

FAIRFIELD — The CIA and the California Department of Corrections created the Symbionese Liberation Army of the 1970s, contends a new book that also claims it’s possible SLA leader Donald DeFreeze underwent psychosurgery at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.

Implementing electrodes into DeFreeze is speculation but not beyond the realm of possibility, author Brad Schreiber writes.

Los Angeles resident Schreiber was interviewed Wednesday night on a national radio show about his book “Revolution’s End: The Patty Hearst Kidnapping, Mind Control and the Secret History of Donald DeFreeze and the SLA.”

Is Prop. 47 working? Depends whom you ask

Measure that reclassified many felonies as misdemeanors is having some of its intended effects – and some unintended ones.

Brian Rokos, The Press-Enterprise

The premise behind the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, or Prop. 47, overwhelmingly approved by California voters in November 2014, was simple:

Reduce the penalties for non-serious, non-violence offenses such as drug possession and minor theft, and pass along the savings from less-crowded prisons and jails to programs that would reduce recidivism and crime and help victims.

But nothing about Prop. 47 has been simple in the 21 months since then.

OPINION

Feeling hot after visit to Salinas Valley State Prison

Paul Karrer, The Californian

My routine after a visit to Salinas Valley State Prison is to detox in a fast food joint, usually in Gonzales. Gonzales is larger than a village but smaller than a city. Like Soledad, it’s a sweltering, dusty, flat, Latino-majority farm town.

I stop at Dairy Queen, and am annoyed at my lack of anger at what has just transpired. But I think, at least I wasn’t passive AND sheepish. It is such an ordeal to visit. Wear the right clothes, be an hour early, pray there isn’t a lockdown, hope the Correction Officers are in a decent mood, hope there isn’t a screw up, hope there isn’t willful maliciousness, hope, hope, hope.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Seven More California Prisons Accredited with the American Correctional Association

With 30 California prisons now accredited, CDCR on track to have

all adult institutions accredited by 2017

CDCR News

SACRAMENTO – The Commission on Accreditation for Corrections accredited seven more California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) prisons, bringing the total number of accredited state prisons to 30. The most recent round of accreditations was announced yesterday during the American Correctional Association’s (ACA) 146th Congress of Corrections in Boston.

“Our success with accreditation is proof of the progress CDCR is making in improving our prison system,” said CDCR Secretary Scott Kernan. “We started this ACA process six years ago at a time when there were still too many inmates in our prisons and too few resources to rehabilitate them. ACA accreditation demonstrates our efforts to reform and improve California’s correctional system are working well.”

Corcoran prison officials investigate inmate death as possible homicide

Erica Evans, The Los Angeles Times

An inmate at California State Prison, Corcoran may have been killed by his cellmate, officials said Monday.

Staff members found Chad Ku, 43, unconscious in his prison cell at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 2, officials said. After lifesaving measures were attempted, Ku was pronounced dead nearly an hour later at the prison’s medical facility, according to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation news release.

Corcoran drug treatment facility gets accreditation

Seven California prisons recognized at annual conference

The Sentinel

CORCORAN — The California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran has received national accreditation following an extensive review process.

The American Correctional Association (ACA) accredited the facility, along with six other California prisons, Sunday during its annual conference in Boston. The ACA sets standards aimed at improving prisons.

Soledad to sue prison officials for sewer plant costs

Claudia Meléndez Salinas, Monterey Herald

SOLEDAD >> City officials are expected to sue the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for refusing to pay for upgrades done to the city’s waste water treatment plant.

The city’s sewage treatment plant is also used for the two state prisons located within the city limits, which house around 9,000 inmates.

According to Soledad administrators, the prison overseers owe $1.1 million to the city for work done between 2004 and 2006 to prevent the sewage system from overflowing into the Salinas River. Soledad administrators had discovered that the treatment plant was performing sluggishly because of an increased population in the Salinas prison. The total cost of the upgrades were $3.3 million, and according to an agreement signed by city and prisons administrator in 1993, the cost to the California Department of Corrections Rehabilitations is $1.1 million.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Is Prop. 47 working? Depends whom you ask

Brian Rokos, Southern California News Group

The premise behind the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, or Proposition 47, overwhelmingly approved by California voters in November 2014, was simple:

Reduce the penalties for nonserious, nonviolent offenses such as drug possession and minor theft and pass along the savings from less-crowded prisons and jails to programs that would reduce recidivism and crime and help victims.

But nothing about Prop. 47 has been simple in the 21 months since then.

As intended, the law has prevented nonviolent offenders from serving significant jail terms. But some law enforcement officials firmly believe — and there are equally strong opinions to the contrary — that these offenders are responsible for a documented uptick in crime since the law’s passage.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

State's Largest Women's Prisons Face Questions Of Abuse After Wardens Retire

Capital Public Radio

The wardens from California's two largest women's prisons stepped down last week. The abrupt departures come amid allegations of rampant inmate abuse at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla and a spike of suicides at the California Institution for Women in Corona.

Many of the cases were uncovered by the Prison Law Office, a non-profit legal aid group based in Berkeley. We're joined by its director Don Specter.

Soledad seeks over $1 million from Department of Corrections

Charges breach of contract over repairs to wastewater plant

Barry Brown, KION

SOLEDAD, Calif. - There is a fight brewing between the City of Soledad and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation over wastewater. The city claims the CDCR has failed to pay its share of a $3.4 million emergency repair project at the city's wastewater treatment plant. Soledad is seeking over $1 million.

City leaders said a claim was filed Tuesday morning on a major improvement project at Soledad State Prison. In 1993, the City and the Department entered into a Joint Powers Agreement in which the city agreed to provide waste water treatment services for the Soledad Prison in return for the Department’s agreement to share the cost of necessary treatment plant improvements. In 2004, the City of Soledad’s waste water treatment plant was performing sluggishly and the city said it was creating a threat to the Salinas River. Soledad mayor Fred Ledesma blames the waste overflow threat on prison overcrowding.

CALIFORNIA INMATES

Get on the Bus 2016

LA Progressive

In celebration of Father’s Day, dozens of children, many with painted faces, spent the morning of June 17 in a prison visiting room, laughing and playing with their incarcerated fathers. The event, held at San Quentin State Prison, also accommodated 35 adult sons and daughters.

“Children and incarcerated people don’t have a voice. They are some of the least powerful in society,” said co-coordinator of the event, John Kalin. “That’s what draws me to Get on the Bus.”

