A Starting Point for Reform

The prison reforms that an expert panel presented Thursday to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are as dramatic as the prisons’ failings. For decades, California’s prison guards and their union have accumulated power, so that today they run the system. Prisoner rehabilitation is a shambles. California’s recidivism rate, says the review panel’s report, is the nation’s worst.

Schwarzenegger had asked the panel, led by former Gov. George Deukmejian, to “blow up the boxes” of the failed $6-billion corrections system. Deukmejian delivered a blockbuster. Turning the report into action will be Schwarzenegger’s toughest job yet.

The commission’s most sweeping recommendation is its most contentious: creation of a civilian corrections commission to take responsibility for the prison and parole system, acting as a sort of super board of directors. Schwarzenegger immediately rejected the proposal, on the grounds it would reduce his own accountability. He may be right, but on his own the governor is having trouble cutting back even the guards’ bloated pay raise.

Youth and Adult Correctional Agency Director Rodney Hickman is also said to strongly oppose civilian control. It is an idea perhaps too big to realize immediately, but it should not be dismissed.

All of the panel’s other key reforms should be pursued. Here are three important recommendations that will be strongly opposed by the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn.:

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* Rewrite the prison guards’ contract to increase prison managers’ disciplinary authority. The contract requires that guards suspected of misconduct be accompanied by union representatives when talking with investigators, encouraging a destructive code of silence. Wardens and prison directors lack authority to decide “how guards are assigned, promoted and disciplined.”

* Create strong incentives for inmates to better themselves. Meaningful education and job training have been all but eliminated in most prisons. Turn that around, said the report, rewarding inmates for participating in education, job-training and drug-treatment programs that reduce parolees’ chances of returning to crime.

* Develop a clear chain of command and accountability. Guards and other prison officials are not promoted or demoted based on success or ability. Seniority controls everything from job transfers to overtime. “Accountability is absent,” the commission points out, “as is transparency for the public into the system’s inner workings.”

The state’s official watchdog body, the Little Hoover Commission, has pressed for similar changes for six years, to no avail. Schwarzenegger’s own talks with the guards appear to be backpedaling. At least the Deukmejian report, with its strong links between prison failure and dangerous streets, should put urgency into bigger changes.