State Seeks to Improve Staff Safety in Prisons

Four months after severe security lapses led to the slaying of a prison guard, correctional officials will begin trying to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

A 10-member committee will be formed to develop safety procedures for California, said Youth and Adult Correctional Secretary Roderick Q. Hickman, who sought the review. The state Board of Corrections approved the committee Thursday, along with a nine-member panel to review employee safety at all 40 adult and youth prisons within 28 months.

No other state is believed to systematically examine staff safety.

The action comes a month after a board-appointed expert panel and the prison system’s inspector general cited leadership and procedural failings that contributed to the Jan. 10 stabbing death of correctional officer Manuel A. Gonzalez at the California Institution for Men in Chino.

Gonzalez was the first guard killed at an adult prison in 20 years. The last employee slain was a 42-year-old female counselor killed in 1996 by a youth offender.

The steering committee will include representatives of the standards-setting American Correctional Assn. and the Assn. of State Correctional Administrators, along with adult and youth correctional employees and representatives of employee unions and associations.

The review panel will include three representatives each from the Board of Corrections, Department of Corrections and Youth Authority to review safety at 32 adult and eight youth prisons. The panel plans to complete three safety audits every two months, the first three due before the corrections board meets again in July.

Thursday’s decisions come as the Corrections Department prepares for its annual awards ceremony today. Gonzalez and nearly 70 prison and parole employees will be honored for heroism and outstanding service.