REPORT ALLEGES STATE PRISON COVERUP INVESTIGATION OF PELICAN BAY GUARDS
CALLED `SHAM'

Citing evidence of a massive coverup within the highest levels of
California's corrections department, a court-appointed investigator
has found that the state's prison system has ``lost control'' of its
ability to investigate and discipline guards for abusing inmates and
is in dire need of major reforms.

The 80-page report, prepared for a San Francisco federal judge and
released Thursday, is a scathing denunciation of the California
Department of Corrections. The report suggests that top officials,
including recently resigned CDC Director Edward Alameida Jr., could be
prosecuted for defying court orders to clean up Pelican Bay State
Prison and for lying during a probe into how the CDC handled ongoing
misdeeds by prison guards at the state's toughest maximum-security
prison, located near the Oregon border.

The report describes a CDC administration under the control of the
state's powerful prison guard union and willing to abdicate its
internal discipline procedures to maintain a dangerous ``code of
silence'' about inmate abuses such as beatings and staging fights
among prisoners.

Among other things, the report accuses Alameida and his top
lieutenants of killing an internal probe into whether Pelican Bay
guards lied during a 2002 federal criminal trial of two guards
ultimately convicted of civil rights violations.

``It's a shocking document,'' said state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San
Mateo. It ``is probably the most damning description of the subculture
of the department.''

The report was prepared by John Hagar, who monitors conditions at
Pelican Bay for U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson. Hagar said the
``code of silence'' hinders the ability of investigators to pursue
claims of prison guard misconduct, a problem not just at Pelican Bay
but at prisons throughout the state.

The report's release comes at a time when the state's prison system
and its leadership are under increased scrutiny -- and the report
places the onus for reforms squarely on the new administration of Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Without reforms, Henderson, who has overseen
conditions at Pelican Bay for more than 10 years, could force changes
upon the state if he accepts Hagar's findings.

Cost Cuts Opposed

As a cost-cutting measure, Schwarzenegger has recommended folding an
independent watchdog office responsible for investigating complaints
against prison guards into California's adult and youth authority.
That move, however, is strongly opposed by Speier and state Sen.
Gloria Romero, D-Rosemead, who are holding two days of legislative
hearings next week to examine the way the corrections department
polices itself.

Speier said Hagar's report shows the CDC's internal controls are
``rotten to the core.''

The guards' union, however, said it was ``incredulous'' about the
report's conclusions, and Alameida expressed disappointment in the
findings and defended the department's handling of Pelican Bay
investigations.

``I am particularly disturbed by allegations that I interfered with an
investigation or investigations, allegations I emphatically deny,''
Alameida said in a prepared statement.

Schwarzenegger's staff referred questions about the report to the
prison authority, which oversees the corrections department and is
under the leadership of a new secretary, Rod Hickman. Tip Kindel, a
spokesman for the agency, said Hickman is working with Hagar and
Henderson and is committed to a strong, independent internal
discipline system.

``He's basically committed to restoring public and employee confidence
in the employee discipline process,'' Kindel said.

Hagar's report found that the code of silence is carried out,
unchecked, by the state's politically influential prison guards'
union, a strong supporter of former Govs. Gray Davis and Pete Wilson.

The CDC's top brass backed the code of silence to the point of bowing
to union pressure and squelching an internal probe into allegations of
perjury, according to the report.

The perjury allegations arose during the 2002 trial of two former
Pelican Bay guards, Edward Michael Powers and Jose Garcia, who were
convicted and sentenced to federal prison for violating inmates'
rights by attacking them or letting other inmates attack them. After
the trial, CDC officials met with federal prosecutors to review
concerns that some Pelican Bay guards lied during the proceedings to
cover up for Powers and Garcia.

Perjury Alleged

But Hagar found that Alameida and several top aides conducted a quick
``sham'' investigation, and that it was ordered put to an end without
any action taken. During hearings last fall before Hagar, Alameida and
several other CDC officials offered a version of their investigation
that Hagar described as ``not believable,'' flatly accusing them of
lying in a federal court.

In fact, as part of his recommendations to Henderson, Hagar supports
opening federal criminal investigations into their conduct, all of
which he pins on a top-to-bottom adherence to the code of silence.

Melinda Haag, the former federal prosecutor who tried Powers and
Garcia, said she was frustrated by that code during years of probing
problems at Pelican Bay, although she found the CDC at times to be
cooperative.

``I certainly encountered resistance and a lack of candor from some
people,'' Haag said Thursday.

Union officials scoff at the notion of a code of silence and deny
impeding any investigations.

``If they aren't firing enough correctional officers, it must be the
big, bad correctional union,'' said Lance Corcoran, the union's
executive vice president. ``Unfortunately, if you tell the lie long
enough, someone believes it has some credence.''

However, prisoner-rights advocates say they expect Henderson to
endorse Hagar's findings.

``It's a total indictment of their integrity and ability to police
themselves,'' said Don Specter, lead attorney for the Prison Law
Office, which has pressed the long-running civil rights case against
Pelican Bay.