San Quentin Warden Ron Broomfield called a town-hall meeting April 15 in the Catholic Chapel to discuss CDCR’s plan to transfer Security Threat Groups (STGs) to programming facilities.
Associate Warden Rosales and Captains Dorsey and Arnold attended the meeting along with about 40 incarcerated residents.
Broomfield previously attended a wardens’ meeting in Sacramento where the transfers were a topic of discussion. That meeting prompted his call for the town hall with San Quentin residents.
“The mission of the department is changing, the department wants to give everyone an opportunity to participate in rehabilitation,” said Broomfield.
A CDCR memorandum dated April 11, 2022, addressed “To all incarcerated in state prison” said that the current policy that separates STGs “does not align with CDCR’s mission.”
“To better support CDCR’s mission, STG status will no longer be used as the only factor in deciding where to house someone,” said the memorandum.
Rosales cited the story of an incarcerated gang member who went to board with no prior disciplinary actions, but had no job skills, as an example of the problems created by segregation of STGs.
A meeting attendee asked about the negative mindset of nonprogrammers and how that can affect lifers who may have to defend themselves in a fight and later explain the incident to the parole board. “You can expect that the department will be focusing on this stuff,” Broomfield said. “Inmates who demonstrate unwillingness to program through violence will ultimately be transfered to higher-security institutions.”
Broomfield said that there are no transfers of STGs to San Quentin scheduled at this time. STGs will be at levels three and four. However, they will have the opportunity to transfer to San Quentin by being disciplinary free.
“We are committed to your well-being, and to providing you a safe rehabilitative environment where you can serve your sentence,” concluded the Director’s memorandum.
By Jerry Maleek Gearin, Staff Writer, and
Kevin Sawyer,
Contributing Writer
