My Picture as a Retired Associate Warden Teaching College Classes
The California Correctional Institution-Tehachapi
Me as a Lieutenant Going to Work on My Shift at the Correctional Training Facility
Correctional Training Facility-Soledad"My Twenty Seven Years as an Employee in The California Department of Corrections "
It was August 29, 1973, I had reported to work for the evening watch (third watch) at San Quentin and was briefed by Lieutenant Bill Faust while standing in formation to be very careful because of the continual racial unrest in the prison and the constant rumors that inmate violence could take place at any time. That evening was my first night in a new assignment as one of two gunmen assigned to East Block. East Block is a very large inmate housing block where up to 700 very disruptive inmates were assigned. The cells were inside a very large building called East Block. A building within a building. On the inside of the exterior building, are walkways where two Correctional Officers work in opposite ends of the building providing gun coverage for the movements of staff and inmates. To get to this position like all gun positions in the prison involved walking through a labyrinth of walkways (up, down ladders, doors, stairs, ramps, etc.). To get to these positions, almost all gunners had to walk through the balcony gun position and Officer WG was the evening watch officer in this position. I informed him where I was going and he told me to be ready for action. WG instructed me to put a round in the chamber of the O5 carbine rifle I was issued and to take the safety off. I had carried this same weapon through much of my first tour of Vietnam in the U.S. Army and was very familiar with it. I also carried a 38 revolver. Officer WG had allegedly shot over sixteen inmates over the years and could not safely work on the ground with the inmates. After climbing and descending many stairs, I arrived in my position in the rear of East Block on the walk ways or the side of the gun block. The other gunner who was the regular gunner in the block told me where my area of responsibility was located and briefly explained my duties.
Shortly after I assumed the duties of the position, yard recall was called and the inmates were called to return to their cells from the yard and were to be counted before the routine feeding and showering would take place. The staff had successfully locked one half of the unit (yard side) into their cells when I observed many inmates running on the yard side and some inmates started to stare at me. I ran to the end of the tier on the yard side and observed two inmates struggling with each other. A Mexican inmate was holding a large dagger with red substance highly visible on the tip. A black inmate was the apparent victim of the stabbing and was grasping onto the Mexican inmate. I later learned that the aggressor inmate was a Mexican gang Member and was attacking , a Black Guerrilla gang member from another gang. The attack was a sanctioned attack by the Mexican gang for unknown reasons. I immediately shot a round from the carbine in the ceiling of the housing block as a warning shot (our procedures at the time). I then proceeded down the gun walk to a position directly over the struggling inmates, blew my whistle, and yelled for them to stop. Both inmates ignored my warnings. The Sergeant and three correctional officers had arrived near the knife fighting inmates. Also, there were a large group of inmates near the area. The inmates assigned to the bay side of the housing unit had not been secured in their cells yet and gathered to watch the spectacle of the knife fighting inmates. The evening’s entertainment needed to be watched by them to break up the boredom of prison life. All the yard side inmates had spectator visibility to the spectacle from inside their cells which they had been locked into. It was very crowded with people and I was very worried about shooting non involved people with ricocheted rounds if I fired the rifle. Finally, the Sergeant yelled at me “shoot you son of a bitch”. I immediately jumped up on the railing, second rung, shot the Mexican inmate in the upper leg butt area and he dropped to the floor. The Black inmate then picked up the knife which had been dropped by the Mexican inmate and proceeded to attempt to attack the Mexican inmate who lay on the cement. I then shot the Black inmate in the same body area as the Mexican inmate. I then assisted staff to supervise the locking up of the remaining inmates. The injured inmates were carried by other inmates to the prisons hospital for treatment. They both survived these gun shot wounds. The inmates in the cell block were all locked up and then the accumulated hatred was released. Seeing me efficiently shoot these two inmates caused the inmates to think of their situations in a shooting gallery and they vented this resentment on me. I was a target for anything and everything they could throw at me. Nothing struck me because of the distance involved and I was easily able to dodge the thrown items. The large housing unit seemed to heave with resentment by the caged inmates. I was told to stay at the end of the tier out of sight of the celled inmates until I could be relieved and so I could write my report. After being relieved, an Associate Warden who had been called in talked to me. He told me that if I had done what had been reported to him that I did a very good job. He added that if I had not, I had better watch out. Enlightened leadership at its best. I later learned that my nick name after this was “two gun”. I was also told that the Mexican Prison Gang had put a contract out on my life. It was for two cartons of cigarettes. Shortly afterwards, as I walked to B Section one day, I was surrounded by four Mexican inmates with rolled newspapers who wanted to talk to me. This was directly under the upper yard gunman. The inmates maneuvered to have access to my back. I had a large leather satchel and constantly moved as I talked to them. They wanted to talk to me about shooting the Mexican inmate. I told them some calculated lies to lesson their desire to stab me. I told them I had five children, that I was Catholic, that I was ordered to shoot inmate Bonilla by the Sergeant and shot him for the sole purpose of preserving my job which I needed to feed my family. It seemed to work, after a while they seemed to feel there would be no honor in stabbing such a pathetic personality such as myself.
When I was subsequently promoted to Counselor, the Mexican inmate who I had shot was placed on my case load and I did his board report for his appearance before the Adult Authority to consider him for parole. The Head of the Adult Authority Mr. Ray Procunier heard the case for the Board in the B Section Segregation Unit. I explained to Mr. Procunier why the Mexican inmate was in segregation and the Mexican inmate was granted an immediate parole based on an approved parole plan. I thought my wounding the Mexican inmate had facilitated his rehabilitation, a concern in those days. California Penal Code was subsequently changed to remove the word rehabilitation and inmates were to be committed to prison for punishment per the revised code. I think the change to the Penal Code has had a long range negative ramification to the inmates incarcerated in California Prisons. Rehabilitation has been added back into the code in 2006.
I started with the California Department of Corrections in June 1973 at San Quentin State Prison located in Marine County, California. I had graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1973 with a bachelors degree in Criminal Justice, Corrections emphasis. My mentor professor in Nebraska was a person named James Caine. Mr. Caine had been employed by the New York Department of Corrections and was an Irish liberal. He offered a very liberal philosophy, promoting rehabilitation philosophy which was an overall good philosophy for me to receive considering the prospective that I have developed after twenty seven years of prison work.
Mr. Caine emphasized the destructiveness of the system and that we should try to make a difference in the lives of the inmates by offering them hope and a conviction that they could change their lives. By our personal believe in their ability to change, the inmate would find the strength to change and would change. I find this proposal in theory as valid today as it was when Mr. Caine taught it to me in 1973. Implementing it is mostly impractical considering our present resources or at least the way the resources are presently allocated.
The time that I started to work at San Quentin was shortly after the escape attempt of George Jackson and the attempted escape at the Marine County Court House. The trial was still on going for those involved in the Marine County Court House shoot out. Unfortunately for me, I have the same last name as the attorney who is suspected of bringing the pistol into George Jackson that facilitated his escape attempt. The attorney’s name is Steve Bingham. When Warden Reese arrived from Duel Vocational Institution, in classes for employees, he would sometimes mistakenly refer to me as Steve Bingham which I would correct him on. The environment at San Quentin was very tense, distrustful, and bruising for the staff and inmates alike. Please see my descriptive journal of my first two weeks at San Quentin.
I soon realized that the staff at San Quentin was different people then anything I had experienced in any other organization that I had been in. San Quentin staff at the time was survivors. These staff had experienced a drastic liberalizing of policies towards inmates without an increase in administrative sanctions or increased numbers of staff to control the inmates. The staff that survived who did not quit or go off on disability retirement for stress reasons had developed emotional armor protection to insulate themselves from the constant attacks from the inmates and the apparent lack of support from top management. The system has constantly improved from this very low point in California Prison history. The staff that were at San Quentin and other key California Prisons (Folsom, DVI, Soledad) designated to manage the negative behaving inmates in the state at that time were frequently extreme personalities onto themselves. Managers of these prisons were thought to be strong men that in many cases were perceived to bend the rules themselves to control the strong personalities of the employees that they supervised when normal methods did not seem to work. The other perspective is that these managers and their staffs had not developed the administrative skills and methods to properly do the job. Many times the attorneys and Union officials that represented employees would destroy the disciplinary cases against employees who were charged with misbehaving. This often was the result of the ineptness of the Prison Managers involved or the Managers would be intimidated to capitulate their case against the employee or both.
I tested for the position of Correctional Officer at the California Medical Facility (CMF) at Vacaville and told them I would be willing to start to work at San Quentin or CMF. San Quentin had a turnover of staff that at various times ran from forty to sixty percent a year. San Quentin staff asked me if I wanted a job right away. I said yes. I needed a job. Less then a month from when I graduated from college in Nebraska, I was working as a Correctional Officer at San Quentin. In those days, each prison operated their own hiring of most staff at the entry level. There were no centralized state lists as there are now. The local prison was also responsible to train those staff they hired. Training of staff who work in prisons still remains a problem for all classifications, this is a problem because of a lack of uniform approach to the training and is compounded by constantly changing policies. It was a new policy based on state law that we as Correctional Officers were to receive formal Peace Officer training. San Quentin was in the process of training all their Correctional Officers at the time I hired on to meet this standard. It is referred to Penal Code 832 training. I ended up receiving this training twice, once at San Quentin and again at the California Rehabilitation Center at Norco California.
The wages at that time were small in comparison to today prison employees wages thanks to the Correctional Officers Union. I qualified for welfare in Marine County and actually applied for it. My claim was not allowed because we had too much personal property and savings. I was encouraged by a co worker Correctional Officer to put in for limited term Correctional Counselor I. I did it. The Business Manager (Leo Shepherd) called me into his office and informed me that if I could write a successful description of how I met the states qualifications to become a Counselor, he would hire me as a limited term counselor. Mr. Shepherd would send my qualification justification to Sacramento and if they approved it, he would approve my appointment. I wrote that I had provided Vocational Training for Army Basic Trainees as a Basic Training Company Commander at Fort Dix New Jersey and other assignments I had in the Army. Sacramento staff preapproved my qualifications to take the examination and I was appointed as a limited term Counselor with an Office in the Adjustment Center. This was the prisons maximum security unit where the worst acting out inmates are kept. In this building, simple activities were time consuming because of the heightened security procedures. Two separate Correctional Officers were required to open doors for me before I could go to the toilet. The Adjustment Center was that secure. This is the same building that inmate George Jackson had made his unsuccessful attempt to escape from prison. I later learned that Counselor I, Arnie Gerritsen, had sifted through the stack of applications for counselor and had selected my application from the pile. He saw my war record and thought I could handle the assignment and not easily “stress out”. Arni’s nick name is “hippie freak”. Arnie had long hair (for prison standards), was at least 6' 2" and an intellectual. He had two masters degrees and lived on a houseboat in Sausalito. Arnie was under promoted throughout his career because of his refusal to move for promotion and he experienced a large break in state service when he traveled the world for a period of time. Arnie was my sounding board to develop and survive in prison. He was a soft spoken, nonself promoter, always polite. One of my life’s regrets is that I did not attend Arnie’s retirement party and say good by to him.
One day Arnie and I were in the Adjustment Center (AC) and Correctional Officer Willie Martin saw inmates brawling in the AC yard from his position as a gunman inside North Block. Willie Martin stuck his rifle through a crack in the wall and rapidly fired his weapon at no particular target. Arnie wanted to respond by running out in the yard where the shots were being fired. I restrained him saying that I would be happy to as soon as Willie Martin stopped pulling the trigger of the rifle. Officer Willie Martin was a famous San Quentin personality at the time.
Those of us that worked with the inmates in the Administrative Segregation Units at San Quentin (Adjustment Center, Death Row, B Section) had our time kept by the uniformed custody staff instead of with the rest of the counselors for the general population. It was a matter of trust. Regular counselors were not necessarily trusted to work with the administrative segregation inmates or so it was inferred to me. I had proven my trust after shooting the two inmates.
I learned a valuable lesson very soon after being employed at San Quentin. I put in a suggestion to improve communication at the prison by having a communication seminar where employees from the various staff sections met in a class situations with me as a moderator and shared the duties of their assignments. I coordinated this activity and it took place. There is a continual problem in prison because of its rigid hierarchal structure (pyramid) to have adequate lateral communication. The lesson I learned was that just because a Warden says staff shall do a certain task, does not mean that the staff will do what they are told to do. I had a signed letter from the Warden that the Managers would cooperate with me and provide a staff member to participate in the training. Constantly I would call managers who would not cooperate and I worked very hard to get them to participate. The next year, when the prisons In-Service Training staff wanted me to coordinate this training again, I refused. I responded that I do not mind working; but, I viewed this as self destructive behavior.
My lessons regarding inmates were learned as most staff learn them, through the school of hard knocks. The inmates on my case load were the trouble makers of the institutions. Prison gang members, inmates with enemies in the general population, inmates who were emotionally very unsound and needed to be protected from other inmates, inmates who had committed aggressive behavior against other inmates or staff. My case load was primarily in B Section. B Section was a section in South Block (famous for being one of the largest prison blocks in the world. B Section had five tiers of fifty cells each stacked one on top of the other. This was a dangerous unit for staff and inmates. After serving in the military, my primary motivation for entering the prison service was to help other people. The military’s primary mission is to train to kill other people and take the objective. I was tired of this destructive goal and wanted to be a positive force in people’s lives. I came to the realization at San Quentin that my personal goal would not be reached with the very self destructive people that end up being incarcerated in prison. I would constantly try to persuade inmates to be less self destructive and chose an alternate course. I found that I was hurting myself in the process. At the inmates level of self destructiveness, I discovered that for my own safety, it was best that in many cases that I stand to the side and witness and document their destructiveness and not stand in their path. We as a system may be able to change the course of their lives. The methods to make these changes are illegal under our present constitution. These highly self destructive criminals require a level of change that would involve very severe methods to meet their very high deviancy level. Unfortunately, by making the noneffort that we do now, society is left unprotected from many of these strong criminal characters future criminal behavior. Many of these criminals do life on installments. Of the approximate present inmate population of 173, 000, more then 100,000 convicted criminals are released each year on parole to continue their criminal activities. Only a handful receive any prerelease education. The system contributes to their destructive life’s. Parole supervision has proven ineffective to stop their criminal acts. The Parole Agent would have to be with them twenty four hours a day to prevent their criminal behavior.
The other factor for me to be satisfied by this frequently dangerous work is that it acted as a stabilizing factor in my life. It reminded me of the great fears I experienced in Vietnam (Infantry Solider, I was shot in Vietnam). The work allowed me to focus, remove the emotional torment that I would experience reflecting back on the very aggressive feelings that I had developed from the military and Vietnam. As long as they (the inmates and staff) were not shooting at me, it was not a significant threat. It was dangerous enough to help me relax.