The Get on the Bus project was founded in 1999 by Sr. Suzanne Jabro, CSJ.

The program does all the paperwork for the visit. It provides chaperones for children who have no adult to accompany them. It charters the buses to and from the prisons, and provides all the meals during the travel.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Freeing convicts via Brown’s wide-ranging parole initiative

Thomas D. Elias, The Salinas Californian

For years, Gov. Jerry Brown could hide behind the fig leaf of a federal court order in turning tens of thousands of convicts loose in a program he called “prison realignment.”

Prisons lost almost one-third of their occupants to county jails and streets all around the state. Most of those released or paroled were so-called “minor” criminals; very few rapists, murderers or armed robbers have won early releases.

This satisfied the courts, which all the way up to the level of the U.S. Supreme Court had upheld an order to reduce prison populations.

Then came the 2014 Proposition 47, which reclassified many previous felonies as misdemeanors carrying far smaller penalties and no “three-strikes” implications. Felony arrests fell to levels unseen in 50 years. One reason: Thefts below the value of $950 are no longer felonies. Because realignment has caused overcrowding in county jails, most thievery at that level goes unpunished; often perpetrators are not even pursued because of police frustration with the changed rules.

DEATH PENALTY

'Grim Sleeper' faces death penalty recommendation at L.A. sentencing

Reuters

An ex-sanitation worker found guilty of committing 10 Los Angeles murders three decades ago as the "Grim Sleeper" serial killer was due in court on Wednesday for a judge to decide whether he should receive the death penalty or life in prison.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury in June recommended the death sentence for Lonnie David Franklin Jr., 63, a month after convicting him on 10 counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

But it is up to Judge Kathleen Kennedy to decide whether to formally uphold the jury's preference or sentence Franklin to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

L.A. sheriff joins high-profile opponents fighting anti-death-penalty ballot measure

Shane Newell, The Los Angeles Times

Top Los Angeles County officials including Sheriff Jim McDonnell and Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey have joined a November election battle, announcing support for preserving California’s death penalty and reforming the state’s appeals process.

The death penalty should be “for the worst of the worst,” McDonnell said Monday night at an event dubbed, "Mend, Don't End California's Death Penalty."

“We want to be in a position to be able to say that there is a disincentive for the most horrific of murders,” McDonnell said.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Pups In Prison: Mule Creek inmates help train service dogs

Nha Nguyen, CBS Sacramento

IONE (CBS13) – Behind these cement walls and metal gates you’ll find what you’d expect.

“I was 17 years old. I did a strong arm robbery. I got 13 years and eight months. I have 19 months left,” said inmate Eric Ardoin.

Here in Facility A, a maximum security space at Mule Creek Prison in Ione, are some of the toughest guys around.

“I’m in prison for manslaughter. I’ve been in prison for like 10 years now,” inmate Maurice said.

But there’s change in the air. Tender Loving Canines just started up an inmate training program.

The convicts train pups to be service dogs for veterans and children with autism.

It’s been a just over a week and these little labs have managed to break the tension with their barks.

Two women arrested in marijuana bust

Kyma.com

Two women were arrested at Calipatria State Prison after officials say they allegedly brought marijuana onto prison grounds Sunday.

According to officials with the prison, visitor Britney Lauren Gonzalez and Marcela Sandoval-Kelly came to the prison to visit an inmate when the gate house officer detected a strong odor of marijuana coming from within the vehicle as they were being processed into the institution.

Senator Leyva’s urgent audit request of prison suicides crisis approved

Mike Burkholder, East Country Today

SACRAMENTO – Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) is pleased to announce that the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) today approved an important audit to examine suicide prevention and reduction policies, procedures and practices at state prisons across California.

Though the audit itself will include several prisons within the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR’s) jurisdiction, Senator Leyva’s audit request stems from a significant recent increase in the number and rate of suicides at the California Institution for Women (CIW), a women’s prison located in the 20th State Senate District.

During an eighteen month period in 2014-15, the suicide rate at this facility was eight times the national average for women prisoners and five times the rate for the entire California prison system. During this same time period, there were four suicides and at least 35 suicide attempts. Since the beginning of 2016, there have been two suicides at this facility. The most recent death was on June 1, 2016: a 26 year old woman who was six weeks away from her release date.

Prior to 2014, there were three suicides total in 14 years. At CIW from October 2014 to March 2015, nine women were sent for emergency care due to suicide risk and there were over 400 referrals for suicidal behavior during the same period.

Legislative panel OKs audit of massive California tunnels

Don Thompson, The Associated Press

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee also voted to have California's state auditor investigate prison suicides, University of California spending and certain charter schools.

The twin 40-foot tunnels, each 35 miles long, would funnel Sacramento River water south to dry farmland and millions of residents. The project is opposed by delta-area lawmakers and others who say it will further harm the environment while siphoning water from Northern California.

"This is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever that the state of California is going to be undertaking," said Democratic state Sen. Lois Wolk of Davis. Yet the long-term costs remain unclear, said Wolk and eight other lawmakers of both political parties who sought the audit.

DEATH PENTALTY

Transcript for Grim Sleeper Lonnie Franklin Jr. sentenced to death for murders of LA women

ABC News

They California serial killer known as the grim sleeper has been given the death penalty Lonnie Franklin was sentenced for the murders of ten women over two decades. Before the sentencing families of the victims gave heart wrenching testimony one mother demanded Franklin faced for. And explain why he killed her daughter Carmela Coleman was a friend of one of Franklin's victims. If visual. This Halloween not. The only woman who survived an attack by Franklin also spoke yesterday calling him a representative. Of Satan.

CALIFORNIAINMATES

Crime Q&A: What happened to trio accused of fatal stabbing in 1990 robbery?

Cathy Locke, The Sacramento Bee

Q: Back in 1990-92, a very close freind of mine, Gardell Fong, was robbed and murdered by two males and a female in the vicinity of Fulton Avenue. Are these murderers still in jail or prison?

JAMES, SACRAMENTO

A: One man was convicted and another acquitted of the July 30, 1990 stabbing death of Gardell T. Fong.

According to stories in The Sacramento Bee, Irene Linda Garcia, an 18-year-old prostitute, lured Fong, 35, to an Auburn Boulevard motel room with a promise of sex. But her was intent to set him up for robbery by Lowell Edward Potts and Kevin Duane Ward. During the robbery, Fong was stabbed 21 times.

