CORCORAN PRUP 2002

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Prison draws protesters
Demonstrators come from throughout the state to voice concerns about conditions at Corcoran.
By Bethany Clough
The Fresno Bee
(Published Sunday, October 20, 2002, 4:55 AM)


About 50 demonstrators with complaints about state prisons hoped they would
be heard beyond the barricades, police tape and prison gates they stood
behind Saturday at Corcoran State Prison.

Demonstrators had a litany of complaints: Prison guards are too brutal.
Prisoners with HIV and hepatitis C don't get enough medical treatment. There
aren't enough drug-treatment programs. The death penalty and the "Three
Strikes" law should be abolished.

Although the protest was coordinated by the San Francisco-based California
Prison Focus, demonstrators came from throughout the state and from a long
list of organizations.

The demonstration came on the heels of a report released by California
Prison Focus last month, alleging many of the same issues demonstrators
protested Saturday.

Prison officials could not be reached to comment Saturday, but Terry
Thornton, a California Department of Corrections spokeswoman in Sacramento,
called the report's accusations irresponsible and said the prison group has
its facts wrong.

"They're all allegations with no substance," she said, adding that prison
officials would investigate the complaints.

New accusations surfaced Saturday. Three inmates have died of HIV in the
last two weeks, said Judy Greenspan, chairwoman of the group's HIV/Hepatitis
C in Prison committee. The group sent a letter requesting an investigation
into the deaths, saying the inmates did not get enough pain medication, were
not transferred to a prison hospice and were not recommended for
"compassionate release."

"How many deaths will it take until they realize something is wrong there?"
Greenspan said.

Prison officials were not available to verify the deaths or comment on the
group's accusations.

But Janis Fonseca of Los Angeles said her husband is proof that something
needs to change at Corcoran. She said her husband has been held in solitary
confinement for four years. During a fight inside the prison, he lost an
eye, the use of his right hand and can no longer walk, she added.

Neither the frequent solitary confinement nor the fight should have happened
in a well-managed prison, she said.

The demonstration was one of several throughout California and the country
Saturday. Inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison in Northern California planned
to begin a hunger strike Saturday to protest conditions there.

Many protesters who came from San Francisco said they chose to drive to
Corcoran because it needs the most help.

"Corcoran is symbolic of the mismanagement and brutality of the California
prison system," said Corey Weinstein, the group's founder.

A small group of law-enforcement officers kept watch over the protesters as
they chanted and cheered speakers, but some prison workers inside Corcoran's
gates said they weren't even aware there were protesters outside.

That didn't bother Weinstein: "If I didn't feel I had the ability to make a
difference, I wouldn't be here today."

Last month, Thornton said the state Department of Corrections has worked
with the prison advocacy group in the past and hoped they could do so in the
future.

The reporter can be reached at
bclough@fresnobee.com or 622-2421.

More pictures on the California Prison Focus Website

And the Locked Out Group’s Picture Folder

10/26/02