Of all the criminals that I have worked with, the one that stands out is inmate CT. Inmate CT had a measured IQ of over 160. He had three murder first convictions, two of which were for behavior in prison. His first murder was a gas station attendant who CT executed in the gas stations rest room by having him kneel down and shooting him in the head. The second murder was at North Facility at Soledad and was a gang killing for the Mexican Mafia. The last murder was in the Adjustment Center at San Quentin where CT made a zip gun that he successfully used to kill a Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) gang member. CT had enemies among the inmate gangs BGF, Aryan Brotherhood, Mexican Mafia, and Nuestra Familia. Inmate CT was a placement nightmare and was destined to stay the rest of his life in prison. CT was also destined to spent his life in segregation units. What made CT so different is his intellect. CT successfully writes poetry under a pseudonym and makes money at it. The other area that makes him different are my attempts to help him with a recurring dream that he had and interpreting it. I used Gestalt techniques. Inmate CT was dreaming that he was in a burning hotel and that he would see blood running down the stairs. After many discussions, CT figured out that the dream meant that the only way he would leave prison was if he died and that was his blood running down the steps. Also, CT would have dreams of showing up at my house. Inmate CT is over six feet tall, bisexual. with his long hair partially covering his lean young face. This was frightening for me to think of. CT was subsequently transferred to Soledad and when I was effectively supervising some inmates there later in my career (promoted to lieutenant) and they were planning to hurt me, he let them know that it was not in their best interests to hurt me in any way. CT’s threat with them had credibility.
At San Quentin, a manager named Bill Yoder transferred to us from the Correctional Training Facility and was placed in charge of the problem inmates in the segregation units that I worked. Though I only worked with Mr. Yoder a short while in at San Quentin, he impressed me with his integrity, forthrightness, and determination. Mr. Yoder later transferred to the Prison at Sierra, where he died at an early age because a hereditary disease to one of his organs. I will write briefly about the favorable leaders which influenced me through my career through these memories. Mr. Yoder indicated that he stood up for ethical principals at the Correctional Training Facility with Superintendent ST and Mr. ST had assigned him to manage warehouses to get him out of the way.
My decision to leave my assignment in B Section San Quentin was made for me. An excessive amount of counselors had been hired to staff the Olsen Unit, a special group of Counselors to conduct file reviews for inmates. This was in response to a court order. It was thought that a hoard of inmates would request this review and that was the motivation for the large number of hires. It was determined that I was an excess Counselor. I had seniority as a Counselor and this was less important then the total amount of time of state service (including other state classifications). I was informed that Chief Deputy Warden George Sumner at the Correctional Training Facility (Soledad) was interested in hiring me based on his observations of my performance at reviews of Segregation cases at San Quentin. I was warned that going to Soledad could be a mistake because of the ruthless management team there and how that routine civil service rules were not followed. I seriously miscalculated the utter ruthlessness, corruptness, and blatant disregard for civil service rules that could exist at a California State Prison as I found them to exist at Soledad under the management of Superintendents. At Soledad, like President Nixon’s administration on a national level, there was a enemies list. An employee was part of the “car”, top clique of staff, were not aligned with anyone, or they were on the enemies list. In reality, if an employee was not part of the in group “car” they were vulnerable to become a target for abuse by supervisors and managers. The prison environment is filled with tension and this added negative aspect caused many employees to become casualties. An example of this is an employee who was part of the security squad. The security squad is usually an elite team of Correctional Officers lead by a sergeant who does special intense searches and, special assignments. This Correctional Officer had lost this prestige assignment and missing his celebrity status, brought a gun in, planted it in an inmates cell, and then pretended to find it. The Officer later admitted to doing this act and lost his job. Of late, the security squad members have become so specialized that they are not used to assist line operations any more and this is unfortunate. They have become unofficial investigators with special training.
The Superintendent had collected managers whose primary purpose in life was to please him and that meant that civil service procedures may not be followed regarding appointments, union contracts. The Personnel Section at Soledad was infamous for its lack of organization and the maintenance of basic records. The impression I had of the Superintendent was very much like the Wizard in the movie Wizard of Oz. The Superintendent ST had no contact with us underlings that I observed. The prison overall ran somewhat smoothly until the 1979 inmate riots at the North part of the prison which I was involved in. On arrival at Soledad, I was immediately assigned into the Administrative Segregation Unit (O Wing), the same type of assignment that I had at San Quentin. I really wanted a more rounded Counselor experience then the Administrative Segregation Unit offered. I was able to get George Sumner, on his last week at Soledad, on his way to be the Warden at San Quentin, to agree to my transfer to the General Population at Central and was assigned to D Wing. The Prison is broken up into three major areas, North, Central, and South. I enjoyed the change and had my own inmate counseling group that met weekly. It was challenging. I had joined an Army Reserve Unit while at San Quentin and maintained my membership in the Reserves in my move to Soledad. I found that my state job left plenty of time to where I wanted more challenges.
An example of some of the encounters we would have with Administrators at Soledad was the requirement to attend morning meetings. Current information would be shared with us. These meetings would take place daily. Program Administrator FG would attend these meetings. Mr. FG would frequently refer to counselors (referring to me and other counselors) as “fucking Counselors” in meetings that I was required to attend. I took offense to his statements. I vowed to not let him get away with this very impolite behavior anymore. At a subsequent meeting Mr. FG again made this reference and when it became my turn to talk I read a section of the rules which did not allow profanity to be stated on the grounds of the prison and told Mr. FG that I did not say “fucking Program Administrators” and I did not expect to be spoken to like that in a meeting. I went into detail regarding how it made me feel when he said this (demeaned, helpless). Mr. FG never said a word of profanity in my presence again and shortly there after retired for stress reasons. At the many meetings that I have attended in the California Department of Corrections, supervisors, and managers significantly failed the staff by not being trained in ethical behavior and passing this onto their subordinates. It is very hard to talk about ethics when the leader is practicing unethical behavior which was too common a behavior mode at Soledad during the period of time that I worked there (eight and a half years). In the year 2000, the year I retired, this was such a continuing hot issue that Sacramento managers had ordered that small ethics cards be carried by all employees to remind them what was ethical behavior. Per Warden Nice Guy, the cards were in the warehouse waiting to be issued to the prisons employees at the time of my retirement.
As a Counselor at Soledad, I was favorably influenced by two of our supervisors (John Weaver and Dan Byrd(deceased). Mr. John Weaver was promoted to Program Administrator from Folsom State Prison where he previously had been employed. Mr. Weaver worked hard to be ethical in his decision making under very trying working conditions. Mr. Weaver was reassigned four times at Soledad before he was able to transfer back to Folsom State Prison. Mr. Weaver afterwards become a staff member with the Board of Prison terms. I consider myself his personal friend and he attended my retirement party.
Mr. Dan Byrd was my Supervising Counselor for a period of time at Soledad. Mr. Byrd has a very likeable personality and also was very ethical in his decision making. Dan would promote to the position of Correctional Counselor III and would visit prisons from his assignment in Sacramento and approve inmates to be transferred from one prison to another. Mr. Byrd and Mr. Weaver would talk with me about their negative experiences that we shared at Soledad. These very strong experiences caused both these people to avoid future promotional opportunities working as staff in a California State Prison.
I also become close friends with Correctional Administrator (Associate Warden Joe Marquez (deceased)) while working at Soledad. Mr. Marquez and I car pooled for two years together. Mr. Marquez was a strong leader who was subsequently promoted to Warden. Mr. Marquez worked hard not to do unethical acts while working with some managers at Soledad who managed using corrupt practices.
After five years of Counseling work in California State Prisons, I was “burnt out” doing this type of work. I needed a new type of work to stay stimulated. I applied for promotion to Correctional Program Supervisor III . This position had the same duties as a Correctional Lieutenant and also supervised Officers who did case work functions (Counselor functions) on a part time basis. The state accepted my supervision experience in the Army or I would not have qualified for the test. This was the last test as of this writing (2000) where an actual test was given for supervisors promotion. The State threw out the test process after this because they could not meet their diversified work force goals when a written test was administered as part of the promotion process. Future tests consisted of an oral interview only.
I was a newly hired Lieutenant and assigned to supervise the Third Watch (evening watch) for the Management Control Unit (MCU), Protective Housing Unit (PHU) II and I. We had famous
criminals such as Sirhan Sirhan, and Juan Corona in these units and many dangerous gang members and, leaders. One evening, in May 1978, I received a report that inmate Davis would not lock up. Inmate Davis was a Black Guerilla Family member and had insulted a Mexican Mafia member that day and he was in great fear for his life. We only knew at that time that he would not lock up. Inmate Davis did not volunteer the rest of the information at the time. Inmate Davis would prove to be a great source of Correctional Education for me this evening. We talked to inmate Davis repeatedly. Davis wanted to go to the Security Housing Unit for his personal protection and we did not know it. I contacted the Watch Commander and asked for permission to move inmate Davis to the Segregation Unit. This request was denied because the Segregation Unit was filled. I told the Watch Commander that our plan was then to place inmate Davis back into his cell by using force. Six of us surrounded inmate Davis and we put him back in his cell. Davis is a very large inmate and four of us were injured in this incident. Inmate Davis was later that evening placed in the Administrative Segregation Unit at his request. Davis cooperated with this move. I learned a number of lessons from this incident. The primary lesson is to use every trick, deception, etc. at my disposal to avoid violence in the performance of my duties, especially if it could result in a staff person being injured. Inmate Davis lessons helped me the rest of my career avoid staff being injured. I should have lied to inmate Davis to get him in restraints. I should have been more forceful and talked to the Administrative Officer of the Day and insisted that a cell have been made available in the Segregation Unit for inmate Davis. Davis had a history of two prior staff assaults.
The CPS program was moved to North at Soledad in 1978. In one section of North, an experiment had taken place where very difficult management inmates were placed in a general population and inmate peer pressure was to be used to control the inmates. An inmate named “Chili Red” was the primary inmate used to control the unit. Chili Red was a very large inmate. Staff felt that administrators had given Chili Red special favors to induce him to fill this role for management. He was given a desk in his cell and an executive chair to go with it. Also, it was rumored that slightly build inmates were put in his cell at his request for his sexual pleasure. An Administrator named Unknown was the alleged primary architect for this unit. Mr. Unknown was probably not disciplined for this unit because he was following orders from above. Retired Warden Joe Marquez would tell me that Mr. Unknown would adopt the morals of whoever supervised him. Mr. Unknown was known to be a very ambitious, braggadocio personality who was feared and disliked by many. I will write more about Mr. Unknown later.
When this Unit was found to be inappropriate, the disruptive inmates that had been sent to be housed in the unit were merely released to the General Population to coexist. The very nature of these inmates would not let them get along with each other. They were trouble makers of the worst sort. Within the next year, the California Prison System went to a classification scoring system and up to sixty percent of these inmates were transferred to Folsom State Prison and other prisons designed to house the highest custody level inmates. This is the environment that I found myself in as a relief Lieutenant for both units at Soledad, North when the CPS program was transferred there in 1978. We were in a state of constant lock downs with minimal inmate movement from their assigned cells allowed because as soon as they would be released, they would stab, and assault each other. We spent most of the time cell feeding the inmates. This is a procedure where we would bring a tray of food to the cell door of the inmate and feed them in their cells. This is usually reserved only for inmates in administrative segregation units. I bought a nice green apron to wear while serving the food so I would not get my uniform dirty. We were short staff to properly conduct our duties and I needed to serve up the food to facilitate the feeding process.
On a day in 1979, I reported to work for the Third Watch as usual and was told that one of the units had been released from lock down status. That usually put fear into hearts of the uniform custody staff because we expected a riot shortly after this release. We were not disappointed that night. I was summoned from the housing units where I was conducting inmate disciplinary hearings to come to central control. I was advised by the control Sergeant that a major riot was taking place in Shasta Hall and that I was expected to bring the gun into the Hall so the Lieutenant on duty could start shooting the rioting inmates with bird shot to get control of the situation. I drew the weapon, drove the state vehicle to the back of the building, unlocked the gates and handed the shot gun and ammunition to Lieutenant Roy Castro (nicked name Roy Boy). Lieutenant Castro emptied the shot gun and all its ammunition on the rioting inmates with no effect. I returned to Central Control and was immediately summoned to the gym where the inmates watching a movie had heard about the riot in Shasta Hall and wanted to get involved. We had just started to carry a wounded inmate to the infirmary when I was called away to go to the gym. Officer Lathinghouse and I entered the side doors of the gym and discovered the emergency lights on, with inmates sprawled on the gym floor. The Gunmen had fired and ordered the inmates to get down on the floor in a prone position. There was only two of us with approximately 200 inmates in the gym. I had to think quickly or lose control of the situation. I ordered the Whites, Blacks and Mexicans to separate corners of the gym and Office Lathinghouse and I stood between the Black inmates and the Mexican inmates and sweated. I yelled the orders and the inmates thought I was in charge. We did not have the numbers of staff to enforce my orders if the inmates challenged them. Other staff started to show up and I had them search the inmates and send the inmates to their assigned housing units. This was a big hoax also and purchased more time until more staff could arrive and handle the situation. The siren was activated and on grounds and off duty staff started arriving and we started taking control of situation. The Mexicans had ambushed the blacks with weapons in one of the large housing units. Some of the Mexican inmates were using a typewriter to pound the head of a black inmate. Staff later recounted this in great detail to me and their frustration that they did not have the weapons, equipment or the additional staff to help this inmate. The inmate was in the hospital for an extended period of time and mentally probably never recovered.
During this period of my life, it seemed that I was caught up in constant violent confrontations with inmates. After assisting in serving a meal, I would hear disciplinary reports. Some days I would talk up to six inmates out of using violence against staff. The staff were mostly demoralized. We had a lot of overtime and staff had to be ordered to work the overtime. To get days off, the staff would call in sick which would compound the problem. Three of us lieutenants did not transfer from the prison to another prison at that time or go on extended sick leave (Lieutenant Gene Perez, Lieutenant Ed Russell and myself). Other lieutenants routinely transferred to other prisons to get out of the violence. In many ways, all three of us may suffer from a delayed stress reaction because of these experiences. I and others were at times excessively aggressive with top management when we thought they were acting inappropriately. We had taken enough and we were going to communicate unfairness, incorrect situations, at least as we perceived it. Mr. Unknown informally urged us to bend the rules to control the inmates. I would not. I was told through the grape vine that it was being considered to have marijuana planted in my car to “get me”. I responded by putting out a counter rumor that if such thinking did not cease that me, as a crazed Vietnam Veteran, I would respond in a such a manner as to be as lawless as the threat against me implied. The threats against me immediately stopped, at least to take an illegal action against me. I was still fair game for retaliation. Lieutenant CJ’s career end was a case study.
