About the CCPOA
Membership Growth
Membership Demographics
Salaries
Accountability
Public Relations Campaign

About the CCPOA

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) is a union of workers in the field of corrections. The organization is united behind the mission “to promote and enhance the correctional profession and to protect the welfare of those engaged in corrections.” ¹

The union has grown from a fledgling group of fewer than 2500 members in 1978 to a powerhouse of 31,000 members who contribute $21.9 million dollars a year. The union employs a 91 person staff including 20 full-time attorneys and uses the services of five lobbyists and a team of public relations consultants. ²

The CCPOA earned exclusive collective bargaining rights in the early eighties and went on to negotiate contracts that, if ratified, will bring correctional officers’ salaries as high as $73,000 per year in 2003. ³ The union has also bargained for better pensions, more training, tighter security measures and employee screening.

However, the union has extended its influence beyond wages and benefits. It has become a political force, contributing more to California candidates than any other organization. ⁴ It has formed alliances with members of both parties and officials from district attorneys to the governor.

The mastermind behind the unprecedented growth and political success of the CCPOA has been Don Novey, the union’s legendary former president. Novey retired in August 2002, passing the baton to his Vice President, Mike Jimenez. A second-generation correctional officer, Novey brought a strong vision to his 22-year tenure as the union chief. Novey’s legacy is best captured in his own words, “We had a total reorganization of the union that helped us politically. We restructured into labor, legislation and legal (divisions) and then wrapped the bacon around it—better known as political action.” ⁵

Do you want to know who the CCPOA is giving money to? Visit the [California Secretary of State's searchable database] and enter "CCPOA" next to the contributor name. Click on "show all" at the bottom of the results page to see a complete list of CCPOA contributions.

[Read more about Don Novey, former President of the CCPOA]

[Click here] to see the new 62,000 square foot CCPOA headquarters.

Resources:
CCPOA Web site [http://www.ccpoa.org]
Common Cause [http://www.commoncause.org]

Citations:
1. Interview with Lance Corcoran, January 29, 2002.
2. Interview with Lance Corcoran, January 29, 2002.
3. Lucas, Greg, “Davis’ Plan Gives Prison Guards Big Pay Boost,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 13, 2002.
4. Tannenbaum, Judith, “Prison’s a Growth Industry,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 27, 1999.
5. “Guardian of the Guards,” California Journal, March 1, 1997.

Membership Growth

The CCPOA is an open shop and 97% of the officers are organized. As of 2002, members pay $59.42 per month in dues (1.3% of the top salary). Non-members pay a monthly “agency” or “fair share fee” of $40. At this rate, with 31,000 members, the CCPOA is collecting $1.8 million a month and $21.9 million a year in dues.

Membership has grown steadily since 1980, mirroring the growth of new correctional facilities. The union also bulked up its membership in the 1980s by organizing related professions including parole officers, psychiatric and medical technicians, some supervisors, and correctional counselors.

Graph of Membership Growth

Sources: Interview with Lance Corcoran, CCPOA Vice President, January 15, 2002.
Interview with Lance Corcoran, CCPOA Vice President, January 29, 2002.

Membership Demographics

The CCPOA has made great strides to create a diverse workforce. In 1999, members were 19% female and 81% male. ¹ This is the largest female representation of any law enforcement union. Over the past twenty years, the CCPOA has also increased its minority representation considerably. The racial breakdown of CCPOA is 53% White, 26% Hispanic, and 15% Black. ²

Racial and Ethnic Breakdown

Sources: California Department of Corrections

Salaries

CCPOA members earn the highest salaries of correctional officers anywhere in the country. In the mid-1990s, CCPOA had the best pension plan in the nation and an average salary 58% higher than the correctional officer national average. ¹ Currently, a correctional officer with seven years of experience earns $54,888. This number will increase to $73,428 if the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Governor Davis is ratified by CCPOA membership in February, 2002. ²

These salaries are particularly high considering that the job requires a high school degree or equivalent. A correctional officer earns more than an associate professor with a Ph. D. in the University of California system. ³ Correctional officers’ salaries are also inflated by the fact that most correctional facilities are in rural areas with lower costs of living.

A generous benefits package also sweetens correctional officers’ contracts. Union members receive a healthy pension, reimbursement for school courses, and a monthly budget for staying physically fit. ⁴

While there can be no doubt that the work of a correctional officer is dangerous and challenging, the CCPOA has justified pay increases by dubbing its work as “the toughest beat in the state.” There are other tough beats that are not equally compensated. There are also other professions that are paid less to work with a similar population. See the graphs below to compare:

Toughest Beat in the State?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the 2000 average salary of Correctional Officers as $46,410. Lance Corcoran, Vice President of the CCPOA estimated this figure to be closer to $50,000. Regardless, this is over twice the average salary of Machine Operators and Farm Workers, even though these professions lead to a staggering number of on-the-job fatalities. In 1999 there was one correctional officer killed in the line of duty.

2000 Average Salaries

On the Job Fatalities

Working with a Challenged Population
The CCPOA argues that its members work with the toughest elements of society and so correctional officers should be rewarded accordingly. A compensation survey of other professions who work with challenged populations shows the following:

• In 2001, Correctional Officers earned $46,000.
• 80% of inmates have a history of substance abuse. In 2001, Rehabilitation Counselors earned $29,400.
• As many as 28,000 California inmates have been diagnosed with serious mental illnesses. In 2001, Mental Health Counselors earned $30,610.
• A majority of inmates has experienced some kind of abuse as a child. For women inmates, the number is as high as 71%. In 2001, Child and Family Social Workers earned $36,150.
• 47.9% of California’s female inmates are infected with Hepatitis B and 54.5% are infected with Hepatitis C. In 2001, Health Educators earned $40,230.

Resources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics [http://www.bls.gov]
California Department of Corrections [http://www.cdc.state.ca.us]

Citations:
1. Pens, Dan, Excerpted from The Celling of America.
2. Lucas, Greg, “Davis Plan Gives Prison Guards Big Pay Boost.” San Francisco Chronicle. January 13, 2002.
3. Bovard, James, “Pork Barrel Prisons.” Playboy.
4. Bancroft, Ann. “Prison Guards Pay Rose Steadily in Past Decade.” San Francisco Chronicle. April 22, 1991

Accountability

The CCPOA claims to be accountable only to its membership (and the IRS).1 Because it is a union of state employees, the CCPOA falls within a loophole of the law. All unions, composed of private or federal employees, are required to make their tax forms available to the public and file them with the Department of Labor. State employee associations do not fall under this federal law so they are able to operate with less disclosure.2

This might illuminate one reason for CCPOA’s resistance to the privatization of correctional facilities.
CCPOA would not be able to unionize private correctional facility workers without publicizing their records and budget.

Citations:
1. Interview with Lance Corcoran, January 28, 2002.
2. Department of Industrial Relations, San Francisco.

Public Relations Campaign: “Toughest Beat in the State”

“Every day they ‘walk the line’ among some of the toughest, most violent inmates in the world… These are the men and women of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association—dedicated, proud, courageous law enforcement professionals who walk the toughest beat in the state.”¹

The cover of the CCPOA publication, In Harm’s Way, shows a shadowy caged figure draped in black, holding a weapon that appears to be a gun. The message is unclear. Is the figure an inmate or an officer? Who is really armed in this institution? Who has power over whom?

CCPOA’s promotional materials aim to raise questions about who is more vulnerable in California prisons—the inmates or the officers.

Since 1997, the CCPOA has spent at least $361,000 on public relations campaigns, primarily crafted by McNally Temple Associates. ² One goal of CCPOA’s public relations campaigns is to counter negative press that correctional officers received, including reports of alleged staged fights and subsequent shootings of Corcoran inmates.

To take the spotlight off the alleged brutality of correctional officers, the CCPOA has emphasized the brutality of inmates. CCPOA literature, TV commercials and promotional videos advertise that six officers are assaulted every day. Inmates use handmade weapons. They throw feces. “They can assault you for no reason.” They act without rationale, like caged animals.

CCPOA promotional materials never show an inmate by face or by name. Instead, videos depict inmates as anonymous, predatory creatures. Interviewees refer to inmates as “the criminal element” or "the predatory element.” According to one video, “The predatory element is always on the hunt.” The video shows scenes of staged violence where inmates overtake correctional officers and brutally beat them.

Walking the line is dangerous and stressful and California correctional facilities house a culture of violence. Still, 160,000 incarcerated individuals are not a monolithic “predatory element.” In fact, the majority of inmates have been committed for nonviolent offenses. While 16 officers have been killed tragically in 25 years, 27 inmates were killed by officers in only five years (between 1989 and 1994).

“They’re victimizers,” a young, blond correctional officer tells the camera, “They victimize people on the street. Right now they’re victimizing us inside the institutions anyway they can.”

In contrast to the faceless criminals, the correctional officers in the videos are a diverse workforce of men and women, who talk about the real tensions and stresses of their work environment. They describe kissing their kids goodbye everyday, not knowing if they will see them again. These individuals are “the unseen heroes of law enforcement.”

When asked what motivates him to go to work every day, one officer responds, “Our main purpose is to keep those people away from our daughters, away from our wives, away from you.”

CCPOA promotional materials work to maintain a heightened fear of crime in the public. This fear is essential to maintain support for the CCPOA political agenda.

Resources:
In Harm’s Way: Life Inside the Toughest Beat in California, 1996.
Bloodsport: How the Media Convicted Eight Innocent Men, 2000.
Behind the Wall: The Toughest Beat in California, 1996.
Inside Corcoran: Where Hell Begins, 1999.

Citations:
1. In Harm’s Way: Life Inside the Toughest Beat in California, 1996.
2. San Francisco Department of Elections, Campaign Contribution Records.