The number of California inmates serving their sentences in California Out-of-State Facilities, or COCFs, surpassed 5,000 for the first time in September. A growing number of San Quentin inmates have been processed, endorsed and readied for involuntary transfer to one of the four states currently participating in the program.
The transfers, which reached a total of 5,101 as of Sept. 25, 2008, were initiated as a result of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s October 2006 Emergency Order on Prison Overcrowding. They were authorized and funded through Assembly Bill 900, a massive $7.9 billion prison reform bill signed by Schwarzenegger in May 2007 which set a goal of housing 8,000 inmates out of state by next summer.
The transfers have allowed the CDCR to remove a total of 5,386 nontraditional beds statewide, according to a statement posted on the CDCR website. Nontraditional beds are beds placed in areas not designed to accommodate beds. The statement said that as a result of the transfers, 17 prison gymnasiums and dayrooms have been cleared of inmate beds since August 2007, a reduction of per cent, and have reduced the total of nontraditional beds still in use throughout the system to 14,232.
A growing number of SQ inmates have completed the multi-level screening process, been endorsed for out-of-state transfer, and are awaiting the long bus ride to the hub facility in Wasco where they will await a flight out to a COCF facility in Mississippi, Tennessee, Oklahoma or Arizona.
The COCF facilities, three in Arizona and one in each of the remaining states, are all privately owned and operated by the Corrections Corporation of America under contract to the state of California. Indiana was previously involved in the deal, but is not currently accepting inmates for placement.
Diane Trumpy is the assistant classification and parole representative at San Quentin. It is her job to identify and screen inmates who meet transfer criteria from a list she receives from the COCF office in Sacramento.
Trumpy cited institutional security in declining to reveal specific numbers of SQ inmates involved in the transfer program, but acknowledged the number is growing. “They are part of a continuing process of which SQ is expected to contribute its share,” said Trumpy, who agreed to be interviewed for this story.
Trumpy says that the eligibility criteria for transfers changes with each new round of transfers initiated in Sacramento. For example, the most recent list that Trumpy has received from Sacramento contains the names of inmates who, among other things, received no visits from May 2007 thru May 2008, and whose remaining terms range from a minimum of six months to 30 years.
From that list, Trumpy deletes the names of non-eligible inmates, including Lifers, high security inmates (level 4), minimum custody inmates (level 1), and institutional critical workers. Validated gang members are also ineligible, unlike street gang members, who are subject to transfer.
For those whose names remain on her list, the process begins with a face-to-face
notification from a Correctional Counselor I that the inmate has been selected for inclusion in the out-of-state transfer program, and that participation is mandatory. Inmates are then offered an opportunity to meet with a state-supplied attorney, under contract to the state from the George School of Law, who will advise them of their appeal rights.
Each inmate is screened for both physical and mental health concerns, according to Trumpy, and then endorsed by the CSR for a transfer to an out-of-state facility. After being endorsed, an inmate can choose to make use of the specially expedited 602 appeals process.
At SQ, the three-stage appeals process is handled by CCII R. Brau of the Inmate Appeals Office. Brau, the inmate appeals coordinator, emphasizes that no inmates are actually shipped out prior to completion of the second level of appeal. An incomplete third level process will not prevent transfer of an inmate, although every effort is made to complete the appeals process before the transfer, according to Brau.
Brau states that two inmates have successfully delayed their transfers on appeal due to pending medical procedures. In addition, he has several appeals pending. Although many inmates have consulted an attorney, the number who filed an appeal is quite low, Brau said.
Sensitive Needs inmates, also known as Protective Custody prisoners, can elect to transfer out-of-state, but there currently are no out-of-state Sensitive Needs Yards for inmate segregation. “That also is about to change,” says Brau, “and the new contract will include the development of Sensitive Needs Yards at the COCFs.” When that happens, sensitive needs inmates will be involuntarily shipped out as well, according to Brau.
Brau noted that the mix of inmates at SQ, with its large number of ineligible Lifers and high security and minimum security inmates, SQ has a relatively low number of inmates available for the transfer program. Those selected for transfer reside in North Block and H Unit.
The ever-shifting criteria for eligibility, says Brau, means that inmates fresh from reception to the mainline are now being diverted to the program as well, increasing the number of inmates at SQ that are eligible for transfer.
Inmates at SQ that are currently involved in various stages of the transfer process and interviewed for this story have expressed misgivings as to what awaits California inmates upon their arrival at one of the COCFs.
An informational video released by the CDCR in 2006 shows state of the art facilities featuring weight training equipment and roomy gymnasiums and air-conditioned facilities. According to the video, California inmates will not be allowed to smoke or use tobacco products, and most CDCR rules and regulations will still apply, including rules for good-time, work-time. Self-help programs such as NA, AA, Anger Management, etc. will be offered to inmates as well.
“California law requires that inmates be housed in a suitable place of confinement that will maintain standards of care and discipline comparable to those of CDCR,” the video says.
An inmate transferred to the North Fork Correctional Facility in Oklahoma wrote back praising the 43 channels offered on TV, the fact that inmates can possess Playstations, minimum 30 cents per-hour pay numbers, and a variety of other “perks” offered at the facility.
Staff Writer/Editor Michael R. Harris contributed to this story.