In post-arrest statements to police, Potts and Ward each blamed the other for the homicide. Because each claimed the other was responsible for the killing, their cases were heard by separate juries.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Reentry Success Center in Richmond to celebrate new mural

The Richmond Standard

While the Reentry Success Center in Richmond held a well-attended grand opening less than a year ago, the first-stop hub for ex-inmates looking to get on the right track is planning another celebration this Monday to unveil a new indoor mural.

From 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 912 Macdonald Ave., the community is invited to join local officials, nonprofits, businesses and center clients for the unveiling of Freedom’s Expressions, a lobby mural designed and created by 10 formerly incarcerated local residents and family members affected by incarceration.

Described as “bright and beautiful,” the mural was created over a four-month period with guidance from two professional mural artists.

CDCR NEWS

California Senate confirms Scott Kernan as head of state prison system

Patrick McGreevy, The Los Angeles Times

The state Senate on Thursday confirmed the appointment of Scott Kernan as head of the state prison system amid hopes by members that he will continue to seek reforms to reduce recidivism.

Kernan’s appointment by the governor as secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation received a unanimous vote.

California's prison system has been under federal control and oversight, subject to class actions over inmate healthcare, mental health services and solitary confinement.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

California Inmates Help Train Puppies to Become Service Dogs

Avianne Tan, abc News

Inmates at two prisons in California are helping train puppies to become service dogs for wounded veterans and people with autism.

The group of inmates are part of a program called POOCH, which stands for Prisoners Overcoming Obstacles and Creating Hope, according to Stephanie Santos, training director for Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs, Inc. (TLCAD).

TLCAD started its pilot program at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, where three of four dogs successfully graduated, Santos told ABC News.

State to probe uptick in suicides in its prisons

Central Valley Business Times

A significant recent increase in the number and rate of suicides at the California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County as well as in other state prisons has gotten the attention of state lawmakers.

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee has approved an audit to examine suicide prevention and reduction policies, procedures and practices at state prisons across the state.

During an eighteen month period in 2014-15, the suicide rate at the California Institution for Women was eight times the national average for women prisoners and five times the rate for the entire California prison system, according to state Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino. During this same time period, there were four suicides and at least 35 suicide attempts. Since the beginning of 2016, there have been two suicides at this facility.

Watch Prophets of Rage Play Surprise Set Outside California Prison

"The barbed wire cannot keep the music out; the barbed wire cannot keep the message out," said Tom Morello

Steve Appleford, RollingStone

Prophets of Rage, the rock supergroup led by Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, was scheduled to play inside the state prison in Norco, California. The show was cancelled at the last minute Wednesday afternoon by the California Department of Corrections after it had allegedly been planned for months. The band responded with an abbreviated three-song set just outside the penitentiary walls.

CALIFORNIAINMATES

Crime Q&A: What happened to gang member who killed sheriff’s detective?

Cathy Locke, The Sacramento Bee

Q: What happened to that young gang member, Jimmy Siackasorn, who shot a Sacramento police officer? He must be in jail somewhere. Does he have possibility of parole?

Debbie D., Fair Oaks

A: Jimmy Siackasorn was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2007 shooting death of Sacramento County Sheriff’s Detective Vu Nguyen.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Prosecutors: Man convicted in deadly shooting too dangerous for release

The Modesto Bee

A 34-year-old man convicted for a deadly Modesto shooting was denied parole and will remain in prison, where he has joined a gang and assaulted another inmate, according to the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office.

Samuel Ray Bergara of Modesto was found unsuitable for parole at a hearing Tuesday at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad. Deputy District Attorney Merrill Hoult appeared at Tuesday’s hearing and argued for continued confinement based on Bergara’s lack of insight into the fatal shooting, lack of remorse and the public risk if he was released.

DEATH PENTALTY

Truth be told: California has ‘largest death row in Western Hemisphere’

Chris Nichols, POLITIFACT

Californians will decide in November whether to abolish — or possibly speed up — the state’s death penalty.

Proposition 62 would eliminate capital punishment, replacing it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole as the state’s maximum punishment for those found guilty of murder. It would apply retroactively to the nearly 750 inmates on California's death row.

Proposition 66, meanwhile, would keep the death penalty but proposes a faster appeals process.

CDCR NEWS

Lawsuit prompts California to reduce some cellphone prison penalties

Jim Miller, The Sacramento Bee

The rapid increase of illicit cellphones inside California prisons prompted state lawmakers five years ago to pass legislation imposing new penalties on inmates, as well as making it a crime for people to smuggle phones behind bars.

The 2011 measure followed years of warnings that inmates were using contraband phones to commit new crimes, from arranging murders of gang rivals to harassing victims and their families.

“Smuggled cellphones in our state prison system continues to be a problem, a problem that not only is dangerous but is growing,” then-state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, told colleagues as they considered Senate Bill 26 in June 2011. Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into law and officials quickly put its provisions into effect.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Arts-in-Corrections: California's Creative Response to a Broken Prison System

Sarah Linn, KCET

In the early years of his incarceration, Guillermo Willie acknowledged, art was the farthest thing from his mind. “My thoughts were 'OK, I'm going to get some heroin. I'm going to get some speed. I'm going to get some drugs,'” recalled the Los Osos man, who spent 38 years in prison for assault and his role in the death of a fellow inmate before his release in 2008. “My intent was to be a bum, a criminal. I had no thoughts of making it out of there.”

But as he delved deeper into drawing and painting, his attitude began to shift.

“There was a length of time where I was reflecting, going inside myself, [thinking] 'What am I doing with my life?'” he recalled. “I wanted to be an artist and I knew what I was doing was a limitation on me being able to paint. I knew I needed to make a change.”

Trove Of Historic Photos Found From Inside San Quentin

Jay Barmann, SFist

A Sacramento photography teacher who teaches a course in the history of photography San Quentin State Prison was recently shown a banker's box full of thousands of negatives, all shot inside the prison, mostly of daily prison life, between the 1940's and 1980's. Cal State Sacramento professor Nigel Poor tells criminal justice site The Marshall Project, "My heart just exploded. As an artist, or a photographer, or a collector, you couldn’t wish for a better box of treasures."

According to the Marshall Project:

The pictures, for the most part, are prosaic, like outtakes from a yearbook photo shoot. One shows five members of an amateur rock band. Another depicts uniformed football players gathered for a team photo. In yet another, a man is shown carving an ice sculpture. Occasionally, though, the subject matter is much darker.

