1 1 HEARINGS ON RAPE AND STAFF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT 2 IN U.S. PRISONS 3 4 Ironwood State Prison & Schuylkill Federal 5 Correctional Institution 6 7 Tuesday, March 11, 2008; 9:00 a.m. 8 9 U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice 10 Programs Building 11 810 7th Street, Main Conference Room, Third Floor 12 Washington, D.C. 13 14 15 PANEL MEMBERS: 16 Steven McFarland, Chair 17 Carroll Ann Ellis 18 19 20 Reported by: 21 David Corbin 2 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 WITNESS PAGE 3 Allen Beck, Senior Statistical Advisor, BJS 10 4 James Tilton, Secretary, CDCR 27 5 Wendy Still, Associate Director, Female 61 6 Offender Programs & Services, CDCR 7 Timothy Riddle, Lieutenant, Ironwood Prison 89 8 Richard Anti, Associate Warden, Ironwood 116 9 Lynn Thomas, Staff Nurse, Ironwood 134 10 Debra Dexter, Warden, Ironwood 146 11 Harley Lappin, Director, FBP 179 12 Glenn Walters, Psychologist, Schuylkill FCI 222 13 Bruce Kovach, Lieutenant, Schuylkill FCI 223/263 14 David Steffan, Physician Assistant, Schuylkill 222 15 Amy Leonard, Unit Manager, Schuylkill 264 16 Tom Sniezek, Warden, Schuylkill 315 17 18 19 20 21 3 1 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 2 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Good morning. This is 3 the first hearing of the Review Panel on Prison 4 Rape. My name is Steve McFarland. And it's my 5 pleasure to chair the Panel. This is, as I said, 6 the first of two public hearings this week of the 7 Review Panel which was created within the Department 8 of Justice by the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 9 2003. Statutory mandate for this Panel is clear and 10 narrow, to identify the common characteristics of 11 both victims and perpetrators of prison rape and 12 characteristics of the prisons that have been 13 determined to have had the greatest and least 14 success in preventing prison rape and staff sexual 15 misconduct as of last year. This hearing was 16 announced in the Federal Register on February 19, on 17 the Panel's Web site and by media advisory last 18 Thursday. The Panel will report to the National 19 Prison Rape Elimination Commission and the Bureau of 20 Justice Statistics in the Department of Justice its 21 findings as to the common characteristics of both 4 1 victims and predators in prison as well as what 2 appears to characterize the prisons with the 3 greatest and least success in eliminating sexual 4 assault. When BJS issues in late April the results 5 of its anonymous surveys of inmates in jails across 6 the United States, the Panel will begin similar 7 hearings with officials and employees of those jails 8 that rank the best and worst in preventing rape and 9 staff sexual misconduct. But the subject of this 10 week, this month, and in these hearings is sexual 11 assault in state and federal prisons. 12 After we hear from the prison systems that 13 have the lowest incidence of sexual assault, meaning 14 the Federal Bureau of Prisons and California, 15 facilities in those two systems, we will convene 16 tomorrow a second hearing and spend Wednesday, 17 Thursday, and Friday hearing from staff management 18 of some of the prisons from systems that have the 19 highest incidence of sexual assault. One facility 20 each in Florida, Indiana, and Nebraska's Department 21 of Corrections. At the end of Friday we will recess 5 1 the hearing for a couple of weeks until Thursday and 2 Friday, March 27 and 28, and we'll reconvene public 3 hearings in Houston, Texas, South Texas College of 4 Law moot courtroom. There the Panel will hear from 5 officials and employees at five prisons in the Texas 6 prison system, which were among the ten U.S. prisons 7 with the highest incidence of prison rape and staff 8 sexual misconduct. And then finally we will 9 reconvene here again in D.C. in early April to hear 10 from one witness that's unavailable, namely the 11 warden of one of the Texas prisons. So by early 12 next month, after seven days of sworn testimony, the 13 Panel will have scrutinized the features of ten 14 prisons -- nine facilities in five state systems and 15 one facility in the federal system. 16 On behalf of the Panel, I want to thank 17 several people for their excellent assistance in 18 pulling this hearing together. The Office of 19 Justice Programs and the Department of Justice, led 20 by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey 21 Sedgwick. And particularly Michael Alston, George 6 1 Mazza, Kathleen Severens, Debra Harris of the Office 2 of Civil Rights of OJP. Thank Andie Moss of the 3 Moss Group, our expert advisor. Ms. Camille Cain of 4 the Associate Attorney General's office. Mark Eply 5 of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. And 6 Mr. Robert Siedlecki, Junior, senior legal counsel 7 in our office. Very indebted to you and many others 8 for putting this together. We have just several 9 requests for the witnesses, all the witnesses. If 10 you submitted written testimony, you may but 11 shouldn't feel obligated to read it. You might want 12 to just summarize it. We have read or we will read 13 it and would strongly prefer to leave time for 14 questions. We will be very pressed for time and we 15 want to be able to explore your comments, your 16 verbal comments. 