Officer Tells of Reprisals Over Prison Guard Probe

SACRAMENTO -- A high-ranking internal affairs officer in the Department of Corrections testified Thursday that his career was derailed after he refused to divulge details about an investigation of Chino prison guards to the state’s powerful prison officers’ union.

Supervising Special Agent Steve Mihalyi is the third investigator -- and the highest-ranking one -- to come forward with details about the ill-fated investigation into allegations that Chino state prison officers beat inmates in May 2002.

Like the others, Mihalyi alleged that the guards’ union pressured top department officials to demand that he turn over investigation files. Doing so, the investigators said, would have endangered witnesses and damaged the inquiry.

The FBI has issued a subpoena seeking the prison’s investigative file on the matter, according to testimony Thursday. Details about the scope of the FBI investigation were not available.

Mihalyi, one of four internal affairs officers who testified in an extraordinary legislative oversight hearing, said he believes he became a target of a retaliatory investigation. He said he believes his bosses became so angry over his refusal to obey them that the Department of Corrections is recommending the closure of the Rancho Cucamonga office he headed.

Risking Career

Mihalyi said he knew he was risking his career by refusing to turn over the investigative files. But like the others who testified, he said he was morally and legally obliged to disobey the orders.

“I felt the integrity of the investigation was at stake,” Mihalyi told legislators. “I felt the integrity of internal affairs was at stake.”

Rather than comply with his boss’ commands, he sought help from a state Department of Justice attorney, who agreed to take custody of the files.

Two state senators presiding over the hearings said the investigators’ story suggested a cover-up and obstruction of justice within the prison system. The senators also chastised prison officials for seeming to retaliate against the officers by making them targets of separate investigations.

“There is a need for a real shakeup in the California Department of Corrections,” said Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles).

Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), said the department appeared to have retaliated against the officers “because they had the audacity to do what was right.”

Prison officials defended their actions. A top union executive acknowledged seeking the investigative files, but said the union is entitled to such documents under the state’s labor contract with the union.

“This is absolutely despicable, what is being said,” said Lance Corcoran, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. Corcoran called the testimony “so dishonest as to be borderline criminal.”

“They’re throwing so much mud, hoping some of it sticks,” Corcoran said. “When the mud hits, it leaves a stain. They believe they were so important that we would conspire with management -- which is laughable -- to have them removed. They were removed because of their own ineptitude.”

The case attracted attention two months ago when the two main investigators, Richard Feaster and Robert Maldonado, alleged in a complaint that the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. pressured Department of Corrections Director Edward Alameida to force the investigators to turn over their files to the union.

According to Feaster and Maldonado’s complaint and their testimony Thursday, Alameida directed through his underlings that they turn over the files. Alameida denied the charge.

The case began May 9, 2002, when nine inmates jumped two prison officers at Chino. Once the attack was quelled, the prisoners were placed in cells about the size of old-fashioned phone booths, where they remained for more than 12 hours.

Attacks Alleged

Late that night, officers drove them by van to another part of the sprawling prison. According to the allegations, the inmates, their hands and ankles in restraints, were shoved from the van and fell to the ground, where the officers are said to have stomped them.

Feaster testified Thursday that as many as 15 prison officers and supervisors were involved. The inmates could not identify the officers because they were face-down.

But there was a “friendly witness” within the prison who was willing to help by wearing a secret recorder to gather evidence against the fellow officers. Feaster said one of the main reasons they refused to turn over their files was that the witness’ life would be in danger.

Mihalyi, Feaster’s boss, recounted numerous phone calls from his superiors in Sacramento demanding that he turn over the files to the union. After stalling for several days, he decided to turn to the state Department of Justice, which agreed to take control of the files.

Mihalyi is one of the original investigators in the Department of Corrections’ internal affairs unit. The unit was established as one of the main reforms following charges of widespread abuse at Corcoran State Prison a decade ago.

Between 1989 and 1994, officers at Corcoran shot seven inmates to death and wounded 43 others, far more than at any other prison in the country during that period.

In his testimony, Alameida called the allegations emanating from Chino “Corcoran-like,” and took credit for calling in the state attorney general. “We were willing to withstand scrutiny of an investigation by an outside agency,” he said.

“They were an outside law enforcement agency with credibility that could do a thorough and very expeditious investigation,” Alameida said. “That hasn’t occurred. For what reasons it hasn’t occurred, I don’t know.”

While Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer’s office is empowered to prosecute wrongdoing, Lockyer earlier this year gave the case to the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office, which filed no charges.

Lockyer spokeswoman Hallye Jordan said the attorney general’s office did “a very thorough investigation,” although she noted that some witnesses refused to assist for fear that they might incriminate themselves.