CDCR STAR - Corrections Clips

NEWS STORIES:

High Profile Cases:

Spector in 'sensitive needs' area of Calif. prison
By Linda Deutsch, Associated Press -- Music legend Phil Spector has been assigned to a “sensitive needs facility” in California’s largest state prison to serve his sentence for murdering an actress. Spector was taken Monday to the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison at Corcoran, where 6,919 other inmates are housed, corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said.

Phil Spector will be allowed jam sessions with fellow prisoners
Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times -- Phil Spector’s permanent assignment in the state prison system is a massive Central Valley penitentiary with special accommodations for older and disabled inmates. And even behind bars, the man credited with inventing the "Wall of Sound" will still be allowed to create music. A prison spokesman said Spector is housed in a medium-security “special needs” unit designed for inmates who need extra protection. Those offenders include former gang members, those whose crimes – such as sexual assault – make them targets, and high-profile inmates.

Spector seeks TV, music player for new prison cell
By Linda Deutsch, Associated Press -- Phil Spector is hoping to get a few comforts of home in his new cell, including a television and IPod, perhaps even some computer access. As a medium security inmate, Spector can make some requests for items he wants in his cell, and his wife acknowledges her husband is already creating a list. Prison officials said Phil Spector may even be allowed a musical instrument, noting that some state inmates have made similar requests and play together in groups. However, Rachelle Spector said her husband doesn't plan to make much music behind bars.

Receiver:

State gets cheaper prison doctors
Central Valley Business Times -- California’s “prison czar,” Federal Receiver J. Clark Kelso, says he’s hammered out new deals to get physicians for the state’s prisons at a cheaper rate -- $201.50 an hour. Two of the three new contracts are between California Prison Health Care Services and their largest physician registry providers -- NOAH Inc. and Registry of Physician Specialist Inc. The third is with South Shores Medical Group Inc., which is also expected to be one of the largest providers in the coming year.

Plenty of waste still could be cut out of prison system
By Thomas D. Elias, San Jose Mercury News -- Almost precisely six months ago, readers through this column alerted the court-appointed receiver who runs California's prison health care system to several areas where big money was being wasted in his bailiwick. "We paid attention, we knew you'd follow up," said the receiver, University of Pacific law professor Clark Kelso. "We've made some changes and we're going to make others. But we've also had some problems."

Institutions:

Escapee caught in Adelanto
By Beatriz E. Valenzuela, Victorville Daily Press -- Authorities captured an escaped inmate at an Adelanto home along with a parolee-at-large and another man, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Adelanto station authorities said. Antonio Hollins, 25, of Los Angeles escaped from a Los Angeles area inmate fire crew on Sunday morning, according to California Department of Corrections authorities, and hitchhiked from the Acton Conservation Camp to a friend’s house in Adelanto. He was apprehended later that night. “Three different cars picked him up to get him to his friend’s house,” said Michele Kane, spokeswoman for the CDC.

Prison warden faulted for failing to discipline correctional officer
By Michael Rothfeld, Los Angeles Times -- The warden of a Northern California prison acted inappropriately when he failed to discipline a correctional officer and allowed him to keep working at the institution after he was convicted of two felonies in connection with a hit-and-run accident last year, according to a report released today by a state prison watchdog. Days after the officer was convicted, the warden granted his request for a voluntary demotion to lead groundskeeper, a position in which he would supervise inmates and for which he was not qualified.