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CENTER ON JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE PRESS ROOM | |
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| Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 1622 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 | Tel: (415) 621-5661 | Fax: (415) 621-5466 |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Authorities investigating California's troubled prisons say they are confronting a stubborn "code of silence" among employees who have lied or refused to share information about inmates who were beaten or neglected by guards.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration promised last month to implement a "zero tolerance" policy for anyone suppressing wrongdoing in the corrections system or retaliating against whistle-blowers. But uncooperative witnesses have continued to stall investigations.
"The code of silence exists to cover up wrongdoing. It's a conspiracy to lie," said Tip Kindel, spokesman for the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency.
A series of scathing reports and hearings have described California's prison system as overrun with violence.
The most recent allegations are contained in an internal report on the videotaped beatings of two youths by two employees at a correctional center in Stockton.
Four employees who witnessed the Jan. 20 beatings gave information that was "misleading, factually false and contradicted by witness statements and the videotape evidence," according to a confidential report obtained by The Associated Press.
They reported that the two employees acted in self-defense, but evidence showed the youths were beaten after they had been subdued.
All six have refused to speak with investigators, citing their right against self-incrimination. They remain on leave pending disciplinary action.
In another case, only 12 of 50 prison employees would talk to authorities about the death of Ronald Herrera, a dialysis patient who bled to death in his cell last month after Corcoran State Prison guards reportedly ignored his screams for hours.
"It's tough to get to the bottom of what happened in the face of that," said Kings County Chief Deputy District Attorney Patrick Hart.
Employees refused to cooperate in Herrera's case because investigators would not let them record the interviews, said Lance Corcoran, vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the union representing guards.
At least one legislator says state law and labor contracts may need to be changed to end the code of silence.
"I absolutely support due process, but we're talking about witnesses here," said Democratic State Sen. Gloria Romero, who plans a hearing on the issue as early as this week. "We're talking about employees of the state of California. We're talking about peace officers."
Romero said prosecutions for prison misconduct may need to be transferred from county prosecutors to the state attorney general. A bill that would have made that change failed in 1999.
The union opposes transferring prosecution powers unless the state also pledges to prosecute inmates for assaults against guards, which occur nine times a day on average, Corcoran said.
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