In the 132 years between 1852 and 1984, the state of California built twelve prisons.  In the eleven year period between 1985 and 1996, the state built sixteen more.  By 2001 the Department of Corrections operated 33 prisons.  Four house only women and one, the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, incarcerates male and female offenders.

In 1977, California housed 19,600 inmates.  A decade later in 1998, the inmate population had skyrocketed by an astronomical 811 percent to 159,000.  By February 2000 that number had jumped to 161,000.  California now runs the largest prison system in the Western world.  It houses more prisoners than do the countries of France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Singapore combined.  California has spent $5.2 billion on new prisons since 1977, yet it still has the most overcrowded system in the United States.

Currently, the state of California incarcerates one out of every eight prisoners in the United States.  It is estimated that California will eventually need 30 to 50 new prisons to accomodate the influx of prisoners dictated by mandatory sentencing, stiffer enforcement of parole violations, and the three-strikes law.

Stress generated by packing people as if they were sardines has resulted in scandalous behavior by guards and inmates alike.  In 1999 there were riots at Norco (17 inmates injured) and Chino.  Guards at Corcoran had to be disciplined for staging gladiator fights.  Five employees of the women's prison near Chino resigned in September 1999 amidst sexual misconduct allegations and 40 more officers were said to be involved.   Investigators have expanded the probe to the other three women's prisons.  At least one incident has been referred to the San Bernardino County district attorney's office for possible criminal prosecution.  According to Kati Corsaut, a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections, "We are focusing the investigation on the staff."  Investigators from Internal Affairs have documented 78 cases of misconduct by guards.  In February 2000, a retired correctional officer and another officer on paid administrative leave from the California Institution for Women were arraigned on one count each of engaging in sexual activity with a confined consenting adult, a misdemeanor under California law.

The state's worst prison riot in more than a decade began in the morning of Wednesday, February 23, 2001, a dark overcast day, after guards at Pelican Bay State Prison had frisked more than 200 maximum-security inmates and sent them outside for routine exercise in the recreation yard.  They had been outside less than an hour when one group of inmates converged on another, and the three-acre yard erupted in a rolling series of vicious battles - pitting black inmates against whites and Latinos.  Guards shot 13 inmates, killing one.  An additional 35 inmates were treated for less serious injuries - primarily slashing and stabbing wounds inflicted with approximately 50 homemade weapons smuggled into the yard in apparent preparation for the fight.  The dead prisoner was the 56th inmate to be killed by gunfire in California state prisons in the past 30 years.

Privately operated prisons under contract with the state of California to house non-violent minimum/medium security felons have not fared any better.  On October 16, 2001, eight inmates and two guards were injured in a melee involving 135 black and Latino inmates at the Victor Valley Medium Community Correctional Facility in Adelanto.  While at lunch, a fight broke out over what Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections, termed "an issue of disrespect."  A female sergeant employed by Maranatha Private Corrections, which operates the men's facility for the state, was struck in the head with a microwave oven, requiring 14 stitches to close the wound.  A second guard, also female, received a blow to the face.  In March 2000 more than 100 inmates had to be moved from the private Victor Valley prison to state facilities following a racially fueled insurrection.

 

SOURCES:

Coronado, Michael, Press-Enterprise, Riverside, California, Aug 10 2001, B4
Dyer, Joel, The Perpetual Prisoner Machine, Westview Press, 2000
Ismael, Katie E., Press-Enterprise, Riverside, California, Oct 17 2001, B4b