'Who could I tell?': ex-inmate says guard sexually assaulted her daily for months

In an exclusive interview about her lawsuit, DeEtta Williams says officials know about pattern of assault at the California prison and ‘just don’t bother’ to stop it

Maria L La Ganga, The Guardian

DeEtta Williams is frightened every day. She stays inside as much as possible. She makes sure that she is rarely alone. She visits a therapist. She takes medication for anxiety. The man she said sexually assaulted her daily for six months is somewhere out there, and “he’s got nothing to lose”.

He raped her so often and for so long, the 45-year-old said, because she was serving time at the California Institution for Women and he was a prison guard there.

Williams has filed a federal lawsuit against officer Michael Ewell, who has since been fired, and the California department of corrections and rehabilitation. She wants her story told, she said, and she wants the world to know what happens behind bars.

Former Inmate Sues Prison Guard for Raping Her

Hillel Aron, LA Weekly

A former inmate at California Institution for Women filed a lawsuit last month against a correctional officer, who she says raped and sexually assaulted her on a daily basis over a six-month time period.

DeEtta Williams (sometimes called "Dee") claims Officer Michael Ewell also had previously sexually assaulted a female correctional officer while he was working at a men's prison. Even after that, according to Williams' complaint, Ewell was transferred to CIW, an all-female prison, where he impregnated an inmate — all before turning his attention to Williams.

CALIFORNIAINMATES

Inmate walks away from LA County re-entry facility

City News

An inmate serving an auto theft sentence walked away from a Los Angeles County re-entry facility Friday, just three months before he was due to be released on probation.

Sarkis Akopyan, 33, had been transferred on Tuesday from the California Institute for Men to the Male Community Re-entry Program facility on South Grand Avenue, according to Krissi Khokhobashvili of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Doing Double Time: Chronic Diseases a Chronic Problem in Prisons

Jessica Firger, Newswek

Gregory Finney, then 37, felt extremely unlucky but in good physical condition when he arrived at Louisiana State Penitentiary in 2001. He had been shipped to the notorious maximum-security prison in Angola to serve 15 years for drug possession and shoplifting. Up to that point in his life, Finney hadn’t worried much about his health, in part because he was too busy scrambling to hold a job and avoid getting arrested.

It turned out his health should have been a main concern. Not long after he got there, the prison clinic informed Finney he was on a fast track to heart disease that could kill him—he was diabetic and had hypertension. Angola is the largest maximum-security prison in the U.S. and one of the most dangerous, so Finney suddenly realized he would now be fighting for his life in more ways than one. “I didn’t want to die in Angola,” he says.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Rare look inside San Quentin Prison, home of death row

Dan Noyes, abc

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (KGO) --In just three months, voters have the chance to abolish the death penalty in California or speed up the process. With interest running high on the issue, San Quentin State Prison, home to the state's only death row, opened up and let ABC7 I-Team Reporter Dan Noyes and our cameras in for a rare look inside.

The first impression one gets of San Quentin is how old the place is. Much of it was built 100 years ago and there's nothing automatic about it. Each cell has to be locked or unlocked by hand.

Within the different housing units -- North Segregation, East Block, Donner, and The Adjustment Center -- there are 725 murderers, cop killers, child killers and serial killers.

Inside San Quentin State Prison: Photos of California's inmates on death row

Californians will be able to vote to repeal or alter the death penalty ruling in the 2016 elections.

Alex Wheeler, International Business Times

San Quentin State Prison is California's oldest penitentiary, and is the state's only death row facility for men. Opened in 1852, the prison is the largest in the United States and is located north of San Francisco, in the town of San Quentin, Marin County. Any man condemned to death in the California state must be held at San Quentin, with some exceptions, while women are held at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. Currently, San Quentin is housing over 700 condemned inmates.

Yet despite high numbers, those on death row are more likely to die from old age than be put to death. This is due to a 'backlog' of prisoners who have been given such a penalty, which occurred since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978. More than 900 people were sentenced to death in the last 38 years but only 13 executions were carried out. Los Angeles has not put any criminals to death for 10 years, and currently has more than 740 people awaiting execution on death row. During an interview with ABC News, one inmate Jamar Tucker, who is on death row for killing three men, highlighted the issues with the imprisonment system "Man, I'm wrong and this what I got coming to me. Give it to me. Don't sit me, have me sitting on the shelf 20 and 30 years. You told me you're were going to kill me. Kill me already."

CALIFORNIAINMATES

Art Class Could Keep People From Going Back to Prison

A California program hopes to decrease recidivism by offering inmates creative classes.

Jillian Frankel, takepart

Drumming, dance lessons, painting and theater classes—thanks to Arts-in-Corrections, a joint effort of the California Arts Council and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, those are just some of the artistic offerings available to inmates at 19 of California’s 34 state prisons.

The project, which launched this summer after a two-year pilot, aims to reduce recidivism rates, decrease violence in prisons, and improve inmates’ self-confidence before they are released.

Chimney Fire continues to grow, only 10-percent contained

A-Town Daily News

As of Aug. 16, at 6 a.m., the Chimney Fire burning near Lake Nacimiento is 10-percent contained and has grown to 6,400 acres. 12 structures have been destroyed, and 20 have been damaged; 200 structures are still threatened

Evacuations have been called for the communities of Running Deer Ranch, Tri-County, Cal Shasta, Rancho de Lago, and South Shore Village.

Currently there are 1,675 personnel battling the blaze and providing aid from agencies across the state including: USFS, California Highway Patrol, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff, Red Cross, CAL-OES, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, California Conservation Corps, PG&E, San Luis Obispo Air Quality Board, San Luis Obispo Public Works, Paso Robles Fire Department, Monterey Co. Water Resource Board, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, US Army Camp Roberts.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Woman's kidnapper seeks parole after 25 years in prison

SF Gate

JASPER, Ala. (AP) — A woman convicted of kidnapping a Jasper lawyer whose body has never been found is seeking parole after 25 years behind bars.

Al.com reports (http://bit.ly/2aQjbL3) 54-year-old Karen McPherson, who is serving a life sentence in the kidnapping of Carrie Smith Lawson, will go before Alabama's parole board on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old attorney was abducted from her home in September 1991. She had recently graduated from the University of Alabama law school.

