Lacking Support, Davis Nominee Announces Retirement as Warden

Gov. Gray Davis’ nominee as warden of the state prison in Tehachapi announced his retirement Friday after members of a state Senate panel expressed disappointment with his performance and said they planned to reject him for the job.

Arthur Calderon, a 37-year veteran of the California Department of Corrections, has served as warden at the 5,300-inmate prison since August. But at a hearing last month, the Senate Rules Committee postponed a vote on his confirmation, citing concerns over conditions for juveniles housed at the facility.

Since then, a 17-year-old inmate with a history of mental troubles has hanged himself in one of the prison’s isolation cells, and committee members said they believed Calderon was slow to tackle problems with the treatment of incoming juveniles.

“I do not believe that his handling of the youthful offenders at the prison really meets the standards we’d expect of a warden in California,” said state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who is a member of the Rules Committee and heads a separate prison oversight panel. “Other senators had similar concerns, and it became clear he just didn’t have the votes [to get confirmed].”

Calderon, 61, did not respond to a request for an interview. But he issued a short statement thanking his staff for their “overall outstanding job performance, commitment and support.”

“The issues that were raised by members of the Senate Rules Committee and their staff are issues that I worked hard to address and, I believe, resolved,” he said. “In other areas, we have made significant progress. Despite these facts, it was apparent to me that some members of the committee thought otherwise.”

Corrections Director Edward S. Alameida said it was unfortunate that the prison system was losing Calderon, whom he praised as having “earned the respect of staff, colleagues, inmate family members, the law enforcement community and many others for his dedication and commitment to making a difference in people’s lives.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, Terry Thornton, said it was too early to speculate about a successor for Calderon, whose last day in the $103,000-a-year job will be Aug. 29.

Calderon came up through the ranks, beginning his career as a guard at Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy in 1966. After years in a variety of management positions, he served as warden of the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco from 1990 to 1993 and as warden at San Quentin State Prison for six years before retiring in 1999.

As happens frequently in the prison system, he came out of retirement last summer when Davis nominated him to become warden at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi. Home to about 5,200 adult inmates, the sprawling prison 120 miles northeast of Los Angeles also houses the Youthful Offender Program, which incarcerates about 140 juveniles convicted as adults.

One of those juveniles committed suicide earlier this month after spending more than four months in an isolation cell for attacking his roommate. Francis Ray, convicted of second-degree robbery in Redlands last year, had been serving a three-year term.

Romero called the suicide tragic and troubling, saying that mentally disturbed juveniles in the state’s custody deserve close attention. Another issue that raised questions about Calderon’s stewardship, she and other senators have said, was the slow pace at which incoming juveniles are processed.

Upon arrival at Tehachapi, the youths are placed in small isolation cells -- typically reserved for punishing problem inmates -- while they undergo a series of medical, psychological and educational tests.

During that time, they are denied usual privileges such as access to education and other programs; they are fed in their cells, and are released only a few hours a week for showers and exercise. Until recently, youths routinely remained in processing for two to three months, and, in at least one case, five months, records show.

At the confirmation hearing last month, senators questioned Calderon about the processing delays and the harm such extended isolation might inflict on the youths. He acknowledged that the problem was unacceptable, but said he had been unaware of it until recently. Senators said they found that response disingenuous because they had highlighted the issue at a confirmation hearing for Calderon’s predecessor a year earlier.

“This is not a new problem,” Romero said. She added that although Calderon had reduced the processing delays and increased the time youths were out of their cells in recent months, she and other senators believed he should have taken charge of the problem earlier.

“I hope that we are collectively sending a message to [the corrections department] and the governor to bring forth nominees with new, fresh perspectives to lead our prisons,” Romero said.