Death threat, new parole appointees in prison turmoil

AP via San Diego Tribune ^ | February 26, 2004 | Don Thompson

[calcowgirl]

SACRAMENTO – Law enforcement officials said Thursday they are investigating a threatening letter and nontoxic white powder sent to a state senator through a California prison that was home to the "Green Wall," a band of rogue prison guards.

The letter to state Sen. Gloria Romero appears to have originated within Salinas Valley State Prison near Soledad shortly after Romero's correctional system oversight committee held a hearing on the Green Wall, said California Highway Patrol Commissioner D.O. "Spike" Helmick.

Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed two new members to the Board of Prison Terms, which oversees the state's troubled parole system, and replaced the board's chairwoman with his own designee.

The letter to Romero, D-Los Angeles, threatened her and her family and advised her to abandon her probe of the state's prison system. It was accompanied by a white powder that was found to be harmless.

The letter addressed to Romero was sent to a Salinas Valley inmate early this month inside a larger envelope that appears to have originated within the prison, Helmick said. CHP and FBI investigators are convinced the inmate knew nothing about the letter, he said.

The letter did not mention the Green Wall, and investigators are trying to determine if it came from an inmate or an employee. A confidential report by state investigators obtained by The Associated Press last month said guards there formed the gang-like organization, named after the color of their uniforms, to intimidate inmates and fellow employees, and even devised gang-style hand signals and codes.

The letter was intercepted at the prison and never reached Romero, who said she would not be intimidated and would continue the committee hearings and her prison visits.

Romero said she was told last summer she was the subject of a death threat involving prison gangs, about the time of hearings then. Two witnesses at the January hearing at which the Green Wall was discussed so feared for their lives that they wore bulletproof vests and asked for police protection.

Also Thursday, Schwarzenegger appointed a veteran Board of Prison Terms investigator to chair the nine-member board, replacing chairwoman and former Sacramento County undersheriff Carol Daly. Daly remains on the board to serve out a term ending next year.

The new chair is Margarita Perez, who has spent 15 years in the corrections field. She has been a parole agent since 1996, investigating convicts' backgrounds and more recently the phenomenon of battered woman syndrome that former Gov. Gray Davis cited in making some release decisions. She previously was a correctional officer, rising to sergeant at Folsom State Prison.

Perez, 41, a Democrat from Cameron Park, is a former Army National Guard captain who served in the Persian Gulf War and volunteered for active duty after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She will be paid $103,317.

Schwarzenegger also appointed Susan Fisher, 50, a Republican from Oceanside, replacing an 11th hour Davis appointee whose appointment was withdrawn by the new administration.

She has been director of the Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau since 1999, after serving on the board for seven years. She has also been a member of the Institute for Crime and Trauma Survivors, the San Diego County chapter of Parents of Murdered Children and since 2000 has been president of Citizens for Law and Order.

She will be paid $99,693. Both positions require Senate confirmation.

[NormsRevenge]

bump