To ‘Correct’ Convicts, Do the Right Thing

Those of us who live locked away behind the walls of California’s prisons read, as you did, about the alleged cover-up at Folsom State Prison. We watched on television as the associate warden, with tears in his eyes, begged a state Senate committee to call in the feds to indict prison officials for obstruction of justice.

We also read the report of the federal court’s special monitor, which details how guards shot or beat inmates in the state prison system and how the guards union interfered with investigations into this illegal conduct. We read how then-Corrections Department Director Cal Terhune ordered that no punishment be imposed on a senior union official after he was found to have engaged in serious misconduct, and how Terhune’s successor as department director, Ed Alameida, allegedly shut down a perjury investigation of three guards after a call from the union and then tried to cover it up.

As usual, though, there is one thing we haven’t read about -- the issuance of a single criminal indictment.

What do we think about all this? We’re disgusted, of course. We were sent to prison for violating the law. We were told that society would not tolerate our criminality and that we had to pay a price. Millions were spent investigating and locking us up. Yet when corruption or criminal acts are committed by peace officers, what happens? Nothing.

Politicians make speeches using the same tired catch phrases, like “This is simply outrageous” and “We’ll conduct an in-depth review.” Later they say, “We can’t comment on an internal investigation,” or there’s the ever-popular “we can’t comment because of pending litigation.”

The investigation reports are buried from public view, no one is held accountable, the press fades away and -- as the Corrections Department’s inspector general testified during the Senate hearing -- the department goes right back to doing the same thing.

These stories aren’t surprising to us. We see this behavior, this indifference, regularly. When an officer does something wrong, we write up our 602 forms -- our “inmate appeals” -- but nothing gets done. The appeals move up the bureaucratic chain, but they’re rejected at every stop.

The majority of prison guards are decent people, just trying to put food on the table for their families. They endanger themselves just by showing up for work. However, when the good ones report misconduct or illegal activities, what happens? They too are ignored and end up being harassed by fellow guards for breaking the “code of silence.”

What message does all this send to us? We are sent to the Department of Corrections to be “corrected.” Yet the Corrections Department cannot even correct itself. How are we to respect society and its government of laws when government officials constantly break the law and society doesn’t care or do a damn thing about it?

Prison guards and police officers cannot be allowed to fight crime by becoming criminals. It’s like telling a child not to smoke while dangling a cigarette from your lips and blowing smoke in his face. You just don’t have any credibility.

The secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, Rod Hickman, has promised yet another review. There is no need for a review. It’s time for action.

You say you want to correct us? If so, start by showing us the system is fair. Show us that the law and the penalties for violating it apply also to prison officials, police and prosecutors. Expend a fraction of the time and money that was spent investigating and locking up the 160,000 people behind state prison walls to investigate and prosecute prison officials. If society is unwilling to do these things, then please don’t preach the law to us, let alone demand that we respect and follow it.