Retired C/O speaks about Patton cuts, CRC

 

Closer look warranted

Posted: 11/18/2009 06:53:02 PM PST

 

On June 4, 1983, after escaping the minimum-security yard of the California Institution for Men, inmate David Trautman murdered three members of the Ryen family and 11-year-old Chris Hughes with a hatchet.

 

What was unknown until then was that David Trautman was an aka for Kevin Cooper, an escaped patient of the Mayview State Hospital, a mental institution in Pennsylvania.

 

Many of the inmates of Patton State Hospital are capable of murder (Re: "Safety at Patton disputed").

 

I worked at Patton for 26 years as a correctional officer and I've seen changes initiated by the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) administration in Norco and the Department of Mental Health at Patton that the surrounding community knows nothing about.

 

Due to the Coleman v. Schwarzenegger decision, the hospital is mandated by court order to improve medical care for the patients. It's commonplace for three or four ambulances to be called on grounds at roughly the same time for patient transport to local hospitals, each one requiring coverage by armed correctional officers and a chase vehicle, as perCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) operational policy. This necessitates that management pull officers from perimeter fence coverage to accompany the ambulances and operate the chase vehicles.

 

On more than three dozen occasions, I saw management vacate four or five perimeter posts at the same time, often during nighttime hours, leaving hundreds of yards ofperimeter fence line unattended for several hours or more.

 

Patton executive director Octavio Luna and the CRC administration are well aware of this ongoing situation. Eliminating 13 officers and returning them to CRC only makes the job more difficult for the correctional officers at Patton, further jeopardizes the surrounding community to potential escapees and invites a closer look.

 

MARK MANZANO

Highland

 

Editor's note: The author is a retired correctional officer who worked at Patton State Hospital.