CJ came to us from San Quentin. CJ was an ex-underwater demolition team member for the Navy. He was brought in to save us at Soledad. It was not said directly what CJ would do that we were not doing. We believed that he may use inappropriate violence against the inmates. The rest of the Lieutenants knew this was illegal and would not be approached about it. CJ was undergoing disciplinary action because in broad day light, he hauled an inmate across the yard in hand cuffs and then struck the inmate in plain view of the other inmates who were locked in their cells. One day, CJ without warning lost control while still wearing his inmate feeding clothes (apron, hair net) and walked to the Administrative Office area of North and threw his keys at Mr. Unknown and quit. CJ had enough of working in a prison, a feeling that I shared with him. Shortly thereafter, the Department of Corrections switched to a classification scoring system and transferred most of the inmates at CTF-North to other prisons with higher custody. At Soledad in those terrible days, Sergeants would promote to Lieutenant from other prisons and then return to the previous prisons as soon as possible because of the terrible working conditions. Their probation period would end in six months and then we would see their names disappear from the assignment rosters.
One of my all time favorite managers in the Department of Corrections is Program Administrator Famous O. Wade. We still trade Christmas cards. Mr. Wade is a retired Sergeant Major from the U.S. Army who has survived the Bataan Death March in the Phillippines during World War II. Mr. Wade is a survivor. Mr. Wade was always ethical in his behavior. In the years that I worked for him he taught me that a person does not have to be unethical and can continue to work with unethical people. Mr. Wade provided me with one of the best explanations of the difference between people who go to prison and those that do not. Mr. Wade stated that those who do not have the correct proportion of loving parents, religion, and positive examples, etc. in their lives and those that go to prison, do not have the proportions correct.
At CTF-North, I was favorably impressed by two Sergeants that I supervised as a Lieutenant. Their names are Larry Cargill, and Pete Carrillo. Both had very different styles of working with inmates and both were extremely effective. Sergeant Cargill had a sense of humor that I still reflect back on. I can hear him now say phrases in such a manner that their humorous quality helped us to deal with the tension that we were constantly involved in while working in the prison. I worked as a team member with both these Sergeants and greatly benefited by their professionalism. One major accomplishment that Larry and I did one night involved a Mexican inmate who had been raped by other Mexican inmates. Larry and I played good guy, bad guy (I
was the bad guy) and we were able to get this inmate to violate the code of silence and tell us the names of the inmates who had raped him.
Pete Carrillo was not a tall man and was a very effective communicator. Pete could also handle very hostile inmates and would step into them as a hand to hand fighter does when communicating with them. No body contact was made. Observing the scene from a distance, there was no doubt that Pete was in charge of the situation. Pete later was promoted to Associate Warden and Larry was content to promote to Lieutenant (as of my retirement).
In 1979, the CPS program was moved again and this time it went to CTF-South. CTF-South is a minimum custody unit. I enjoyed working with the minimum custody inmates and was the Inmate Assignment Lieutenant and the Watch Commander. I wrote an article that was published in the American Correctional Associations, Corrections Today magazinewhile in this assignment on the inmate assignment process.
I worked with two very good Sergeants at CTF-South, Granville Boyer, and Emet Kennamore. These fine men were retired Sergeant First Classes from the U.S. Army. Both supported management decisions and did a very good job of supervising staff, communicating with inmates and were very likeable people. Their behavior was always at the highest level of performance.
I entered a period of time of great conflict with the California Department of Corrections that changed me for life, limited my promotional ability and may have been a delayed reactions to the tremendous stress that we had experienced at North. I had been volunteering to work overtime for time on the books for me to use to go to Army Reserve meetings if I needed to use it. I received my statement and noted that the Personnel Section at Soledad had shorted me by 178 hours of time that they owed me. At the same time I was competing for the position of Correctional Captain. I asked the Personnel Manager to correct this mistake in writing and when she did not respond (over a month), I filled my first employees grievance. I had no idea of the ramifications of this simple grievance. I was later to discover that at this time in CDC Lieutenants did not dare to file grievances or they would face strong retaliation from top management at the prison. Superintendents. Wardens and top management staff largely ran their prisons in a proprietary manner and considered their employees as chattel serfs such as life was in medieval Europe. The Personnel Section finally relented and would give me 78 hours of the time they owed me and would not give me the other 100 hours where I had the documentation to prove otherwise. I went on to the second level of the grievance. Warden PR called me into his office. In his office he proceeded to us every word of profanity directed at me that I can remember being spoken. I could not believe he was saying this to me regarding a simple grievance. I withdrew the grievance, not previously understanding the ramifications of my action which in a healthy organization would have been routinely handled.
At this time, personal friends of mine, Joe Marquez, and Claudia Reasor conducted the interviews for Captain. I was told by Captain Eddie Meyers (later to become Chief Deputy Director of the Department of Corrections) that he had seen an informal copy of the promotional list and I was on top of the list. When the list was published, my name was not on the list. I was to learn much
later that I had automatic grounds to file an appeal. I had not. I decided that if they wanted to see a thorn in their side, they had now invented one. I also decided that I wanted out of working in custody in prison. The system of management was too corrupt for me to cope with. Looking back on my actions, it would have been better off to have meditated and overlooked it. This was not the course of action that I chose. It was not in my character to compromise my values and passively look on, at least at that time in my life it was not. My strong assertive actions rocked the system at the time. I volunteered to represent supervisors who got in trouble for the California Correctional Peace Officers Organization (CCPOA). The Union sent me for formal training to do this in Sacramento which was taught by a Professor from Berkeley. I relied on my experience as a prosecutor for Court Martials for the U.S. Army. I did this for a year and succeeded in all cases of having the cases thrown out (with the exception of one). I received word that top management wanted to hurt me because of my success as a Union activist.
I attended the CCPOA meeting in Reno, Nevada that elected Mr. Don Novey as the president of the Union for the first time. At this Union meeting, our local chapter President Doug Block was running against Mr. Novey for President of the Union. Mr. Block was receiving physical threats. We needed to walk around with him for his protection while he lobbied various groups to gain their support for the election. Mr. Block told us, his supporters that just before Mr. Block gave his election speech, a Father met him in the back of the convention hall, opened his coat and showed that he was carrying a weapon and that he would kill Mr. Block if he did not withdraw from the election. Mr. Block stated to us that this effected his delivery of the speech and he was still shaken by the experience. During the negotiation of the first union contract, Managers in CDC would tell us that CCPOA would bring fake grenades to the meetings and display them as a form of intimidation. There has never been any doubt of the power and influence of CCPOA and the extent the organization and certain members will go to achieve their aims. I was pleased that at my retirement party, the CCPOA Chapter President, Unit Job Stewart and past President Bob Knowles was in attendance. Bob repeated his appreciation of the training materials that I had developed over the years to train counselors and that I was the only one in the state to have done this.
I also applied for the position of Prison Industries Manager. I ended up in the second rank of the list. I discovered that other prisons were hiring people that were not on the list. This is against civil service rules. I filed grievances on this each time that I discovered that they did this. Textiles Superintendent George Rafeedie decided that I should replace him as the Textiles Superintendent for the Textiles factories at Soledad. He was designated to become the Industries Administrator at the California Correctional Institution (CCI), Tehachapi. I was appointed behind George and received a slight pay cut to do it. Shortly after my appointment, a Mr. BR was appointed as the Production Manager, my supervisor. Mr. BR background was in “meat production” from Chicago. Mr. BR was unfamiliar with government service, unfamiliar with prison work, and had not been involved in any of the industries that presently existed at the prison at Soledad. Mr. BR also was living with one of my factory supervisors who wanted my job very much. I also learned that Mr. BR may have not been paying rent on a continuous basis to live with this supervisor. Mr. BR, after giving me an acceptable performance report, starting preparing adverse documentation on me reflecting that I should not continue in the position of Textile Superintendent. I asked him if he intended to fail me in probation as a Textile Superintendent and he responded in the affirmative. Mr. BR was shortly thereafter promoted to Industries Administrator at Chino prison based on a discrimination grievance he had submitted. I voluntarily went back as a Lieutenant in Custody and was placed back in the management units at Central. I came out in the first rank of the new Supervising Counselor list and refused to interview at Soledad. I was told by Chief Deputy Warden Danny Vasquez that I would receive no special treatment because he considered me a trouble maker. Looking back on it, that is one accurate interpretation of my behavior. He was not very smart in saying it to me. I realized that I could not win in the corrupt system that then existed, and in many cases, still does exit in the California Department of Corrections. I transferred to CCI where my friend Warden Joe Marquez worked and vowed that I would never file another grievance or represent anyone who was in trouble. I would just do my time (as a prison inmate would do his time) as a civil servant employee until my retirement. I would also be satisfied to stay at one prison until I retired. I saw little to be accomplished being transferred from one prison to another to pick up a five percent raise and the instability that it would cause myself and my family. I did interview at other prisons just before my retirement to make Associate Warden which I wanted to promote to before retirement. I was promoted four times at the CCI and retired as an Associate Warden on June 19, 2000. The lessons I learned about the system at Soledad and San Quentin in my first ten years allowed me to work 27 years in the prison system in California with no letters of instruction or adverse actions in my file. The prison system has been forced in California to impose multi-level of internal affairs investigators. I was told from reliable sources just before I retired that the Chief Investigators in the Department were very frustrated because of how their investigations were being handled. The lengthy investigations would be handed over to a Warden indicating substantial misconduct by a key subordinate and the Warden would administer a minor disciplinary action (letters of instruction, employee contact report) when the information would indicate stronger action needed to be taken. The implications for this are the Wardens had prior knowledge of the misconduct and authorized it or the employee had information of the Wardens own misconduct which the Warden did not want reported. Another alarming aspect of this is that some of the best supervisors (the best and brightest) sole career goal is to become an investigator. This eliminates the constant vulnerability, exposure to investigative charges of misconduct, litigation by inmates, staff and the public. With the very large prisons in California and the large span of control of the Managers involved, this is a constant threat, no matter how ethical the Manager is. The Manager has a degree of responsibility for a staff persons’ misconduct working late at night while the Manager is sleeping safely in bed. I worked in constant fear of possible law suites or allegations of misconduct and weighed my decisions heavily and their ramifications. This doe not mean that I was slow making decisions. I knew I could get in a lot of trouble if I was not willing to make rapid correct decisions so the staff involved would have proper instructions to do their jobs.
One of the frustrating aspects of working with many of the people that work for the California Department of Corrections is their often low level of college education. It is not merely their inability to understand information for lack of academic training. To stay in school for many people also means the ability to get along with people and a level of emotional stability. The academic achievement required to become a Correctional Officer in the CDC is a high school
GED certificate. Many of the people who enter at this low level of academic achievement advance through the system through years of longevity to high civil service rank. This is possible by substituting the requirement for years of formal academic achievement on a year for year basis by years of work experience in their present grade. I have worked with many people of Captain or higher level civil service rank who could not write a simple written document. Many of them could not understand simple concepts, even when the statements were repeated to them. Captain BS is the example that comes to my mind as I write these memories. Captain BS was a Captain working at Soledad-Central when I was working at Soledad-South. Captain BS saw me one day in the employees snack bar and gave me instructions regarding an inmate movement sheet that had errors on it at Central. I explained to Captain BS, that I did not work at Central and made no errors. I repeated this to Captain BS three times in the snack bar. Captain BS still insisted that I come to his office at Central to talk about the inmate movement sheet. I complied with his order and when I again explained to him repeatedly in his office that I was not the person he needed to talk to, he finally understood and excused me to return to my regular assignment at South.
It was August 29, 1973, I had reported to work for the evening watch (third watch) at San Quentin and was briefed by Lieutenant Bill Faust while standing in formation to be very careful because of the continual racial unrest in the prison and the constant rumors that inmate violence could take place at any time. That evening was my first night in a new assignment as one of two gunmen assigned to East Block. East Block is a very large inmate housing block where up to 700 very disruptive inmates were assigned. The cells were inside a very large building called East Block. A building within a building. On the inside of the exterior building, are walkways where two Correctional Officers work in opposite ends of the building providing gun coverage for the movements of staff and inmates. To get to this position like all gun positions in the prison involved walking through a labyrinth of walkways (up, down ladders, doors, stairs, ramps, etc.). To get to these positions, almost all gunners had to walk through the balcony gun position and Officer WG was the evening watch officer in this position. I informed him where I was going and he told me to be ready for action. WG instructed me to put a round in the chamber of the O5 carbine rifle I was issued and to take the safety off. I had carried this same weapon through much of my first tour of Vietnam in the U.S. Army and was very familiar with it. I also carried a 38 revolver. Officer WG had allegedly shot over sixteen inmates over the years and could not safely work on the ground with the inmates. After climbing and descending many stairs, I arrived in my position in the rear of East Block on the walk ways or the side of the gun block. The other gunner who was the regular gunner in the block told me where my area of responsibility was located and briefly explained my duties.
Shortly after I assumed the duties of the position, yard recall was called and the inmates were called to return to their cells from the yard and were to be counted before the routine feeding and showering would take place. The staff had successfully locked one half of the unit (yard side) into their cells when I observed many inmates running on the yard side and some inmates started to stare at me. I ran to the end of the tier on the yard side and observed two inmates struggling with each other. A Mexican inmate was holding a large dagger with red substance highly visible on the tip. A black inmate was the apparent victim of the stabbing and was grasping onto the Mexican inmate. I later learned that the aggressor inmate was a Mexican gang Member and was attacking , a Black Guerrilla gang member from another gang. The attack was a sanctioned attack by the Mexican gang for unknown reasons. I immediately shot a round from the carbine in the ceiling of the housing block as a warning shot (our procedures at the time). I then proceeded down the gun walk to a position directly over the struggling inmates, blew my whistle, and yelled for them to stop. Both inmates ignored my warnings. The Sergeant and three correctional officers had arrived near the knife fighting inmates. Also, there were a large group of inmates near the area. The inmates assigned to the bay side of the housing unit had not been secured in their cells yet and gathered to watch the spectacle of the knife fighting inmates. The evening’s entertainment needed to be watched by them to break up the boredom of prison life. All the yard side inmates had spectator visibility to the spectacle from inside their cells which they had been locked into. It was very crowded with people and I was very worried about shooting non involved people with ricocheted rounds if I fired the rifle. Finally, the Sergeant yelled at me “shoot you son of a bitch”. I immediately jumped up on the railing, second rung, shot the Mexican inmate in the upper leg butt area and he dropped to the floor. The Black inmate then picked up the knife which had been dropped by the Mexican inmate and proceeded to attempt to attack the Mexican inmate who lay on the cement. I then shot the Black inmate in the same body area as the Mexican inmate. I then assisted staff to supervise the locking up of the remaining inmates. The injured inmates were carried by other inmates to the prisons hospital for treatment. They both survived these gun shot wounds. The inmates in the cell block were all locked up and then the accumulated hatred was released. Seeing me efficiently shoot these two inmates caused the inmates to think of their situations in a shooting gallery and they vented this resentment on me. I was a target for anything and everything they could throw at me. Nothing struck me because of the distance involved and I was easily able to dodge the thrown items. The large housing unit seemed to heave with resentment by the caged inmates. I was told to stay at the end of the tier out of sight of the celled inmates until I could be relieved and so I could write my report. After being relieved, an Associate Warden who had been called in talked to me. He told me that if I had done what had been reported to him that I did a very good job. He added that if I had not, I had better watch out. Enlightened leadership at its best. I later learned that my nick name after this was “two gun”. I was also told that the Mexican Prison Gang had put a contract out on my life. It was for two cartons of cigarettes. Shortly afterwards, as I walked to B Section one day, I was surrounded by four Mexican inmates with rolled newspapers who wanted to talk to me. This was directly under the upper yard gunman. The inmates maneuvered to have access to my back. I had a large leather satchel and constantly moved as I talked to them. They wanted to talk to me about shooting the Mexican inmate. I told them some calculated lies to lesson their desire to stab me. I told them I had five children, that I was Catholic, that I was ordered to shoot inmate Bonilla by the Sergeant and shot him for the sole purpose of preserving my job which I needed to feed my family. It seemed to work, after a while they seemed to feel there would be no honor in stabbing such a pathetic personality such as myself.
