California prisons are a reporter's nightmare - will new legislation change that?As state prisoners, we have long been portrayed by advocates of the tough-on-crime movement as a faceless and heartless amalgam deserving extreme punishment and permanent incapacitation.
This unfair depiction has historically led to significant decreases in civil liberties, made easier in California because of an eight-year media embargo. The silence is deafening.
Emerging from the nation's toughest anti-crime movement is a Corrections Department racked by a series of scandals and leadership changes. While inmate, [prisoner], abuses, excessive force allegations and staff corruption receive the headlines, bringing down the cost of incarceration has generated intense scrutiny from lawmakers unwilling to maintain status quo spending.
Inarguably, California's prison system is a quagmire.
Prison media embargo
With the heavy hand of corrections firmly around our collective throats, ending the media prohibition is the only way to change society's misguided perception about prisons and prisoners.
During the tough-on-crime early 1990s, the California Department of Corrections (CDC) was able to impose restrictions on the media in 1994. The regulation changed so that reporters could not interview prisoners face to face.
They were still allowed to enter prison grounds and interview inmates randomly, as a Ted Koppel film crew did for 10 days in 1999 with 400 female prisoners at Valley State Prison. But under the new regs, if an enterprising reporter wants to interview a specific prisoner, he must be put on the prisoner's visitors' list, which means the reporter can't bring pen, paper or recording equipment to the interview. This enables corrections to free themselves from the prying eyes of the press - and the information injunction begins.
As soon as the regulation was enacted, civil rights groups and media interests lobbied to have it reversed. Three such attempts by the legislature were vetoed - once by Pete Wilson, twice by Gray Davis.
"This bill would allow journalists virtually unlimited access to convicted felons incarcerated in California state prisons," Davis wrote when he vetoed AB 1440 in 1999. "Moreover, this bill is inconsistent with the national trend to reduce, not expand, rights of prisoners."
Being an incarcerated writer, I find this rationale absurd. This mindless application of heavy-handed justice is an antiquated ideology, inviting those who wield the power to abuse their authority. Prison officials censor and restrict the free speech of the entire inmate, [prisoner], population in order to suppress the rare individual with the wherewithal to contribute something to the flow of information to this society.
With smart-on-crime beginning to gain momentum nationally and the recall of Gov. Davis, a heartless prisoncrat, state lawmakers have again introduced legislation to undo the 1996 prison media restrictions.
Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, sponsored AB 1866, which is a tepid attempt to lift the face-to-face prohibition. State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who said the prison system was in a crisis in February, sponsored SB 1164, which will put an end to the 1996 restrictions by allowing reporters to conduct face-to-face interviews and restore the right of confidential correspondence.
The ACLU and California Newspaper Publisher's Association have signed on to Romero's bill, saying Leno's bill is incomplete and comes close to codifying the corrections policy already in place. James Ewert of the California Newspaper Association says adding reporters to prisoner visitor lists is not enough.
"Reporters have to compete with other people on the list, like clergy and lawyers and family members. There's a lineup of people outside prisons on Saturdays. It's a tremendous burden to try to get into a facility."
Such changes as the two bills promise might not seem like much to the general public, but from my vantage point this is the linchpin in the prison reform movement. Ending the information quarantine would force the CDC to emerge from the correctional Dark Ages of unmatched power and suppressed expression.
Systemic incompetence
Under the banner of public safety, California maintains the largest prison system in a country that ranks second only to Russia in the number of incarcerated people per population. California's 32 prisons, 162,000 inmate population and 50,000 workers, 31,000 of whom are unionized prison guards, cost state taxpayers nearly $6 billion a year, an enormous societal investment that realizes a recidivism rate of 70 percent, roughly double the national average.
Emerging from the California prison industry is the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), the most powerful and influential special interest group in the state. The CCPOA has repeatedly been identified by the courts, the media and most recently the legislature for using its deep pockets to create a prison system void of accountability and social responsibility, culminating in the resignation of former CDC Director Edward Alameida in January amid allegations of covering up a perjury investigation at Pelican Bay State Prison. Alameida could still face federal tampering charges.
"The system has been running as a headless horseman without any overarching purpose except warehousing for at least 20 years," says Frank Zimring of UC Berkeley, a renowned criminal justice expert.
