LOCKYER PUSHES PRISON GUARD PROBE

Goal is to prosecute criminal misconduct

SACRAMENTO -- In a dramatic shift in policy, new Attorney General Bill
Lockyer plans to create a unit to investigate and prosecute alleged criminal
misconduct by guards who have shot or injured prisoners during inmate
clashes.

While signaling a crackdown on misconduct by guards in California's
violence-plagued prisons, Lockyer also promised that the special new unit in
the state Justice Department would not be on a ``witch hunt.''

Lockyer, a liberal Democrat, told the Associated Press in an interview that
the unit also might independently investigate allegations dealing with guard
misconduct of any kind, not only those arising from fights between inmates.

His proposal has the backing of the powerful guards' union that supported
Lockyer's opponent in the Nov. 3 general election, as well as the county
district attorneys' association and inmate rights advocates.

The Department of Corrections said it doesn't object to the unit's
formation2E

The attorney general said the unit will handle a ``substantial volume of
cases'' referred by county district attorneys who tend to have limited
resources, especially in rural counties that are home to many of the state's
newest prisons.

``Wherever there are allegations of serious misconduct, this unit would have
the authority to investigate and prosecute,'' he said.

Lockyer said he would ask the Legislature for extra funding for the unit as
early as this week. The attorney general, who already presides over 5,000
employees at the Justice Department, said the cost remains undetermined, but
the unit's size would be ``pretty significant.''

``It shows this attorney general takes unlawful conduct by any person to be
a serious matter, no matter whether they're members of law enforcement,''
said Donald Specter, director of the Prison Law Office in San Rafael.

Lockyer's predecessor, conservative Republican Dan Lungren, was criticized
by prisoner rights advocates for not aggressively pursuing allegations of
guard misconduct, especially at Corcoran State Prison, where federal
authorities charged guards in April with deliberately staging
gladiator-style fights between prisoners.

Last fall, a state panel reviewing complaints at Corcoran concluded that
five fatal shootings and 19 other incidents in which inmates were injured by
guards between 1989 and 1995 were unjustified. Lockyer's new unit will look
into these cases.