STATE WORKER REFUGEE CAMPOUT

Check out my attachment. I say we get every prison we can involved. Contact the owner of that land and gain written permission from him, even get him some money if needed and set up some serious tent city shop right there across the street from the prison. When the press shows up we tell them that we are tired of being blamed and punished for the failure of elected officials and if we are forced to minimum wage, this is exactly what will happen, statewide. People have already lost their homes from Pelican Bay to Calipatria and its only getting worse. This Governors "cash saving" plans have cost the state triple what it was supposed to save and has only gone to throw the economy further into despair.

I guarantee with enough people we make state wide if not national news.

Our Bro's and Sis's are getting assaulted across the state and we are all going broke, I am ready to make stand right now! I promise you this is going to happen.



Sgt. Ian Pickett
CCPOA Board Member
KVSP Chapter

INFORMATION ON STAFF ASSULT. NOT A NEWS CLIP

Thursday, April 29, 2010
Attempted Murder of a Peace Officer
Today at approximately 1630 hours at Centinela state prison on "C" Facility the following occurred: A Officer "C" was working the housing unit and stationed near the Officers Podium when he was attacked by a White male Inmate "S..." The inmate produced a inmate manufactured weapon and began to stab the Officer multiple times. Officer "C" was struck behind the neck area above his protective vest. He also sustained a stab wound to this side of his body. Responding staff was able to subdue the attacker using issued equipment. The weapon was recovered. Inmate "S....." was taken into custody and was transfer out to Calapatria?
The Facility remains on lockdown pending the investigation.
The Officer was transported out to the Outside Hospital for his injuries. We all hope and pray for a speedy recovery.

This is a reminder to watch your back at all times. Staff Assaults are on the rise!
(I remind everyone reading this posting that the information supplied to me as best as could be described. Some facts may not be accurate, however I wanted to get it out as soon as possible. If facts are incorrect I apologize to the staff at Centinela an advance!)

CCC UPDATE 4/25/10

This is a state wide bull crap taking place and if finally hit us in Susanville. We are doing rolling lockdowns in with conjunction of our %3 PY reduction plan. We will be filling a grievance on every re~direct that happens. I got the first batch today infact. The state is cutting our staff more and more and somebody needs to stop this insanity. And it will get worse. The state doesn't care about our well being obviously. They didn't make any cuts on the upper Administration. This does not include the 9 PY that we will be loosing with the bed/inmate reduction plan either. There is another scheduled planed bed reduction plan for September. They are cutting us shorter and shorter. And it's going to get worse. This is a safety issue with staff and the public. Other institutions have already been doing informational picket lines at their institutons for media coverage to the public.

The state is also going full steam ahead on shipping inmates out of state. They want to release more inmates to other states down the road. The state doesn't care that they are making our economy worse, staff loosing their jobs and giving the pay to out of state folks. This next State election is going to be very important for us, it will be our lively hood at stake. As I get information from HQ's I will pass it on. So please pay attention to the Governors race and the legislators race.

We will have more information at our next board meeting. It's expected that the EC will be attending our next meeting. I encourage everybody that can, attend. Times are going to get more worse before we see any daylight.

Today myself and Bollie spoke with the Deputy Attorney General. We brought up our concerns around the institution. I handed them my package on the issues that have been going on with certain Lt.'s and Captains violating DOM. Yes, I have my name on it, so I expect there will be some kind of retaliation from them. So I didn't roll over (as a few may think), I put my head on the chopping block for all of you guys. You don't have to like me, but you can support me on what I have done. We are all in this together and we need to stand together for this fight. If we don't stand together, then we have already lost the battle. It's not about supporting me, but supporting you fellow brothers and sisters state wide. We are all going through the same problems right now.

Stay Safe and Sane

Lori Olah

CCC

CCC UPDATE 4/22/10

There has been alot of crap going on these past couple of weeks, so I felt I need to bring everybody up to date.

