Crucial Prison Reforms

Two significant prison reform programs were adopted by the state Legislature in the waning hours of the 1998 session and now are before Gov. Pete Wilson for his signature. One is a $177-million package that includes expanded drug treatment in the prison system and several programs designed to cut the alarming number of inmates who return to prison after being on parole. The other bill establishes a new independent inspector general’s office for monitoring prison management and investigating alleged abuse of convicts or other irregularities within the 160,000-inmate corrections system.

Both programs deserve the governor’s swift approval.

Sen. Ruben S. Ayala (D-Chino) proposed reorganization of the inspector general’s office after reports of inmate abuse at Pelican Bay and Corcoran, two of the state’s toughest maximum-security prisons. A series of Times articles this summer led to extensive legislative hearings into prisoner deaths at Cocoran especially and into reports that the subsequent investigation was hampered by prison supervisors and the guards union.

SB 1913 removes the inspector general’s office from within the Youth and Adult Corrections Agency and has it report directly to the governor. It also provides for better training for investigators and protects whistle-blowers, concealing their identities and prohibiting reprisals against anyone reporting possible criminal activity to the inspector general.

The $177 million in reforms is proposed within a package of bills that would establish 1,000 new beds in existing prisons to segregate prison rule-breakers, plus 2,000 new drug treatment slots and community correctional facilities developed by private industry for 2,000 inmates, half of whom also would undergo drug rehabilitation. Other reforms would expand parole programs designed to keep former inmates from winding up back in prison. Sens. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) and Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga) were leaders in forging this important bipartisan program.

The drug rehabilitation programs and parolee services are particularly intended to reduce California’s inmate recidivism rate, the nation’s worst. These measures are also designed to stabilize the prison population and reduce the pressure for building massive new prisons--a much costlier solution.