Brutality at Corcoran State Prison

Re “State Thwarted Brutality Probe at Corcoran Prison, Investigators Say,” July 5: As upset as I might have been toward those misguided, social-engineering Department of Corrections officials who kept trying to enforce an unrealistic integration policy that had been failing for years, I was appalled not only at the inaction of Gov. Pete Wilson and Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, but also at their efforts to block a real, unbridled investigation of prison brutality. For the prison guards to have used a 230-pound sexual-predator inmate to enforce their regulations by raping a 120-pound inmate, among others, is absolutely infuriating to me.

If the state is unable to police itself, and that appears to be the case, then perhaps the federal government should launch its own full-scale investigation.

We deserve better from our elected officials, much better. We are nearing moral bankruptcy.

JOSEPH F. MALLARD

Huntington Beach

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Politicians insist on campaigning on the public’s fear of crime--even when crime is in decline. The union representing prison guards spurs the fear-mongering through campaign donations. Beholden to an ever-expanding prison building industry, the politicians promise new prisons and more jobs for guards. When inmates are shot by guards under questionable circumstances, the same politicians who took contributions from the guards’ union thwart or cover up the investigation. Now that’s a crime.

KEVIN McKIERNAN

Santa Barbara

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How dare we talk of civil rights abuses in China with the atrocities occurring in our own “civilized” prison system.

DAVE B. SALTMARSH

Ventura

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I just finished reading your article. My question, as a law-abiding citizen, is: Am I supposed to be shocked and disturbed by what I read? Well, I am not. I applaud the actions of the correctional officers. My other question is: Will there be an investigation into the victims and their survivors, who these animals have destroyed?

These animals lost all rights the second they committed their crimes on their victims. It is sickening to know that someone is really concerned about some gangbanger being shot and killed by correctional officers.

RUSSELL GIVENS

Alta Loma

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The official brutalities rendered upon inmates at Corcoran were appalling enough, but even more disturbing were the “so whats” I heard mouthed by acquaintances and echoed on the call-in airwaves by numerous citizens. If my fellow Californians really want to have a prison system like Peru’s or China’s, where guards can administer torture and beatings, let’s just be honest about it and give our penal system those tools and sanction them by law (and I sure as hell hope we don’t). Facing up to what kind of people we’ve become would be a lot better than pretending that our justice system is fair and brutality-free and then winking at the jailers to do as they please.

VINCENT WAY

Los Angeles