Crowding Stifles Inmate Successes

To understand some of the problems facing California’s prison system, which will be the subject of a special legislative session this summer, go to Lancaster.

At the only state prison in Los Angeles County, a rehabilitation program that once won raves tottered on the brink of closure recently because of overcrowding.

When the program started five years ago, 600 inmates lived in relative harmony in the honor yard at Lancaster, where those who vowed to stay away from drugs and fighting could participate in classes such as painting, woodworking and yoga and receive mail and canteen privileges.

They could play baseball with a real bat among inmates of various races -- something unheard of in regular yards, where prisoners self-segregate according to race and gang affiliation. (In a general population yard, prisoners are not allowed to use bats or other sports equipment because they can be used as weapons.)

But the quality of the program declined steadily over the last two years as prisoners who did not meet the criteria were allowed in, marring the once-calm environment with fighting, drug use and an uncooperative attitude, staffers and inmates said.

“They say they’re dumping inmates because there’s no other place for them,� said Father Thomas White, the prison’s Catholic chaplain. “That’s the standard excuse. But if you let in all these knuckleheads, at some point it will break.�

Because of the problems and a lack of funding, the former acting warden -- Robert Ayers -- announced that he was going to close the program. But after protests, officials -- including current Warden Robert Wong -- decided to keep it open for now, citing its record of reducing prison violence and drug use.

The effort to keep the program afloat and effective speaks to the larger problems at the 4,500-inmate prison in Lancaster, which has struggled recently.

The warden who preceded Ayers was fired last year amid criticism of a comedy show for inmates that contained sexually explicit and racially insensitive material.

Five inmates died at the prison in the last two years, including a 27-year-old man who was beaten, stomped and strangled by his cellmate and another who went into cardiac arrest after attacking a correctional officer.

The string of deaths caused prison reform advocates to protest outside the gates.

Although the honor program was widely viewed as one of Lancaster’s success stories, it was handcuffed by a population boom in California’s prisons, which are expected to absorb 23,000 more felons in the next five years.

Ayers said that with so many prisoners flooding the system, he could not afford to leave any bed unoccupied.

California’s prison population is expected to climb to 193,000 by 2011 -- up from 170,000 today. The Antelope Valley facility is at more than double its capacity.

“The population is growing so fast and is so huge, and we’re trying to place so many inmates around the state, that it’s hard to avoid,� Ayers said.

“When we start narrowing our options as a department, we start narrowing where we can put people. We need beds,� Ayers said. The department has put a number of inmates in the honor yard “that by the strictest criteria wouldn’t necessarily have been accepted there had it been an official honor program,� he said

A study released by Lancaster prison officials in 2003 compared illegal activity in the yard before and after the program was established. It indicated that weapons infractions had decreased 88%, violence and threatening behavior had dropped 85% and drug-related offenses and trafficking were down 43%.

In addition, there were no acts of battery on staff and no work stoppages or lockdowns as a result of misbehavior in the first year. That pattern held over the next four years, except for a stabbing in March 2004 and a violent melee the next month involving six prisoners, some of whom did not meet the honor yard criteria.

The debate in Lancaster comes as officials in Sacramento are trying to improve the prison system. Saying that federal courts could seize control of the prisons, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday called a special legislative session and said the state must build more lockups soon. He proposed a variety of improvements, including constructing two prisons.

But critics have long said the state needed to focus more on rehabilitating prisoners, noting that the state’s recidivism rate of 70% is the nation’s highest.

State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) visited the Lancaster honor yard several years ago and was impressed by what she saw. She said there were several ways to keep the program going.

The prison population could be reduced by the compassionate release of medically incapacitated inmates, modifying the three-strikes law and housing nonviolent female offenders in less costly county jails, she said.

“The honor yard was one of the shining stars of the system,� said Romero, chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on the California Correctional System. “It was one of the best-kept secrets but did not get support from within the department to champion it.

“Yes, there is a population crisis,� she continued, “but are we going to see a de facto shutting down of every rehabilitation program in corrections because of it?�

Terry Thornton, a department spokeswoman, said officials intend to eventually make all prisons similar to honor yards by rooting out misbehaving inmates.

“What we desire is that all general population yards should function like the honor yard functions,� Thornton said. If inmates don’t want to participate in educational programs, “they’re the ones who should be segregated, not those who want to participate.�

The department opened a pilot “behavior modification yard� in November at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, where inmates who refuse to participate in academic and substance abuse classes are separated and ordered to take anger management courses and attend Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Prisoners in regular housing who choose to take classes often are ostracized by nonparticipants, Thornton said. Removing troublemakers allows those who want to enroll in programs to do so without harassment, she said.

Relatives of inmates in the honor yard said it is one of the few positive experiences their loved ones have encountered behind bars.

Judy Babbs, whose 36-year-old son, Thomas, is serving a life sentence for murder, said he has benefited enormously from a program that allows prison artists to sell their paintings at auction to raise money for abused children. She did not want her son’s last name used for fear that it would upset the family of the man he killed.

“It helps him to feel he’s giving back to society rather than sitting there doing nothing,� Babbs said of the arts program. “I worry as a mom because I don’t want him to be just another inmate.�

Kenneth Hartman, who is serving a life sentence for murder, was instrumental in getting the program started.

“If you have a large group of people, and some want to conduct themselves one way, it makes sense to put them all in one place,� Hartman said by telephone from the prison.

To be considered for the program, inmates had to have a violence-free record in prison for the previous five years with no gang affiliations and had to “manifest a willingness to program with inmates of any race.� They had to sign a contract agreeing to all of this, and to random drug testing.

Hartman said that peer pressure prevented inmates from getting out of line and that none wanted to lose their privileges. Prisoners willingly served on a steering committee that set rules and developed activities.

“Instead of dealing with normal, everyday grievances -- like how come the food doesn’t taste good -- we try to forward an agenda of prison reform and activism,� Hartman said. “This is a chance to live like human beings. To act like grown-ups.