Crack in Prison Restrictions

Five years ago, the Department of Corrections, with the support of then-Gov. Pete Wilson, barred reporters from interviewing most prisoners. The rationale was to prevent reporters from disrupting prison life or turning criminals into celebrities, although state officials were hard-pressed to prove that had happened. These regulations greatly diminished public access to information about California’s huge and costly prison system.

Gov. Gray Davis now has a bill on his desk that would restore a bit of that access. The governor vetoed a similar measure last year, but if he meant what he said about the problems he saw in that bill, Davis has no reason not to approve this one, AB 2101.

The 1995 rules let reporters see specific inmates only if they are on that prisoner’s visitor list, and then only as personal visitors, which means no pencils, pads, cameras or tape recorders. To join an inmate’s visitor list, a process designed to ensure that visitors present no threat to the prison, sometimes involves months of delay and background checks.

AB 2101, sponsored by Assembly member Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), began as an effort to undo the 1995 rules in their entirety, restoring broader press access to California’s $3-billion prison operation and journalists’ ability to use cameras, tape recorders and note pads. But given Davis’ insistence last year that reporters should not get “greater access than even members of the prisoner’s own family,” the Legislature last week greatly modified the bill. Reporters would still be required to be on a prisoner’s visitor list, like family members, but on those visits could use the tools of their trade.

Migden has worked hard to respond to Davis’ concerns, however unreasonable. The governor should now sign her bill to ensure that the big investment California taxpayers have made in state prisons is well spent.