When I was subsequently promoted to Counselor, the Mexican inmate who I had shot was placed on my case load and I did his board report for his appearance before the Adult Authority to consider him for parole. The Head of the Adult Authority Mr. Ray Procunier heard the case for the Board in the B Section Segregation Unit. I explained to Mr. Procunier why the Mexican inmate was in segregation and the Mexican inmate was granted an immediate parole based on an approved parole plan. I thought my wounding the Mexican inmate had facilitated his rehabilitation, a concern in those days. California Penal Code was subsequently changed to remove the word rehabilitation and inmates were to be committed to prison for punishment per the revised code. I think the change to the Penal Code has had a long range negative ramification to the inmates incarcerated in California Prisons. Rehabilitation has been added back into the code in 2006.
I started with the California Department of Corrections in June 1973 at San Quentin State Prison located in Marine County, California. I had graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1973 with a bachelors degree in Criminal Justice, Corrections emphasis. My mentor professor in Nebraska was a person named James Caine. Mr. Caine had been employed by the New York Department of Corrections and was an Irish liberal. He offered a very liberal philosophy, promoting rehabilitation philosophy which was an overall good philosophy for me to receive considering the prospective that I have developed after twenty seven years of prison work.
Mr. Caine emphasized the destructiveness of the system and that we should try to make a difference in the lives of the inmates by offering them hope and a conviction that they could change their lives. By our personal believe in their ability to change, the inmate would find the strength to change and would change. I find this proposal in theory as valid today as it was when Mr. Caine taught it to me in 1973. Implementing it is mostly impractical considering our present resources or at least the way the resources are presently allocated.
The time that I started to work at San Quentin was shortly after the escape attempt of George Jackson and the attempted escape at the Marine County Court House. The trial was still on going for those involved in the Marine County Court House shoot out. Unfortunately for me, I have the same last name as the attorney who is suspected of bringing the pistol into George Jackson that facilitated his escape attempt. The attorney’s name is Steve Bingham. When Warden Reese arrived from Duel Vocational Institution, in classes for employees, he would sometimes mistakenly refer to me as Steve Bingham which I would correct him on. The environment at San Quentin was very tense, distrustful, and bruising for the staff and inmates alike. Please see my descriptive journal of my first two weeks at San Quentin.
I soon realized that the staff at San Quentin was different people then anything I had experienced in any other organization that I had been in. San Quentin staff at the time was survivors. These staff had experienced a drastic liberalizing of policies towards inmates without an increase in administrative sanctions or increased numbers of staff to control the inmates. The staff that survived who did not quit or go off on disability retirement for stress reasons had developed emotional armor protection to insulate themselves from the constant attacks from the inmates and the apparent lack of support from top management. The system has constantly improved from this very low point in California Prison history. The staff that were at San Quentin and other key California Prisons (Folsom, DVI, Soledad) designated to manage the negative behaving inmates in the state at that time were frequently extreme personalities onto themselves. Managers of these prisons were thought to be strong men that in many cases were perceived to bend the rules themselves to control the strong personalities of the employees that they supervised when normal methods did not seem to work. The other perspective is that these managers and their staffs had not developed the administrative skills and methods to properly do the job. Many times the attorneys and Union officials that represented employees would destroy the disciplinary cases against employees who were charged with misbehaving. This often was the result of the ineptness of the Prison Managers involved or the Managers would be intimidated to capitulate their case against the employee or both.
I tested for the position of Correctional Officer at the California Medical Facility (CMF) at Vacaville and told them I would be willing to start to work at San Quentin or CMF. San Quentin had a turnover of staff that at various times ran from forty to sixty percent a year. San Quentin staff asked me if I wanted a job right away. I said yes. I needed a job. Less then a month from when I graduated from college in Nebraska, I was working as a Correctional Officer at San Quentin. In those days, each prison operated their own hiring of most staff at the entry level. There were no centralized state lists as there are now. The local prison was also responsible to train those staff they hired. Training of staff who work in prisons still remains a problem for all classifications, this is a problem because of a lack of uniform approach to the training and is compounded by constantly changing policies. It was a new policy based on state law that we as Correctional Officers were to receive formal Peace Officer training. San Quentin was in the process of training all their Correctional Officers at the time I hired on to meet this standard. It is referred to Penal Code 832 training. I ended up receiving this training twice, once at San Quentin and again at the California Rehabilitation Center at Norco California.
The wages at that time were small in comparison to today prison employees wages thanks to the Correctional Officers Union. I qualified for welfare in Marine County and actually applied for it. My claim was not allowed because we had too much personal property and savings. I was encouraged by a co worker Correctional Officer to put in for limited term Correctional Counselor I. I did it. The Business Manager (Leo Shepherd) called me into his office and informed me that if I could write a successful description of how I met the states qualifications to become a Counselor, he would hire me as a limited term counselor. Mr. Shepherd would send my qualification justification to Sacramento and if they approved it, he would approve my appointment. I wrote that I had provided Vocational Training for Army Basic Trainees as a Basic Training Company Commander at Fort Dix New Jersey and other assignments I had in the Army. Sacramento staff preapproved my qualifications to take the examination and I was appointed as a limited term Counselor with an Office in the Adjustment Center. This was the prisons maximum security unit where the worst acting out inmates are kept. In this building, simple activities were time consuming because of the heightened security procedures. Two separate Correctional Officers were required to open doors for me before I could go to the toilet. The Adjustment Center was that secure. This is the same building that inmate George Jackson had made his unsuccessful attempt to escape from prison. I later learned that Counselor I, Arnie Gerritsen, had sifted through the stack of applications for counselor and had selected my application from the pile. He saw my war record and thought I could handle the assignment and not easily “stress out”. Arni’s nick name is “hippie freak”. Arnie had long hair (for prison standards), was at least 6' 2" and an intellectual. He had two masters degrees and lived on a houseboat in Sausalito. Arnie was under promoted throughout his career because of his refusal to move for promotion and he experienced a large break in state service when he traveled the world for a period of time. Arnie was my sounding board to develop and survive in prison. He was a soft spoken, nonself promoter, always polite. One of my life’s regrets is that I did not attend Arnie’s retirement party and say good by to him.
One day Arnie and I were in the Adjustment Center (AC) and Correctional Officer Willie Martin saw inmates brawling in the AC yard from his position as a gunman inside North Block. Willie Martin stuck his rifle through a crack in the wall and rapidly fired his weapon at no particular target. Arnie wanted to respond by running out in the yard where the shots were being fired. I restrained him saying that I would be happy to as soon as Willie Martin stopped pulling the trigger of the rifle. Officer Willie Martin was a famous San Quentin personality at the time.
Those of us that worked with the inmates in the Administrative Segregation Units at San Quentin (Adjustment Center, Death Row, B Section) had our time kept by the uniformed custody staff instead of with the rest of the counselors for the general population. It was a matter of trust. Regular counselors were not necessarily trusted to work with the administrative segregation inmates or so it was inferred to me. I had proven my trust after shooting the two inmates.
I learned a valuable lesson very soon after being employed at San Quentin. I put in a suggestion to improve communication at the prison by having a communication seminar where employees from the various staff sections met in a class situations with me as a moderator and shared the duties of their assignments. I coordinated this activity and it took place. There is a continual problem in prison because of its rigid hierarchal structure (pyramid) to have adequate lateral communication. The lesson I learned was that just because a Warden says staff shall do a certain task, does not mean that the staff will do what they are told to do. I had a signed letter from the Warden that the Managers would cooperate with me and provide a staff member to participate in the training. Constantly I would call managers who would not cooperate and I worked very hard to get them to participate. The next year, when the prisons In-Service Training staff wanted me to coordinate this training again, I refused. I responded that I do not mind working; but, I viewed this as self destructive behavior.
My lessons regarding inmates were learned as most staff learn them, through the school of hard knocks. The inmates on my case load were the trouble makers of the institutions. Prison gang members, inmates with enemies in the general population, inmates who were emotionally very unsound and needed to be protected from other inmates, inmates who had committed aggressive behavior against other inmates or staff. My case load was primarily in B Section. B Section was a section in South Block (famous for being one of the largest prison blocks in the world. B Section had five tiers of fifty cells each stacked one on top of the other. This was a dangerous unit for staff and inmates. After serving in the military, my primary motivation for entering the prison service was to help other people. The military’s primary mission is to train to kill other people and take the objective. I was tired of this destructive goal and wanted to be a positive force in people’s lives. I came to the realization at San Quentin that my personal goal would not be reached with the very self destructive people that end up being incarcerated in prison. I would constantly try to persuade inmates to be less self destructive and chose an alternate course. I found that I was hurting myself in the process. At the inmates level of self destructiveness, I discovered that for my own safety, it was best that in many cases that I stand to the side and witness and document their destructiveness and not stand in their path. We as a system may be able to change the course of their lives. The methods to make these changes are illegal under our present constitution. These highly self destructive criminals require a level of change that would involve very severe methods to meet their very high deviancy level. Unfortunately, by making the noneffort that we do now, society is left unprotected from many of these strong criminal characters future criminal behavior. Many of these criminals do life on installments. Of the approximate present inmate population of 173, 000, more then 100,000 convicted criminals are released each year on parole to continue their criminal activities. Only a handful receive any prerelease education. The system contributes to their destructive life’s. Parole supervision has proven ineffective to stop their criminal acts. The Parole Agent would have to be with them twenty four hours a day to prevent their criminal behavior.
The other factor for me to be satisfied by this frequently dangerous work is that it acted as a stabilizing factor in my life. It reminded me of the great fears I experienced in Vietnam (Infantry Solider, I was shot in Vietnam). The work allowed me to focus, remove the emotional torment that I would experience reflecting back on the very aggressive feelings that I had developed from the military and Vietnam. As long as they (the inmates and staff) were not shooting at me, it was not a significant threat. It was dangerous enough to help me relax.
Of all the criminals that I have worked with, the one that stands out is inmate CT. Inmate CT had a measured IQ of over 160. He had three murder first convictions, two of which were for behavior in prison. His first murder was a gas station attendant who CT executed in the gas stations rest room by having him kneel down and shooting him in the head. The second murder was at North Facility at Soledad and was a gang killing for the Mexican Mafia. The last murder was in the Adjustment Center at San Quentin where CT made a zip gun that he successfully used to kill a Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) gang member. CT had enemies among the inmate gangs BGF, Aryan Brotherhood, Mexican Mafia, and Nuestra Familia. Inmate CT was a placement nightmare and was destined to stay the rest of his life in prison. CT was also destined to spent his life in segregation units. What made CT so different is his intellect. CT successfully writes poetry under a pseudonym and makes money at it. The other area that makes him different are my attempts to help him with a recurring dream that he had and interpreting it. I used Gestalt techniques. Inmate CT was dreaming that he was in a burning hotel and that he would see blood running down the stairs. After many discussions, CT figured out that the dream meant that the only way he would leave prison was if he died and that was his blood running down the steps. Also, CT would have dreams of showing up at my house. Inmate CT is over six feet tall, bisexual. with his long hair partially covering his lean young face. This was frightening for me to think of. CT was subsequently transferred to Soledad and when I was effectively supervising some inmates there later in my career (promoted to lieutenant) and they were planning to hurt me, he let them know that it was not in their best interests to hurt me in any way. CT’s threat with them had credibility.
At San Quentin, a manager named Bill Yoder transferred to us from the Correctional Training Facility and was placed in charge of the problem inmates in the segregation units that I worked. Though I only worked with Mr. Yoder a short while in at San Quentin, he impressed me with his integrity, forthrightness, and determination. Mr. Yoder later transferred to the Prison at Sierra, where he died at an early age because a hereditary disease to one of his organs. I will write briefly about the favorable leaders which influenced me through my career through these memories. Mr. Yoder indicated that he stood up for ethical principals at the Correctional Training Facility with Superintendent ST and Mr. ST had assigned him to manage warehouses to get him out of the way.
My decision to leave my assignment in B Section San Quentin was made for me. An excessive amount of counselors had been hired to staff the Olsen Unit, a special group of Counselors to conduct file reviews for inmates. This was in response to a court order. It was thought that a hoard of inmates would request this review and that was the motivation for the large number of hires. It was determined that I was an excess Counselor. I had seniority as a Counselor and this was less important then the total amount of time of state service (including other state classifications). I was informed that Chief Deputy Warden George Sumner at the Correctional Training Facility (Soledad) was interested in hiring me based on his observations of my performance at reviews of Segregation cases at San Quentin. I was warned that going to Soledad could be a mistake because of the ruthless management team there and how that routine civil service rules were not followed. I seriously miscalculated the utter ruthlessness, corruptness, and blatant disregard for civil service rules that could exist at a California State Prison as I found them to exist at Soledad under the management of Superintendents. At Soledad, like President Nixon’s administration on a national level, there was a enemies list. An employee was part of the “car”, top clique of staff, were not aligned with anyone, or they were on the enemies list. In reality, if an employee was not part of the in group “car” they were vulnerable to become a target for abuse by supervisors and managers. The prison environment is filled with tension and this added negative aspect caused many employees to become casualties. An example of this is an employee who was part of the security squad. The security squad is usually an elite team of Correctional Officers lead by a sergeant who does special intense searches and, special assignments. This Correctional Officer had lost this prestige assignment and missing his celebrity status, brought a gun in, planted it in an inmates cell, and then pretended to find it. The Officer later admitted to doing this act and lost his job. Of late, the security squad members have become so specialized that they are not used to assist line operations any more and this is unfortunate. They have become unofficial investigators with special training.
