Smuggled Arms Hike Tensions at San Quentin

Disturbed by discoveries this year of dozens of bullets and 5 1/2 ounces of gunpowder in the hands of San Quentin Prison convicts, state corrections officials are moving to tighten contraband-screening methods at the maximum-security penitentiary, The Times has learned.

The smuggling incidents not only have caused concern among state corrections officials, but have increased fears among guards at the prison, where an officer was stabbed to death earlier this year.

Since Jan. 1, there have been at least three episodes of deadly contraband smuggled inside the walls of the 130-year-old prison on San Francisco Bay, which holds 2,500 inmates considered to be among the most violent in the state.

- Last month, a prison medical technical assistant was fired after being accused of smuggling 5 1/2 ounces of black gunpowder and a hacksaw blade to San Quentin convicts. The medical assistant, who is black, was identified by inmate informant as being sympathetic to the Black Guerrilla Family prison gang. He has not been charged with a crime, however, and denies smuggling contraband or harboring such sympathies. He is appealing his dismissal.

Inmate Turns In Bullets

- Last May, a San Quentin inmate turned over to authorities 24 rounds of .32-caliber ammunition and alleged that members of black prison gangs were planning a bloody revolt with ammunition and guns smuggled in by guards.

Officials said that the inmate failed a lie detector test, but they refused to say whether the investigation into his allegations has been concluded and admit that they still do not know how the bullets got into the prison. Officials said that no illicit firearms, other than crude prison-made zip guns, have been found in the penitentiary. They do not believe that the ammunition was intended for use in zip guns.

- Last January, officers found 44 rounds of .22-caliber ammunition hidden in the cell of an inmate housed in a top-security cell. The source of the bullets is not known.

There have been from time to time other discoveries of dangerous contraband in California prisons.

The most notorious case occured in 1971 and involved a gun allegedly smuggled to San Quentin convict George Jackson just before a bloody skirmish that resulted in the death of three guards and three inmates, including Jackson.

Explosives Found

And several weeks ago, a small but powerful cache of plastic and powder explosives was found at Folsom Prison. It was believed to have been smuggled in by the white racist Aryan Brotherhood prison gang.

T. J. Smith, public information officer at Folsom and a 15-year veteran at the prison, also recalls that a gun and 27 rounds of 9-millimeter ammunition were turned in by a convict there about 10 years ago. But such incidents, he said, are rare--”extremely rare, thank God.”

Veteran corrections officials said that there is nothing in memory comparable to the scope of the smuggling incidents at San Quentin this year.

“What our concern has to be, is not just the . . . contraband that’s there--but how is it getting there,” said Robert Denninger, deputy director of institutions for California’s prison system.

”. . . I wish we had a definitive answer. It certainly would make it a lot easier for us and make a whole bunch of people sleep better.”

Reviewing Security Measures

Denninger and his staff are reviewing San Quentin’s security procedures “to see if there’s a way they can be improved,” said Robert Gore, prison system information officer.

Visitors to San Quentin are required to pass through a metal detector, but staff members are not.

“Basically,” explained Lt. Fred Everly, information officer at San Quentin, “we like to think we trust our staff. That’s the bottom line. We do have cases of corrupt staff. (But) either you trust your staff or you don’t. . . . If we’re at the point that we don’t trust our staff, who do we trust?”

Some of the guards at San Quentin are asking themselves the same question in the wake of the smuggling incidents.

“You don’t know who your fellow officer is,” said a guard, who talked on condition that he not be identified. “You don’t know what he is. You don’t know who to trust.”

Glimpse Into Security

Prison memos obtained by The Times describe two of the contraband cases and give an intriguing glimpse into security at San Quentin.

Memos to a superior officer by a San Quentin guard tell of an inmate housed in a top security unit who turned in 24 rounds of .32-caliber ammunition as well as a Winchester cartridge box between May 12 and May 20.

According to the memos, the inmate warned of a plot by black prison gang members to stage an uprising at both San Quentin and Folsom in order to call public attention to prison conditions.

One of the memos says that the inmate named two San Quentin prison guards as allegedly being involved in smuggling guns and ammunition to convicts. The memos indicate that the informant said that an inmate working at the prison hospital possessed a piece of one of the smuggled guns, but officials said no such article was recovered.

Reliability Tested

One memo states that previous to these allegations the inmate informant’s “reliability has been tested several times. . . . Each time, his information has led to the discovery of inmate-manufactured weapons.”

But Denninger, chief of institutions, told The Times that the informant’s credibility “could be debated” and that the inmate flunked a lie detector test regarding the alleged plot.

In addition, Denninger said, no corroborating evidence was found to implicate the two guards named by the inmate or to substantiate the other allegations. Denninger acknowledged, however, that one of the guards named subsequently came under suspicion of dealing drugs to inmates and was placed on administrative leave. Prison officials refused to give further details of the drug case.

They also refused to discuss whether an investigation is continuing into the source of the two dozen bullets.

