The State - News from Jan. 26, 1989

A federal court officer heard three inmates of San Quentin’s Death Row testify that they are denied items available to other inmates and that limits on access to law books make it harder for them to press their appeals. Inmate Rodney Alcala criticized limits on contact among the inmates and prohibitions on such items as dental floss, which the prison contends can be combined with other materials to form a weapon or saw. Lawyers for the inmates are asking Robert Riggs, appointed by a federal judge to oversee Death Row, to hold the state in contempt for violating terms of 1980 settlement of a lawsuit that spells out standards by which Death Row inmates should be housed. Prison officials are asking that the settlement be thrown out, contending that they cannot comply with many of its terms because the number of inmates has grown from 47 in 1980 to more than 225.