As of the fall of 2002, CSP-LAC (Lancaster) is one of the most poorly run and corrupt prisons in the California Department of Corrections (CDC). While I am sure innumerable, similar-type claims could be made throughout the prison industrial complex, I felt and obligation in political prisondom to provide an update on the state of LAC.

When I first arrived on B-yard in the summer of 2000, LAC had four yard of 270 degree design Level IV. All yards were general population, with a couple of buildings of Administrative Segretagion (Ad-Seg or better known as the "hole" or solitary confinement) on A-Yard.

At that time LAC was a wide-open Level IV and the administration -- under then Warden E. Roe -- would let a reasonable amount of indicents to occure without any "wholesale" administrative reprisals against the general population.

That was then. A-Yard has not been convertedinto an Honor Program. B-yard is strictly GP. C-Yard is full-on Special Needs (i.e., protective custody, prison gang drop-outs, sex offenders, etc.). D-Yard houses the developmentally disabled inmates who suffer from various levels of serious psychological problems, a substance abuse programs, and a couple of buildings of GP.

A brand new 180 design Ad-Seg building has recently been completed. It is located in the dead-space between yards B and C. This is one of ten brand new Ad-Seg buildings built throughout the CDC. Like the Security Housing Units (SHU) in Pelican Bay, these new Ad-Seg buildings have one-person yards -- as opposed to the SHU yards in CSP-Corcoran which accommodate groups.

B-Yard

B-yard is the unofficial "screw-up" yard. Program is virtually nonexistent. Ever since the 400-plus Hispanic and Black riot on December 20, 2001 -- a riot which received national coverage, with five seriously injured and dozens receiving medical attention -- B-yard has never totally returned to normal program.

Immediately after the 12/20 riot -- which left staff feeling shell-shocked due to their inept response to a full-on blood-bath -- they started popping cell doors. Tehre were two "on-signt" melees in B3, and lesser incidents in other B-Yard housing units. No one was seriously injured.

A "state of emergency" was declared. B-Yard had regressed into an "on-sight" war-zone.

The 400 inmate riot, and the "on-sight" melees in the housing units, resulted in the implementation of a "population management/movement policy." In stages, small groups of inmate-volunteer workers were required to work together inter-racially. Then, and only then, these small groups of inmates would get back basic privileges like canteen, packages, phone calls, and contact visits. Yard and Dayroom would manifest once the GP walked to chow without incident over a period of time.

This process is meant to take a long time. For the most part, the correctional methodology of placing the carrot-before-the-cart worked. It appears the desire for privileges, at times, outweighs the dogmas of racial warmongering. Moreover, the prisoncrats have never fully restored B-Yard to a 270-type program. I doubt they ever will.

State of Emergency: A Contemporary Correctional Tactic

During a state of emergency all yards are totally slammed and each cell is thoroughly searched. These are punitive searches where staff throw away, confiscate, lose, and damage a lot of personal property. All non-clear appliances are taken to Receiving and Release to be X0Rayed for weapons and contraband. Inmate movement is suspended. Visits are behind glass and law libray rights (and therefore due process)are out the window.

At the end of August 2002 a state of emergency was again declared in LAC for the third time in a twelve month period. Three D-Yard officers (2 correctional officers and a 1 Sgt.) were assaulted by black inmates. One was stabbed in the face and the Sgt. was knocked-out. The third suffered minor injuries.

A-Yard (honor) and C-Yard (special needs) came off lockdown when the searches were concluded and the state of emergency was lifted. LAC was under a declaration of "emergency" for approximately a month.

As of this writing, at the end of October 2002, "B" and "D" yards are still slammed. It appears for GP inmates in LAC, the process by which a yard is brought back to normal program after an emergency has been declared will happen in stages. In other words, being GP in LAC means one will experience a lot of cell time -- especially if one is on B-Yard.

A-Yard: The Honor program

In the winter 2002 issue of Prison Focus, K.K. Irvin, the Honor Yard MAC Chairman, provided a rather inviting description of A-yard.

Here is how it looks from this perspective. A-Yard seems to be a good palce fo an older, mellower-type convict to do time. Perhaps some with LWOP (life without parole) or where one's points do not allow for a transfer to a Level III, placement in an honor program would be a welcome relief. A relief, that is, from the regular Level IV GP program distinguished by long lockdowns and systemic violence.

However, based on the CDCs track record, any number of out-of-line hypotheticlas could manifest due to a large group fo individuals volunteering to allow mindless prisoncrats the opportunity to apply their pseudo-scientific ideas.

In conclusion

On the real, LAC is shot-out. The place is a quagmire. There is a newly-appointed Warden, M. Yarborough, who wholeheartedly subscribes to the ultra-oppressive school-of-thought practiced throughout the prison industrial complex. There are barely seven 270 design GP housing gunits in the entire prison (B-Yard has 5 and D-Yard has 2). The rest are honor, special needs, EOP, DDP, SAP, and Ad-Seg.

Since LAC has recently been mentioned in the "Prison Focus" and the fact the institution has regressed so far, so fast, I thought iw best to provide an accurate depiction of LAC.

-- a prisoner at Lancaster, California, November 2002