The accusations of gunpowder and hacksaw blade smuggling involve Rickey E. Clay, 30, a medical technical assistant.

Arouses Suspicions

According to memos from Correctional Sgt. Howell D. Burchfield to an associate warden dated March 12 and April 14, Clay aroused suspicions of prison guards by spending an unusual amount of time at the cells of two inmates in the high-security Carson Section of the prison while making rounds dispensing medicine. Burchfield’s memos indicate that guards suspected Clay of slipping contraband to the two prisoners.

“Mr. Clay, when talking with these two inmates, never kept his . . . tray in front of him as he did with other inmates, but turned it to the side shielding the gunman (the guard on duty in the cellblock) from the bag he carried at his side,” an officer told Sgt. Burchfield, according to one of the memos.

Clay, who denies passing contraband to prisoners, told The Times that he was not informed of the suspicions contained in Burchfield’s memos until August, when he was confronted with the gunpowder-smuggling allegations.

Meanwhile, on the night of June 8, while walking a tier in Carson Section, Sgt. Burchfield was fatally stabbed in the heart by a spear made of a rolled-up newspaper and piece of metal.

No one has been charged in the slaying. Prison officials said they see no connection between Burchfield’s death and his memos regarding Clay.

Find Diary Entries

After Burchfield’s death, entries in the slain officer’s diary were discovered. They indicated that he believed that a number of fellow guards were under suspicion of being drunk on duty or of smuggling ammunition into the prison.

On June 12, San Quentin Chief Deputy Warden E. R. Myers wrote a memo to Warden Dan Vasquez relating the claims of an inmate informant, described as being of unknown reliability, who alleged plots by black prison gang members to bribe a staff member into smuggling in a gun for a suicidal attack on guards.

At one point, according to the inmate source, gang members had considered trying to cut their way out of their cells to take over an entire unit of a cell block.

On June 20, according to a San Quentin report to Deputy Warden Myers from a prison investigator, an inmate confidential informant told another guard investigating the Burchfield death that Clay, the medical technical assistant, had smuggled explosive powder and five hacksaw blades to members of the Black Guerrilla Family earlier in the year. But there is no indication that prison officials found any hacksaw blades or powder at that time. Prison officials refused to discuss details of the case.

Tells of Contraband

Two months later, at 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 13, an inmate was allowed by a guard to use a cellblock phone to tell Associate Warden Steve Cambra that the prisoner had received smuggled gunpowder and a hacksaw blade and that the contraband was in his cell, according to a memo by Cambra.

According to the memo, the inmate had been cooperating with a correctional counselor in obtaining the contraband in an attempt to identify the smuggler. The informant had actually obtained the gunpowder and hacksaw blade on Aug. 9, according to the memo, but the counselor was off duty and the contraband remained in the prisoner’s cell for four days until he finally decided to contact Cambra.

Cambra instructed the inmate to keep the gunpowder and the hacksaw blade in his cell until the next morning. At 7:25 a.m. on Aug 14., nearly 11 hours after learning about the contraband, Cambra received from the informant a 6-inch hacksaw blade and a Maalox (antacid) bottle containing 5 1/2 ounces of black gunpowder, according to the memo.

A subsequent San Quentin memo indicates that Cambra had delayed picking up the contraband to “protect the indentity of the informant.”

Names Clay as Source

At any rate, the inmate told authorities, according to Cambra’s memo, that he received the contraband from another prisoner who allegedly told the informant that Clay was the source.

A clerk at an Oakland gun store located within three miles of Clay’s home subsequently identified Clay as a purchaser of black gunpowder the previous March 30, according to San Quentin memos. The black gunpowder sold to Clay is not the type normally used for reloading modern ammunition, but it can be used to make explosive devices. A chemical analysis conducted for prison officials indicated that the type of gunpowder purchased by Clay in March is the same type as the contraband recovered at San Quentin in August.

Clay said in an interview that he was confronted with the contraband-smuggling allegations by San Quentin officials on Aug. 14 and sent home on administrative leave, only to be called back to work Aug. 21, sent home on leave again on Aug. 26, and fired on Oct. 4. Among the numerous incidents cited by the state in support of his termination were the black gunpowder incident and Burchfield’s memo.

The short, trim, soft-spoken man acknowledged his concern for the conditions of black people, but he denied any sympathies with the Black Guerrilla Family.

Admits Buying Powder

Clay said that he did indeed buy a pound of black gunpowder last March in order to conduct experiments with explosive devices. Prison medical technical assistants are sworn peace officers, he explained, and as such he became increasingly interested in firearms and the workings of explosives.

Clay denied giving contraband of any kind to San Quentin prisoners and said:

“I just wonder why if I’m accused of it and it’s considered a felony, why I’m not in jail.”

Denninger of the Department of Corrections said he does not think Clay will be charged with a felony.

“It is more difficult to handle as a criminal charge,” he said, “than as a personnel action.”