A riot involving about 50 inmates that broke out at about 12:45 p.m. at California State Prison, Sacramento, has left inmates with gunshot and stab wounds but has been quelled by authorities, state prison officials said today.
Authorities still did not know the extent or number of injuries after officers used Mini 14 rifles to quell the riot, according corrections spokespeople Oscar Hidalgo and Terry Thornton...
LINK - SacBee.com
Prison guards shot and injured some prisoners as they broke up a fight involving 50 inmates Wednesday at a prison east of Sacramento, corrections officials said.
Inmates stabbed each other during the fight, and some employees suffered minor injuries as they intervened. The outbreak was in a maximum security area of the California State Prison, Sacramento.
About 50 inmates were involved and an unknown number of staff was injured, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation...
LINK - SFGate.com
Seven of 10 inmates injured during a riot at the California State Prison in Folsom have been released from hospitals and are back at the facility, a prison spokesman said Thursday morning.
Prisoners living in the facility where Wednesday's riot broke out are now on lockdown. There are about 1,000 inmates in the C facility at New Folsom Prison, prison Sgt. Tony Quinn said...
LINK - KCRA.com
Four of the nine inmates injured at California State Prison, Sacramento in Folsom --aka New Folsom State Prison--have been treated, released from the hospital, and sent back to prison.
The riot broke out around 12:30 Wednesday afternoon in the exercise yard of the Level 4 maximum security area. Many of the inmates are murderers and gang members and are serving a life term. At least 9 inmates were taken to area hospitals, some of them with stab wounds from inmate-on-inmate fights...
LINK - News10.net
A shooting at the California State Prison in Folsom has left several inmates and prison staff with injuries.
The riot began Wednesday around 12:30 p.m. and lasted about 10 minutes before guards were able to get it contained. Sgt. Tony Quinn of the California Department of Corrections says a riot lasting 10 minutes is a long time.
The riot started in the C Facility, which is the prison's recreational area for inmates...
LINK - News10.net
Results for the 2011 CCPOA Chapter Elections.
Agreement between CDCR and CCPOA regarding High Desert State Prison (AB 109)...
In a strongly-worded letter dated June 21, 2011 to Mayor Reed and the City Council, local retired San Jose city attorney Joan Gallo expressed bewilderment at why the City of San Jose would undertake an action which clearly violates the contract clause of the California and United States Constitutions.
Citing key California Supreme Court cases, Gallo writes the court has held that pension rights are an integral portion of compensation which cannot be changed once they have vested and with respect to active employees, some limited modification of vested pension rights has been allowed by the resulting disadvantage to employees must be accompanied by comparable new advantages...
LINK - Examiner.com
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) today announced the decision to convert Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW) in Chowchilla to a facility that will house low- to medium-security adult male inmates. The conversion will help alleviate the adult male inmate overcrowding problem and avoid staff layoffs at the institution.
The conversion will happen in phases and is anticipated to be completed by July 2013. The facility currently houses 3,171 female inmates. The level of male inmates and staff is expected to be similar once the conversion is complete...
LINK - CDCRToday.blogspot.com
This is CCPOA's 5150 information hotline for Friday, December 9, 2011.
CCPOA NEWS
Chapter Presidents Elections Results – The results are in and are available on the front page of the CCPOA website. A number of new faces will join the CCPOA Board of Directors in the upcoming year. Congratulations to all the successful candidates who have stepped up to represent their local members. We would also like to extend a sincere “Thank You” to all out-going presidents and board members for their dedication and sacrifice on behalf of their members.
High Desert AB 109 Conversion Agreement– Upon the conclusion of the Meet & Confer negotiations between the CCPOA and CDCR management on November 30, 2011, an agreement was reached regarding the conversion of the Reception Center at High Desert State Prison to General Population and the deactivation timeline of reception center correctional officer positions. For more details, please see the complete agreement which is posted on the front page of our website.