From the perspective of the public, the CDC has become a shamed agency. From the perspective of the inmate, [prisoner], population, it is an abomination. Our version of prison never makes it to media outlets. Adding insult to injury, the voice of the California prisoner is thoroughly suppressed when the media cites only the CDC's carefully prepared statements and press releases while succeeding in sanitizing misconduct.
Now that the CCPOA has been totally exposed, we have a governor who isn't susceptible to its corrupting influence. The Legislature, meanwhile, scrutinizes the CDC's every move. Change and reform cannot be far behind. To my amazement, a recent declaration of emergency by the CDC because of a spike in prison population has outraged lawmakers. And rightfully so. It's about time.
"It's simply not acceptable, especially with such scrutiny on corrections, to not inform members of the Legislature," Romero told the media, when she blasted the CDC.
State of emergency
Welcome to the world of the California prisoner. While I was an inmate, [prisoner], in the maximum security institution in Lancaster State Prison, we were placed under a state of emergency at least a half-dozen times over a two-year period. Yet, at that time, no matter how many letters we wrote to draw attention to the truth, the media embargo always succeeded in quelling our cries for help.
Lancaster's administration declared an emergency every five or six months to punish us for a wide range of real and imagined transgressions - most of which they created. It was during such times of institutional hardships that guards were allowed to trample over what few remaining rights we had left. These were hard times to say the least.
It is through repetition that prison officials realize the state of emergency is one way to relieve themselves of the burden of treating the inmate, [prisoner], population within constitutionally bare minimum standards. These standards are so low they are in and of themselves the subject of much litigation.
However, the California prisoncrats have for years used a number of tactics to make their jobs easier while making our lives miserable. The last thing they want is 160,000 inmates, [prisoners], with the ability to confidently interact with the press. Prisons are horrible places. From them journalists can draw out the details of some disturbing facts.
This is why the Bush administration does not want its so-called prisoners of war to have access to lawyers and due process. Whether it's keeping a domestic inmate, [prisoner], population quiet, or being afforded the unimpeded power to torture prisoners abroad, it's all the same. It 's prison - and secrecy invites abuse. Just look at the images coming out of Iraqi prisons. To me, it's another version of the same old story: guards abusing prisoners.
As inmates, [prisoners], we welcome journalists back into the CDC. After 10 years of silence, we have a lot to say. The institutions of American media should decide who to interview or believe, not corrections officials who do not appreciate the importance reporters play in a democracy. How could they? Such ideals are instilled in the nation's institutions of higher learning - not while walking the toughest beat in the state.
To put my position into perspective, I have to hand this essay unopened to the very people I criticize. The potential for personal repercussions always weighs heavily on my mind. Without the protections of confidentiality, I express myself at great risk. Bring back the media, and let the correctional Renaissance begin.
Eugene Alexander Dey, prisoner No. P-37864, is serving a sentence of 26 years to life at High Desert State Prison in Susanville for a nonviolent drug offense. He is a freelance writer representing himself as he challenges his conviction and sentence.
By Eugene Alexander Dey posted 23 June 04
This commentary first appeared at The Bay View thanks Metro news editor Dean Hinton, who contributed to it, for permission to reprint and contributor Paula Simon for making the request.
Related War Crimes Links:
Prisoner's identity concealed to prevent Red Cross access
US, [war criminal], Defence, [War], Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, acting at the request of the CIA, ordered that a suspected Iraqi insurgent leader, [occupation and genocide resister], be detained off the books to conceal his identity from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Pentagon has confirmed.
US has secret prisons: rights group
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How much is that doggy in the prison? Woof, woof!
Did the Iraqi prisoners' get their rations while they were treated like chums? The Australian Government was confident United States authorities in charge of Iraqi prisoners of war complied with the Geneva Convention, the Senate was told yesterday.
Australian Media Ban Links:
Detention centre media ban criticised
The Howard Government has been criticised in a report by media freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders for stopping journalists covering the conditions in refugee detention centres.
The journalist who's facing gaol for talking to a prisoner
BRISBANE: Journalist and documentary-maker Anne Delaney would probably rather be working on her latest project than sitting in the Inala magistrate's court, facing a possible two year stretch in a Queensland gaol.
