Brutality at Corcoran State Prison

* Re “Tales of Brutality Behind Bars,” Aug. 21:

Mark Arax’s story on the gladiator jousts staged at Corcoran State Prison surely documents the worst episode of the shockingly savage, inhumane and barbaric treatment accorded prison inmates. It seems that some of the seven killed there were serving relatively short sentences (less than 10 years) but they were shortened even further by their “correctional” officers. Some correction!

I wonder what these guards and their supervising officers tell their children that they do while on their jobs? Perhaps they share with their wives what fine, upright and decent men they are? Also, that $1-million cesspool of political contributions to Gov. Pete Wilson and other reelected key legislators by their Correctional Peace Officers Assn. in 1990 shows how powerful and sinister a union can be, and the lengths to which it will go in protecting its own. Methinks it’s going to cost the state more than a mere $1 million to compensate for these prison killings.

Director James H. Gomez and David Tristan, his deputy, at the Department of Corrections in Sacramento should be summarily dismissed and stripped of any benefits for their support of the shooting policies at Corcoran, and should be held personally liable for any damage awards along with every other transgressor found to be culpable by the FBI investigation.

ALEX WALDER

Irvine

* I think that Arax might follow up on identical tales over the years at a number of the state’s prisons.

The vast majority of hard-lock prisons are built for the staff. They cost millions to build and staff, all good taxpayer money.

All these tales lead to one major picture: The Department of Corruptions (Corrections) is and has been out of control for a long, long time. And the situation isn’t getting better as time passes. Guys like Gomez, George Smith and Bruce Farris were all guards before they were appointed to supervisory positions. They learned their special correctional expertise as they moved up the ranks. That particular expertise is what condoned these events.

We pay these guards $42,000 per year, more with overtime pay, for having a bad attitude and a driver’s license. I think we deserve more.

W.K. MURPHY

Van Nuys