The Fifth Danger

On March 14, 2006, The California Office of the Inspector General released a report to Acting Secretary Jeanne Woodford of the California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (CalDORC), entitled "SPECIAL REVIEW: IMPROPER HOUSING OF MAXIMUM CUSTODY INMATES AT CALIFORNIA STATE PRISON RECEPTION CENTERS."

CLICK HERE for the complete report in Adobe Acrobat.

This report was prompted by the stabbing death of Correctional Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez, Jr., by an inmate who had been improperly housed in the General Population of the Reception Center Central of the California Institution for Men in Chino, and constituted a review of procedural changes in the State's Reception Centers that were designed to prevent inmate mis/mal-placement.

Regarding the failure to correct these deficiencies at the California Institution for Men, the Inspector General had this to say:

Assessment of corrective action at the California Institution for Men.

"On August 30 and 31, 2005, the Office of the Inspector General visited the California Institution for Men to assess the institution’s progress in correcting the deficiencies identified in the March 2005 special review into the death of Correctional Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez, Jr., including the improper placement of maximum custody inmates in the general population. During that assessment, the Office of the Inspector General determined that 30 inmates who were designated maximum custody in the Distributed Data Processing System were housed in the institution’s general population. Further review determined that the institution had re-evaluated some of the 30 inmates and found them to be appropriate for the general population and simply had not changed the maximum custody designation in the computer system. Others, however, were maximum custody inmates who had slipped through the initial screening process and should not have been placed in the general population. One of those was a maximum custody inmate with a history of violent behavior similar to that of the inmate accused in the fatal attack on Officer Gonzalez. The errors occurred despite the August 1, 2005 directive from department management mandating that inmates who paroled from segregated housing immediately be placed in administrative segregation when they arrive at the reception center pending review by an institutional classification committee. The presence of the maximum custody inmates in the general population at the reception center appeared to be attributable both to errors by the reception center staff and to problems in using the Offender Based Information System as the sole means by which to identify inmates who paroled from segregated housing."

The Fifth Danger

On pages 14 and 15 of this report, the Inspector General identifies four areas of "The dangers of placing maximum custody inmates in the general population." They are:

1. Attack on correctional officers.
2. Attempted murder of another inmate.
3. Violent attack on other inmates.
4. Fighting with officers.

However, there is one critical danger which, through it's absence of mention, attains prominence. An unspoken menace that threatens to insert itself in the political drama that stages itself somewhere between the California Institution for Men and Chino City Hall. A drama that involves another improperly housed inmate and the impact that this housing had on the community of Chino.

On February 19, 1985, Kevin Cooper was convicted of murdering Douglas and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old daughter, Jessica, and 11-year-old house guest Christopher Hughes inside the Ryens' Chino Hills home on June 4-5, 1983.

On May 15, 1985, Cooper was sentenced to Death, a sentence which was upheld in Federal Court on April 22, 2005. All of this occurring AFTER Cooper's June 2, 1983 escape from the California Institution for Men, an escape which was facilitated by Cooper's improper housing.

During the trial, the press would report that Cooper's complete criminal history would not catch up to classification officials at the California Institution for Men until AFTER his escape. Decidedly, Kevin Cooper was another, in a long list of, improperly housed inmates. An improperly housed inmate who's escape impacted the community surrounding the California Institution for Men.

While the mutual-admiration society that exists between government entities is to be expected, the Chino Mayor and City Council should not forget who elected them to their offices. It was the Citizens of Chino; their expectation being that the Chino City Council will act in their best interests.

The historic problem of the improper housing of inmates at the California Institution for Men is as much a reality today as it was in 1983 and, as the Inspector General's report indicates, there appears to be no relief in sight.

Perhaps the wail of "The Siren" will drown out future discussion on this matter in the Chamber of the Chino City Council and the service club luncheons at which Mr. Poulos, CIM's Warden, will speak.

Lorraine Bradley

"Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" - popular
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - historical
-- George Santanyana

P.S.
For an excellent, in-depth article, CLICK HERE!