Some officers at California's Mule Creek State Prison lacked stab-resistant vests months after a fellow officer was fatally stabbed in the heart while his vest sat in a warehouse, according to a system-wide security review ordered in the wake of the slaying.

Special panels are reviewing security and employee safety at each of California's adult and youth prisons in the wake of scathing reports of failures that resulted in the Jan. 10 slaying of Correctional Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez in Chino, the first inmate murder of a prison officer since 1985.

Mule Creek was the first of 32 prisons and eight juvenile facilities that are being reviewed at the rate of about one a month. The report on the July 5-8 inspection was made available last week.

Inspectors found that 87 of the prison's 651 officers, along with many of the prisons medical technicians and correctional counselors, had not been issued the protective vests, triggering a union grievance against the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Officers who hadn't been issued personal vests could share vests during their shifts, but told inspectors they were reluctant because the vests were not cleaned properly between uses.
Inspectors found a number of instances where the prison used makeshift security equipment:
_ After the prison was built, officers discovered that inmates could lift and remove their sliding cell doors. So padlocks were installed at the top of each door, which inspectors said could pose a problem in rapidly removing inmates in the event of a fire or other emergency.

_ The prison's fire alarm system had never worked properly - particularly when it rained.
_ Some officers lacked communications equipment, so in one case officers attached their single shared radio to a central podium so they would know where to find it.

_ Some areas of the prison were out of sight of officers or surveillance cameras, so inspectors recommended that mirrors be installed to eliminate blind spots.

In addition, inspectors found that some exercise yard officers left their stations unannounced, while others were unclear on various prison procedures.

The staff in general asked for more training, particularly in specialized areas like removing troublesome inmates from cells or dealing with mentally ill inmates.

Agency Secretary Roderick Hickman sought the first-in-the-nation security reviews after the prison system's independent inspector general and the Board of Corrections Hickman chairs both reported that numerous leadership and procedural failings led to Gonzalez death at the California Institution for Men.

The Corrections Standards Authority that replaced the Board of Corrections on July 1 is now overseeing the inspections.

Karen Stoll, the authority's acting executive officer, in a letter to Hickman praised the prison as "very clean and well maintained" and lauded the "very positive working atmosphere."
She singled out Warden Rosanne Campbell for routinely spending time talking with inmates. And she said employee cooperation will help inspectors improve their remaining reviews.

Inspector General's report:
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation:
www.oig.ca.gov
www.cdcr.ca.gov/