Guards’ Ally Casts Critical Eye on Prison System

From her perch as chairwoman of a state Senate committee on prisons, Sen. Gloria Romero regularly denounces high prison costs, abuse of inmates and the guards’ costly labor contract -- though, like most legislators, she voted for that deal.

At a recent oversight hearing, the Los Angeles Democrat noted that some guards make more than “wardens, even more than legislators.”

She criticizes provisions in the contract tying their pay to what urban police earn. And she wants to roll back part of the pact that internal affairs investigators say limits authorities’ ability to investigate wrongdoing by prison officers.

It was not always so -- or so it seemed. Romero, 48, a former college teacher, has been a loyal vote for the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the union that represents 31,000 prison officers. Since she was first elected to the Legislature in 1998, Romero has voted yes on 20 of 20 union-sponsored bills that have become law.

She voted in 1999 to authorize construction of a maximum-security prison at Delano, Calif., for which the union lobbied hard.

Last year, she voted in favor of a union-sponsored bill (now pending) to authorize medical technicians, who are members of the guards union, to use pepper spray to subdue severely mentally ill prisoners.

The union donated $5,500 to her between 2001 and 2003. It paid her $142 hotel tab when she attended its 2002 convention. And a former union lobbyist worked on her 2001 Senate campaign, later joining her Senate staff, though he since has resigned.

Lance Corcoran, the union’s executive vice president, praised Romero, saying she “truly has a pure heart when it comes to corrections.”

Why the apparent turnaround? Romero says she is being consistent.

She views herself as a prison reform advocate who is also loyal to organized labor. Indeed, Romero does not go as far as some lawmakers in her criticism of the union, even as she criticizes the prison system and management.

Seventeen legislators, led by Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), are demanding cuts in guards’ pay and other changes to their contract. Romero is not part of that group. “I don’t see CCPOA as my adversary, just as I don’t see the inmates as my adversary,” Romero said in an interview.

Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco), one of the union’s strongest allies in the Legislature, named Romero to the prison committee in 2003.

As she took over, she was confronted by prison cost overruns, driven largely by the labor contract and by allegations of inmate abuse and other wrongdoing by guards.

“While I am looking at [prison] reforms,” Romero said, “I will also respect the working conditions of folks who work there.”

Romero has done more than cast votes for the union. She has carried union-sponsored and union-supported bills to limit private, nonunion prisons; broaden the rights of officers who are targets of disciplinary actions; and expand guards’ rights to file workers’ compensation claims.

A measure she carried that was signed into law in 2001 grants correctional officers a “presumption” that if they suffer from “heart trouble,” the condition is work-related. The legislation did not define heart trouble, but officers are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if they develop it up to five years after retiring.

Romero’s measure also says that if guards contract pneumonia, tuberculosis or meningitis, the conditions are presumed to be work-related, entitling officers to benefits.

Department of Corrections officials say they have not tracked the cost of claims filed as a result of the law. But in a memo dated Jan. 6, 2003, the department cited Romero’s measure as a reason it needed an extra $148 million to defray rising workers’ comp costs.

“These presumptions could serve to dramatically drive up workers’ compensation costs,” the memo said.

Romero does not call for abrogation of the guards’ labor contract. Rather, she urges the union to “show leadership” by volunteering to renegotiate it.

Like any labor pact, Romero said, the contract is binding. She fears that state employees’ collective bargaining rights will be weakened if it is altered.

“There are bigger issues here than any one contract,” she said.