Gov. Names Interim Prison System Chief

Surprised by the abrupt resignation Saturday of his corrections secretary, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday said finding a new leader for the massive and dysfunctional prison system would not be easy.

In a statement, Schwarzenegger praised the outgoing prisons chief, Roderick Q. Hickman, for performing “one of the toughest jobs in state government” and vowed to keep the correctional system “on the path toward change.” The governor also named Jeanne S. Woodford acting secretary. Woodford, a former warden of San Quentin State Prison, has most recently served as undersecretary -- the No. 2 person under Hickman.

Meanwhile, Capitol insiders who follow prison policy debated what led to Hickman’s departure -- and what it would mean for the changes he initiated after his appointment in November 2003.

On Saturday, Hickman, 49, said he was resigning because of wavering political support for a new correctional approach in the Legislature and Schwarzenegger administration.

In an interview with The Times, Hickman said he felt there was no longer “the will and commitment to see it through,” despite the governor’s vow to emphasize rehabilitation to better prepare parolees for success.

One factor Hickman cited was what he viewed as the rising influence of the prison guards union within the administration. The union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., has been highly critical of Hickman since he became secretary -- and had been given the cold shoulder by the governor in the early days after his election.

In late 2004, for example, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger said the governor was proud of Hickman “for showing courage and moving forward, especially given this much abuse” from the union.

“The governor has told him, ‘If the union wasn’t this upset at you, you wouldn’t be doing the job right,’ ” added Rob Stutzman, the governor’s communications director at the time.

Recently, however, the dynamics appear to have changed. One source close to the secretary, who asked not to be named for reasons of job security, said union officials seemed to have “unbridled access” to members of Schwarzenegger’s inner circle, suggesting a changing relationship that did not bode well for Hickman.

“You’ve got the Legislature bashing you on one side, and on the other side, you’ve got the administration backing away from reform because they need to look tough on criminal justice for the upcoming election,” said another source who asked not to be named. “If you’re Rod, you ask yourself, ‘What’s the future in that?’ ”

Chuck Alexander, executive vice president of the guards union, was critical of Hickman during an interview and said he saw no benefit from replacing Hickman with Woodford.

“By putting someone in there who already has been there, they are not changing anything. She has been the No. 2 for two years now. That is not a change whatsoever,” Alexander said. Asked about Hickman’s comments suggesting that the union had too much power, Alexander replied that “we do not run anything. We have never run anything.”

“If you look at the business world, when a CEO takes over a company, a successful CEO does not immediately attack the factory workers,” Alexander said. “That is exactly what happened with this administration. As a result, the men and women who do the job don’t what know the mission is, what the expectation is, and because of that they are not part of the system.”

On Sunday, Fred Aguiar, the governor’s cabinet secretary, would not discuss Hickman’s comments. Instead, in a brief conference call with reporters, he said the administration is “grateful” to Hickman “for two years of the toughest work anyone can possibly do.” Woodford, who also participated in the call, added that she strongly supported efforts to bring “much-needed reform” to the prison system, which has a budget of $8.2 billion and incarcerates more than 171,000 juvenile and adult inmates.

The departure of Hickman, a former prison guard who worked his way up through the ranks to the system’s top job, leaves the Republican governor with a major vacancy in his cabinet as he runs for reelection this year.

Woodford is expected to be a candidate, but no other names have been mentioned.

State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) said she wasn’t surprised by Hickman’s resignation and believed he would have faced “a serious struggle” at his confirmation hearing this spring. Though Hickman was confirmed once, legislation restructuring the department last year required him to pass a second test.

Romero, chairwoman of a Senate committee on the correctional system, once supported Hickman but more recently had concluded that improvements under his watch were not happening fast enough.

“I was disappointed with Hickman’s leadership and think he dropped the ball on what could have been a very promising reform movement,” Romero said. “But I feel saddened by the departure because in a sense it’s the department that needs changing, not the person who sits in that seat.” Romero also said she had been assured, in recent conversations with top aides to the governor, that the administration would “live up to the pledge to move this system back to one that believes in rehabilitation.”

“I will be watching for that commitment and watching to see how we move forward from here,” she said.

Times staff writer Henry Weinstein contributed to this report.