Posted on 12/26/2005 4:56:00 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO – A chronic shortage of guards at the state's 33 prisons is expected to increase after Jan. 1 when an earlier retirement age negotiated in a controversial labor contract four years ago triggers a wave of retirees.
The shortage of 2,000 guards is likely to double next fiscal year because of retirements and other factors, the state Department of Finance estimates.
The Schwarzenegger administration is scrambling to open a second training facility for correctional officers and is projecting that 2,600 new guards will be trained this fiscal year, an increase from the 1,920 originally planned.
The governor is expected to call for more changes in the state's troubled prison system early next month when he makes his State of the State address and proposes a budget for the fiscal year, which begins July 1.
"We expect the new budget to address the need for additional prison guards, caused in part by the new retirement benefit," said H.D. Palmer, the Department of Finance spokesman.
An official of the labor union that represents the 20,000 prison guards points to violent inmate uprisings at prisons in Chino and Calipatria in recent months as a warning that prisons are dangerously understaffed.
The shortage not only puts guards at risk, but could result in inmates taking control of a prison, said Chuck Alexander, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
"We are afraid we are going to lose a prison at some point because of the amount of vacancies and the amount of overtime," Alexander said. "When you are tired, that's when mistakes happen."
The shortage of prison guards is a long-standing problem noted in a report by the state auditor in July 2002.
The auditor said the corrections department, which was renamed the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation last summer, "intentionally keeps about 1,000 correctional officer positions vacant and uses the funds saved to make up for shortfalls in its budget."
The Schwarzenegger administration attributes some of the shortage to a budget cut enacted during Gov. Gray Davis' last year in office. That cut halted guard training for part of one fiscal year.
Other factors mentioned by the administration include a record-high prison population – more than 171,000 inmates – and the opening of Kern Valley State Prison this year near Delano.
The new retirement benefit is part of a lucrative five-year contract that expires in July. As the state struggled with record budget gaps, the contract gave the guards a series of pay raises.
The raises, based on surveys of five large local police and sheriff's departments, were intended to make prison guards' pay similar to that of California Highway Patrol officers.
Under the contract, correctional officers have received pay increases of 22.8 percent so far, with another raise due in July, according to the state Department of Personnel Administration.
The survey used to determine the amount of the pay raise in July "is not going to result in a dramatic increase in salaries," said Lynelle Jolley, a spokeswoman for the personnel administration department.
Schwarzenegger and some legislators have been critical of the contract, which once was estimated to boost pay by as much as 37 percent, and the correctional officers agreed to a delay of a year or two in raises totaling 5.9 percent.
The pension benefit gives prison guards the same formula as highway patrol officers – retirement at age 50 with 3 percent of their highest annual salary for each year served. Their current benefit is 3 percent beginning at age 55.
At a legislative hearing in July, corrections officials said they expected the benefit to trigger the retirement of 51 guards, an estimate based on those who have 29 years of service at age 49.
Alexander told the committee the union estimates the new benefit could result in 2,000 retirements. Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez, D-Norwalk, said he thought as many as 2,800 might opt for retirement under the new benefit.
"So often this department has made statements and claims that have gone unfulfilled," Bermudez said at the hearing, expressing skepticism about the contention by corrections officials that improvements will usher in a "new day."
The Schwarzenegger administration complained that Bermudez, a former parole officer, continues to retain his membership in the correctional officers union and has a conflict of interest when he chairs hearings on union issues.
Bermudez and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, who makes the committee assignments, disagree. Bermudez is a frequent critic of the Schwarzenegger administration.
At the July hearing, Bermudez reminded corrections officials that a federal judge has taken control of the $1 billion prison medical care system, and he suggested that other parts of the prison system may meet the same fate if management does not improve.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson placed the prison medical system in receivership this year after concluding that substandard care was resulting in the unnecessary deaths of inmates.
This month, the judge ordered immediate pay raises for prison doctors and nurses, along with other measures aimed at retaining and recruiting medical personnel to provide improved service.
Among the other problems facing the prison system are overcrowding, violent gang and racial clashes, high recidivism rates and allegations that guards abused inmates.
New issues continue to surface. In January, Manuel A. Gonzalez, a veteran prison guard, was fatally stabbed by an inmate at the Chino prison. Gonzalez had not been issued a protective vest.
A corrections spokeswoman said the department had begun ordering vests before the incident and has since stepped up the program. Alexander said the union may seek arbitration over the quantity and level of protection of the vests.
In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision this year, the corrections department settled a lawsuit this month by agreeing to stop using race as the basis for segregating new inmates at reception centers.
Terry Thornton, a corrections spokeswoman, said the policy will begin in March at the state's 11 reception centers, then spread to minimum-security facilities a year later before going systemwide in March 2008.
Alexander said he is concerned that the corrections department seems to be ignoring advice from Texas officials to institute the policy systemwide, thereby preventing violent inmates from disrupting the first phase in an effort to block expansion of the plan.
"My fear is it's going to cause problems that will compel my members to use force, up to and including deadly force, to quell incidents," Alexander said.
Thornton said the settlement was worked out with the state attorney general and includes a tracking system that will monitor violence in reception areas to determine if the incidents are based on race.
"We are doing a number of things that are going to hopefully reduce the level of violence, but that is always a concern, always," said Thornton. "That is something this department thinks about 24-7."
"Ok...try to eat this donut and watch that monitor. Great, you pass."
Doesn't make sense. When you leave a position open that is on post and has to be worked for overtime, you actuall lose money. Overtime is paid at 150% of salary, usually at a high level because OT is granted by seniority.
If you hire someone to fill the position you pay 130% of salary (salary and benefits). Filling a position saves money.
The departments of the youth authority and corretions rarely had their positions filled. Mostly, the union doesn't complain because many members live on overtime.
Why anyone would want to be a prison guard is mind boggling.
They ought to automate everything, and leave them to themselves.
I would suggest island prisons and just patrol the water.
Odd that people of CA cannot see what is apparent.
Why not pass a law forbidding crime???
Now that ought to do it???
Anyone that violates that new law goes to jail for ten years.
A huge fraction of the inmate population is in for dope, or doing illegal stuff to get dope, or doing illegal stuff to keep turf to sell dope. Is there a simple solution? Yep. Legalize it. Busted if caught driving under the influence or sharing with minors. Otherwise, grow it in your backyard if you want. The gov would lose taxes (and the liquor mafia would lose sales too) and the DEA/police would lose out (RKV sheds crocodile tears at this point). The country would be ahead in the long run. We should have learned our lesson from alcohol prohibition. Bill Buckley (founder of National Review magazine), and plenty of other mainstream conservatives have figured it out.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
I am too old to have any real opinion on the drug climate.
Now you know the justice system has gotten too far afield.
The premise of the story is flawed from the get-go. There is no shortage of guards. There is a glut of prisoners.
I am just about there myself agewise;>) LOL
Get ready for the prison system to double it's costs.
I knew all about the nekkid things (hehehe) but the pot thing was beyond me. So you see, I am not one to have an opinion, on pot that is.
And the California Legislature is still in session all year and keeps passing more? "The more corrupt the State the more numerous the laws.” Caius Cornelius Tacitus (c. 100 A.D.)
Just close the prisons and release all the convicts. That's what the liberals want anyway. Let them have their way, and we'll see how they like it.
They should do what that HBO movie "Deadlock" portrayed a while back - have bracelets on each inmate that are set to explode if they wander off too far.
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