DEATH PENTALTY

Californians to decide death penalty's fate in November

2 opposing initiatives to appear on ballot

Tom Miller, KCRA 3 News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —California voters will decide the fates of two competing death penalty ballot initiatives in November.

Prop. 66 would speed up the appeals process so that inmates face the death penalty sooner, while Prop. 62 would eliminate the sentence.

Both initiatives promise to save the state money. Prop. 62 supporters believe $150 million will be saved annually under their plan, while Prop. 66 supporters tout an annual savings in the tens of millions of dollars.

California Supreme Court overturns death penalty in 1993 killings of two Target employees

Maura Dolan, The Los Angeles Times

The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Monday to overturn the death sentence of a man convicted of killing two former co-workers at a Target store in 1993 after he had been passed over for promotion.

Sergio Dujuan Nelson was 19 when he shot and killed Robin Shirley and Lee Thompson, who had worked with him at a Target store in La Verne.

Nelson rode his bike to the Target store and shot the victims as they sat in a car in a parking lot. He had quit his job but the victims still worked at the store.

Nelson, who had no prior criminal history, admitted the killings but argued they stemmed from depression.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Suspected serial arsonist allegedly set Clayton Fire and many other Lake County blazes

Nashelly Chavez and Ryan Sabalow, The Sacramento Bee

Authorities arrested a Clearlake man Monday on suspicion of setting numerous fires in Lake County over the past year, including the Clayton Fire, which has burned 4,000 acres and destroyed at least 175 structures since it started Saturday.

Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, was booked into the Lake County Jail on 17 counts of arson after an investigation by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Lake County District Attorney’s Office. He will likely face enhanced arson charges for allegedly setting fires that caused the destruction of homes and businesses, authorities said.

OPINION

Solitary confinement is detrimental to prisoners

STATE ISSUES: Solitary confinement is part of a systemic reluctance to treat prisoners humanely, but early release may be a step toward rehabilitative justice

The Daily Californian

David Maldonado graduated from UC Berkeley in May, but just eight years before, he was in prison. Stories like Maldonado’s are rare: The country’s justice system does not serve to nurture the people behind bars, leaving most prisoners acutely unprepared to reintegrate and contribute to society once their sentences conclude.

Last week, the California State Assembly passed a bill on to the state Senate that would allow those held in solitary confinement to earn early release for good behavior. Currently, California prisoners held in solitary confinement, or Security Housing Units, are unable to earn credits for good behavior. Though this is a step toward creating a more restorative justice system, we have a long way to go to ensure prisoners are treated in a way that will help them reintegrate into society.

DEATH PENALTY

Behind the gates: The ‘living hell’ on San Quentin’s death row

Michael Barba, San Francisco Examiner

In 1998, Wayne Adam Ford turned himself into authorities in Humboldt County carrying a woman’s severed breast in his pocket. The serial killer did not want to hurt anyone else.

But at the time, he never could have foreseen that, almost two decades later, he would still be rotting away in a dark cell at San Quentin State Prison.

Ford, now 54, is one of the 746 men and women living on death row in California, where court challenges have prevented an execution since 2006 and the appeals process can span decades as cases are passed between state and federal courts.

D.A. will seek the death penalty in Tami Huntsman trial

Mariana Hicks, KION

Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty in the Tami Huntsman murder trial. Huntsman was heard crying when Deputy District Attorney Steve Somers made the announcement in court Wednesday.

UPDATE 8/15/2016 6:30 PM: A high-profile child murder case will be back in a Salinas courtroom this week. On Wednesday, prosecutors are expected to announce if they will seek the death penalty against one of the suspects, Tami Huntsman.

Huntsman and alleged co-conspirator Gonzalo Curiel are accused of killing Delylah, 3, and Shaun Tara, 6, then dumping their bodies in a plastic bin in a Redding storage facility. They’re also accused of abusing another girl who was found in Plumas County.

INMATES

Prisoners are training puppies to be service dogs

Caitlin Jill Anders, The Dodo

Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs is a program that trains dogs to be service animals for individuals with autism as well as wounded veterans. The program is pretty similar to many others like it — except that these dogs get trained in prisons.

In 2014, the organization started a program called Prisoners Overcoming Obstacles & Creating Hope (POOCH). The program was developed as a way to increase the number of service dogs who could be trained and then given to those in need, but it ended up becoming so much more than that.

Inmate who walked away from L.A. County halfway house is found

Erica Evans, LA Times

An inmate who walked away from the Los Angeles County Male Community Re-entry Program facility, or halfway house, in South Los Angeles was located and taken back into custody, authorities announced Monday.

Sarkis Akopyan, 33, left the re-entry facility at South Grand Avenue and removed his GPS tracking device around 10 p.m. Friday. He was apprehended at 8:05 p.m. on Saturday in Glendale by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Special Service Unit and transported to the California Institution for Men in Chino without incident.

Another inmate walks away from L.A. County halfway house

Erica Evans, Los Angeles Times

Two days after the apprehension of an inmate who walked away from a Los Angeles County halfway house, another inmate escaped from the facility on Monday, officials said.

Jeffrey Scott Pine, 47 is at least the ninth offender to walk away from the Male Community Reentry Program facility in 2016. At least 12 other inmates have left conservation camps and reentry facilities in different cities across the state this year, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation news releases.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

$1 million verdict for Folsom Prison dental assistant

Folsom Telegraph

Onalis Giunta was a Supervising Dental Assistant at Folsom State Prison when she filed a lawsuit again the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation in 2012. In her suit, she cited a specific employee who continually made threats against her and who consistently broke the rules and regulations of the Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Giunta sued the department for $ 990,000 for noneconomic losses and mental suffering, and another $ 107,000 for past and future earnings.

Attorney Lawrance Bohm and his BOHM Law Group won a $ 1.1 million verdict from Sacramento jurors, who sided with their client.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Clayton fire arson suspect had previously worked as inmate firefighter, authorities say

Richard Winton, Hailey Branson-Potts, Joseph Serna, LA Times

A suspected serial arsonist charged with starting the Clayton fire that destroyed more than 175 buildings in Northern California this week worked as an inmate firefighter while in prison for drug and weapons charges years ago, authorities said.

Damin Pashilk, of Clearlake, faces 17 counts of arson in connection with the 4,000-acre Clayton fire in Lake County, as well as numerous others set in the area in recent months, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Chief Ken Pimlott said.

Pashilk had been under investigation for about a year and has a lengthy criminal record, authorities said.