The Superintendent had collected managers whose primary purpose in life was to please him and that meant that civil service procedures may not be followed regarding appointments, union contracts. The Personnel Section at Soledad was infamous for its lack of organization and the maintenance of basic records. The impression I had of the Superintendent was very much like the Wizard in the movie Wizard of Oz. The Superintendent ST had no contact with us underlings that I observed. The prison overall ran somewhat smoothly until the 1979 inmate riots at the North part of the prison which I was involved in. On arrival at Soledad, I was immediately assigned into the Administrative Segregation Unit (O Wing), the same type of assignment that I had at San Quentin. I really wanted a more rounded Counselor experience then the Administrative Segregation Unit offered. I was able to get George Sumner, on his last week at Soledad, on his way to be the Warden at San Quentin, to agree to my transfer to the General Population at Central and was assigned to D Wing. The Prison is broken up into three major areas, North, Central, and South. I enjoyed the change and had my own inmate counseling group that met weekly. It was challenging. I had joined an Army Reserve Unit while at San Quentin and maintained my membership in the Reserves in my move to Soledad. I found that my state job left plenty of time to where I wanted more challenges.
An example of some of the encounters we would have with Administrators at Soledad was the requirement to attend morning meetings. Current information would be shared with us. These meetings would take place daily. Program Administrator FG would attend these meetings. Mr. FG would frequently refer to counselors (referring to me and other counselors) as “fucking Counselors” in meetings that I was required to attend. I took offense to his statements. I vowed to not let him get away with this very impolite behavior anymore. At a subsequent meeting Mr. FG again made this reference and when it became my turn to talk I read a section of the rules which did not allow profanity to be stated on the grounds of the prison and told Mr. FG that I did not say “fucking Program Administrators” and I did not expect to be spoken to like that in a meeting. I went into detail regarding how it made me feel when he said this (demeaned, helpless). Mr. FG never said a word of profanity in my presence again and shortly there after retired for stress reasons. At the many meetings that I have attended in the California Department of Corrections, supervisors, and managers significantly failed the staff by not being trained in ethical behavior and passing this onto their subordinates. It is very hard to talk about ethics when the leader is practicing unethical behavior which was too common a behavior mode at Soledad during the period of time that I worked there (eight and a half years). In the year 2000, the year I retired, this was such a continuing hot issue that Sacramento managers had ordered that small ethics cards be carried by all employees to remind them what was ethical behavior. Per Warden Nice Guy, the cards were in the warehouse waiting to be issued to the prisons employees at the time of my retirement.
As a Counselor at Soledad, I was favorably influenced by two of our supervisors (John Weaver and Dan Byrd(deceased). Mr. John Weaver was promoted to Program Administrator from Folsom State Prison where he previously had been employed. Mr. Weaver worked hard to be ethical in his decision making under very trying working conditions. Mr. Weaver was reassigned four times at Soledad before he was able to transfer back to Folsom State Prison. Mr. Weaver afterwards become a staff member with the Board of Prison terms. I consider myself his personal friend and he attended my retirement party.
Mr. Dan Byrd was my Supervising Counselor for a period of time at Soledad. Mr. Byrd has a very likeable personality and also was very ethical in his decision making. Dan would promote to the position of Correctional Counselor III and would visit prisons from his assignment in Sacramento and approve inmates to be transferred from one prison to another. Mr. Byrd and Mr. Weaver would talk with me about their negative experiences that we shared at Soledad. These very strong experiences caused both these people to avoid future promotional opportunities working as staff in a California State Prison.
I also become close friends with Correctional Administrator (Associate Warden Joe Marquez (deceased)) while working at Soledad. Mr. Marquez and I car pooled for two years together. Mr. Marquez was a strong leader who was subsequently promoted to Warden. Mr. Marquez worked hard not to do unethical acts while working with some managers at Soledad who managed using corrupt practices.
After five years of Counseling work in California State Prisons, I was “burnt out” doing this type of work. I needed a new type of work to stay stimulated. I applied for promotion to Correctional Program Supervisor III . This position had the same duties as a Correctional Lieutenant and also supervised Officers who did case work functions (Counselor functions) on a part time basis. The state accepted my supervision experience in the Army or I would not have qualified for the test. This was the last test as of this writing (2000) where an actual test was given for supervisors promotion. The State threw out the test process after this because they could not meet their diversified work force goals when a written test was administered as part of the promotion process. Future tests consisted of an oral interview only.
I was a newly hired Lieutenant and assigned to supervise the Third Watch (evening watch) for the Management Control Unit (MCU), Protective Housing Unit (PHU) II and I. We had famous
criminals such as Sirhan Sirhan, and Juan Corona in these units and many dangerous gang members and, leaders. One evening, in May 1978, I received a report that inmate Davis would not lock up. Inmate Davis was a Black Guerilla Family member and had insulted a Mexican Mafia member that day and he was in great fear for his life. We only knew at that time that he would not lock up. Inmate Davis did not volunteer the rest of the information at the time. Inmate Davis would prove to be a great source of Correctional Education for me this evening. We talked to inmate Davis repeatedly. Davis wanted to go to the Security Housing Unit for his personal protection and we did not know it. I contacted the Watch Commander and asked for permission to move inmate Davis to the Segregation Unit. This request was denied because the Segregation Unit was filled. I told the Watch Commander that our plan was then to place inmate Davis back into his cell by using force. Six of us surrounded inmate Davis and we put him back in his cell. Davis is a very large inmate and four of us were injured in this incident. Inmate Davis was later that evening placed in the Administrative Segregation Unit at his request. Davis cooperated with this move. I learned a number of lessons from this incident. The primary lesson is to use every trick, deception, etc. at my disposal to avoid violence in the performance of my duties, especially if it could result in a staff person being injured. Inmate Davis lessons helped me the rest of my career avoid staff being injured. I should have lied to inmate Davis to get him in restraints. I should have been more forceful and talked to the Administrative Officer of the Day and insisted that a cell have been made available in the Segregation Unit for inmate Davis. Davis had a history of two prior staff assaults.
The CPS program was moved to North at Soledad in 1978. In one section of North, an experiment had taken place where very difficult management inmates were placed in a general population and inmate peer pressure was to be used to control the inmates. An inmate named “Chili Red” was the primary inmate used to control the unit. Chili Red was a very large inmate. Staff felt that administrators had given Chili Red special favors to induce him to fill this role for management. He was given a desk in his cell and an executive chair to go with it. Also, it was rumored that slightly build inmates were put in his cell at his request for his sexual pleasure. An Administrator named Unknown was the alleged primary architect for this unit. Mr. Unknown was probably not disciplined for this unit because he was following orders from above. Retired Warden Joe Marquez would tell me that Mr. Unknown would adopt the morals of whoever supervised him. Mr. Unknown was known to be a very ambitious, braggadocio personality who was feared and disliked by many. I will write more about Mr. Unknown later.
When this Unit was found to be inappropriate, the disruptive inmates that had been sent to be housed in the unit were merely released to the General Population to coexist. The very nature of these inmates would not let them get along with each other. They were trouble makers of the worst sort. Within the next year, the California Prison System went to a classification scoring system and up to sixty percent of these inmates were transferred to Folsom State Prison and other prisons designed to house the highest custody level inmates. This is the environment that I found myself in as a relief Lieutenant for both units at Soledad, North when the CPS program was transferred there in 1978. We were in a state of constant lock downs with minimal inmate movement from their assigned cells allowed because as soon as they would be released, they would stab, and assault each other. We spent most of the time cell feeding the inmates. This is a procedure where we would bring a tray of food to the cell door of the inmate and feed them in their cells. This is usually reserved only for inmates in administrative segregation units. I bought a nice green apron to wear while serving the food so I would not get my uniform dirty. We were short staff to properly conduct our duties and I needed to serve up the food to facilitate the feeding process.
On a day in 1979, I reported to work for the Third Watch as usual and was told that one of the units had been released from lock down status. That usually put fear into hearts of the uniform custody staff because we expected a riot shortly after this release. We were not disappointed that night. I was summoned from the housing units where I was conducting inmate disciplinary hearings to come to central control. I was advised by the control Sergeant that a major riot was taking place in Shasta Hall and that I was expected to bring the gun into the Hall so the Lieutenant on duty could start shooting the rioting inmates with bird shot to get control of the situation. I drew the weapon, drove the state vehicle to the back of the building, unlocked the gates and handed the shot gun and ammunition to Lieutenant Roy Castro (nicked name Roy Boy). Lieutenant Castro emptied the shot gun and all its ammunition on the rioting inmates with no effect. I returned to Central Control and was immediately summoned to the gym where the inmates watching a movie had heard about the riot in Shasta Hall and wanted to get involved. We had just started to carry a wounded inmate to the infirmary when I was called away to go to the gym. Officer Lathinghouse and I entered the side doors of the gym and discovered the emergency lights on, with inmates sprawled on the gym floor. The Gunmen had fired and ordered the inmates to get down on the floor in a prone position. There was only two of us with approximately 200 inmates in the gym. I had to think quickly or lose control of the situation. I ordered the Whites, Blacks and Mexicans to separate corners of the gym and Office Lathinghouse and I stood between the Black inmates and the Mexican inmates and sweated. I yelled the orders and the inmates thought I was in charge. We did not have the numbers of staff to enforce my orders if the inmates challenged them. Other staff started to show up and I had them search the inmates and send the inmates to their assigned housing units. This was a big hoax also and purchased more time until more staff could arrive and handle the situation. The siren was activated and on grounds and off duty staff started arriving and we started taking control of situation. The Mexicans had ambushed the blacks with weapons in one of the large housing units. Some of the Mexican inmates were using a typewriter to pound the head of a black inmate. Staff later recounted this in great detail to me and their frustration that they did not have the weapons, equipment or the additional staff to help this inmate. The inmate was in the hospital for an extended period of time and mentally probably never recovered.
During this period of my life, it seemed that I was caught up in constant violent confrontations with inmates. After assisting in serving a meal, I would hear disciplinary reports. Some days I would talk up to six inmates out of using violence against staff. The staff were mostly demoralized. We had a lot of overtime and staff had to be ordered to work the overtime. To get days off, the staff would call in sick which would compound the problem. Three of us lieutenants did not transfer from the prison to another prison at that time or go on extended sick leave (Lieutenant Gene Perez, Lieutenant Ed Russell and myself). Other lieutenants routinely transferred to other prisons to get out of the violence. In many ways, all three of us may suffer from a delayed stress reaction because of these experiences. I and others were at times excessively aggressive with top management when we thought they were acting inappropriately. We had taken enough and we were going to communicate unfairness, incorrect situations, at least as we perceived it. Mr. Unknown informally urged us to bend the rules to control the inmates. I would not. I was told through the grape vine that it was being considered to have marijuana planted in my car to “get me”. I responded by putting out a counter rumor that if such thinking did not cease that me, as a crazed Vietnam Veteran, I would respond in a such a manner as to be as lawless as the threat against me implied. The threats against me immediately stopped, at least to take an illegal action against me. I was still fair game for retaliation. Lieutenant CJ’s career end was a case study.
CJ came to us from San Quentin. CJ was an ex-underwater demolition team member for the Navy. He was brought in to save us at Soledad. It was not said directly what CJ would do that we were not doing. We believed that he may use inappropriate violence against the inmates. The rest of the Lieutenants knew this was illegal and would not be approached about it. CJ was undergoing disciplinary action because in broad day light, he hauled an inmate across the yard in hand cuffs and then struck the inmate in plain view of the other inmates who were locked in their cells. One day, CJ without warning lost control while still wearing his inmate feeding clothes (apron, hair net) and walked to the Administrative Office area of North and threw his keys at Mr. Unknown and quit. CJ had enough of working in a prison, a feeling that I shared with him. Shortly thereafter, the Department of Corrections switched to a classification scoring system and transferred most of the inmates at CTF-North to other prisons with higher custody. At Soledad in those terrible days, Sergeants would promote to Lieutenant from other prisons and then return to the previous prisons as soon as possible because of the terrible working conditions. Their probation period would end in six months and then we would see their names disappear from the assignment rosters.
One of my all time favorite managers in the Department of Corrections is Program Administrator Famous O. Wade. We still trade Christmas cards. Mr. Wade is a retired Sergeant Major from the U.S. Army who has survived the Bataan Death March in the Phillippines during World War II. Mr. Wade is a survivor. Mr. Wade was always ethical in his behavior. In the years that I worked for him he taught me that a person does not have to be unethical and can continue to work with unethical people. Mr. Wade provided me with one of the best explanations of the difference between people who go to prison and those that do not. Mr. Wade stated that those who do not have the correct proportion of loving parents, religion, and positive examples, etc. in their lives and those that go to prison, do not have the proportions correct.
At CTF-North, I was favorably impressed by two Sergeants that I supervised as a Lieutenant. Their names are Larry Cargill, and Pete Carrillo. Both had very different styles of working with inmates and both were extremely effective. Sergeant Cargill had a sense of humor that I still reflect back on. I can hear him now say phrases in such a manner that their humorous quality helped us to deal with the tension that we were constantly involved in while working in the prison. I worked as a team member with both these Sergeants and greatly benefited by their professionalism. One major accomplishment that Larry and I did one night involved a Mexican inmate who had been raped by other Mexican inmates. Larry and I played good guy, bad guy (I
was the bad guy) and we were able to get this inmate to violate the code of silence and tell us the names of the inmates who had raped him.
Pete Carrillo was not a tall man and was a very effective communicator. Pete could also handle very hostile inmates and would step into them as a hand to hand fighter does when communicating with them. No body contact was made. Observing the scene from a distance, there was no doubt that Pete was in charge of the situation. Pete later was promoted to Associate Warden and Larry was content to promote to Lieutenant (as of my retirement).
In 1979, the CPS program was moved again and this time it went to CTF-South. CTF-South is a minimum custody unit. I enjoyed working with the minimum custody inmates and was the Inmate Assignment Lieutenant and the Watch Commander. I wrote an article that was published in the American Correctional Associations, Corrections Today magazinewhile in this assignment on the inmate assignment process.
I worked with two very good Sergeants at CTF-South, Granville Boyer, and Emet Kennamore. These fine men were retired Sergeant First Classes from the U.S. Army. Both supported management decisions and did a very good job of supervising staff, communicating with inmates and were very likeable people. Their behavior was always at the highest level of performance.
