Letter to Sen. Burton from LSPC

Dear Senator Burton:

We are writing to express our concern about the fact that the Joint Committee on Prison Construction and Operations is being disbanded. As advocates for the rights of prisoners, we are very concerned about what this decision represents in terms of legislative oversight of California's prisons. The California Department of Corrections is one of the state's largest agencies, with a current budget exceeding $4.8 billion. Where will the oversight of this agency come from? As taxpayers, we have the right to know where the money is going. We continue to call for a forum in which the public can be informed of the policies of the CDC and play a role in shaping those policies.

The Joint Committee on Prison Construction and Operations has been responsible for the public oversight that has existed in the last several years, and we fear that the decision to end it will greatly reduce the CDC's accountability to the public. This committee played a key role in exposing the abuses at Corcoran State Prison, in highlighting the failure of the Board of Prison Terms to release prisoners who are eligible for parole, and in bringing to light the conditions in California's women's prisons.

The pattern we see is unmistakable: prisons are being increasingly shielded from public oversight. In 1997 the CDC was able to ban one-on-one interviews between journalists and specific prisoners; just a few months ago the CDC tried to curtail the access of visitors to prisons by proposing draconian new visiting regulations. When that was defeated because of public protest, the CDC tried to curtail the access to prisoners by legal advocacy groups by proposing to limit visits only to lawyers and their certified private investigators.

We are well aware of the enormous pressure the CCPOA brings to bear on elected officials. We are concerned that the decision to do away with the Joint Committee on Prison Construction and Operations is the latest casualty in an ongoing battle for continued oversight of the CDC.