Lake County arson suspect worked as firefighter while imprisoned

Jenna Lyons, SF Gate

Years before an ex-convict allegedly started the 4,000-acre Clayton Fire, he had spent several months as an inmate firefighter in Lake County, prison officials said Tuesday.

Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake, was arrested on 17 counts of arson Monday. He was suspected of starting multiple fires in the last year. The Clayton Fire has destroyed more than 175 buildings and displaced hundreds of people.

Pashilk had previously served five years in state prison on drug possession and a firearm-related offense beginning in January 2002, said Vicky Waters, a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman.

Bill affirming voting rights for some felons passes California Senate

Sharon Bernstein, Reuters

Felons incarcerated in California's county jails had their right to vote in state elections affirmed under a bill approved on Tuesday by the state Senate as part of a series of criminal justice reforms in the most-populous U.S. state.

The measure, authored by Democrat Shirley N. Weber, which now goes to Governor Jerry Brown, aims to clear up confusion over the right to vote for felons who were transferred from state prisons to county jails under a reform program known as realignment.

Off-duty jailers can carry gun without permit, appeals court says

Garth Stapley, Modesto Bee

Jail guards in Stanislaus County and elsewhere have the same right as patrol deputies and state prison guards to carry a concealed weapon when off-duty, appellate justices decided in a ruling affecting most California counties.

The unanimous decision reverses an earlier ruling by a Stanislaus judge who had sided with Sheriff Adam Christianson and county administrators.

'Sound of Redemption': A documentary worthy of Frank Morgan's art

Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

If you heard Frank Morgan play just once, you never forgot it.

There was a glow about his sound on alto saxophone, a sense of serenity that eluded him in life but permeated so much of his music. That he also commanded a brilliant technique and could trigger an avalanche of ideas at will made him the object of considerable adoration among jazz connoisseurs.

Unfortunately, like too many artists who had come under the spell of alto genius Charlie Parker, Morgan was seduced by heroin and other vices, spending roughly 30 years in and out of prison, starting in the 1950s.

OPINION

Death row, Gitmo and family leave

Dan Morain, Sacramento Bee

Here’s what’s on our mind: death row, Gitmo, the need to extend paid family leave, and a smart piece in National Review about why conservatives in Congress didn’t stand up to Donald Trump.

Taking a tour

As voters prepare to decide initiatives to abolish or speed the death penalty, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation opened death row at San Quentin for four hours Tuesday to 14 reporters and photographers.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Indio homicide involved gang, gunfire exchange

Colin Atagi, The Desert Sun

Multiple arrests stemming from the actions of four suspected members of an Indio-based street gang, considered one of Riverside County's "most violent," were announced Tuesday.

The men are accused of firing on a group, killing one earlier this month.

They are suspected members of the Jackson Terrace street gang, according to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant. They’re identified as Indio residents Angel Lopez, 28; Jose Armendariz, 32; Andrew Malanche, 25; and Cesar Monzon, 26.

The Jackson Terrace gang is one of nearly 400 Riverside County street gangs. Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin once referred to the Indio group as the "most violent, most prolific" gang in the region.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

"Time Will Tell" -A new play from Poetic Justice Project

William James Association, Santa Cruz IMC

The play, created and directed by Leah Joki, features the actors’ stories of incarceration and reentry. Leah Joki is the author Juilliard to Jail and writer/performer of the one-woman play Prison Boxing. Ms. Joki taught theatre and managed the Arts in Corrections programs at Chuckawalla State Prison in Blythe and California State Prison - Los Angeles County in Lancaster.

The multimedia TIME WILL TELL will be performed on Saturday, Aug. 27 at 7:00 p.m. at Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean Street in Santa Cruz. The performance will be followed by an audience talkback. All tickets are $15.00 and available at the door or by calling Brown Paper Tickets,

1-800-838-3006 or visit

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Inmate accused of spitting on, attacking prison guards

Lyndsay Winkley, The San Diego Union Tribune

OTAY MESA — A 33-year-old prison inmate is accused of spitting on and punching a prison guard and then attacking three other guards who tried to intervene Wednesday afternoon, prison officials said.

Charles Morgan is suspected of attacking the first guard at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa about 2 p.m., said Lt. Philip Bracamonte, with the state’s corrections and rehabilitation department. When another guard approached, Morgan hit her in the face. She was knocked to the ground and hit the back of her head.

Historical images from San Quentin

Fox News

In late 2012 photography professor Nigel Poor was making a routine visit to San Quentin State Prison.

She was collaborating on an image interpretation project with incarcerated students. That's when San Quentin Public Information Officer Sam Robinson pulled out a box and uncovered thousands of images documenting the prison's history and life behind bars.

Soledad files claim against prisons

Chelcey Adami, The Californian

The City of Soledad continues its long-standing fight to have the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations pay for improvements to its waste water treatment plant in the form of a $1.1 million claim for an alleged breach of contract.

The legal action is a result of dispute going on for more than a decade as to whether CDCR should reimburse the city for work performed on the waste water treatment services since the prison uses the city’s sewage system.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Private Prison Stocks Sink After U.S. Signals the End

Hui-Yong Yu, Bloomberg

The U.S. Justice Department halted a decade-long experiment of hiring private companies to help manage the soaring prison population, sending shares of facility operators Corrections Corp. of America and GEO Group Inc. plunging.

Corrections Corp. fell 35 percent to $17.57 at the close of trading, the real estate investment trust’s biggest drop since its initial public offering in 1997. GEO Group plummeted 40 percent to $19.51, also the largest decline in its 22-year history as a publicly traded company. The stocks pared losses of about 50 percent as analysts said the impact may be less severe than initially expected. Corrections Corp. climbed to $18.85 in after-hours trading after saying that today’s decision relates to facilities that represent just 7 percent of its business. GEO Group rose to $20.72.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons will phase out the use of privately operated prisons with the goal of ultimately ending contracts with them, according to an order today from Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. Private prisons “simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs and resources” and “do not save substantially on costs,” and there’s less need for such facilities as the federal prison population declines, she said.

State youth correctional officer booked on manslaughter charge in crash

Bill Lindelof, The Sacramento Bee

A youth correctional officer for the state has been arrested on numerous charges, including felony vehicular manslaughter following a fatal crash last month on Laguna Boulevard in Elk Grove.

Rajnel Nath, 39, of Elk Grove was arrested Tuesday in connection with the death of Jeffrey Fields, 63, of Elk Grove. Nath has worked as a youth correctional officer since 2000. Nath, who is employed at the N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton, is currently on paid administrative leave.

