Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 1998
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Section: news / page 6
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/

UNION OFFICIALS DEFEND CORCORAN PRISON GUARDS

A union official calls indictments against eight Corcoran Prison
guards "a grandstand play" by federal prosecutors.

The Fresno guards indicted on federal charges of inmate abuse are good
people handling an extremely difficult assignment, union
representatives said in a radio interview.

The accusations of the officers staging inmate fights are absurd, Mike
Jimenez, the union vice president, said on Fresno station KMJ. He
called the indictments "a grandstand play by the U.S. Attorney's Office."

Eight Corcoran State Prison guards were indicted last month on charges
of violating civil rights. The officers also are accused of conspiring
to set up a fight in 1994 that ended in the death of inmate Preston Tate.