State auditor slams prisons department

The state auditor suggested the corrections department is not providing effective programs to rehabilitate prisoners, in what attorneys litigating cases against the department say is a symptom of widespread dysfunction at an agency that houses more than 120,000 inmates.

The prisons department, responding to the report, released Thursday, said it was based on data collected in 2014 and 2015 and most of the recommendations have been or are being implemented already.

State Auditor Elaine M. Howle chiefly criticized the department for "several poor administrative practices" she said have hindered efforts to reduce recidivism and led to inmates being denied access to rehabilitation programs.

For example, cognitive therapy programs had no effect on recidivism rates and the department has failed "to meet any of the rehabilitative needs for 62 percent of the inmates released in Fiscal 2017-18 who had been assessed as at risk to recidivate," Howle reported.

She also said the department failed to develop new programs, analyze existing ones and assess cost-effectiveness in spite of being provided a "significant budget" to do so by the Legislature.

Howle suggested the Legislature implement accountability and oversight measures to ensure the department reaches performance targets.

In response to the report, prison spokeswoman Vicky Waters said in an emailed statement, "Rehabilitation is a top priority for the department, and we have worked to expand programs and analytical tracking methodology to ensure inmates are getting the resources, skills, and education they need."

"We take the State Auditor's findings seriously and have already implemented, or are in the process of implementing, most of the recommendations," she added.

Waters also noted the analysis looks at data collected between 2014 and 2015, which she said predates "a significant expansion in rehabilitative programming as well as the implementation of new quality control tools to assess the effectiveness of these programs."

"The department is committed to building a strong model to measure our rehabilitative programs consistently and to continue enhancing public safety by ensuring our inmates have the skills and resources they need for a successful transition back to their communities," she wrote.

Meanwhile, the judiciary has already taken steps to provide oversight to a system embroiled in litigation as a result of its policies. For example, in a case governing the treatment of seriously mentally ill prisoners, a federal judge has appointed a special master and a team of investigators from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP to look into allegations made by the prison system's chief psychiatrist. That doctor said prison officials falsified data given to the court regarding the department's level of compliance in certain areas. Coleman v. Brown, 90-CV-00520 (E.D. Cal., filed Apr. 23, 1990).

More evidence concerning possible systemic problems at the prison department is being collected in a revived federal case in which a prisoner alleges he was sexually abused by a guard during body inspections. Heilman v. Cherniss et al., 11-CV-00042 (E.D. Cal., filed Jan. 5, 2011).

Lead plaintiff attorney Jason R. German, a senior associate at Baker Botts LLP, said he has retained Stjepan Gabriel Mestrovic , the Texas A&M University sociology professor who testified at the Abu Ghraib trials, as an expert witness to demonstrate dysfunction at the highest levels of the prison department.

Mestrovic's declaration has not been filed with the court yet, and German said some of the testimony has been earmarked as confidential by prison department officials. German said Mestrovic describes a similar dysfunction as the one he observed in the U.S. military during and preceding the events at Abu Ghraib.

Central to both the military unit and the system of prison guards, German explained, is the idea of "group think," where he said group members feel biased against people outside the group, often leading them to acquiesce to morally questionable decisions made by other group members.

"We think we've seen a lot of that play out at the prison system at two levels," German said. "First, [the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] as a whole has developed right-sounding policies and goals -- like ways to prevent sexual assault in prison -- but has failed to explain to people on the ground the means to achieve those goals and that's lead to disorganization. Our expert has consistently seen at the other cases."

The second level, German said, is at the investigative level. According to court filings, several inmates deposed by German allege the complaints of sexual assault were never properly investigated, effectively rendering the system useless in the eyes of the plaintiff.

Waters said the department does not comment on pending litigation but takes "all allegations of misconduct by officers and staff very seriously."

No trial date has been set in the Heilman case, which is being overseen by U.S. Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan of the Eastern District.