PRISONERS COULD LOSE PRIVILEGES

Weights, law books may be on way out

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- In a reversal of a trend dating to the 1960s, California
prisons are moving to eliminate privileges such as access to
weight-training equipment and to tighten inmates' appearance standards.

Plans are also in the works to remove law books inmates use to challenge
their confinement.

``We got into the position at one juncture of providing a rather
comfortable lifestyle in prison,'' said Sean Walsh, Gov. Pete Wilson's
spokesman. ``We should not allow prisoners to ride roughshod over the
prisons.''

These moves come as officials issue warnings about crowding in California's
33 prisons, and as prisoners and their advocates say a tense atmosphere
behind the walls is getting worse.

The changes are attracting the approval of some legislators as Wilson
renews his call for the Legislature to approve $1.4 billion in bonds to
help finance four new prisons.

Prisoners' rights advocates, inmates and relatives long have criticized the
Department of Corrections for what they consider its punitive approach, but
these latest changes are drawing criticism from within the system.

``We're going to drag them out of their cells and shave their heads?''
asked Don Novey, president of the California Correctional Peace Officers
Association, the guards' union. ``The irony of it. You're massively
overcrowded. You're understaffed. . . . It's stupid. But it resonates with
the public. We get this perception that we're tough with the pedophiles.''

Lawyers representing prisoners and other advocates are trying to block the
moves, and Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, plans to hold a hearing.

Matthew Jay, 30, serving 15 years to life at Solano State Prison for
second-degree murder, said lifting weights is one of the few pastimes that
relieves frustration. Without such pastimes, tensions will rise, he said.

But he's more worried about the potential loss of law books.

``If that access is taken away, we are no longer in a prison. We are in a
war camp, like a prisoner of war,'' Jay said. ``When rights are violated,
we're left with no alternative but to react. We want to prevent that.''