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| Calif. Prison Officers Oppose Davis Death Row Plans |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/03/2003 |
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California's influential prison officers' union came out Thursday against Gov. Gray Davis' proposal to spend $220 million to build a new death row at San Quentin State Prison, shocking administration officials who had expected the union's support. 'The timing is just not right,' said Lance Corcoran, spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association -- not when the state is eyeing program cuts for education and the elderly to trim a budget deficit that could reach $34.6 billion. 'It's needed, sure, but this is not the year to be doing it,' Corcoran said. 'There are ways we could make it better in the short term without spending $220 million.' Part of the union's opposition is driven by the administration's shuttering of the Northern California Women's Facility in Stockton. The administration plans to eventually convert it to a men's reception center to replace the San Quentin intake area that in turn would be closed to make room for the new condemned unit. Union president Mike Jimenez plans to lead a rally by nearly 100 correctional officers at the Stockton prison Friday afternoon. The union is one of the state's top political campaign donors. It made well over $1 million in political donations to Davis last year, including $251,000 to his re-election campaign two months after he signed legislation implementing what critics have labeled a lucrative labor contract. Despite opposition from the union and the Legislative Analyst's Office, Davis is committed to including the death row money in this year's budget, said Steve Green, spokesman for the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency. The $220 million would come from bonds, not the general fund that pays for most services. 'With the fiscal constraints California is facing, it probably makes more sense to renovate an existing prison than to build a new prison,' said Davis spokesman Byron Tucker. |
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