PRISONS RESTRICT USE OF FIREARMS

SACRAMENTO - California prison guards can no longer shoot to break up a
prison fistfight, according to a revised use-of-force policy issued in
response to the outcry over the rising number of inmates fatally shot and
wounded.

Deadly force will be allowed only if an armed inmate is inflicting serious
injury on another prisoner or prison employee, said Cal Terhune, director
of the Department of Corrections.

"We have to be more judicious with the firepower," he said.

Twelve inmates in maximum-security prisons were fatally shot and 32 have
been wounded since 1994 by guards firing high-powered rifles to stop
fights. Only one inmate was armed or seriously injuring another prisoner.
In all others states combined, six prisoners were shot and killed while
attempting to escape during the same period.

"We've got to do all we can to get it down to zero," Terhune said. "There's
been some misinterpretation of the current policy."

The state's policy had called for guards to fire at in inmates who posed
"imminent great bodily harm" and 'ignored rubber bullets and orders to stop
fighting.

The head of the powerful prison guards' union said that use of force should
be examined, but questioned the department's new policy.

"What happens when somebody is beating another human being's head into the
ground? Can they shoot? I don't know," Don Novey, president of the
California Correctional Peace Officers Association, said Friday.

Prison officials will distribute a lesson plan and video for guards at the
state's 33 prisons, Terhune said. With nearly 160,000 inmates, California
has the largest state prison system in the country.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski