LUNGREN SAYS ANOTHER PRISON PROBE UNDER WAY

Corrections: An Investigation At High Desert State Prison Comes On The
Heels Of Charges Against Guards At Corcoran.

Sacramento-A day after five prison guards were charged with helping to
arrange the rape of an inmate at maximum-security Corcoran State
Prison, Attorney General Dan Lungren on Friday announced a new
investigation at a second prison, High Desert State Prison near Susanville.

Lungren said the Corcoran investigation was continuing but declined to
provide specifics. Nor would he discuss details of the High Desert
investigation.

However, the Corrections Department said six guards at High Desert
were suspected of verbally intimidating an inmate and filing false
reports. A prison spokesman said the officers had been placed on
administrative leave.

Lungren, a GOP gubernatorial candidate, dismissed suggestions that the
latest round of indictments at Corcoran were politically motivated.

The Corcoran case received national attention this summer when the
Los Angeles Times reported that guards deliberately placed a young
inmate in the cell of a burly prisoner, a rapist known as the "booty
bandit."

The younger prisoner was raped repeatedly and was ignored by guards,
despite pleas for help, the newspaper said.

Lungren said his office had examined the rape-related allegations
earlier, but the grand jury did not return indictments. This time, he
said, they did.

The guards - Sgts. Robert Decker, 40, and Dale Bradebill, 33, and
officers Joe Sanchez, 37, and Anthony Sylva, 35 - were reportedly
angry because the young inmate had kicked a female officer.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry