PRISON GUN POLICY FAULTED

Courts: A jury rejects the state's use-of-force rules in awarding $2.3
million in the death of an inmate.

In a blow to state prison policy,a federal jury awarded more than $2.3
million in damages Monday - most of it against California's former
prison-system director - for the fatal shooting of an inmate by a San
Quentin guard.

The 10-member San Francisco jury found unanimously that convicted murderer
Mark Adams, killed while fighting with another prisoner in March 1994, was
the victim not only of a bullet gone astray but also of an unconstitutional
state policy on lethal force in prison.

His death was among 27 fatal shootings of unarmed inmates examined by The
Orange County Register in a 1994 investigative series that revealed
California was the only state in the nation that permitted guards to use
firearms to stop fistfights.

Jurors on Monday awarded $191,000 against the guard, Timothy S. Reynolds;
$450,500 against the San Quentin warden, Arthur Calderon; and $1.66 million
against James Gomez, then the director of the state Department of
Corrections. Most of the award against Calderon and Gomez was for punitive
damages.

"They were the ones who knew the policies and didn't do anything about it,"
the jury foreman, Robert Resner, told reporters.

Resner, a San Francesco attorney, said those policies included arming guards
with guns inside the prison and not using less lethal methods of force,
including the batons held by nearby guards who failed to enter the yard.

Deputy Attorney General Susan King, the state's lawyer,declined to comment.
The Corrections Department said later that it was reviewing its options,
which would include asking the judge to overturn the damages and appealing
the verdict.

"We are shocked by the verdict," department spokeswoman Margot Bach said.
"We are troubled by the punitive damages assessed against two outstanding
correctional administrators."

Checked-by: Don Beck