CDCR STAR - CORRECTIONS CLIPS

NEWS STORIES:

CDCR NEWS:



Innovative Marine Technology and Carpentry Programs Prepare Inmates for Successful Careers Post-Prison
Today, 23 inmates at the California Institution for Men at Chino graduated with new job skills in marine technology and carpentry that will significantly reduce their chances of returning to prison once paroled. These innovative programs provide a level of professionalism and technical skills necessary to help ex-offenders find employment opportunities. “Thanks to the effective training provided by CALPIA, we are far less likely to see these inmates in prison again,” said Matthew Cate, CDCR Secretary. “Not only is this great news for the graduates, their families and friends, but it also saves the taxpayers millions of dollars a year.”

NEWS STORIES:

Prison Industry Authority:

Chino inmates get vocational training
By Bob Banfield, ABC 7 -- An innovative education program is taking place at one local prison, aimed at teaching inmates a vocation they can use upon their release. Wednesday, a graduation ceremony was held in Chino. There was an unusual and surprisingly upbeat ceremony today inside the walls of the California Institution for Men in Chino. Twenty-one inmates were recognized for successfully completing training programs to improve their chances of succeeding "on the outside."

High Profile Cases:

St. Paul, Los Angeles police officers want Sara Jane Olson to serve parole in California
By Mara H. Gottfried and Emily Gurnon, Pioneer Press -- The St. Paul police union said Wednesday that Sara Jane Olson should not be allowed to return to St. Paul to serve out her parole until she "has paid her entire debt to California." "Making parole convenient for the perpetrator is a travesty of justice," St. Paul Police Federation President Dave Titus wrote in a letter to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Sara Jane Olson's Return To Minnesota Opposed
CBS 13 -- The St. Paul Police Federation is fighting Sara Jane Olson's efforts to return to St. Paul after she's paroled Tuesday. The union wrote to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday to oppose her return, saying she committed her crimes in California, so she should serve her entire sentence there.

Corrections Standards Authority:

Juvenile center funds may come
By Walk Cook, The Union Democrat -- A state steering committee is recommending that Tuolumne County be granted $16 million to construct a juvenile detention facility. Currently, one doesn’t exist in the county, which results in local offenders being housed in juvenile detention centers elsewhere, usually the Central Valley. The state Corrections Standards Authority is set to consider the funding recommendation at a March 19 meeting.

Madison 'prison' opponents to attend state Corrections meeting
Daily Democrat -- State corrections officials who will decide whether or not to build a prison in Madison plan to meet in Sacramento on Thursday, March 19, at 10 a.m. "The Madison prison is still on the table and there is no indication it will be removed from consideration any time soon," said Leo Refsland, chairman of Save Rural Yolo County. The grassroots organization opposes the construction of a prison in Madison or any other area of rural Yolo County. The Madison prison opponents plan to attend the meeting of the Corrections Standards Authority, and urge others to attend. The CSA is a division of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Sex Offenders:

Jury: Nothnagel a sexually violent predator
By Sean Garmire, The Times-Standard -- After more than one week of testimony and about two hours of deliberations, jurors returned their verdict Wednesday morning, finding convicted child molester Prentice Nothnagel to be a sexually violent predator. Nothnagel, 65, has been convicted four times in the past 35 years of molesting and exposing himself to young boys in Humboldt County and elsewhere in California.

CDCR Related and Miscellaneous:

Memories of Fresno's worst mass murder linger 5 years later
By Cyndee Fontana, The Fresno Bee -- Five years ago, on March 12, 2004, Marcus Wesson murdered nine of his children inside a home at Weber and Hammond avenues. The ordeal began with an 80-minute standoff between Wesson and police after officers responded to emergency 911 calls involving a child custody dispute. The day ended in terrible bloodshed, with nine women and children shot to death and piled on top of each other in a back bedroom. Authorities said Wesson fathered some of the victims through his daughters and nieces. He was convicted of murder in 2005 and sentenced to death, even though jurors determined he did not personally fire a gun. Jurors said Wesson was responsible because he ordered family members to carry out a murder-suicide pact.

Clock ticks down to Brown's execution after appeal fails
By Sharon Pian Chan and Jennifer Sullivan, Seattle Times -- Convicted killer Cal Coburn Brown has lost another appeal in his effort to stay out of the death chamber and is now hoping that the governor or the state Supreme Court will intervene. Barring a last-minute stay, Brown is scheduled to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Friday. His would be the first execution in Washington since 2001.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Appointments
San Francisco Sentinel -- Terri McDonald, 45, of Sacramento, has been appointed chief deputy secretary of adult operations for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). She has served as the associate director of reception center institutions for the CDCR since 2008 and previously served as acting associate director of reception centers for CDCR from 2007 to 2008.

Suspects in Atwater prison officer's killing face death
By John Ellis, Fresno Bee -- Newly appointed Attorney General Eric Holder has authorized prosecutors to seek the death penalty against two inmates at Atwater's high-security federal penitentiary suspected of stabbing and killing a correctional officer last June. It would be the first federal death-penalty case tried in Fresno in recent memory, according to some local attorneys and judicial officials.

OPINION:

L.A. Cops Demand Parole in California for Ex-SLA Member
Digital Journal -- Also sounding like a swipe at Minnesota, the League's President Paul M. Weber said: "We do not believe that the state of Minnesota has a sufficient interest in ensuring that Ms. Soliah does not violate her conditions of parole. The responsibility to ensure that Ms. Soliah follows each and every requirement of parole is one which should be undertaken by the state of California, not 'outsourced' to another state."

Washington state must abandon the death penalty
By Robert F. Utter, Seattle Times -- The impending execution of a man in Washington State faces us with the question of whether the death penalty serves the state and its citizens well and whether it fulfills the reasons for which it was initially passed. Most Americans continue to support the death penalty for the truly guilty. However, the discovery of innocence in more than 130 cases where people have been sentenced to death, exonerated and released is one more reason to question the need for retention of the death penalty.

ONLINE COMMENTARY:

Polly Klaas' killer has his day in court
By Debra J. Saunders, San Francisco Chronicle -- From death row now, Davis still is puckering up and extending his finger at the public - and the public is paying for it. It's 2009, yet it was only this month that Davis' first appeal was argued before the California Supreme Court. "Who would think it would take almost as long for this guy to get his hearing after he was sentenced to death than my daughter was on this Earth and she didn't reach her 13th birthday?" Polly's father, Marc Klaas, told me Tuesday.