THE KILLING FIELDS OF STATE PRISON

THE KILLINGS at Corcoran State Prison were not an aberration.

Over the past four years, guards in the state's other maximum security
prisons have shot to death 12 inmates and wounded 34, the Los Angeles
Times reported this week.

The inmates were not escaping or physically threatening guards. Most
were fighting each other with fists in prison yards.

California stands alone in its indiscriminate use of lethal force. In
all other states combined, only six inmates were fatally shot -- all
trying to escape -- during the same period. Where other state prisons
use pepper gas or truncheons to break up fights, California has turned
to bullets.

The practice is repugnant and expensive. Three years ago, a federal
court found that state prison policies fostered the use of deadly
force in 20 shootings at the Pelican Bay facility. The state has paid
$6 million in legal fees and damages to victims and their families,
with more suits pending.

The killings are in addition to seven earlier fatal shootings by
guards at Corcoran. Indictments, publicity and continuing
investigations into that reign of terror stanched the violence at the
prison. No shots have been fired there since 1994. But that has not
been true elsewhere.

California is one of the few states to equip guards with high-powered
rifles within the prison walls. Corrections officials and the prison
guards union say they're needed because of dangers from rival gangs
and a continual shortage of guards.

State policy authorizes the use of deadly force as a last resort. The
Times found that the policy was inconsistently enforced and sometimes
ignored. Guards have killed without first intervening or firing
warning shots. And yet those who violated the rules were rarely or
lightly punished. There have been only two reprimands and one suspension.

Advocates of prison reform, like state Sen. John Vasconcellos of San
Jose, place great confidence in Cal Terhune, the director of the
Department of Corrections since 1997, to correct abuses in the system.
This past session, the Legislature gave him some tools to do so, along
with $190 million in new prison spending.

Corrections will hire ombudsmen for more prisons and greatly expand
the staff for internal investigations. A new Office of Inspector
General will have independent oversight.

The budget increases money for training. Prison growth has created a
shortage of veteran guards, and the shootings reflect inexperience and
panicked judgment.

Terhune acknowledged to the Times the need to cut down on the
incidence of shootings. He said he was experimenting with non-lethal
methods of control.

But it's also clear that a reliance on bullets will be hard to break
in a prison culture that tolerates brutality. Guards will resort to
guns as long as they go unpunished for firing them recklessly.

Neither major gubernatorial candidate has expressed outrage over the
killings. To the contrary, Democrat Gray Davis and Republican Dan
Lungren have been silent on the issue while trying to appear tougher
than the other on crime and punishment.

As attorney general, Lungren minimized his office's involvement in the
Corcoran investigations, despite persistent reports of guard abuse.
Davis has won the backing of the powerful prison guard union, which
has thwarted the investigations.

Leadership on the prisons must start at the top, with Terhune's future
boss.

As Vasconcellos said this week, at the end of legislative hearings
into Corcoran, ``The power and authority to incarcerate persons is one
of the most extraordinary and profound . . . responsibilities our
society gives to any public agency. We have a right to expect that
this power is exercised always with absolute openness and integrity,
always in the promotion of public safety.''

Checked-by: Patrick Henry