New Peacekeeper Is Out– The final Peacekeeper of the year is out and should be landing in mailboxes now. Please take a moment to read through the publication which highlights the recipients of the CCPOA Joe Harper scholarships and includes labor, legal and legislative updates as well as articles from the CCPOA leadership team.
CDCR NEWS
CSP- Sacramento Riot– About 150 inmates at CSP-Sac rioted this past week, resulting in a number of inmates at the Folsom prison being sent to outside hospitals for treatment. Pepper spray, rubber bullets and Mini-14 rounds were used to quell the disturbance. From all accounts, it appears that the staff at New Folsom did an outstanding job in quickly restoring order to the maximum-security GP yard. We’ve linked a couple of the news stories on this item to our website if you’d like to read more.
CDCR Confirms VSPW Conversion to Men’s Prison – CDCR announced today that it is going forward with its plan to convert Valley State Prison for Women for use as a low-level men’s prison. How this will occur under the terms of AB 109 and the sharp decline in the number of low-level offenders throughout the state remains unclear at this point, but we’ll let you know as soon as we get definitive information from the department. We’ve posted the CDCR press release on the CCPOA website for your convenience.
Remaining CCFs Close– Except for one 600-bed Community Correctional Facility in McFarland, all of the remaining CCFs have had their contracts cancelled by CDCR. As a result, there are 5,000 empty CCF beds throughout the state which used to house mostly low-end offenders. The press release from CDCR is also linked on our website.
CAPITOL NEWS
Paycheck “Deception” Ballot Measure Set for Nov. 2012 – A group of anti-union conservatives have qualified a ballot measure which seeks to restrict the political participation of unionized workers. This same measure was defeated by voters in 2005 and previously in 1998. Supporters of the initiative hope to cut off union campaign contributions by prohibiting employee union deductions from being used for political purposes. The backers also claim to be restricting corporations from making campaign contributions, but corporation political money will still be allowed to be spent on independent expenditures for candidates without any limits.
A couple of news stories on this item are also available on our website.
NOTICES
State Board Meeting– The January Board of Directors meeting will cover two days and has been set for January 20 & 21 at the Capitol Plaza Holiday Inn, located at 3rd & J Street in Sacramento.
Chapter Presidents Training– New Chapter President training will be held the day before, on Thursday, January 19th at CCPOA Headquarters in West Sacramento.
Retired Chapter Meeting– Will be held on December 17 at the Holiday Inn Express in Sacramento. The meeting will take place from 1:00 -5:00 pm.
Please notify Debbie Rollins if you plan on attending by calling 1-800-821-6443, ext. 239 or email: debbie.rollins@ccpoa.org
Knott’s Berry Farm– Just a reminder that Knott’s Berry Farm is providing free admission for you and a guest as part of its “18th Annual Salute to Fire and Police Personnel” through January 31st. Please see the flyer on the website for more details.
Finally, when staff assaults occur, please send a completed staff assault alert form to Nicole Gomez at nichol.gomez@ccpoa.org.
Thanks for calling the 5150 hotline and have a safe shift.
Four Fresno County Jail inmates filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday, claiming Sheriff Margaret Mims maintains an unsafe jail and fails to provide basic health care.
According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Fresno, inmates are regularly denied treatment for life-threatening illnesses, severe mental health symptoms and serious dental conditions.
There are not enough medical personnel -- doctors, nurses, therapists and social workers -- to provide adequate care for more than 2,300 inmates, the lawsuit says. As a result of the understaffing, inmates can wait weeks to months before being examined by clinicians...
LINK - FresnoBee.com
Gov. Jerry Brown announced earlier this week the state has to pull the trigger on a series of mid-year budget cuts due to low tax revenues. One of those reductions shaves $67 million from the state’s juvenile justice budget. The cut will force counties to foot the bill for Juvenile Justice wards in state custody.
In the 1990s the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice oversaw 10,000 young offenders. Then, about a decade ago, state lawmakers restricted the types of offenders counties can send to state juvenile facilities to those convicted of violent and serious felonies and sex offenses.
The belief was that keeping youth closer to home would reduce their risk of becoming a repeat offender. The change shrunk the Division of Juvenile Justice population to 1,100...
LINK - SCPR.org
A Stanford University-based economic think tank has asserted that California's public employee pension plans are skyrocketing, yet the nation's largest pension fund claims the study exaggerates.
"The study is written from a perspective that is intended to exaggerate perceived costs and the instability of pension systems,” said Ann Boynton, Deputy Executive Officer of CalPERS Benefit Programs Policy and Planning, in a statement released on the fund's website. “The report’s findings were based on low discount rates to artificially magnify unfunded liabilities. It is important to remember that CalPERS invests in a highly diversified portfolio that includes stocks, real estate, and other assets that have historically earned significantly higher returns than the rates assumed in the study.”
The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research claimed that the shortfall in California's plans is too large to be solved only by cutting future payouts, noting that the state's plans face long-term shortfalls as high as $500 billion -- a number that continues to grow rapidly. According to economist and former state Assemblyman Joe Nation, the report's author, the shortfalls cost the state $3.4 million for each day that lawmakers fail to change the pension benefits and contribution levels for public employees...
LINK - AI-CIO.com
A Marin County judge will decide Friday whether to finalize her decision to toss out California's new lethal injection procedures after she ruled prison officials failed to properly adopt them.
In a tentative ruling Thursday, Marin County Superior Court Judge Faye D'Opal found prison officials failed to properly consider a one-drug alternative to the three-drug lethal injection mixture used to execute inmates.
Attorneys representing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will get a chance to change the judge's mind during a hearing Friday morning...
LINK - SacBee.com
County supervisors this week received an update on the state’s correctional realignment and what it means for Lake County, with the county’s acting chief probation officer warning of serious health and safety implications for community residents.
On Tuesday, acting Chief Probation Officer Steve Buchholz gave a report to the Board of Supervisors on realignment, which includes supervising new probationers and housing in the county jail prisoners who formerly would have served their time in state prison.
The state’s correctional realignment, which went into effect Oct. 1, is meant to reduce the state’s prison overcrowding, as well as to save the cash-strapped state money...
LINK - LakeconNews.com
California has paid Lina Manglicmot $1.5 million since 2005, an average of $253,530 a year, to work as a prison nurse in the agricultural town of Soledad.
Manglicmot is one of 42 state nurses who each made more than $1 million in those six years, mostly by tapping overtime, according to payroll data compiled by Bloomberg News. Together, those nurses collected $47.5 million. In 2008, Manglicmot was paid $331,346, including $211,257 in overtime...
LINK - Bloomberg.com
The Dos Palos Police Department said that on Thursday it arrested a sixth parolee in the last weeks, a man wanted in Fresno County for robbery.
Officers began a search for Johnny Quesada, the parolee, around 2 p.m., contacting known family and associates of Quezada. "We seem to have been one hour behind for the first few hours,” Chief Barry Mann said in a news release. “Shortly after 6 p.m., Quezada was taken into custody by Officer Joe Green...”
LINK - MercedSunStar.com
Los Angeles County supervisors are balking at a proposal from the county sheriff’s department to issue $1.4 billion of bonds to rebuild the 5,000-bed Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.
The sheriff’s department describes the jail project as a means to address California’s ongoing corrections “realignment” that is shifting 30,000 prisoners to county jails from the state prison system over the next two years, while also alleviating security issues at the Men’s Central Jail.
The facility has been the subject of allegations involving sheriff’s deputies beating prisoners over the past year...
LINK - BondBuyer.com
This is CCPOA's 5150 information hotline for Friday, December 16, 2011.
CCPOA NEWS
Chapter Elections Update – State Secretary Perry Speth has issued an updated listing of the CCPOA chapter elections results. We have posted the document on the website with the new information.
