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<font size=3><br><br>
</font><h2><b>CDCR scapegoats union employees, covers up mismanagement at
the top</b></h2><font size=3>Thursday, March 27, 2008<br>
SEIU Local 1000 has uncovered data which contradicts assertions by the
California Department of Corrections (CDCR) concerning the early release
date of Sara Jane Olson, a former member of the Symbionese Liberation
Army.<br><br>
Reports from CDCR headquarters earlier this week indicated Olson's early
release was the result of a clerical error in 2005. Through our
investigation, Local 1000 has found CDCR administrators and supervisors
have reviewed the Olson case at least four times since December 2007 and
found no errors.<br><br>
That includes three reviews by prison supervisors of the time calculation
in 2008 without any changes to Olson's release date.<br><br>
"This is nothing but a political cover-up to scapegoat our union
members," said Jim Hard, president of SEIU Local 1000, which
represents 15,000 civilian employees in the state prison system.
"This is the latest manifestation of ongoing problems which we have
been trying to address. We even filed a lawsuit in December to force CDCR
to address these issues." <br><br>
The lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court is still pending. <br><br>
Here are some of the facts we have uncovered over the last 36 hours on
the Olson case, confirmed by three sources within CDCR (two working at
the prison in Chowchilla and one of the people who handled the case
file). <br><br>
<ul>
<li>December 2007: Corrections Department administrators at Sacramento
headquarters reviewed the Olson case files and found no errors.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The Olson case file was reviewed three times in 2008, at 60 days, 30
days and 10 days prior to release. In each case, supervisors
reviewed the time calculation and approved the release date. These
were not cursory reviews. In one instance, a case records analyst
spent 2.5 hours reviewing the release date calculation with a
supervisor. The supervisor agreed with analyst's release date
calculation.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Tuesday, March 25, 2008: CDCR Internal Affairs launches an
investigation and hauls three front line case records analysts who
reviewed the files into interviews with only two hours notice. The
case records analysts, who are members of SEIU Local 1000, were given
only two hours notice rather than the usual 24 hours in order to secure
representation.
</ul>
<ul>
<li>In the meeting, the case records analysts are told that an
investigation is underway because "they were neglectful in their
duties when they failed to accurately calculate the release date of
inmate Olson."
</ul><br>
As of this date, neither case records analysts nor their supervisors,
have been provided with the training necessary to address cases as
complex as Olson's.<br><br>
Here's what this really comes down to:<br><br>
<ul>
<li>Department administrators and supervisors have reviewed the Olson
case at least 4 times since December 2007.
<li>The case records analysts have received no training on the
intricacies of penal code changes from indeterminate to determinate
sentences.
<li>The information they reviewed in the Olson case file is from the
Board of Prison Hearings and cannot be changed. If the information
from BPH is wrong from the beginning, its garbage in, garbage out.
<li>CDCR management doesn't have a leg to stand on after it reviewed the
Olson case three times on 2008.
</ul><br>
"Governor Schwarzenegger doesn't want the public to see there is a
massive structural problem with the sentencing and release system,"
Hard said. "He knows that would worry the public. He and CDCR
would rather point the finger and let somebody else take the blame for
their oversight."<br><br>
This cover-up and scapegoating by CDCR comes following an action last
December. Local 1000 asked the California Superior Court to declare
that CDCR has violated the state Constitution, laws, regulation and
policy by failing to recalculate release dates for up to 33,000 prisoners
as required by recent court documents.<br><br>
SEIU Local 1000 is California's largest state employee union,
representing 87,000 rank-and-file state employees. <br>
<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>John Lum<br>
Coalition for Effective Public Safety (CEPS)<br>
4931 Harrow Drive<br>
Elk Grove, CA 95758<br>
(916) 995-2379<br>
Fax (call first): (916) 428-8928<br>
jclum3@aol.com<br><br>
<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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