I entered a period of time of great conflict with the California Department of Corrections that changed me for life, limited my promotional ability and may have been a delayed reactions to the tremendous stress that we had experienced at North. I had been volunteering to work overtime for time on the books for me to use to go to Army Reserve meetings if I needed to use it. I received my statement and noted that the Personnel Section at Soledad had shorted me by 178 hours of time that they owed me. At the same time I was competing for the position of Correctional Captain. I asked the Personnel Manager to correct this mistake in writing and when she did not respond (over a month), I filled my first employees grievance. I had no idea of the ramifications of this simple grievance. I was later to discover that at this time in CDC Lieutenants did not dare to file grievances or they would face strong retaliation from top management at the prison. Superintendents. Wardens and top management staff largely ran their prisons in a proprietary manner and considered their employees as chattel serfs such as life was in medieval Europe. The Personnel Section finally relented and would give me 78 hours of the time they owed me and would not give me the other 100 hours where I had the documentation to prove otherwise. I went on to the second level of the grievance. Warden PR called me into his office. In his office he proceeded to us every word of profanity directed at me that I can remember being spoken. I could not believe he was saying this to me regarding a simple grievance. I withdrew the grievance, not previously understanding the ramifications of my action which in a healthy organization would have been routinely handled.
At this time, personal friends of mine, Joe Marquez, and Claudia Reasor conducted the interviews for Captain. I was told by Captain Eddie Meyers (later to become Chief Deputy Director of the Department of Corrections) that he had seen an informal copy of the promotional list and I was on top of the list. When the list was published, my name was not on the list. I was to learn much
later that I had automatic grounds to file an appeal. I had not. I decided that if they wanted to see a thorn in their side, they had now invented one. I also decided that I wanted out of working in custody in prison. The system of management was too corrupt for me to cope with. Looking back on my actions, it would have been better off to have meditated and overlooked it. This was not the course of action that I chose. It was not in my character to compromise my values and passively look on, at least at that time in my life it was not. My strong assertive actions rocked the system at the time. I volunteered to represent supervisors who got in trouble for the California Correctional Peace Officers Organization (CCPOA). The Union sent me for formal training to do this in Sacramento which was taught by a Professor from Berkeley. I relied on my experience as a prosecutor for Court Martials for the U.S. Army. I did this for a year and succeeded in all cases of having the cases thrown out (with the exception of one). I received word that top management wanted to hurt me because of my success as a Union activist.
I attended the CCPOA meeting in Reno, Nevada that elected Mr. Don Novey as the president of the Union for the first time. At this Union meeting, our local chapter President Doug Block was running against Mr. Novey for President of the Union. Mr. Block was receiving physical threats. We needed to walk around with him for his protection while he lobbied various groups to gain their support for the election. Mr. Block told us, his supporters that just before Mr. Block gave his election speech, a Father met him in the back of the convention hall, opened his coat and showed that he was carrying a weapon and that he would kill Mr. Block if he did not withdraw from the election. Mr. Block stated to us that this effected his delivery of the speech and he was still shaken by the experience. During the negotiation of the first union contract, Managers in CDC would tell us that CCPOA would bring fake grenades to the meetings and display them as a form of intimidation. There has never been any doubt of the power and influence of CCPOA and the extent the organization and certain members will go to achieve their aims. I was pleased that at my retirement party, the CCPOA Chapter President, Unit Job Stewart and past President Bob Knowles was in attendance. Bob repeated his appreciation of the training materials that I had developed over the years to train counselors and that I was the only one in the state to have done this.
I also applied for the position of Prison Industries Manager. I ended up in the second rank of the list. I discovered that other prisons were hiring people that were not on the list. This is against civil service rules. I filed grievances on this each time that I discovered that they did this. Textiles Superintendent George Rafeedie decided that I should replace him as the Textiles Superintendent for the Textiles factories at Soledad. He was designated to become the Industries Administrator at the California Correctional Institution (CCI), Tehachapi. I was appointed behind George and received a slight pay cut to do it. Shortly after my appointment, a Mr. BR was appointed as the Production Manager, my supervisor. Mr. BR background was in “meat production” from Chicago. Mr. BR was unfamiliar with government service, unfamiliar with prison work, and had not been involved in any of the industries that presently existed at the prison at Soledad. Mr. BR also was living with one of my factory supervisors who wanted my job very much. I also learned that Mr. BR may have not been paying rent on a continuous basis to live with this supervisor. Mr. BR, after giving me an acceptable performance report, starting preparing adverse documentation on me reflecting that I should not continue in the position of Textile Superintendent. I asked him if he intended to fail me in probation as a Textile Superintendent and he responded in the affirmative. Mr. BR was shortly thereafter promoted to Industries Administrator at Chino prison based on a discrimination grievance he had submitted. I voluntarily went back as a Lieutenant in Custody and was placed back in the management units at Central. I came out in the first rank of the new Supervising Counselor list and refused to interview at Soledad. I was told by Chief Deputy Warden Danny Vasquez that I would receive no special treatment because he considered me a trouble maker. Looking back on it, that is one accurate interpretation of my behavior. He was not very smart in saying it to me. I realized that I could not win in the corrupt system that then existed, and in many cases, still does exit in the California Department of Corrections. I transferred to CCI where my friend Warden Joe Marquez worked and vowed that I would never file another grievance or represent anyone who was in trouble. I would just do my time (as a prison inmate would do his time) as a civil servant employee until my retirement. I would also be satisfied to stay at one prison until I retired. I saw little to be accomplished being transferred from one prison to another to pick up a five percent raise and the instability that it would cause myself and my family. I did interview at other prisons just before my retirement to make Associate Warden which I wanted to promote to before retirement. I was promoted four times at the CCI and retired as an Associate Warden on June 19, 2000. The lessons I learned about the system at Soledad and San Quentin in my first ten years allowed me to work 27 years in the prison system in California with no letters of instruction or adverse actions in my file. The prison system has been forced in California to impose multi-level of internal affairs investigators. I was told from reliable sources just before I retired that the Chief Investigators in the Department were very frustrated because of how their investigations were being handled. The lengthy investigations would be handed over to a Warden indicating substantial misconduct by a key subordinate and the Warden would administer a minor disciplinary action (letters of instruction, employee contact report) when the information would indicate stronger action needed to be taken. The implications for this are the Wardens had prior knowledge of the misconduct and authorized it or the employee had information of the Wardens own misconduct which the Warden did not want reported. Another alarming aspect of this is that some of the best supervisors (the best and brightest) sole career goal is to become an investigator. This eliminates the constant vulnerability, exposure to investigative charges of misconduct, litigation by inmates, staff and the public. With the very large prisons in California and the large span of control of the Managers involved, this is a constant threat, no matter how ethical the Manager is. The Manager has a degree of responsibility for a staff persons’ misconduct working late at night while the Manager is sleeping safely in bed. I worked in constant fear of possible law suites or allegations of misconduct and weighed my decisions heavily and their ramifications. This doe not mean that I was slow making decisions. I knew I could get in a lot of trouble if I was not willing to make rapid correct decisions so the staff involved would have proper instructions to do their jobs.
One of the frustrating aspects of working with many of the people that work for the California Department of Corrections is their often low level of college education. It is not merely their inability to understand information for lack of academic training. To stay in school for many people also means the ability to get along with people and a level of emotional stability. The academic achievement required to become a Correctional Officer in the CDC is a high school
GED certificate. Many of the people who enter at this low level of academic achievement advance through the system through years of longevity to high civil service rank. This is possible by substituting the requirement for years of formal academic achievement on a year for year basis by years of work experience in their present grade. I have worked with many people of Captain or higher level civil service rank who could not write a simple written document. Many of them could not understand simple concepts, even when the statements were repeated to them. Captain BS is the example that comes to my mind as I write these memories. Captain BS was a Captain working at Soledad-Central when I was working at Soledad-South. Captain BS saw me one day in the employees snack bar and gave me instructions regarding an inmate movement sheet that had errors on it at Central. I explained to Captain BS, that I did not work at Central and made no errors. I repeated this to Captain BS three times in the snack bar. Captain BS still insisted that I come to his office at Central to talk about the inmate movement sheet. I complied with his order and when I again explained to him repeatedly in his office that I was not the person he needed to talk to, he finally understood and excused me to return to my regular assignment at South.
The California Correctional Institution
CCI was a very pleasant change from my experience at Soledad and San Quentin. My last day at Soledad, I responded to seven emergency alarms, fortunately, all of which were false alarms. As I recall, CCI had only minimum/medium custody inmates at the time of my initial assignment there in 1983 (approximately 2400 inmates and 600 staff). To my disfavor, I would refer to it as not being a real prison considering the many minor situations that would come up that were not considered to be problems at the extreme prisons I had left. The staff at CCI have always been top of the line and offered great stability to the management of the prison. The staff person that is attracted to CCI is not a quick promoter. Most of the staff are there for the long haul and are interested in raising families, stability in employment and working conditions. Even with CCI’s many minor scandals, massive expansion with a maximum security sections and a reception center, it has always offered this type of stability to its employees. The employees who have had trouble would probably had trouble where ever they might of been. Many feel the real strength of CCI has been the Sergeants who tend to have a lot of experience and are in their job as a long term career. Unfortunately, within the last few years, with the arrival of Warden Don Hill, significant distrust has built up between middle supervisors and top management. Mr. Hill made many sound decisions that needed to be made. Unfortunately, his background as a Chief of the Special Security Unit in Central Office made him appear to be non-forgiving with many disciplinary actions where employees had made mistakes and were made to pay heavily for these mistakes. Many employees on appeal were able to return to their former ranks after being demoted. These employees and their many friends developed great hostility to upper management. I spent four and a half years as an Associate Warden/Correctional Administrator and I was reassigned ten times, only one of those assignments did I approve of. The rest of the reassignments were based on the needs of top management when they needed my skills in an area or they were in a predicament. My military career made me too flexible in terms of following orders, complying with policy with unquestioned obedience and supervising others to have policy followed. Regrettably they would ask my opinion on occasion and I would give them the unvarnished version. I had figured out soon after I was promoted to Associate Warden that because I was a white male, except for being allowed to come to work each day, my advancement opportunities were over. Also, from my assertive activities at Soledad with men who had become very powerful, they would not trust me to be one of their favorites. I was not a “good old boy” and had a significantly different outlook regarding the practice of penology, ethics then I saw taking place outside of CCI. As a result, in executive staff meetings with Warden Nice Guy, I was ready to volunteer my opinions, many times where I disagreed with what was being said or decisions that had been made. Towards the very end of my career, I honestly expected the Warden to bar me from attending Executive Staff meetings because of his frustration at times with me because of the apparent obsequious behavior that he preferred to be surrounded by. The constant reassignments did not help my attitude. I had determined to throw in the towel in 1998. Chief Deputy Warden Jim Gamboa in his own very indirect manner let me know that no matter what I did, Associate Warden Cinderalla would be the next Chief Deputy Warden at CCI because of the diversification requirement based on gender and ethnic background. I have suffered from medical ailments, injuries from my employment in CDC and I decided that it was time to transition to retirement. I knew also, that even with all the laws that prohibit retaliation, my career would be over as soon as the claim for workman’s compensation was filed by my attorney and it was.
Probably no discussion can be made of CCI and my career their without mentioning Mr. Tehachapi, Chief Deputy Warden retired, and one of the key characters at the prison. In fact for many years, Mr. Tehachapi was considered “Mr. CCI, Tehachapi”. Mr. Tehachapi described himself as the person that new Wardens would rely on because he knew the history of the prison and all of our individual histories. We collectively did not trust Mr. Tehachapi to tell new Wardens our histories because we felt that he would put his own twist on the story. Mr. Tehachapil was able to keep his personal power and organizational power most of the time I was at CCI except when he made the mistake of saying “no” to CDC. I believe at that time he lost his opportunity to make Warden. Mr. Tehachapi lived to become a Warden and when he determined that this was not possible he left, without a party, without a fanfare. Without an announcement, Mr. Tehachapi walked off grounds one day. For most of us, he was an integral part of our organizational life at CCI and when he left, we all felt it. There were rumors of charges followed by at least one alleged witness confirming the rumors to me.
Mr. Tehachapi had to be in total control. His methods are very questionable and I strongly disapprove of most of them. Mr. Tehachapi was a liberal tyrant when it came to managing the prison. Mr. Tehachapi would routinely not process staff discipline referrals. They collected on his desk. I never could figure out what his purposes were for this. I received indications that he did this to extract personal loyalty to him from these staff members as he held these actions over their head. There were also indications that he thought the prison would look bad to staffers in Sacramento if many staff were referred for disciplinary action and would reflect that somehow the prison was not managed properly. The area where I objected the most was his control of the inmate disciplinary system. He would have every fifth or so completed inmate disciplinary action thrown out, regardless of the reports merit or the hearing officers adherence to procedures. Some of us staff suspected that he used inmate informers to help him manage the prison. Mr. Tehachapi would also routinely use staff informers to make management decisions and most staff knew of this. In effect, Mr. Tehachapi appeared to be controlled in many ways by these informers. Our collective morale was undermined because of these management techniques. As a result, Mr. Tehachapi was disliked and feared by many staff members and I am one of them. Personal encounters that have further caused me to dislike Mr. Tehachapi are numerous. Mr. Tehachapi also under his breath threatened me one day in a committee to cut my tie in two because of a tie tack I wore which I bought at the Department of Corrections uniform store at Gault California. Mr. Tehachapi’s comments were made when he thought I was wearing a union symbol. Other managers told me that Mr. Tehachapi was also attempting to get promoted by contributing large sums of money to the political parties, and giving baseball game seat tickets to managers in Sacramento. I enjoyed impersonating Mr. Tehachapi at retirement parties for a few years after he retired. Mr. Tehachapi did us all a favor and did not attend any prison social activities after he retired.
In the seventeen years that I worked at CCI, I worked in every section of the prison. The prison is very large and spread out. The prison is split into five sections, in which many of the sections are a quarter of a mile apart. My last four and a half years as an Associate Warden (Correctional Administrator) at CCI, the management team reassigned me ten times.
I asked the last two Wardens, Larry Small and Warden Nice Guy that they not reassign me anymore. My impression was that they observed me as flexible regarding reassignments versus the typical other strong characters that are managers at a typical prison in the CDC.
I self limited my future in CDC for a number of years after I arrived at CCI in 1983. Warden Joe Marquez and Correctional Administrator Jerry Stayner repeatedly asked me to apply for the position of Captain in 1984. I felt the CDC was so corrupt, that as a custodial manager I would have extreme value conflicts based on the standards that I was trained in by the U.S. Army. I vowed that I would manipulate my career to avoid being a custody manager until I was 50 years old so if placed in an ethical dilemma, I could immediately retire before facing any retaliation by the corruption that existed and still exists on a somewhat lesser scale. I accomplished this by hiding in the civil service positions of counselor which I was in for fourteen years (five years as a Counselor I, three and a half years as a Counselor II and five years as a Counselor III). I was promoted to Program Administrator when I was 48 years old. I wanted to make constant wages, have stability for my family, enjoy the delights of a stable life (continue my formal education, and have many hobbies). Fast promotion to high civil service positions with the constant physical moves and disruption to family and personal life did not appeal to me after the years I had spent in the military, and my experience at San Quentin and Soledad.