CDCR NEWS
DeWitt Nelson to Receive Conversion funding– Pooled Money Investment Board, a state agency voted to extend a $97 million line of credit to the CDCR this week. The money will go towards the cost of converting the now closed DeWitt Nelson Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton into a 684-bed men's prison. The conversion is being funded through AB 900 funds to relieve prison overcrowding.
Cause of Oklahoma Riot by CA Inmates Unknown– A private prison in Oklahoma still does not have a cause it can release for a riot among inmates that occurred nearly two months ago. The police chief said he has received no information from Corrections Corp. of America regarding the Oct. 11 riot that resulted in 16 California inmates being hospitalized. CCA spokesman said they haven’t released the details of the riot because the police investigation is ongoing. However, Police Chief Ronnie Harrold said he has yet to receive anything from the prison regarding the riot and said CCA has "been giving us the runaround." For more on this, please go to the CCPOA website, where the full story is posted.
CAPITOL NEWS
Part Time Legislature Initiative– A constitutional amendment to switch California's Legislature to a part-time body meeting about three months per year was proposed recently by a Republican lawmaker and the head of a political watchdog group. The measure by Republican Assemblywoman Shannon Grove of Bakersfield, and Ted Costa of People's Advocate, also would cut legislators' salaries from $7,940 per month to $1,500 per month -- or $18,000 annually. The news article from the Sacramento Bee is linked on our website.
Budget Trigger Cuts– as a result of the less-than-expected revenue coming in to state coffers, the state budget approved last summer will be pared again. CDCR will take a $20 million reduction in unspecified cuts and county probation funding, which was slated to be cut by $100 million, was spared, although counties will have to retain custody of certain juvenile offenders or reimburse the state $125,000 annually for custody.
Pension Liability Study– A new study released by a Stanford University-based think tank says California's public employee pension plans face long-term shortfalls as high as $500 billion. Numerous media outlets and political opportunists have latched on to this study as proof that public employee pensions need to be reduced. CalPERS this week responded to the study, citing numerous errors and exaggerations in the report. We’ve linked the CalPERS response on the front page of the website for your convenience.
NOTICES
State Board Meeting– The January Board of Directors meeting will cover two days and has been set for January 20 & 21 at the Capitol Plaza Holiday Inn, located at 3rd & J Street in Sacramento.
Chapter Presidents Training– New Chapter President training will be held the day before, on Thursday, January 19th at CCPOA Headquarters in West Sacramento.
Retired Chapter Meeting– Will be held tomorrow, December 17 at the Holiday Inn Express in Sacramento. The meeting will take place from 1:00 -5:00 pm.
Please notify Debbie Rollins if you plan on attending by calling 1-800-821-6443, ext. 239 or email: debbie.rollins@ccpoa.org
Knott’s Berry Farm– Just a reminder that Knott’s Berry Farm is providing free admission for you and a guest as part of its “18th Annual Salute to Fire and Police Personnel” through January 31st. See the flyer on the website for more details.
Finally, when staff assaults occur, please send a completed staff assault alert form to Nicole Gomez at nichol.gomez@ccpoa.org.
For the latest news on pension reform, prison realignment, private prisons and parolee problems, please go to the CCPOA website where we post the information as it comes in.
Thanks for calling the 5150 hotline and have a safe shift.
Dozens of juvenile criminals from the Valley now in state custody will return home to finish their sentences because of state budget cuts, officials said.
Under mid-year cuts taking effect Jan. 1, California counties must pay the state $125,000 per year for each juvenile offender held by the state Division of Juvenile Justice.
At least two Valley counties -- Tulare and Kings -- say they can't afford that, so they'll seek to have their juvenile offenders serve their sentences locally, even though local facilities aren't set up for long-term incarceration and rehabilitation of younger criminals...
LINK - FresnoBee.com