Prison Abuse Investigated

Prison Abuse Investigated

From a news story by
CNN San Francisco Reporter Don Knapp

July 29, 1998

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Note: This story was reported in 1998. The eight guards went to trial in April, 2000. On June 9th, they were found not guilty.

Inmates from rival prison gangs fought after being forced into a common exercise area in this 1994 Corcoran prison surveillance videotape. Guards stopped the fight by shooting and killing one of the prisoners, twenty-four year old Preston Tate.

Bill Tate is the father of inmate Preston Tate; "He was brutally assassinated. There was no doubt about it. They tried to cover it up, white wash it. But I knew from the beginning, I smelled a rat."

Two state investigations by the Attorney General's office came up empty handed. (This was) even while a four year long FBI investigation was under way. In February of this year, a federal Grand Jury indicted eight prison guards for civil rights violations.

According to the indictment Corcoran guards deliberately paired up known rivals as a form of blood sport entertainment for prison staff. The federal indictment covers January to June, of 1994, the time when Tate was killed.

But over a six year period from 1989 to 1995 Corcoran guards shot fifty inmates, killing seven and wounding forty-three. Now, prompted by the federal Grand Jury indictments, this special legislative panel is conducting another examination of Corcoran and the Department of Corrections.

Whistle-blowing prison guards told the panel what they earlier told the FBI. Steve Rigg is a former correctional officer; "We were using excessive force. We were shooting inmates, with a lethal weapon, to break up fist fights."

Former Corcoran guard Ralph Mineau says after he went to the FBI, he received death threats from a prison officer. He says, "The threat took place in September of 1995. A week later I was notified of a transfer."

The department of corrections will spend a million dollars to defend the guards named in the federal indictments. As a sign of support, it says, for its prison guards still on the line.

Tip Kindel of the Department of Corrections says, "Certainly when you have a staff of 45,000, you've got inmates numbering 158,000, parolees well over a hundred thousand, its a huge department, there are certainly going to be problems."

This hearing may be just the beginning of a hard look at California's prison system, more panels, and another FBI investigation are on the way.

Additional Notes:

In the last few years many cases of police brutality and prisoner abuse have been reported. Some people believe that this is torture and inhuman treatment. More than half of the abuses are against minorities. The US has agreed to follow international rules against torture, but many abuses continue. The number of people in US prisons has grown quickly, causing crowding and a shortage of well-trained guards. The chances of abuse grow along with these conditions.