State Issues Tighter Use-of-Deadly-Force Policy at Prisons

The Department of Corrections, facing lawsuits and a federal criminal investigation into shooting deaths of inmates, has issued a tightened firearms policy, but one that still allows officers to fire their guns to stop serious fights among prisoners.

The department issued the new policy as part of an effort to reduce the number of fatalities in prisons. But under the new rules, prison officers still will be able to shoot to kill as a last resort to stop fights in which a victim faces “great bodily injury,” prison spokesman Tip Kindel said Friday.

The Department of Corrections use-of-force policy has come under increased scrutiny as a result of a lawsuit over mistreatment of inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison and a federal criminal investigation of shooting deaths at Corcoran State Prison.

The Times reported in September that 33 California prisoners had been shot to death by guards in the past decade, more than three times the number of prisoners shot and killed in all other major U.S. prison systems combined. At least four more prisoners have been shot and killed since then.

Previously, the department permitted the use of firearms as a last resort to stop “physically assaultive behavior,” as well as to prevent escapes, taking of hostages and other circumstances that present an immediate danger of loss of life, great bodily injury or substantial property damage. The new policy omits “physically assaultive behavior” as one justification for shooting.

“It simply makes the policy much more clear,” Kindel said of the revision.

Steve Fama, an attorney at the Prison Law Office in San Rafael that brought the Pelican Bay lawsuit, called the revision a “first step,” but said “there needs to be a lot more than that.”

Kindel said the policy revision had nothing to do with outside pressure, but rather was in the works for a year.

Last month, the department removed electric Tasers from officers’ arsenal and replaced them with pepper spray. Later this year, the department intends to provide officers with shotgun rounds that are filled with small beanbags, although they still will have assault rifles and handguns loaded with bullets.