Qld court ruling causes concern over press freedom
ELEANOR HALL: To Queensland's courts now where a journalist has been found guilty in a case that civil libertarians say is an attack on the freedom of the press. No conviction was recorded against the filmmaker and former ABC journalist, Anne Delaney, who's been sentenced to 12 months good behaviour for the crime in Queensland of interviewing a prisoner without gaining proper permission from the authorities.
Ms Delaney's lawyer attempted to argue that the meeting with the prisoner was a personal one, but that even if it were to be defined as an interview, punishing Ms Delaney would contravene the right to freedom of communication.
But that argument failed, and critics of the Queensland law are now calling for it to be repealed, as Matt Wordsworth reports.
MATT WORDSWORTH: Julie Louise Macphee was jailed in 2002 for the manslaughter of her six-week-old son. Journalist, Anne Delaney, says was a friend of a friend and went to visit Macphee in April.
She was later charged with interviewing a prisoner without permission and today found guilty.
Related Prison Links:
Abu Ghraib, USA
When I first saw the photo, taken at the Abu Ghraib prison, of a hooded and robed figure strung with electrical wiring, I thought of the Sacramento, California, city jail.
SACRAMENTO: Prisons to reform solitary confinement rules
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USA: An ugly prison record
US: For a nation founded on slavery and genocide, Americans retain an astonishingly enduring faith in their continuing righteousness. They are sounding this note again as the prison torture scandal continues in Iraq.
From Terrell Unit in Texas to Abu Ghraib Doesn't It Ring a (Prison) Bell If the president wasn't so forthright about his disinterest in the world, it would have been hard to believe him Wednesday when he said the abuse in Abu Ghraib prison "doesn't represent the America I know." But being stripped, hooded and urinated on while your friend is forced to masturbate next to you? The only member of the Bush clan who knows about that kind of thing is Jenna.
Restorative Justice Practices
This is part one in a series of articles about restorative justice practices of Native American, First Nation and other indigenous people of North America. Part one of this series includes inter- views with three justice practitioners of the southwestern United States:
USA: Problems, blame abound in prison system
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Mistreatment of Prisoners Is Called Routine in U.S.
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A Catch-22 for Ex-Offenders
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Personal Voices: America From Inside Federal Prison
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Fighting for Florida: Disenfranchised Florida Felons Struggle to Regain Their Rights US: TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Jeb Bush looked out over a roomful of felons appealing to him for something they had lost, and tried to reassure them.
Abolish the Security Housing Units: MIM
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USA: Sobering Prison Statistics
US: If recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated 1 out of every 20 persons (5.1%) will serve time in a prison during their lifetime.
Helping Prisoners Find Their Way Home?
Antonio Pinder used to be scared of returning home from prison, stricken by fear that he would fall back into the life that landed him behind bars. He hadn't had a steady job before he was sent away 13 years ago, and he worried that he never would. A year out of prison, he is still searching for work.
US Prison system ending love affair with incarceration?
After 25 years of explosive growth in the U.S. prison system, is this country finally ending its love affair with incarceration? Perhaps, but as in any abusive relationship, breaking up will be hard to do.
CONS COMMIT CRIMES IN HASTE, NOW CAN REPENT AT LAWTEY - -- Gov. Jeb Bush, in a Christmas Eve address to prisoners at the nation's first ''faith-based'' prison, in North Florida.
CURE --- Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants
CURE --- is a nation-wide grass roots organization dedicated to reducing crime through reform of the criminal justice system.[Criminal Law System.]
The Truth About Private Prisons
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest operator of prisons for profit, is celebrating its 20th anniversary throughout this year "at both the company's corporate Nashville office and at all of the more than 60 prisons, jails and detention centers under CCA ownership and/or management."
CCA PRIVATE PRISONS: REPORT GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP
New National Study of Corrections Corporation of America Warns Investors and Legislators of Risky Investment. Report explores continuing operational and financial problems; questions CCA's long-term viability as states reassess prison policies.
Finally, States Release The Pressure on Prisons?
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California Parole System Deemed 'Broken'
SACRAMENTO, Calif: California spends $1.5 billion annually on parolees who mostly fail and are sent back behind bars because they are no better prepared for life on the outside than the day they entered prison, according to a report.
People with Mental Retardation in the Criminal Justice System
Based on the 1990 census, an estimated 6.2 to 7.5 million people in the United States have mental retardation. Various studies have suggested between 2 percent to 10 percent of the prison population has mental retardation.
USA: With Cash Tight, States Reassess Long Jail Terms
OLYMPIA, Wash., Nov. 6 - After two decades of passing ever tougher sentencing laws and prompting a prison building boom, state legislatures facing budget crises are beginning to rethink their costly approaches to crime.
A STRUGGLE ON TWO FRONTS: PRISONS & IMPERIALIST WAR
After a war waged by the U.S. military against Vietnam which took the lives of more than 3 million Vietnamese people and more than 58,000 GIs, the U.S. finally withdrew in 1975. It had suffered its first official major military defeat by a united people struggle led by the Vietnamese, along with a mass U.S. anti-war movement.
Report on State Prisons Cites Mental Illness
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High court keeps alive case of prisoners held in solitary
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Shut down the Security Torture Units
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Solitary Confinement: Mental illness in prisons
As noted earlier, inmates [prisoners] with mental illness are over represented in our toughest prison settings. Symptoms of mental illness (i.e., delays in response time, paranoia, difficulty interpreting the actions of others, command hallucinations, and so on) can make complying with prison rules difficult.
Post-Incarceration Sentences
Pat: "The 1990s brought a new front in the war on drugs, featuring a new layer of the Prison Industrial Complex, which has the effect of ensuring that people coming in contact with the criminal punishment system remain within the grasp of the Prison Industrial Complex even beyond prison walls."
Inside Prison, Outside the Law
Every year, tens of thousands of prisoners in state and federal custody are attacked. The exact number who die is difficult to determine: According to the nonprofit Criminal Justice Institute, in 2000, the most recent year for which figures have been compiled, 55 prisoners were murdered, 39 died "accidentally," and 118 died for unknown reasons.
Day Seven of the Fast for Freedom in Mental Health:
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Supreme Court Justice Criticises Sentencing Guidelines
San Francisco, August 9, 2003, Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said today that prison terms are too long and that he favours scrapping the practice of setting mandatory minimum sentences for some federal crimes.
US prison population 2.1 million
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McKean Federal Prison: An Alleged Model
McKean, a federal correctional institution [? prison], does everything that "make 'em bust rocks" politicians decry--imagine, educating inmates [prisoners]! And it works. [Allegedly works.]
Prisoners Justice Day Press Release (Montreal)
On August 10th, 1974, Eddie Nalon bled to death in a solitary confinement unit at Millhaven Maximum Security Prison near Kingston,Ontario when the emergency call button in his cell failed to work. An inquest later found that the call buttons in that unit had been deactivated by the guards.
Notebook of a Prison Abolitionist
In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass recalls how as a slave he would occasionally hear of the "abolitionists." He did not know the full meaning of the word at first, but he heard it used in ways that he found appealing.
Study Warns of Rising Tide of Released Prisoners
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Incite Statement Gender Violence and the Prison Industrial Complex
We call social justice movements to develop strategies and analysis that address both state AND interpersonal violence, particularly violence against women.
Second International Conference on Human Rights & Prison Reform
**This second gathering will be much smaller and more in depth in participation. A report on the human rights violation of discrimination in regard to prisoners will be produced. This report will be given to the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights which will be having its annual meeting near our conference and is the"think tank" for the human rights agenda of the United Nations.
Judged Forever- The Orange County Register
US: California's largest job-placement program for parolees will be shut down May 31 after an Orange County Register investigation found that ex-convicts were sent to questionable jobs [?] and that the state was charged for placements that did not occur. [? According to the ruling-class]
California Family Visiting Case
US: CALIFORNIA: Today (5/03/08) in Superior Court around twenty friends and family members of inmates from CSP Solano showed up to show their support in the Gordon vs. CA Department of Corrections (Case #322862) which deals with the subject of bringing back Family Visits to all inmates.
Prison Rates Among Blacks Reach a Peak, Report Finds
An estimated 12 percent of African-American men ages 20 to 34 are in jail or prison, according to a report released yesterday by the Justice Department.
Justices question prison visitation policies
WASHINGTON: In a case that could affect the visitation rights of millions of prisoners, Supreme Court justices on Wednesday struggled with the question of whether inmates have a constitutional right to visits with friends and family.
