Don’t Testify, Prison Employees Told : San Quentin Hearing on Safety Angrily Canceled

An Assembly committee hearing on employee safety at San Quentin Prison was abruptly and angrily canceled Wednesday after a top Department of Corrections attorney advised prison staff members not to testify in connection with the killing of a guard last June.

Maintaining that the legal advice would have “a chilling effect” on testimony, Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Hawthorne), chairman of the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment, canceled the hearing but promised, “We’ll be back,” to probe issues of staff safety at San Quentin and other state prisons.

Before the opening of the proceedings in a packed hearing room, prison officials presented a written statement by Kenneth L. Huntz, chief counsel for the Department of Corrections, advising penitentiary staff members not to testify about facts connected with the murder of a guard June 8. Correctional Sgt. Howell Burchfield was stabbed in the heart with a prison-made spear in San Quentin’s Carson Section, a notorious super-secure lockup unit. The case is still under police investigation.

Could Prejudice Trial

Huntz maintained in his statement that prison staff testimony regarding events leading up to the killing could prejudice a future murder trial and also affect an $877,500 claim against the state filed by the guard’s widow, Barbara. Such a claim is normally a step toward filing a lawsuit.

The standing-room-only audience, made up largely of Corrections Department employees, expressed disappointment over the cancellation of the scheduled testimony of about 20 witnesses, ranging from prison guards to Corrections Director Daniel McCarthy.

In a prepared statement that dripped with sarcasm, Floyd scolded state Department of Corrections officials for dangerous conditions at San Quentin and maintained that the century-old prison is operating contrary to state law that calls for “safe and healthful” work places.

“San Quentin is neither safe nor healthful,” Floyd said. “I do not presently believe that San Quentin can be safely run as a maximum-security prison.”

In a briefing paper presented at the hearing, Floyd said that assaults on staff members have increased at San Quentin. The report indicated there were 25 assaults with weapons by inmates on staff members during the first six months of 1985.