Man suspected of setting Clayton fire in Northern California appears in court

Darrell Smith and Adam Ashton, The Sacramento Bee

LAKEPORT — As residents of the tiny Northern California town of Lower Lake began returning to their destroyed or damaged homes, the man accused of setting the Clayton fire appeared Wednesday in a Lakeport courtroom to face charges that he started not only that destructive blaze, but many others in the same vicinity.

The Lake County courtroom was packed with area residents and reporters as arson charges were formally read in Lake Superior Court against Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, a construction worker with a history of criminal charges in Lake and Napa counties stretching back at least two decades, most either for drug possession or driving on a suspended license.

Women are the fastest rising prison population – study

RT Question More

Female prisoners were once unheard of in most US counties, but in the last half-century, they have been filling cells with higher rate increases than their male counterparts, according to a new study.

Mandatory minimum sentencing and the drug war have contributed to the phenomenon of prison overpopulation, but even as the issue grows this presidential election year, the full scope of the impact on American life is still being uncovered.

In a study released Wednesday by the Vera Institute of Justice and the Safety and Justice Challenge initiative, the number of women in prison and jails in 2014 was reported to have multiplied nearly 14 times from 1970.

OPINION

Cougars & Mustangs

Lola White-Sanborn, New Times

Perhaps I’m just an old Izzet Mage at heart, but I believe “experiment,” when used within reason, is one of the most beautiful words in the English language. It’s far too easy to trap the world as we know and experience it within a box, closeting ourselves and our hopes of learning anything new.

As has been said in this column many times before, this is one of the beauties of a top-notch community college such as Cuesta, which rewards its students for trying new things rather than punishing them for not yet having a plan. It is altogether fitting, then, that Cuesta made the list of only five campuses in California hand-picked to participate in a nationwide experiment.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Man shot by off-duty officer at Costco charged with assault, robbery

Erin Tracy, The Modesto Bee

A man shot by an off-duty correctional officer at the Modesto Costco last month is scheduled to return to court next week on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and robbery.

Gary Harlan Scott, 61, is accused of taking a knife that was being sold at the Costco on Pelandale Avenue and threatening employees and patrons with it July 28.

Scott was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of robbery upon his release from the hospital Aug. 8.

Off-duty correctional officer Kevin Machado, who was shopping at the store, shot Scott after he lunged at him several times with the knife, according to court documents.

DEATH PENTALTY

Inside San Quentin’s death row with North Bay's condemned prisoners

The Press Democrat

One of the most notorious criminals in North Coast history sits at the back of a darkened prison cell, his broad silhouette illuminated by the light of a TV screen.

Richard Allen Davis is on San Quentin’s death row, his home for the last 20 years. He’s in cell No. 54 in the infamous East Block, a crumbling granite edifice on San Francisco Bay where a majority of the state’s 747 condemned prisoners live.

Davis, who kidnapped, raped and murdered 12-year-old Petaluma girl Polly Klaas in 1993, doesn’t leave his closet-sized space except to shower or see a doctor.

CALIFORNIAINMATES

Day 9: Threat to Hearst Castle lessens even as Chimney Fire grows to 27,546 acres

The Tribune

A welcome coastal marine layer and little wind gave firefighters some traction Sunday in their continued assault of the Chimney Fire near Lake Nacimiento, with the flames stymied 3 miles from the famed Hearst Castle and no new homes damaged or destroyed.

Still, the fire continued to spread north toward Monterey County and grew by about 3,500 acres during the day to total 27,546 acres by nightfall. Containment also grew, however, to 35 percent. Cal Fire spokeswoman Amber Anderson declared Sunday a good day without the changeable winds that had plagued firefighting efforts over the past nine days.

“Today has been a very successful day,” she said. “There have been no major changes. It’s just a matter of continuing fighting the fire.”

CORRECTIONS RELATED

California Proposition 47 Brings Arrests To 55+ Year Low

Don Crothers, INQUISITR

California saw its overall arrests plunge to a record-breaking low last year following the adoption of Proposition 47, a voter-approved initiative to reduce penalties for drug and property crimes, changing them from felonies to misdemeanors. According to CBS, California saw 52,000 fewer arrests overall in 2015 compared to the previous year – the lowest arrest rate in the state since 1960 when they began keeping arrest records.

“I think it’s quite clear that Prop. 47 is the major contributor to the changes we’ve seen,” said Public Policy Institute of California researcher Magnus Lofstrom. “It’s really driven by changes in drug and property arrests.”

OPINION

Breaking up with private prisons can be hard to do

Foon Rhee, The Sacramento Bee

In a major reversal, the feds announced Thursday they plan to phase out the use of private prisons. Good thing, too, after reports of abuses and safety problems.

California is also pulling back and hopes to eventually end contracts with private prisons outside the state once overcrowding eases enough.

“Our strong preference is to end the use of out-of-state prisons,” Jeffrey Callison, assistant secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told me Friday.

The department is contracting for 4,835 private beds out of state, plus 1,978 private beds in California as of last week, according to the department. That’s about 5 percent of all inmates in its custody.

Lawrence Bittaker, a most depraved killer, twists justice system

Dan Morain, The Sacramento Bee

Lawrence Bittaker flipped on the light, got off his cot and came to the steel mesh door of his cell, at the end of a tier on San Quentin’s death row.

“Surprisingly good, really,” he said, when I asked how his health was. “The new medical program pretty well takes care of folks.”

At 75, his thinning hair is gray, as is his scraggly mustache. He is slight, not very tall, and wore a white T-shirt and shorts. He talked softly with a slight twang, while others around him, the murderers and the officers, called out in the cacophony that is the sound of death row.

CALIFORNIAINMATES

Inmate who died in Vacaville was from Fresno County

Ashleigh Panoo, The Fresno Bee

An inmate who was found dead at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville on Monday was transferred there from Fresno County in 1986, The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. The death is being treated as a possible homicide.

The 66-year-old male, who was not named by authorities, was found in a dormitory face-down in a pool of blood, the department said. He was transported to the facility’s medical clinic where he was pronounced dead.

The man had been serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder with great bodily injury.

Looking back: Kings County homicide cases

Mike Eiman, The Sentinel

While the Todd Pate trial ended in a hung jury and no verdict, Kings County has had a number of other homicide cases that were much more straightforward.