There are certain key ingredients in surviving in prison or probably any bureaucracy like the CDC. I discovered at CCI that going to the employee snack bar could be a self destructive act. People would interview others to obtain information to use against them. If a person spoke with some employees in the snack bar rumors would emanate from the conversation. The statements would be self evident because the other person would have been observed talking to them. The general word among staff was to avoid going to the snack bar to avoid having conversations that could be used against oneself. I would offer this as sound advice to all prison workers.
Some of the highlights of my career at CCI include transforming Unit II custodially into a safe unit, being the first Special Emergency Response Team Commander (SERT) at the institution for two years, being part of a team of people to start the Reception Center and my individual management style of conducting documented weekly inspections as a custody manager. I was Assigned to Unit II, at CCI in 1994. Unit II is the largest individual prison Unit in CDC with approximately 1500 inmates assigned at any particular time. The Unit had been allowed to decay regarding staff attitude, tolerant attitude to inmate misconduct and maintenance deficiencies. I decided that I would not put up with any of it and as a team leader, we changed it. I was nice to everyone and intolerant of anyone or anything that got in the way of improving Unit II. The front doors to the individual housing units did not lock. This is one area that was repaired among many. The Unit is now reported to be a good Unit to work in per present staff statements that work there on my retirement.
I was involuntarily assigned at the SERT team commander in June 1984 when others could not make it through the SERT Academy and the institution was facing a Disturbance Control Exercise in August 1994. I had two months to supply, equip, train, and to personally go through the SERT Academy. I completed all these tasks with a lot of personal sacrifice. Our team came out first in the state for the first individual teams evaluations because we were the only team in the state who did not kill the hostages. This was accomplished by me personally going to the field and sitting on my more aggressive team members. Compared to military discipline, SERT team members many times have trouble maintaining their individual level of discipline. A lot of “Rambo” personalities are attracted to the teams. I took great pride in the teams training in riot control formations. Also, our training was scheduled well in advance and was diversified. We taught ourselves. I used the Army’s system of Battalion Training Management System to have the team develop our own training. Sacramento staffers sent our schedule out as a model for other teams to follow. I left the team because of Mr. Tehachapi. I needed the institutional armorer to assist us and Mr. Tehachapi appointed an armorer that would not support us. The Armorer that Mr. Tehachapi had appointed was one of his informers and Mr. Tehachapi was privately against the SERT concept and I lost on this issue and left the team.
In 1995, I was involuntarily assigned to Central Office in Sacramento for three months. I would have refused the assignment except I was on probation as a Correctional Counselor II. I was assigned to work with Elaine Sherwood and Cliff Smith (Manager of Emergency Services for CDC, exchief of police for the community of Folsom). My job was to help them develop a Emergency Operations Center similar to what the military would use, conduct exercises simultaneously with institutional disturbance control exercises. I also wrote most of the scenarios for the Governors level Disturbance Control exercises. I wrote a manual for the CDC Headquarters to use to operate a Headquarters during emergency situations. I used the Army’s field manual for staff operations in the field as a guide to write the manual. I then wrote scenarios for CDC Headquarters to use in exercises, trained the staff, and supervised the exercise. I then critiqued the exercise. I did not like the assignment and had no intention of moving to Sacramento. I wrote a letter to Mr. Denninger who replaced Mr. Morris as Chief Deputy Director of Institutions. I severely limited my future promotion because I refused to go to Sacramento. Mr. Cliff Smith was very concerned that I would replace him and I felt that he undermined my efforts. I was very successful in this assignment. I determined that I did not want to work in Central Office because I would eventually have to return to an institution to get promoted. I wanted to avoid the inmate violence that was occurring frequently in the northern prisons. Mr. Denninger many years later, in a very subtle manner reminded me of my underachievement by not accepting an assignment with him. I do not regret my decision of doing my time (in the prison inmate sense) at CCI.
I used my system of weekly inspections in each assignment that I went to. It was based on the firm military principle that what fails in the organization is what the commander does not
personally check on. I tried to check on everything, or almost everything. Each week, wherever I was assigned, I would take a tape recorder and walk a part of my assigned area. I would record significant maintenance and safety deficiencies and would ask for corrections to be made. The inspection schedule was announced in advance. Maintenance supervisory staff particularly disliked the inspections because on going maintenance deficiencies were identified and when I would repeat them as not being corrected in subsequent reports, could not be overlooked. Some maintenance staff would come into the bank my wife worked at and complain to her. Generally, in departmental audits, my inspections benefitted our evaluations. The biggest benefit to my inspections was the interpersonal contact I had with the staff. I was not a remote person hidden in an office. I was a live breathing person who cared about the maintenance and the safety of the institution. In my 27 years of state prison work, I am the only manager I have observed that routinely inspected the areas they supervise.
The last area that I am pleased to have been a part of while in CDC at CCI is our effort starting and operating a Reception Center. I was moved over to Unit III in1987 when I made the first rank of the CCIII list and I was positioned there to help organize it into a reception center and be promoted to that position. At that time, Chino was the only other Reception Center in the Southern part of California and they had inmates sleeping in the hallways because of extreme over population and workload. I went to CIM and studied their system and their staff were very helpful in providing information that resulted in us successfully starting our reception center. We gave CIM immediate relief which their staff was very grateful for. The Reception Center at CCI had deteriorated before I left CCI because of a lack of support from top management and concern about production. The Sacramento Managers had given up on trying to get WASCO and North Kern Reception Centers to fulfill their production capacities. These two reception centers were planned to close CCI’s reception center. In may career, these two reception center prisons could not improve their efficiency to process the inmates through in a timely manner. My conclusion is that the politics of state government make it very difficult for state managers to obtain production efficiency from state workers. There are too many ways to make end runs around a manager. It is also very difficult, if not impossible to fire a state employee for inefficiency. This is a particularly difficult if the employee is a protected employee (many or most are now) and they allege harassment, and discrimination.
My last assertive action as an Associate Warden, Correctional Administrator at CCI was to report to Regional Administrator misconduct by a senior manager. It involved money. After I made this report, I was reassigned back to the Reception Center in Unit III. I also reported to the senior investigator in the area that I had been reassigned based on my report which could be interpreted as a form of retaliation (I am a white male and not protected from retaliation).
I have been assaulted by my fellow staff five times in the prison system. I will describe each incident as follows: In 1974, at San Quentin, Correctional Officer PP assaulted me twice once by slamming a cell door to a cell office that I occupied in such a manner that my ears hurt. I was conducting a sensitive interview with an inmate who was describing details of the Black Guerilla Family to me and Officer PP had opened the cell door. I merely asked that PP please close the cell door. This same officer flicked his cigarette at me and it burnt a hole in a very nice tweed sports coat that I was wearing. PP was what can be best described as a classic “prison guard”, overweight, obnoxious. He would become very emotional over minor issues. The Third Assault took place in the Adjustment Center at San Quentin, also in 1974. I was preparing to leave the Adjustment Center when Lieutenant Strong Man and Sergeant SLO tackled me and took me to the ground for their mutual entertainment. I am still not sure of their motivation. Lieutenant Strong Man was under intense pressure because he was in charge of security for the San Quentin six trial which was taking place in Marine County. A judge had been taken hostage in an escape attempt and this was the trial for the participants. Marine County judges were notoriously liberal and the judge had ordered that the inmates undergoing trial to have their handcuffs removed during the trial. This event reportedly led to the escape attempt. I made a mistake in handling this assault in that I physically took the keys away from the Officer at the door (he refused to let me out of the building per orders of the Lieutenant and Sergeant) and let myself out of the Adjustment Center. I could not formally report this incident without getting myself also in trouble. I did tell Program Administrator Jim Yoder (deceased) about it.
The forth incident took place at CCI in 1985. I was the Special Emergency Response Team Commander and a Correctional Counselor II in Unit I at the time when a maintenance employee named Beard (wore a beard and old field jacket) would try to ram his shoulder into my body as we would pass each other in Unit I. He stated to me as he tried to do this “think your bad, huh”. I did not understand his motivation and still do not. One day, when I went to get my keys at the movement office in Unit I, he hit me in the chest with his shoulder. I responded by reaching between his legs from the rear, grabbing his testicles, jerking at them and at the same time ramming my thumb up his ass. Mr. Beard stayed at least ten feet from me from then on when we encountered each other walking.
The last assault by a staff member took place in 1986, in the Unit I Records Office in front of my supervisor, Program Administrator Bill Youngblood. Sergeant Rock came up to me, put his hand around my tie, lifted it, chocked me briefly, called me a “son of a bitch”, laughed and then walked away. Fortunately for both of us there were witnesses in the area and I was able to react properly. I did nothing and immediately documented the Sergeants behavior. Sergeant Rock subsequently received an adverse action and retired. Sergeant Rock was mad at me because I had asked for the removal of his friend, Sergeant Informer from the armorers position because Sergeant Informer had told me that he would not assist me in any way in my position as the SERT Commander. Sergeant Informer said he did not like SERT. I cannot find the words to summarize any conclusions regarding these assaults. I will write that the prison because of the constant threat of violence causes staff to develop values that are different from the general public.
CCI was a very pleasant change from my experience at Soledad and San Quentin. My last day at Soledad, I responded to seven emergency alarms, fortunately, all of which were false alarms. As I recall, CCI had only minimum/medium custody inmates at the time of my initial assignment there in 1983 (approximately 2400 inmates and 600 staff). To my disfavor, I would refer to it as not being a real prison considering the many minor situations that would come up that were not considered to be problems at the extreme prisons I had left. The staff at CCI have always been top of the line and offered great stability to the management of the prison. The staff person that is attracted to CCI is not a quick promoter. Most of the staff are there for the long haul and are interested in raising families, stability in employment and working conditions. Even with CCI’s many minor scandals, massive expansion with a maximum security sections and a reception center, it has always offered this type of stability to its employees. The employees who have had trouble would probably had trouble where ever they might of been. Many feel the real strength of CCI has been the Sergeants who tend to have a lot of experience and are in their job as a long term career. Unfortunately, within the last few years, with the arrival of Warden Don Hill, significant distrust has built up between middle supervisors and top management. Mr. Hill made many sound decisions that needed to be made. Unfortunately, his background as a Chief of the Special Security Unit in Central Office made him appear to be non-forgiving with many disciplinary actions where employees had made mistakes and were made to pay heavily for these mistakes. Many employees on appeal were able to return to their former ranks after being demoted. These employees and their many friends developed great hostility to upper management. I spent four and a half years as an Associate Warden/Correctional Administrator and I was reassigned ten times, only one of those assignments did I approve of. The rest of the reassignments were based on the needs of top management when they needed my skills in an area or they were in a predicament. My military career made me too flexible in terms of following orders, complying with policy with unquestioned obedience and supervising others to have policy followed. Regrettably they would ask my opinion on occasion and I would give them the unvarnished version. I had figured out soon after I was promoted to Associate Warden that because I was a white male, except for being allowed to come to work each day, my advancement opportunities were over. Also, from my assertive activities at Soledad with men who had become very powerful, they would not trust me to be one of their favorites. I was not a “good old boy” and had a significantly different outlook regarding the practice of penology, ethics then I saw taking place outside of CCI. As a result, in executive staff meetings with Warden Nice Guy, I was ready to volunteer my opinions, many times where I disagreed with what was being said or decisions that had been made. Towards the very end of my career, I honestly expected the Warden to bar me from attending Executive Staff meetings because of his frustration at times with me because of the apparent obsequious behavior that he preferred to be surrounded by. The constant reassignments did not help my attitude. I had determined to throw in the towel in 1998. Chief Deputy Warden Jim Gamboa in his own very indirect manner let me know that no matter what I did, Associate Warden Cinderalla would be the next Chief Deputy Warden at CCI because of the diversification requirement based on gender and ethnic background. I have suffered from medical ailments, injuries from my employment in CDC and I decided that it was time to transition to retirement. I knew also, that even with all the laws that prohibit retaliation, my career would be over as soon as the claim for workman’s compensation was filed by my attorney and it was.
Probably no discussion can be made of CCI and my career their without mentioning Mr. Tehachapi, Chief Deputy Warden retired, and one of the key characters at the prison. In fact for many years, Mr. Tehachapi was considered “Mr. CCI, Tehachapi”. Mr. Tehachapi described himself as the person that new Wardens would rely on because he knew the history of the prison and all of our individual histories. We collectively did not trust Mr. Tehachapi to tell new Wardens our histories because we felt that he would put his own twist on the story. Mr. Tehachapil was able to keep his personal power and organizational power most of the time I was at CCI except when he made the mistake of saying “no” to CDC. I believe at that time he lost his opportunity to make Warden. Mr. Tehachapi lived to become a Warden and when he determined that this was not possible he left, without a party, without a fanfare. Without an announcement, Mr. Tehachapi walked off grounds one day. For most of us, he was an integral part of our organizational life at CCI and when he left, we all felt it. There were rumors of charges followed by at least one alleged witness confirming the rumors to me.
Mr. Tehachapi had to be in total control. His methods are very questionable and I strongly disapprove of most of them. Mr. Tehachapi was a liberal tyrant when it came to managing the prison. Mr. Tehachapi would routinely not process staff discipline referrals. They collected on his desk. I never could figure out what his purposes were for this. I received indications that he did this to extract personal loyalty to him from these staff members as he held these actions over their head. There were also indications that he thought the prison would look bad to staffers in Sacramento if many staff were referred for disciplinary action and would reflect that somehow the prison was not managed properly. The area where I objected the most was his control of the inmate disciplinary system. He would have every fifth or so completed inmate disciplinary action thrown out, regardless of the reports merit or the hearing officers adherence to procedures. Some of us staff suspected that he used inmate informers to help him manage the prison. Mr. Tehachapi would also routinely use staff informers to make management decisions and most staff knew of this. In effect, Mr. Tehachapi appeared to be controlled in many ways by these informers. Our collective morale was undermined because of these management techniques. As a result, Mr. Tehachapi was disliked and feared by many staff members and I am one of them. Personal encounters that have further caused me to dislike Mr. Tehachapi are numerous. Mr. Tehachapi also under his breath threatened me one day in a committee to cut my tie in two because of a tie tack I wore which I bought at the Department of Corrections uniform store at Gault California. Mr. Tehachapi’s comments were made when he thought I was wearing a union symbol. Other managers told me that Mr. Tehachapi was also attempting to get promoted by contributing large sums of money to the political parties, and giving baseball game seat tickets to managers in Sacramento. I enjoyed impersonating Mr. Tehachapi at retirement parties for a few years after he retired. Mr. Tehachapi did us all a favor and did not attend any prison social activities after he retired.
