Bills Seek Increased Reporter Access to Prisoners

Two bills that would make it easier for journalists to interview state prisoners passed committees in the Assembly and Senate on Tuesday, backed by legislators and others who say recent scandals make increased scrutiny of the California correctional system vital.

“More than ever at this time we need openness in government,” said Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who has been holding hearings on prison oversight and is the author of one of the bills.

For more than two decades, the Department of Corrections allowed journalists to schedule and conduct interviews with specific inmates, subject to conditions set by wardens.

But in 1996, under Gov. Pete Wilson’s administration, strict regulations on media access to prisons were adopted. Under those rules, journalists may interview only those inmates they encounter randomly on general tours of a prison.

Although a reporter can apply to get on an inmate’s visitor list, it is a cumbersome process that can take more than a month. Journalists may not bring a tape recorder or notebook on those visits, though some prisons permit the use of pencil and paper.

The rules also prohibit prisoners from communicating with reporters through confidential correspondence. And although inmates can call reporters collect, the prison phone system is monitored by guards, and calls are regularly interrupted by recorded messages.

On three previous occasions, the Legislature has passed bills seeking to relax the rules, but they were vetoed by Wilson, a Republican, and former Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat. Both said interviewing inmates glorified them, an argument of victims groups that have opposed more media access.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigned on a platform that included more openness in government and has promised to “clean up” the problems plaguing the state’s prisons. But a spokeswoman said Tuesday that the Republican governor has not yet taken a position on the media access bills.

Under Romero’s legislation (SB 1164), reporters would be permitted to conduct prearranged interviews with prisoners, unless doing so posed a threat to the safety of a member of the public or the security of the prison. Cameras, notebooks and recording devices would be permitted under the bill, which is supported by the California Newspaper Publishers Assn., the Society of Professional Journalists and the ACLU.

The other bill, by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), takes a narrower approach. It would allow a reporter who got on one inmate’s visitation list to visit any willing prisoner at the same facility during regular visiting hours for a year.