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| Reorganization plan promises prison reform |
| By Pasadena Star Tribune |
| Published: 05/02/2005 |
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The immense troubles plaguing California's prison systems can almost all be attributed to a lack of independent, quality leadership. If anything is going to change in state prisons, it will require tough leadership from the top down. We're cautiously optimistic, then, that the state laid some of the necessary groundwork for that this week in its approval of the prison-system reorganization plan. The Legislature gave final approval Monday to the plan backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The reorganization plan by itself won't reform state prisons, but it will change a management structure that has been highly resistant to rooting out deep-seated problems in the $7- billion youth and adult corrections systems. The reorganization, approved overwhelmingly in the Legislature with bipartisan support, will consolidate authority over adult and youth prisons into one office, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and add other efficiencies that should increase oversight and accountability. The highest leadership position will be a powerful Cabinet-level job in the governor's office. That position will be filled by Roderick Hickman, the current Youth and Adult Correctional Secretary. Hickman knows the system well: He began his career as a prison officer and worked his way up to warden and correctional director before his appointment in the Schwarzenegger administration in 2003. But in a short time he made an enemy of the prison guards union, which from a California resident and taxpayer perspective is a good sign. The current directors of the youth and adult prison systems will serve as chief deputy secretaries under Hickman. Prison wardens will report directly to the secretary, adding more accountability into the system. Also, politicians in the state Senate will no longer have the authority to confirm wardens, which could help remove union influence from some key administrative selections. Youth, adult and drug-offender parole boards will be merged into a single operation. The changes should help with at least two of the prison system's key problems: A near-total lack of accountability, which has led to widespread corruption and a "code-of-silence' culture that covers up brutality and other misdeeds; and administrators that are virtually handpicked by the prison officers union. Once those key problems can be fixed, officials can turn to others, such as massive cost overruns, overcrowding, high recidivism rates, and failed health-care systems. The reorganization plan offers some hope that California's correctional leadership will become stronger with a healthier distance from the corrupting influence of the prison offciers union. |
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