OP 726 has NOT been signed off yet. So the rumors that are going around on the Cascade yard by certain individuals are FALSE. We sat down with them on the first meeting and got no where with the Lt. I then refused to sit and confere with the administration after that. After Labar was called by myself I did go and sit one on one with the CDW. Everything that was put in OP726 I requested to be pulled. I have the final copy in my hands right now and will go through it. So do you guys want to still say that I layed down on 726? I don't think so. Get your facts straight before you open your mouth. I didn't lay down last year either. Again, get the facts first before you assume and trash talk. If I layed down as you say I did, our Administration would have had their way last year. This is a no brainer. We are all on the same team, why some feel that they have to split staff, it does nothing for us except make us weaker in our fight. So the people that think they can stir the pot and get hatred stirred up are doing more damage then good. There is a big difference on giving input and flat putting lies out there. But the good thing about this whole childish thing, it makes the haters look stupid because they are wrong all the time and it just help us when we show what we have been doing.

The 3% reduction plan that we discussed at our last meeting is going through change from DPA. As expected the state is violating their own rules AGAIN. This is not part of the original format. They plan on implimenting rolling lock downs and rotate yards. We will file a grievance everytime they redirect a position that is not on the 3% list. Adminstration did not bother to even sit down with us to discuss this with us. And remember, they don't have to if they don't want to since we don't have a freakin contract.

Also we were discussing the loss of Level 1 beds last month. This is going to take place in May. We will loose 139 beds on the Sierra Yard. We will be loosing 9.97 PY's. Again, the state is implimenting this state wide and they are not talking to CCPOA on any of this. They are just going forward. Remember, there will be another phase in September on loosing beds, which means more positions lost.

Between the States reduction plans and closing beds down, they are depleting our staff to unsafe numbers. Some Southern institutions are running picket lines in protest to the states implimentation of these. So when are you guys ready to step up and make a statement? Or is it easier to sit in your office and complain and do nothing.

There has been confusion on the third watch count procedures. At this time, there is no policy on you staying until the institutional count clears. Some supervisors are ordering staff that they have to stay on the yards instead of sitting in the foyer. In the Red DOM, it clearly states that after you have been properly relieved you cannot loiter in the work area. There is also the fact that relieved staff have no equipment if something does jump off. They cannot respond. Don't the supervisors see this is a staff safety issue? We are working on filing on this. Again, they are breaking their own DOM that they wrote. And if they are going to make you sit in the foyers until count clears, then there should be an E & E sheet there for staff to sign for accountability. We have tried to talk to the administration on this and not getting anywhere. They reply, "well what if there is an escape"? Well we can assume anything. So should we have extra staff during the weekends during count? It is a proven fact that most escapes happen during holidays, weekends ect. So what is the difference? If your tier count clears then there should not be no issue. And all this came from some one that had a wild hair to implement. Still looking for it in writing........... And the memos's that the Control Sergeant order staff to write when there is a bad count. Why are the Control Sergeants writing memo's when they screw up? Double standards?

The Medical Jobs that have been redirected every weekend, Sacramento is still waiting for notificaion. As I said before, it looks like they got the cart before the horse and now they are in a bind. Not suprised one bit.

Next week some of us are meeting with the Deputy Attorney General. If you have a major issue you want brought up, type it up and put it in my box by Tuesday. Or if you are interested in attending this meeting, contact me and I may have you attend personally. This is your time to put it down and do something that needs to be addressed.

Stay Safe and Sane.

Lori

Corrections officers say cuts raise safety issues

NORCO - Less than a year after Chino's destructive prison riot, state corrections officers say cost-cutting could contribute to another just like it.

The safety of the public and of prison officers is imperiled by a 3 percent to 5 percent reduction in staffing levels statewide, according to dozens of local corrections officers who protested the decreases on Tuesday at the California Rehabilitation Center.

The officers said inmates receive less supervision, which encourages them to take advantage of less-secure situations.

"My main concern is knowing the troops are being denied proper coverage," said James Howell, a corrections officer at the CRC.

"We're already outnumbered from the get-go. This is about safety. Somebody is gonna get hurt."

Eric Martinez, a corrections officer at the California Institution for Men in Chino, called the situation "volatile."

"They're taking positions away from the institution and that jeopardizes everybody - the officers working there, the inmates, the non-custody staff, and it's a bad situation," Martinez said. "You can't do this on behalf of dollar signs. Safety comes first in an institutional setting."

