Conservation Corps Camps May Be Used to House Prisoners

Hoping to find immediate relief for the state’s overcrowded prisons, the Deukmejian Administration is considering housing inmates at four camps now used by the California Conservation Corps, state officials confirmed Wednesday.

About 1,000 inmates could be housed at the CCC centers, including the Oat Mountain camp in Chatsworth and the CCC training academy in Calaveras County, under a controversial plan being studied by a high-level Administration committee.

Neither Department of Corrections spokesman Robert Gore nor Kevin Brett, spokesman for Gov. George Deukmejian, would discuss any sites under consideration for immediate conversion to prison camps.

But prison officials already have visited the Chatsworth center, tape measures in hand, to calculate the size of the buildings. And at the training academy in Fricot in Calaveras County they have proposed increasing the size of the sewer system, presumably to accommodate an influx of prisoners.

‘A Lot of Different Sites’

“We’ve provided information on all of our locations--17 centers and a training academy,” said Susanne Levitsky, a CCC spokeswoman. “They’re looking at a lot of different sites.”

The other two CCC camps most likely to be converted to prisons are those in Humboldt and El Dorado counties, legislative sources said.

The state’s search for facilities that can be converted quickly into prisons underscores the serious nature of overcrowding in the prison system.

In the last five years, the prison population has more than doubled to 47,678 inmates--about 160% of its stated capacity.

While Deukmejian has embarked on a program to build 19,400 new prison beds, many of the prison projects have been stalled by protests from nearby residents or delayed by construction problems.

The Administration committee, searching to find short-term housing for as many as 2,000 inmates, looked at all 18 of the CCC facilities for possible prison use. But it has narrowed its search to four, according to Administration and legislative sources.

Conservation Work

The CCC, begun by former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and praised for its work recently by Deukmejian, employs young people between the ages of 18 and 23 to perform conservation and emergency work in remote parts of the state.

The committee, chaired by Steven A. Merksamer, Deukmejian’s chief of staff, is also looking at lands managed by the Department of Transportation and other state agencies. And the CCC has submitted a list of about 50 sites around the state not used by the corps, such as unused schools and military camps, that could be converted to house inmates.

“A number of options have been considered by the working group and are still being considered by the working group, but no announcements will be made by the governor until the Legislature returns Aug. 19,” Brett said.

CCC Director Bud Sheble said he has received assurances from the Administration that if any center is taken over as a prison, the CCC would continue to serve the same area by moving to nearby quarters.

More than two years ago, the Deukmejian Administration proposed turning over the Chatsworth CCC center to the California Youth Authority to house youthful offenders.

But the Administration backed down in the face of opposition from nearby residents and the city of Los Angeles, which owns the property and leases it to the CCC.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), who represents the area and helped defeat the youth authority proposal, said he first got wind of the new plan when he heard prison officials had come to measure the center’s buildings.

“I’m bothered by the fact that they don’t seem to have learned anything from the last time,” Katz said. “The City Council has made it very clear they don’t want that land used for a prison site.”

Near Residential Neighborhood

Katz said the committee seems to have decided already to convert the Chatsworth camp into a prison--despite its proximity to a residential neighborhood. “If they have not made a decision, why are they out measuring a site that was made very clear to them they couldn’t have?” he asked.

Similarly, Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) is opposed to conversion of the training academy in his district. Garamendi spokesman Jay Ziegler said prison officials have already proposed increasing the academy’s sewage capacity by 50%.

“They are interested in places that would hold more than 50 people,” the CCC’s Levitsky said.