Perhaps the most well-known Kings County murder case of the past decade is that of Dave Hawk, who was convicted in 2009 for killing his ex-wife, Debbie Hawk, 47. The case was featured on “Dateline NBC” in 2010.

On June 13, 2006, Hawk’s ex-wife, Debbie Hawk, failed to pick up her three children from a scheduled weekend visit with their father. Dave Hawk dropped the children off at Debbie Hawk’s home in Hanford where the children found the house ransacked with blood trails on the floor. Debbie Hawk and her tan Ford Freestar van were missing.

CALIFORNIA PRISONS

Illegal drugs are flowing into California's most guarded prisons — and killing death row inmates

Paige St. John, The Los Angeles Times

Condemned murderer Michael Jones was acting strangely and profusely sweating when guards escorted him in chains to the San Quentin medical unit that doubles as the psych ward on death row.

“Doggone, I don’t think you’re ever going to see me again,” he told a fellow inmate, Clifton Perry.

Hours later, Jones was dead.

Toxicology tests later found that he had toxic levels of methamphetamines in his blood.

The condemned inmates on California's death row are among the most closely monitored in the state. Death row’s 747 inmates spend most of their time locked down, isolated from the rest of the prison system under heavy guard with regular strip searches and checks every half-hour for signs of life.

CALIFORNIA PAROLE

Gov Brown Reverses Board of Parole’s Decision To Release Hyatt Again

Sabrina Biehl, My Mother Lode

Sonora, CA — Despite the California Board of Parole finding convicted murderer Thomas Hyatt suitable for parol he will remain behind bars. Tuolumne County District Attorney Laura Krieg announced today that Gov. Brown has reviewed and reversed the Board of Parole’s decision.

Krieg presented arguments opposing Hayatt’s release to the RJ Donovan State Prison Board of Parole in San Diego on April 7, 2016. The board granted Hyatt a release date but late last week Governor Brown found in light of all of the evidence Hyatt currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Transgender woman says she robbed bank so she could go 'home' to prison

Rick Anderson, The Los Angeles Times

When she scooped up the cash after allegedly robbing a US Bank branch in Cheyenne, Wyo., Linda Patricia Thompson seemed resigned to the punishment that awaited her.

A 59-year-old transgender woman, Thompson had endured nothing but trouble since arriving in Wyoming weeks before. She had been turned away from a Cheyenne homeless shelter, then was beaten in a park, landing in a hospital where she was treated for facial fractures.

OPINION

Will States Follow Feds’ Lead on Private Prisons?

Advocates are hopeful that the Justice Department's move will offer a road map for states.

Rebecca McCray, Take Part

With the Justice Department’s announcement last week that it will phase out its reliance on controversial private prisons to house roughly 22,000 inmates, advocates are hoping states and other federal agencies will follow suit. The Department of Homeland Security is the biggest federal customer of for-profit prison companies The GEO Group and the Corrections Corporation of America, and the majority of prisoners confined in private facilities are at the state level. But neither DHS nor state governments are bound by the announcement.

So is there reason to believe the states might follow suit? For the more than 91,000 inmates housed in private state prisons, advocates say a change could be on the way.

CALIFORNIAINMATES

Inmates Staff Mobile Kitchens To Feed Firefighters On The Fire Line

Julia Mitric, Capital Public Radio News

After the Clayton Fire broke out on Aug. 13, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection scrambled to set up an operating base. The base is known as fire camp and it's like a village.

You'll find a school bus transformed into a medical station and a long row of portable toilets. Generators hum from every side. They provide power for sleeping trailers and an industrial ice maker.

Touring the inner workings of Cal Fire’s command post at Toro Park.

Ana Ceballos, Monterey County Weekly

Some have been here for days, others for a couple of weeks, but they all have one thing in common: They are here to snuff out the Soberanes Fire, whether it be battling towering flames or working on the administrative side of things. After their 12 – to 16-hour shifts, they retreat to their temporary home, a mobile city erected July 24 at Toro County Park.

This city has a population of more than 2,000 personnel – larger than the population of Del Rey Oaks. Here, there are no paved roads, buildings or houses. Instead, dirt trails lead temporary residents toward spacious lots and grassy patches, dotted with trailers and tents. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmates cook the meals. And everything residents could possibly need is available to them at no personal charge.

CORRECTIONS RELATED

Gang sweep conducted in South Monterey County

13 people arrested and two weapons recovered

Barry Brown, KION

GREENFIELD, Calif. - Law enforcement agencies in South Monterey County conducted a gang and parole sweep Wednesday. The operation was designed to address a recent increase in violent crime in the area.

13 people were arrested and two weapons were recovered along with various narcotics.

The Greenfield Police Department worked with several other agencies during the sweep including King City Police, Soledad Police, Monterey County Probation Department, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the California Highway Patrol and U.S. Marshals.

OPINION

Missing the other side of capital punishment: innocent people wrongly convicted

Mary C. DeLucco, The Sacramento Bee

I realize that when writing a piece about California’s death row it’s much more interesting to focus on an inmate whose crimes are the stuff of horror movies. But it seems that in a story written by a columnist who describes himself as “ambivalent” about capital punishment, it would be edifying to also look at those on death row whose guilt is questionable, or whose crimes were not horrendous but occurred in the wrong county, or whose conviction was the result of a woefully inadequate defense attorney. (“A macabre and failed system of justice”; Forum, Aug. 21)

Don’t abolish death penalty, make the system work: Michael A. Ramos

Michael A. Ramos, The Sun Columns

Seven hundred forty-three criminals sit on California’s death row. Prisoners like Randy Kraft who sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered 16 young men between 1972-1983 or Dennis Stanworth, who was convicted of raping and murdering two girls and was sentenced to death in 1966 for the heinous crimes he committed.

California’s Supreme Court set aside Stanworth’s death sentence in 1972 after the California Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was unconstitutional. So, instead they gave this brutal killer life in prison with the possibility of parole. In 1990, he was paroled and by 2013 he killed again — this time his elderly mother.

And who could forget Richard Allen Davis? A career criminal who was three months out of prison and “rehabilitated” only to end up raping and killing 12-year-old Polly Klaas. Davis has now been sitting on death row for 17 years — at taxpayer’s expense.

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Christine Huard, The San Diego Union-Tribune

Death Penalty Duel

Lindsey J Smith, Bohemian

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrctions Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips

Daily Corrections Clips