Protesters said the Schwarzenegger administration began implementing the staffing reductions for state prisons last month without a corresponding decrease in the inmate population. The reductions have put staff, inmates and the surrounding community at significant risk, they claim.

Brian Davis, corrections spokesman, said any staff redirection is always of great concern, but "given California's budget crisis we are being asked to do more with less.

"We are hopeful with the upcoming new fiscal year we will be able to discontinue staff redirection."

Corrections officials have begun redirecting staff to fill vacant positions, leaving reduced inmate coverage for corrections officers at posts throughout the state prison system, protesters said.

"Recently, (the corrections agency) directed each institution to implement a staff diversion plan which will operate on a daily basis," said Fred Stevens, the CIM chapter president for California Correctional Peace Officers Association. "This plan amounts to the daily abandoning (leaving vacant) of up to 33 correctional officer posts at CIM."

Further anger has been caused, protesters said, by cost overruns created by the state spending $700 million in a no-bid contract with the Corrections Corp. of America, a private corrections firm that houses inmates in Arizona, Mississippi and Oklahoma.

"Fewer correctional peace officers put(s) the remaining staff, inmates and surrounding communities at significant risk, while Gov. Schwarzenegger uses our tax dollars to stimulate the economies and create jobs in Arizona, Mississippi and Oklahoma, at the time that this state's unemployment rate reaches a historical high of 12.6 percent," said Joe Baumann, chapter president of the CCPOA at Norco.

Chuck Alexander, the union's state vice president, flew down from Sacramento to attend the protest.

"We recognize the state's fiscal crisis and the fiscal issues going on, but at the same time, the population we are charged with overseeing has not been reduced whatsoever," Alexander said. "We're concerned we're going to have another episode like the riot at CIM."

Alexander said the Norco rally was the first of its kind and more may be on the way statewide.

Newspaper columnist opines on CDCR, paroles, and public safety

The State of California, or should I say The California's State? We have been awaiting The Big One. I just did not believe I would live to see it. This entire time maybe The Big One consisted of California's political financial quake.

California's new early release program is an effort to save cash. What is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger thinking? Is he kidding me? Who has found rewarding bad behavior to work?

Our state has several cracks and faults.

Fault: Yes, it cost the state about $57,000 a year per inmate. I think they need fewer privileges. This might save money, but that is a whole other story. Correctional officers are understaffed per inmate. Both the safety of our officers and inmates are at risk. If correctional officers and staff safety is a daily concern, what guarantees do we have that we will be safe? Why bother to continue to fight crime, call the crime hotline or even arrest people? They are just going to be released as if their crimes were some sort of joke. Is the public even aware that the State of California has plans to eventually build another prison due to overcrowding?

Crack: Nina Salarno from Crime Victims United said the state's classification for a low-risk offender was shocking. Domestic abuse, child/elder abuse and manslaughter are considered nonviolent in our state.

Fault: Should I remind you that things accidentally pass through the cracks in our system? How thorough is our prison system's paperwork? California parole officials have ordered increased monitoring of all sex offenders after recent criticisms, one being the case of a young woman who was held captive by a convicted rapist. We were told by a state representative on the "Today Show" the parole officer in charge was overwhelmed by having 35 cases to monitor every month. There are an average of 30 days in a month. Could he have monitored one or two a day, and maybe he would have noticed what was really going on in that backyard? In 18 years he did not discover a convicted sex offender was allegedly keeping Jaycee Dugard in his back yard. The system failed Jaycee.

Fault: Gov. Schwarzenegger last month ordered California corrections officials to keep sex offenders' parole records indefinitely, only after realizing that files of a man now charged with killing a 17-year-old girl had been destroyed. Why would we destroy the records? If the state was worried about paper and filing storage issues, we have computer scanning systems that can store documents in CDs or zip drives.