In the seventeen years that I worked at CCI, I worked in every section of the prison. The prison is very large and spread out. The prison is split into five sections, in which many of the sections are a quarter of a mile apart. My last four and a half years as an Associate Warden (Correctional Administrator) at CCI, the management team reassigned me ten times.
I asked the last two Wardens, Larry Small and Warden Nice Guy that they not reassign me anymore. My impression was that they observed me as flexible regarding reassignments versus the typical other strong characters that are managers at a typical prison in the CDC.
I self limited my future in CDC for a number of years after I arrived at CCI in 1983. Warden Joe Marquez and Correctional Administrator Jerry Stayner repeatedly asked me to apply for the position of Captain in 1984. I felt the CDC was so corrupt, that as a custodial manager I would have extreme value conflicts based on the standards that I was trained in by the U.S. Army. I vowed that I would manipulate my career to avoid being a custody manager until I was 50 years old so if placed in an ethical dilemma, I could immediately retire before facing any retaliation by the corruption that existed and still exists on a somewhat lesser scale. I accomplished this by hiding in the civil service positions of counselor which I was in for fourteen years (five years as a Counselor I, three and a half years as a Counselor II and five years as a Counselor III). I was promoted to Program Administrator when I was 48 years old. I wanted to make constant wages, have stability for my family, enjoy the delights of a stable life (continue my formal education, and have many hobbies). Fast promotion to high civil service positions with the constant physical moves and disruption to family and personal life did not appeal to me after the years I had spent in the military, and my experience at San Quentin and Soledad.
There are certain key ingredients in surviving in prison or probably any bureaucracy like the CDC. I discovered at CCI that going to the employee snack bar could be a self destructive act. People would interview others to obtain information to use against them. If a person spoke with some employees in the snack bar rumors would emanate from the conversation. The statements would be self evident because the other person would have been observed talking to them. The general word among staff was to avoid going to the snack bar to avoid having conversations that could be used against oneself. I would offer this as sound advice to all prison workers.
Some of the highlights of my career at CCI include transforming Unit II custodially into a safe unit, being the first Special Emergency Response Team Commander (SERT) at the institution for two years, being part of a team of people to start the Reception Center and my individual management style of conducting documented weekly inspections as a custody manager. I was Assigned to Unit II, at CCI in 1994. Unit II is the largest individual prison Unit in CDC with approximately 1500 inmates assigned at any particular time. The Unit had been allowed to decay regarding staff attitude, tolerant attitude to inmate misconduct and maintenance deficiencies. I decided that I would not put up with any of it and as a team leader, we changed it. I was nice to everyone and intolerant of anyone or anything that got in the way of improving Unit II. The front doors to the individual housing units did not lock. This is one area that was repaired among many. The Unit is now reported to be a good Unit to work in per present staff statements that work there on my retirement.
I was involuntarily assigned at the SERT team commander in June 1984 when others could not make it through the SERT Academy and the institution was facing a Disturbance Control Exercise in August 1994. I had two months to supply, equip, train, and to personally go through the SERT Academy. I completed all these tasks with a lot of personal sacrifice. Our team came out first in the state for the first individual teams evaluations because we were the only team in the state who did not kill the hostages. This was accomplished by me personally going to the field and sitting on my more aggressive team members. Compared to military discipline, SERT team members many times have trouble maintaining their individual level of discipline. A lot of “Rambo” personalities are attracted to the teams. I took great pride in the teams training in riot control formations. Also, our training was scheduled well in advance and was diversified. We taught ourselves. I used the Army’s system of Battalion Training Management System to have the team develop our own training. Sacramento staffers sent our schedule out as a model for other teams to follow. I left the team because of Mr. Tehachapi. I needed the institutional armorer to assist us and Mr. Tehachapi appointed an armorer that would not support us. The Armorer that Mr. Tehachapi had appointed was one of his informers and Mr. Tehachapi was privately against the SERT concept and I lost on this issue and left the team.
In 1995, I was involuntarily assigned to Central Office in Sacramento for three months. I would have refused the assignment except I was on probation as a Correctional Counselor II. I was assigned to work with Elaine Sherwood and Cliff Smith (Manager of Emergency Services for CDC, exchief of police for the community of Folsom). My job was to help them develop a Emergency Operations Center similar to what the military would use, conduct exercises simultaneously with institutional disturbance control exercises. I also wrote most of the scenarios for the Governors level Disturbance Control exercises. I wrote a manual for the CDC Headquarters to use to operate a Headquarters during emergency situations. I used the Army’s field manual for staff operations in the field as a guide to write the manual. I then wrote scenarios for CDC Headquarters to use in exercises, trained the staff, and supervised the exercise. I then critiqued the exercise. I did not like the assignment and had no intention of moving to Sacramento. I wrote a letter to Mr. Denninger who replaced Mr. Morris as Chief Deputy Director of Institutions. I severely limited my future promotion because I refused to go to Sacramento. Mr. Cliff Smith was very concerned that I would replace him and I felt that he undermined my efforts. I was very successful in this assignment. I determined that I did not want to work in Central Office because I would eventually have to return to an institution to get promoted. I wanted to avoid the inmate violence that was occurring frequently in the northern prisons. Mr. Denninger many years later, in a very subtle manner reminded me of my underachievement by not accepting an assignment with him. I do not regret my decision of doing my time (in the prison inmate sense) at CCI.
I used my system of weekly inspections in each assignment that I went to. It was based on the firm military principle that what fails in the organization is what the commander does not
personally check on. I tried to check on everything, or almost everything. Each week, wherever I was assigned, I would take a tape recorder and walk a part of my assigned area. I would record significant maintenance and safety deficiencies and would ask for corrections to be made. The inspection schedule was announced in advance. Maintenance supervisory staff particularly disliked the inspections because on going maintenance deficiencies were identified and when I would repeat them as not being corrected in subsequent reports, could not be overlooked. Some maintenance staff would come into the bank my wife worked at and complain to her. Generally, in departmental audits, my inspections benefitted our evaluations. The biggest benefit to my inspections was the interpersonal contact I had with the staff. I was not a remote person hidden in an office. I was a live breathing person who cared about the maintenance and the safety of the institution. In my 27 years of state prison work, I am the only manager I have observed that routinely inspected the areas they supervise.
The last area that I am pleased to have been a part of while in CDC at CCI is our effort starting and operating a Reception Center. I was moved over to Unit III in1987 when I made the first rank of the CCIII list and I was positioned there to help organize it into a reception center and be promoted to that position. At that time, Chino was the only other Reception Center in the Southern part of California and they had inmates sleeping in the hallways because of extreme over population and workload. I went to CIM and studied their system and their staff were very helpful in providing information that resulted in us successfully starting our reception center. We gave CIM immediate relief which their staff was very grateful for. The Reception Center at CCI had deteriorated before I left CCI because of a lack of support from top management and concern about production. The Sacramento Managers had given up on trying to get WASCO and North Kern Reception Centers to fulfill their production capacities. These two reception centers were planned to close CCI’s reception center. In may career, these two reception center prisons could not improve their efficiency to process the inmates through in a timely manner. My conclusion is that the politics of state government make it very difficult for state managers to obtain production efficiency from state workers. There are too many ways to make end runs around a manager. It is also very difficult, if not impossible to fire a state employee for inefficiency. This is a particularly difficult if the employee is a protected employee (many or most are now) and they allege harassment, and discrimination.
My last assertive action as an Associate Warden, Correctional Administrator at CCI was to report to Regional Administrator misconduct by a senior manager. It involved money. After I made this report, I was reassigned back to the Reception Center in Unit III. I also reported to the senior investigator in the area that I had been reassigned based on my report which could be interpreted as a form of retaliation (I am a white male and not protected from retaliation).
I have been assaulted by my fellow staff five times in the prison system. I will describe each incident as follows: In 1974, at San Quentin, Correctional Officer PP assaulted me twice once by slamming a cell door to a cell office that I occupied in such a manner that my ears hurt. I was conducting a sensitive interview with an inmate who was describing details of the Black Guerilla Family to me and Officer PP had opened the cell door. I merely asked that PP please close the cell door. This same officer flicked his cigarette at me and it burnt a hole in a very nice tweed sports coat that I was wearing. PP was what can be best described as a classic “prison guard”, overweight, obnoxious. He would become very emotional over minor issues. The Third Assault took place in the Adjustment Center at San Quentin, also in 1974. I was preparing to leave the Adjustment Center when Lieutenant Strong Man and Sergeant SLO tackled me and took me to the ground for their mutual entertainment. I am still not sure of their motivation. Lieutenant Strong Man was under intense pressure because he was in charge of security for the San Quentin six trial which was taking place in Marine County. A judge had been taken hostage in an escape attempt and this was the trial for the participants. Marine County judges were notoriously liberal and the judge had ordered that the inmates undergoing trial to have their handcuffs removed during the trial. This event reportedly led to the escape attempt. I made a mistake in handling this assault in that I physically took the keys away from the Officer at the door (he refused to let me out of the building per orders of the Lieutenant and Sergeant) and let myself out of the Adjustment Center. I could not formally report this incident without getting myself also in trouble. I did tell Program Administrator Jim Yoder (deceased) about it.
The forth incident took place at CCI in 1985. I was the Special Emergency Response Team Commander and a Correctional Counselor II in Unit I at the time when a maintenance employee named Beard (wore a beard and old field jacket) would try to ram his shoulder into my body as we would pass each other in Unit I. He stated to me as he tried to do this “think your bad, huh”. I did not understand his motivation and still do not. One day, when I went to get my keys at the movement office in Unit I, he hit me in the chest with his shoulder. I responded by reaching between his legs from the rear, grabbing his testicles, jerking at them and at the same time ramming my thumb up his ass. Mr. Beard stayed at least ten feet from me from then on when we encountered each other walking.
The last assault by a staff member took place in 1986, in the Unit I Records Office in front of my supervisor, Program Administrator Bill Youngblood. Sergeant Rock came up to me, put his hand around my tie, lifted it, chocked me briefly, called me a “son of a bitch”, laughed and then walked away. Fortunately for both of us there were witnesses in the area and I was able to react properly. I did nothing and immediately documented the Sergeants behavior. Sergeant Rock subsequently received an adverse action and retired. Sergeant Rock was mad at me because I had asked for the removal of his friend, Sergeant Informer from the armorers position because Sergeant Informer had told me that he would not assist me in any way in my position as the SERT Commander. Sergeant Informer said he did not like SERT. I cannot find the words to summarize any conclusions regarding these assaults. I will write that the prison because of the constant threat of violence causes staff to develop values that are different from the general public.
The California Department of Corrections Philosophy
The CDC’s philosophy of management has been very expensive for the taxpayers of California State. A number of key decisions in recent years against the Department of Corrections by Federal Courts have found that the prison system as a whole and individual prisons (managers) have not followed the U. S. Constitution, Federal Laws, State Laws, and rules and policies of the Department of Corrections. These decisions are largely contained in the court decisions Touisant, Madrid, etc. The question is why does the prison system and individual managers violate these laws. Was the system ever in compliance? Were the managers ever trained in the standards to know that they did not meet the standards? Does the selection process for managers include requiring that they have knowledge of these standards and the systems for applying them. Or, has the application of these standards not been required in the past because popular organizational thought was that they were above the law. We have not had to do this in the past, so why should we attempt to do it now. Another thought which I am sure others are eager to claim because it lessens their culpability is that the popular thought on the rules on how prisons should be operated is in a constant state of evolution. Previously the courts had a hands off policy towards the management of prisons. This has changed yearly for the last thirty years where increasingly the courts are much more involved in setting standards in prison. Each state and the federal government prison system evolve at separate rates depending on
the lawsuits being filed and the effort that is made on the litigation by the courts, litigants, and lawyers.
There could be something more sinister other then the ignorance expressed above. Could there
have developed an organizational philosophy of punishment that the top leaders in the Department of Corrections supported. The inmates were a “them” and we as a group of staff members were here to punish “them” and that was our role. This was done regardless of the illegality of the philosophy. This philosophy was carried out carefully and deliberately based on the staff appointed to the positions of Warden and Chief Deputy Warden at the prisons designated to house negative behaving inmates. Our correction of these misbehaving inmates was to involve ourselves personally “we vs. them”. This was presented to us Managers in Executive Staff meetings in the most glowing terms by our leaders. A previous head of the Departments Planning and Architecture Division was a major proponent of using punishment at a prison designed to punish at Pelican Bay. This philosophy of punishment was epitomized by the construction of the prison at Pelican Bay. Here the Department built a prison in a very remote area of California, near the border of Oregon State. For the prisoners sent there, their families would also be punished. This is because of the long commute to get there from where California inmates are incarcerated from (sixty percent come from the Los Angeles area). The design came from a Warden in Arizona State and allowed a higher level of visibility inside the cells by staff members. We were going to punish our inmate gang members, gang leaders, and negative acting out inmates by placing them there. Fortunately, the courts discovered the results of this policy and ruled to have it modified regarding the conditions of confinement there. The courts found that legal standards were not met regarding medical treatment, mental health treatment, and that excessive force was being used by staff.
In the prison, inmates are constantly trying to obtain small luxuries to improve their living conditions. Space limitations, safety and security needs prevent the inmates from obtaining the extra items they desire. This constant competition for items can lead to contests for any particular item. I will never forget one inmate serving a life sentence who went to great lengths through the appeals process to obtain “body oil”. This was the one item he desired the most at that time and demonstrates this point. I denied his appeal and felt his animosity directed at me because of this. It is interesting that a year later in a discussion I had with him, this ceased to be an issue with him.
Inmates assume different roles of conduct in prison at various times. While I was at San Quentin in the early 1970s, there was an inmate named “Baby Cole” (nick name). Baby was the head of the Black Guerrilla family at San Quentin at that time (1973) and was the groups primary “shot caller”, decision maker. When I arrived at Tehachapi (CCI), I was shocked to discover Baby on the line in the minimum section of the prison. I talked to Baby and he said that he had paroled, had married and had a child. Baby said he had reformed. Baby had reformed except one day when someone jumped in front of him in the canteen line and he could not control himself. Baby was in minor trouble in prison for a simple fist fight as a result.
There is another aspect of this which I have observed in prison over my twenty seven year career. Some staff members enter into Corrections at a young age (early twenties) and are still developing their personal values. These staff members pick up the values of the inmates and behave in an unlawful manner at times. At times, these values appeared to have penetrated to the top manager level. An individual staff member must guard against this tendency no matter
where they encounter it (even if you witness these values present in a supervisor or manager).
1 comment:
I remember that last name Bonilla,in fact I seen a polaroid picture of him back in 1973,the year you mentioned him.On the bottom of the picture read Steve "Angel" Bonilla Colonia Watts Weigand Street.I remember Spider and Moe were shot callers,I know Daniel "Spider" Arriaga had a indeterminate sentence in the hole,thats B section,but he finally got out in 1975 because that new law passed and they started giving dates to all the goodfellas.
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