17 Second, we want to ask, if you would, 18 define any jargon or acronyms or prison slang. 19 Third, the more specific and succinct and direct the 20 better. While your testimony will be under oath, I 21 want to emphasize this is not a criminal inquest. 7 1 We're looking for what works and what does not, 2 what's associated with high or low incidence of 3 sexual victimization in prison. We're not looking 4 to place blame. We want to just learn what can be 5 done to stop prison rape and staff sexual misconduct 6 in our prisons. And finally our questions are 7 directed solely at the prison facilities at issue, 8 not the entire prison systems of whichever they are 9 a part. Thus, we would like your answers to relate 10 specifically to the prisons at issue and not the 11 whole prison system to which they belong. The 12 record will be left open until 30 days after the 13 last hearing of the warden of the Estelle Unit, 14 should any of our witnesses have additional or 15 clarifying remarks or documents to provide to the 16 Panel. 17 It's my pleasure to introduce Carroll Ann 18 Ellis, the other member of the Panel. She is ably 19 qualified as director of the Victim Services 20 division of Fairfax County Police Department. She 21 conducts programs that assess the needs of crime 8 1 victims, she provides technical assistance on victim 2 assistance, including community intervention 3 systems, homicide support groups, and other 4 standards on domestic violence. And most recently 5 she was appointed by the Governor of Virginia to 6 serve on the Virginia Tech review panel that 7 investigated the circumstances of the tragedy at 8 Virginia Tech. So -- and she has -- this is not her 9 day job, so she's really one of our heroes in that 10 she has freed up the entire week to spend listening 11 and to analyzing and trying to distill the 12 characteristics we're looking for. Our other 13 panelist, Ted Sexton, unfortunately had to resign 14 last week because of his new responsibilities in the 15 Department of -- Department of Homeland Security. 16 He's a new assistant secretary there and with the 17 bombing in New York City last week and other 18 matters, he just didn't think that he could give the 19 time that it deserves. So two of us are the Panel 20 at this point until a third person is appointed 21 by -- by the Assistant Attorney General Sedgwick. 9 1 Our first witness will be Doctor Allen Beck, who is 2 the Deputy Director of the Department of Justice's 3 Bureau of Justice Statistics. Doctor Beck had 4 primary responsibility for the survey upon which the 5 prisons that have been invited this week were 6 chosen. We've asked Doctor Beck to take about ten 7 minutes to briefly summarize how the Bureau 8 implemented and interpreted the national survey of 9 inmates with the objective of clarifying the 10 reliability and limits of the survey. It's an 11 extraordinary and precedent-setting survey. It's 12 almost insulting to only give him ten minutes, but 13 to be honest, because he's here in D.C. we can talk 14 to him at any time he has the time and many of you 15 are coming from out of town so we have a limited 16 length of time with you all. We had the pleasure of 17 spending several hours with Doctor Beck already. So 18 Doctor Beck's testimony is primarily for the benefit 19 of the public at this point and we're indeed 20 grateful for his time. Doctor Beck, first need to 21 administer the oath. Do you solemnly swear or 10 1 affirm that the testimony you'll give the Panel will 2 be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 3 truth? 4 ALLEN BECK: Absolutely, yes. 5 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Thank you. 6 ALLEN BECK: Good morning, everyone. 7 Members of the Panel, I'm honored to be here this 8 morning. Thank you. I would like to begin by 9 providing a very brief overview of the 2007 national 10 inmate survey. I won't belabor the details. You 11 have my written testimony, I will not go through it 12 verbatim. I would like to, however, provide 13 cautionary words to consider as you interpret the 14 results for specific facilities over the next few 15 days. The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 16 requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics to carry 17 out for each calendar year a comprehensive 18 statistical view and analysis of the incidence and 19 effects of prison rape. It requires BJS to provide 20 a listing of state and federal prisons ranked 21 according to the incidence of prison rape. It 11 1 requires BJS to be in not fewer than ten percent of 2 the facilities each year. The report that we issued 3 in December met the requirements of the Prison Rape 4 Elimination Act for state prisons and federal 5 prisons. The survey consisted of a computer self 6 interview in which inmates used a touch screen, 7 interacted with a computer-assisted questionnaire, 8 and followed audio instructions. We staffed 150 9 facilities. All contacted correctional authorities 10 agreed to participate in the survey. Four 11 facilities dropped out as a result of one being 12 closed, one being sampled twice, and two of which 13 the survey simply could not be conducted. We 14 interviewed approximately 23,000 inmates, obtained a 15 response rate of about 72 percent, almost twice the 16 rate of any other study that we know of in this 17 area. The inmates survey screened for specific 18 sexual activities and categorized various forms of 19 various incidents based upon the uniform definition 20 set for -- adopted by BJS in 2004 and utilized in 21 other surveys. Reports of inmate-on-inmate sexual 12 1 violence, classified as either non-consensual sexual 2 acts, more serious kind of acts, which we most often 3 think about in terms of forceable rape or forceable 4 sodomy, and abusive sexual contact, that means 5 unwanted touching, specific body parts in a sexual 6 way. Staff sexual misconduct incidents were further 7 classified as either willing or unwilling. 