Fault: Correctional Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez, a 16-year employee of the California Department of Corrections, was stabbed by an inmate while serving lunch. Inmate Jon Christopher Blaylock was convicted of attempted murder of a peace officer. He was sentenced to 75 years and had served time twice before. He was previously released from prison in 2002. After the death of Officer Gonzalez, it was realized that inmate Blaylock was under the wrong classification level and was in a proper yard and lunch line. Also, Officer Gonzalez was not given a proper vest for his protection. A supply of vests was found in storage instead of assigned as they should have — several cracks in our system this time, not only paperwork, but proper safety protocols from prison administration.

Fault: Kevin Peterson was released 16 days earlier for good behavior from Sacramento under the new early release program. Twelve hours later, he was booked for assault, rape, sodomy, oral copulation, sexual battery, false imprisonment and violation of probation. In an interview, he was asked if he believed he should have been released early. Peterson's response was he should have not been released because his mother was right. He was a menace. He stated maybe this time he would be placed in a proper facility like Atascadero and get help.

Fault: How can someone who is listed on Megan's Law be a federal employee? A local postman in King City delivered mail to schools. The media let us know he would no longer be delivering mail to local schools. Wow, that should make us feel safer. There are children at homes and business where mail is delivered every day. Hmm? Guess his paperwork background check fell through the cracks.

Maybe The Big One is really only caused by one major fault — people not doing what our tax dollars pay them to do, and inmates not doing the time they were sentenced to do.

Suggestion: If the governor wants to choose the prison system, let's limit inmate medical care (from Cadillac plan to basic care), limit their costly privileges and monitor staff hours properly. Inmates should lose their citizenship privileges, we should deport undocumented inmates, etc. The problem is that our governor is fighting one of the strongest unions, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, not to mention a strong inmate population with legal human rights.

We, as a society, should have rights for our safety and the safety of our children.

Mary Vargas grew up in south Monterey County. The mother of two works at the Soledad Community Health Care District. Her column appears in Opinion on the third Friday of each month. E-mail to: vargasnotes@yahoo.com.

Below is an example of the information request I have sent to the LRA’s at each institution. You do not need to do anything with this, it is already in the mail to your institution. This is just an FYI to keep you in the loop. Any information I get, will be copied back to each of you.

Off the Table, CDCR promised that they would be “completely transparent” about the redirections. After four unanswered information requests to CDCR Labor Relation, “completely transparent” must mean “insubstantial,” “ghost-like,” “flimsy.”

You will notice that some of the information I am asking for is a couple weeks prior to the official implementation date of the Redirection Plan. I’m trying to get a picture of how many vacancies were being run before and after.

Email me if you have any questions.

Corey Davis

*********************************

To Whom it May Concern:

Under the Ralph C. Dills Act, California Government Code Section §3512 et seq., California Correctional Peace Officers Association (hereafter CCPOA) has the right to all information which is necessary and relevant to the discharge of its duty to represent State Bargaining Unit 6. Not only does this right pertain to topics being negotiated between CCPOA and the State, but it also extends to information relating to possible grievances and other representational duties. Chula Vista City School District, PERB No. 834, 14 PERC 21162 (1990); Stockton Unified School District, PERB No. 143, 4 PERC 11189 (1980). Failure to respond to this information request may result in charges being filed against you with the Public Employment Relations Board.

Pursuant to the above referenced authorities, please provide me with the following:

1. The total number of hours run vacant at THE INSTITUTION in the work weeks ending March 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, and April 4th of 2010,. This list includes Holiday, Vacation, and Training Relief positions (even if they are not identified in the Redirection Plan), and full or partial shifts run vacant to provide medical guarding and transportation coverage (even if they are not identified in the Redirection Plan).

2. The Posts (identified by number and title) at THE INSTITUTION that were vacant in the work weeks ending March 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, and April 4th of 2010. This list includes Holiday, Vacation, and Training Relief positions (even if they are not identified in the Redirection Plan), and full or partial shifts run vacant to provide medical guarding and transportation coverage (even if they are not identified in the Redirection Plan).

3. All status/implementation/compliance documents relating to the Redirection Plan - including (but not limited to):

• the salary savings goal (by percentage and hours) for THE INSTITUTION for the work weeks ending March 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, and April 4th of 2010,

• Redirection Plan policy/procedure memos,

• Redirection Plan tracking/compliance reports for the work weeks ending March 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, and April 4th of 2010.

