The California Legislative Showdown : Latinos Press Wilson to Sign Bill to Kill L.A. Prison Plans

A coalition of Latino lawmakers on Tuesday stepped up pressure on Gov. Pete Wilson to sign legislation that would kill plans to build a prison near downtown Los Angeles.

Aides said Wilson had not decided whether to sign the measure, which early Tuesday won final legislative passage on a 28-6 vote in the state Senate.

If enacted into law, it would shatter a historic 1987 “sagebrush-barrio” compromise that required construction of the proposed 1,450-bed downtown prison to begin before a 2,200-bed prison could open in Lancaster in the Mojave Desert. The measure by Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) would appropriate $29 million to open the doors of the now-completed Lancaster prison, as well as funds to build other prisons around the state.

Besides funding the Lancaster project, the legislation would set aside $25 million to open a completed but empty prison in Delano; $207 million for a new prison at Soledad in Monterey County, and $387 million to build previously approved prisons at Madera and Susanville. Even with scuttling the Los Angeles prison, the bill would provide for a net gain of 5,000 prison beds.

“The governor has a historic opportunity to right a wrong . . . of such symbolic proportions to the Latino community, not only of East Los Angeles but across the state of California,” Torres declared at a Capitol news conference where he was joined by other Latino lawmakers from Los Angeles.

Community activists in Los Angeles, who over the past seven years have maintained that there already are too many correctional facilities in their community, were not prepared to declare victory.

“We’ve been on the roller coaster,” said Msgr. John Moretta, pastor of the Resurrection Catholic Church and a member of the Coalition Against the Prison in East Los Angeles. “We’ve had so many apparent victories over the years. We hope this is the real thing.”

Craig Brown, undersecretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, said as a general rule Wilson “doesn’t want to put prisons where people don’t want them.” But he cautioned that the “pain-for-pain” deal that was aimed at putting a prison in Republican Lancaster and Democratic Los Angeles was set in motion under Wilson’s predecessor, Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, and that $40 million has been spent to acquire the site and develop plans.

“The governor clearly hasn’t made up his mind. He clearly hasn’t said he would veto this,” said Brown, adding that the chief sticking point is whether an extra $29 million to open Lancaster by early next year can be pinpointed in the ailing state treasury.

“You’ve got to have a balanced budget with $30 million left over to make this deal work,” Brown said in an interview, noting that the issue will not be resolved until bills implementing the state budget reach Wilson’s desk.

Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Latino legislative caucus, would not spell out which pot of state money would be tapped to raise funds to open the Lancaster prison. But Polanco said he anticipates that Wilson will slash portions of the budget to establish a reserve and some of that could be funneled into opening the Lancaster prison.

The Latino lawmakers and activists are not the only ones urging Wilson to sign the measure.

He is expected to pay close attention to appeals to support the measure from several of his political allies. Among them are the politically powerful California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., most of whose members are prison guards and which contributed heavily to Wilson’s campaign. In addition, Republican lawmakers and local officials from the Antelope Valley say the Lancaster prison will give their area an economic shot in the arm.

The fight over the prison began in the mid 1980s.

As part of his massive prison expansion, Gov. George Deukmejian in 1985 sought to build a prison in Los Angeles. He contended that because nearly 40% of the state’s prisoners come from Los Angeles County, it should have a prison.

An estimated $40 million has been spent to buy the Los Angeles site and develop plans for the prison, which has been proposed for 20 acres southeast of downtown near 12th Street and Santa Fe Avenue. But opponents argued that there is an over-concentration of federal prisons and local jails in the area.

Critics stepped up their efforts to fight the prison in the wake of a recent state Supreme Court decision that removed the final legal hurdle to construction of the facility.

Legislative maneuvering over the prison bill underscores the changing nature of politics.

For one thing, Polanco cast a crucial vote that breathed life into the Los Angeles prison just hours after he was sworn into office in 1986. He dismissed questions that his recent role in trying to kill the prison would redeem him politically, saying that he has opposed the prison ever since that initial vote.

Also, Sen. Newton Russell (R-Glendale), who represents the Lancaster area, recalled that he and local residents opposed the Lancaster prison but now that it is built, he says it should be opened to provide jobs.

Of the apparent flip-flop, Russell said: “That was then and this is now.”