The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Roderick Hickman, who quit the post in February after little more than two years on the job, and his successor, Jeanne Woodford, who resigned in July, testified at a hearing called by U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson as part of his ongoing oversight of state prison reform.

"The political environment in California is overly influenced by well financed special interests that disallow policy makers to make good policy because they're concerned about their political futures," Hickman testified. He said the California Correctional Peace Officers Association was foremost among those interest groups.

Woodford testified that the union appeared to have vetting rights over her appointments of subordinates, and said union officials were meeting secretly with the governor's staff. She said she resigned after a meeting with Schwarzenegger during which he seemed to sideline prison reform proposals she had made over concerns they might have on his re-election campaign.

The governor's office has repeatedly denied bowing to the influential prison guards union. Adam Mendelsohn, a spokesman for the governor, declined to comment on Woodford's depiction of her meeting with the governor.

Schwarzenegger was re-elected last month. The prison guards union did not endorse him.

Lance Corcoran, the union's chief of governmental affairs, said it has never had vetting authority over postings and called the former chiefs' testimony "absolutely ridiculous."

Meanwhile, attorneys said Wednesday that a federal judge bypassed state law and ordered pay raises for hundreds of mental health workers in California prisons to try to fill vacancies and improve care for mentally ill inmates.

The order, issued in Sacramento Friday by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton, was made public Wednesday by attorneys representing mentally ill inmates.

The increases will cost state taxpayers about $56 million a year, according to the state Department of Finance.

A bulging prison population has left the mental health caseload about 15 percent over capacity, court-appointed special master Michael Keating said in a recommendation filed with the court last week.
He said higher wages were needed to fill hundreds of vacancies.

The new salary schedule affects 19 classes of state employees and takes effect next year.

The order comes as Schwarzenegger prepares to outline a broad prison reform plan Thursday.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4417492.html