4. THE INSTITUTION’s Redirection Plan, including (but not limited to): What Posts are redirectable? What days are redirectable? What order they will be redirected? How and when program will be modified?

5. The most current key/legend/index used to identify the PPAS codes.

6. The most current key/legend/index used to identify the WOTS codes.

7. A current copy of all OP’s at THE INSTITUTION effected by the Redirection Plan.

8. A current copy of the index page of the Operational Procedures (OP) binder for THE INSTITUTION providing the titles and numbers for all OP’s. CCPOA needs this list to make sure that all of the OP’s that are effected by the Redirection Plan have been provided to CCPOA for review (see item #7 above).

9. A copy of all DOM Supplements at THE INSTITUTION effected by the Redirection Plan.

10. A list of the titles and section numbers of all DOM Supplements for THE INSTITUTION. CCPOA needs this list to make sure that all of the DOM Supplements that are effected by the Redirection Plan have been provided to CCPOA for review (see item #9 above).

11. Most current Emergency Response Plan for THE INSTITUTION.

12. The “Medical Transportation Redirection Matrix” or otherwise titled document used by THE INSTITUTION to determine which posts will be assigned to medical guarding and transportation coverage.

This information is time sensitive. Please respond to this information request by April 23, 2010, or sooner if possible. In the event that you refuse to provide the information, please set forth in writing the basis for such refusal. If there are any questions about this request, please call me at (916)761-7408 or email me at corey.davis@ccpoa.org.

Sincerely,

Corey B. Davis

Field Representative

California Correctional

Peace Officers Association

CCC O.P. #726 appears to be headed to PERB

Operational Procedure #726 is headed to the Public Employees Relations Board. A number of violations concerning Implemented Terms sections were identified. Management has been seeking the local chapters input for some time as O.P. #726 is over a year and a half out of date. In all of these meetings the chapter representatives pointed out violations of implemented terms, that were new additions to the O.P.. On friday 4/9/10 we were notified that Administration felt it was time for the final meet to wrap up O.P. #726 on 4/14/10. On 4/12/10 we were E-mailed the latest draft of the proposed language. At that time there were violations of implemented terms still present. A copy was E-mailed to our field representative M. Vaughan who was to be part of this meeting. Again there were still the same violations included and not one of our proposals were implimented. One major proposal that Lori was trying to push for, to have the post & bid SR & CR officers recieve their jobs by senority. It is unfortunate that CCC administration did not want to sit and talk with us. Instead they went forward on their own adgenda without any inpute. So now it will head back down to Sacramento AGAIN for another year.

A Good Morning To You All!

I just wanted to let you all know that the SEIU Local 1000 has followed in the legal footsteps of CCPOA and has filed a "self-directed" lawsuit against GAS.

I applaud the SEIU for taking their case one step further for the purpose of including those hard-working employees within the SEIU Local 1000 who have, up to this point, been excluded from previous lawsuits. This lawsuit names as defendants the following departments: CDCR, Mental Health, Juvenile Justice, Veterans Affairs and Developmental Services. Please read this short article for more details:

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/the_state_worker/2010/04/seiu-local-1000-files-self-dir.html

No update yet on CCPOA's case. It's still in appellate court limbo.

Thanks Everybody and I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me. There's just something in the air that makes me think things are starting to heat up - and it's not just the valley air. : )

Tamara

Message From Chuck Alexander about 12 Hour Shifts

State Board,

The Chapter representatives at SVSP are asking for your assistance in opposing the 12 hour shift that is being proposed there. Attached is an electronic copy of the "petition" that was provided to the SVSP Chapter President B. Gibbons.

Please print the petition and get your members to sign. There will also be an original mailed to you. As you get them filled out, please return them to CCOA HQ attention Steve Weiss. At the upcoming Board meeting we will discuss this proposal and further action we can take regarding same.

Such a drastic change to Unit 6 work hours must be part of a master contract. As such, CCPOA must oppose any move to a 12 hour shift schedule unless, and until, it is negotiated as part of an MOU.

Click Here for a copy of the petition.