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Race-Based Prisons in California

California prison officals allegedly lied when they told the U.S. Surpreme Court that California's prisoners were not segregated by race.

Correctional officers and inmates told The Press-Enterprise of Riverside that segregation is rampant throughout the system, despite state attorneys' contention that it is limited to inmates' first 60 days behind bars.

"There is no way I'd put a white and a black together," said Charles Hughes, a lieutenant at California State Prison in Lancaster. "I'd be putting my job on the line if I did that."

The Press Enterprise article includes this snippet:

A spokesman with the Department of Corrections tells a different story. "We never said in the argument that the inmates are not segregated in the institutions . . . (or) outside the reception center," said Youth and Adult Corrections Agency spokesman J.P. Tremblay. Race is one of many factors considered for permanent housing assignments, he said.

However, that's not what the state's attorney told the court during oral arguments when justices repeatedly asked for assurance that the practice doesn't apply beyond the reception centers.

"It does not happen outside of the reception center cell practice. Once they go to their permanent housing assignment, they may choose their own cellmates," Grunder told the court.

It's not blacks, but hispanics as well. And it's not just housing, apparently, but programs too.

Correctional officer Chuck Helton, who works at North Kern State Prison, said not only are cells at Kern segregated by race, but there is an entire building and a half - 200 beds - set aside for Hispanics.

Race-based policies go well beyond housing, said David L. Robinson, a 22-year corrections officer who filed the whistleblower's complaint with the California state auditor's office. Despite court rulings requiring prisons to enroll inmates for classes and jobs by their order on waiting lists, prison administrators require officers to fill openings according to race, Robinson said.

If the next inmate on a program wait list is black, but the program already has more blacks than other races, the inmate will be bypassed for the next white or Hispanic on the list, he said.

Officials are careful to make programs ethnically balanced so that one gang doesn't outnumber rival gangs. If the balance of power is destabilized, racial tensions boil over into violence, said Robinson, an officer at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.

It's also alleged gang members. Read our November, 2002 post about the hunger strike at California's Pelican Bay State Prison.

Nevada reportedly has a similar racial segregation policy in its prisons.

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    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 20, 2005 at 02:03:46 PM EST
    They are initially segregated to determine their propensity for racial violence, lawyers told the court.
    Must be Zero every time, since no one of any other race is around.

    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 20, 2005 at 02:30:29 PM EST
    Yes you are right on the mark, the white boys get raped.

    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 20, 2005 at 02:44:27 PM EST
    I don't understand your comment, Fred. Although I have noticed that the majority of your comments refer to rape in a rather personal way. Have you been affected by this?

    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 20, 2005 at 02:45:18 PM EST
    Yes Fred, that's the way it works here in Alabama.

    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 20, 2005 at 03:09:56 PM EST
    LOL .. people worry about political correctness in prison! I suppose they should have an affirmative action program for which prisoner get to pick up trash on the highway too.

    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 20, 2005 at 03:30:38 PM EST
    Repeat after me: "I pledge to accept reality as real. I realize that almost all prison gangs are organized along racial lines. I realize that membership in a prison gang is frequently only given to those who kill someone in another gang. Therefore, I realize that my now reality-based thinking tells me this is necessary to avoid even more violence than would occur."

    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 20, 2005 at 03:43:09 PM EST
    Repeat after me: "Lonewhacko has forgotten that these gangs are not roaming South Central but INCARCERATED in PRISONS and theoretically guarded a little better than my high school cafeteria at lunchtime." Oh yeah. Don't the guards have guns? The right to search and seize and bestow or deny priviliges? If the stupid bastard corporations that run prisons weren't acknowledging these gangs and their leaders as a legitimate source of power and influence over their members, maybe the gang activity inside wouldn't be quite so resistant.

    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 20, 2005 at 04:09:24 PM EST
    Apparently civil rights are now so pruned in prison, that we're now doing things according to the color line or, maybe, the brown bag test. Hmmm. Black and white. Ebony and ivory. So where do those non-blacks and non-whites fit in? Is there a cell block for those cafe-au-lait among us? What about the burnt umber crowd? Or those badass burnt siennas? I sense a potential marketing goldmine here for the people at Benetton.

    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 20, 2005 at 04:48:32 PM EST
    mfox bad person! stop poilitical rape, but why so many people in prison can it be culture? and no mfox never been raped or in prison, "yet" but if people don't start to see this non nation and understand what bush is telling you all,of you will all be raped, in many ways.

    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#10)
    by anon55 on Thu Jan 20, 2005 at 04:56:45 PM EST
    There are only four races in the California prison system: White, Black, Mexican, and Other. (W/B/M/O on the documents.) While dormitories and cell blocks are typically not segregated, they never mix these psuedo-races in a single cell, or in one double-bunk in a dormitory. Officially, it's allowed, but it never happens, even if inmates request it. Ask them why and they'll tell you it prevents violence. On preview: No, mfox, guards inside prisons most certainly do not have guns. Only the ones in the secure areas, like towers or adminstrative cages/catwalks, have guns. In some prisons, they can't get position to fire into cells without risking that the prisoners overwhelm the guards and take the firearms. The officers who can actually touch the inmates only have nightsticks and other "non-lethal" weapons.

    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 21, 2005 at 06:17:55 AM EST
    What's worse than the fact that they are segragated in prison is the fact that it just continues to breed race hatred and gang mentality. Once a person is let out, they take this now amplified attitude to the streets to perpetuate the violence. If California courts care so much about the problem, they should implement an integrating, rehabilitation system along the lines of tollerance, NOT add to the problem by sepparation.

    Re: Race-Based Prisons in California (none / 0) (#12)
    by chris on Sat Feb 05, 2005 at 08:53:57 PM EST
    It is almost hilarious to see the shock on peoples faces when they see or hear "there is segregation in Prison" Inmates are not in prison because they all belong to the rainbow coalition. In most cases if you dont segregate inmates by race you end up having major gang fights.