A Los Angeles legislator calls for a review of the practice of segregating inmates.
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. [
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