CA: Race-based prison policy under scrutiny; A Los Angeles legislator calls for a review of the practice of segregating inmates.

Originally published by Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA) February 4, 2005, Friday

Copyright 2005 The Press Enterprise Co.  


   A policy of racially segregating prisoners is under fire this week as state leaders scrutinize its value in protecting inmates from the race-based gangs that rule California's 32 prisons.California Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D- Los Angeles, Thursday announced plans for a Senate Select Committee hearing next week on the policy and allegations that state officials went to the United States Supreme Court and lied about its
racial segregation practices.
  
Department of Corrections leaders and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer will testify in defense of the policy
alongside critics who say the policy empowers prison gangs and violates the Constitution.
  
A spokesman for Lockyer denied ever misleading the court.  In November, the California attorney general's office went to the high court to defend the state Department of Corrections' unwritten 100-year-old policy of segregating prisoners by raceduring the first two months of their sentence.
  
New inmates initially are segregated to determine their propensity for racial violence, Lockyer told the court. The
court is expected to rule on the matter this year.
 
 However, Gov. Schwarzenegger and corrections department leaders should consider abolishing the policy regardless of the court's ruling, Romero said Thursday.
 
 "I believe it's wrong and it's unconstitutional," Romero said. "Here we are perpetuating a race-based society in a way that I thought was declared unconstitutional 50 years ago with Brown vs. the Board of Education.
 
  "It's the deep South in California," she added. "We think we are a very open-minded state, and yet we are the only ones in the nation doing this."
 
 The injustice could be corrected with something as simple as decree from the governor or corrections department leaders ending the policy, she said.

SAFETY ISSUES
   The American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. attorney general's office have weighed in on the case seeking an end to the segregation.

   In a brief submitted by Lockyer to the court, he urged the justices to acknowledge the "distasteful reality" of racial
violence in California prisons.
 
  "Prison is a hostile environment populated by felons - many of whom are murderers - where the prevention of violence is a paramount concern," the brief stated.

   "Add race-based rivalries and gang affiliations to the brew and the cauldron fairly boils over."
   California is ground-zero for race-based gangs and without the policy, inmates and staff likely will get hurt, Senior Assistant Attorney General Frances T. Grunder told the court
  
The department and attorney general's office further told the court that the policy of assigning cellmates of the same race together only applies to an inmate's first 60 days in prison.

   After that, race is not a factor in prison life, they told the court. At Tuesday's State Senate hearing, Lockyer and corrections leaders will have to face members of the correctional officers' union who allege that the state misled the court.

WHISTLEBLOWER
   Inmates always are assigned cells by race in California's prisons, said Officer David L. Robinson, a veteran officer of 22 years who filed a whistleblower complaint with the California State Auditor's Office over the state's claims in court.

   Inmates are also placed on lockdown by race and granted access to educational and vocational programs by race, said Robinson and other officers.

   The state defended its unwritten policy of temporary segregation, said spokesman Nathan Barankin.
   If some prisons and officers practice permanent segregation, then they do so in violation of state policy, he said.
Practices at those prisons should be reviewed by department officials to make sure they comply with state law, he said.
  
Attorney Bert H. Deixler, who filed the lawsuit against the state seeking to end the policy, said his office is
investigating the officers' allegations.

   "It's a very unusual situation," he said. "If the allegations are correct, I would think the state would take the opportunity to file a supplemental brief with the court correcting or confessing the error.

   "My experience as a lawyer for over 30 years tells me that the truth will come out, and those who are responsible for having concealed it will suffer the consequences."