AT HEARING, EX-(PRISON)DIRECTOR DEFENDS ACTIONS IN PROBE

Growth Added to Prisons' Troubles

Sacramento

Explosive growth in the number of inmates and guards has made the
state prison system unmanageable, the former director of corrections
yesterday told lawmakers investigating violence at Corcoran State Prison.

On the second day of a special legislative hearing, former Corrections
Department Director James Gomez vigorously defended his handling of an
investigation of violence at the San Joaquin Valley prison.

He said his intent was "100 percent to find the truth, to find the
facts."

"If I didn't meet that, I'm really sorry," he said.

In November 1997, Gomez's department cleared itself of allegations
that prison guards staged deadly fights among inmates at Corcoran.

Three months later, a federal grand jury indicted eight Corcoran
guards on federal civil rights charges that they staged fights in
which one convict was fatally shot by a guard in 1994.

Gomez, who stepped down as director in January, said the shooting was
considered within department guidelines until he learned that the FBI
was investigating the case.

He then said initial department attempts to investigate allegations of
wrongdoing were hampered by the California Correctional Peace Officers
Association, the guards' politically powerful union.

'He testified yesterday that members of the union refused to cooperate
with investigators. "They just refused to talk," he said. "They said,
'No, thank you.'"

Gomez's remarks echoed those of Kings County District Attorney Greg
Strickland, who testified Tuesday that his investigators probing
allegations of inmate abuse encountered opposition from officers who
refused to cooperate.

Gomez also said his investigation was limited because both the FBI and
state Department of Justice had warned the department to stay out of
the probe.

"I had no choice but to accede to the state attorney general," Gomez
said.

Gomez also told the committee that growth in the California system has
made the department difficult to control.

In 1970, California had 26,500 convicts in a dozen prisons. It now has
more than 150,000 inmates in 33 prisons and 38 camps.

"We've been adding 3,500 employees a year for 12 years," Gomez said.
"That growth is unmanageable. It's too much for any
department."

Corcoran, one of the new prisons, houses some of the state's most
dangerous inmates, and has been one of the most violent prisons in the
nation.

Members of the special legislative committee listened in rapt
attention yesterday as a former Corcoran guard, Richard Caruso,
testified under oath that he was harassed by his fellow staffers after
he presented evidence to the FBI about shootings by guards.

"They came in that office like thugs," he said.

He said the prison administration placed him on guard duty in the
kitchen after it was learned he was cooperating with the federal agents.

"They put me in there for retaliation, I believe," Caruso said. But he
added that the convicts did not attack him. "The inmates knew I ratted
for their protection," he said.

Caruso told how FBI agents took him to Fresno while being chased by
Department of Corrections investigators who insisted he had stolen
evidence from the prison.

The Department of Corrections has long insisted that the chase did not
take place.

Checked-by: "Rich O'Grady"