Death chamber duplicity

WHAT COULD BE more natural than the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation building an execution chamber on the sly at San Quentin State Prison?

Secrecy isn’t just a hallmark of executions, in which the identity of the executioner is typically shrouded, it’s the stated intention of an agency that has sought a court order to keep the public in the dark about its strategy to repair the state’s dysfunctional execution process. Still, by constructing its death chamber in secret, the corrections department has taken subterfuge on prison reforms to new depths.

Lawmakers learned of the chamber last week after policy analysts visiting San Quentin rounded a corner and stumbled upon it. Technically, the administration was not required to inform the Legislature about the project because its construction cost of $399,000 fell conveniently shy of the $400,000 threshold that triggers a requirement for notification and legislative approval. Politicians are right to be steamed because the Legislature has an important oversight role for the prison system, and the price tag looks suspicious. Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) is to hold hearings Wednesday to determine whether the corrections department did anything improper.

The Schwarzenegger administration maintains it is only trying to meet the May 15 deadline set by U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Fogel for unveiling its planned fixes to a lethal-injection execution system that has become an embarrassment. Fogel concluded in December that California executions suffer from poorly trained staff, dim and crowded conditions, unreliable records and the risk that convicts could suffer unconstitutional levels of pain. The truth is that there is no humane way to carry out the barbaric ritual of state executions no matter how improved the lighting or commodious the space.

It’s a particularly inopportune time for the administration to antagonize the Legislature on prison politics, and for the Legislature to get sidetracked on a largely symbolic issue. The first deadline is May 16 to take significant action on reducing prison overcrowding or face a cap that could loose thousands of convicts onto the streets at once. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a $10-billion plan heavy on much-needed construction, and both sides claim, week after week, to be on the verge of a deal delivering comprehensive reform. But if none is made by the threatened deadline, six-figure execution boondoggles will be the least of California’s worries.