8 Unwilling as a result of physical force, pressure, 9 or offering special favors by department staff. The 10 actual facility-level estimates represent the 11 reports of inmates indicating they experienced one 12 or more incidents of sexual victimization in the 13 facilities in the past 12 months or since admission 14 to the facility, whichever was shorter. Bounded 15 victimization rate within the facility: ten 16 facilities had rates of 9.3 percent or greater; six 17 facilities indicated no reported incidents; and an 18 additional 31 facilities have raised that 19 non-statistically different from zero. Obviously, 20 because this is a sample, these facility estimates 21 are subject to sampling error. And you need to be 13 1 aware of the caution, if you can, as you interpret 2 these results. Precision of each facility-level 3 estimate was provided in the report based on its 4 estimated standard errors. So if you take the 5 victimization rate of Estelle, it goes to 6 15.7 percent. That rate had a precision plus or 7 minus 5.1 percent, or 95 percent. That means we're 8 95 percent confident that the true prevalence rate 9 in Estelle unit is somewhere between 10.6 percent 10 and 20.8 percent. All of the rates are based on 11 sampling, all of the rates are subject to sampling 12 error. And that necessitates particular care of 13 interpreting the results, since many facilities the 14 actual enumerator on which the rate is based is 15 relatively small. So for the largest ten 16 facilities, the number of actual victims that came 17 forward ranged from 11 in Coffield to 30 in Estelle. 18 So we have relatively few people coming forward. 19 Because it is a sample, they represent great -- a 20 larger number of inmates, had we interviewed 21 everyone and everyone had responded, we can make 14 1 estimates as to how many that might be. But because 2 the rates, the numbers are small, further 3 decomposition in terms of the characteristics of the 4 incidents, characteristics of the perpetrators, 5 characteristics of the victims become somewhat 6 difficult to do. So we have provided some of that 7 information to the ten largest facilities, ten 8 facilities with the largest rates, as best we could. 9 And you received those tables in recent days. 10 I further caution it must be understood -- 11 and that it these estimates are based on 12 allegations, allegations which have not been 13 substantiated through investigation, but despite our 14 efforts to reassure inmates that their responses 15 about sexual violence would be kept confidential, 16 some inmates may not have felt comfortable to come 17 forward or confident in our representations and our 18 confidentiality. At the same time, some inmates may 19 have made false allegations. We know based on our 20 demonstrated data collection that we have conducted 21 over the last three years, a quarter of the 15 1 allegations brought to the attention of state and 2 federal authorities, upon completion of an official 3 investigation, are determined to have been 4 unfounded, that is proven not to have occurred. The 5 survey results should not be viewed as the gold 6 standard. The survey cannot determine which 7 allegations are true and which are false. Despite 8 extensive follow-up questions contained in the 9 survey, some inmates admittedly may be making false 10 reports. 11 Facility estimates are based on incidents 12 of varying types, varying levels of coercion, 13 differing levels of seriousness. Not all incidents 14 are in fact the same. In calculating rapes, 15 however, we have included all reported incidents in 16 those rates. A close examination of the five 17 facilities with the highest rates indicates that the 18 primary component was staff sexual misconduct. Each 19 had staff-on-inmate rates exceeding 7.5 percent. In 20 each of the top four facilities, at least five 21 percent of the inmates said the sexual conduct with 16 1 staff was willing. Although this activity is wrong 2 and illegal, it's quite different from activity 3 involving physical force and pressure involving 4 coercion, explicit coercion. Abusive sexual 5 contacts that involved unwanted touching are 6 different from non-consensual sexual acts that 7 involve oral, anal, vaginal penetration and are 8 forceful. Yet the overall prevalence rates 9 apparently are the same. The point is that, as you 10 interpret the results, care must be exercised. 11 Underlying the rates are considerable variations in 12 nature and seriousness of incidents being reported. 13 Facilities' rates are subject to unknown measurement 14 error. As with any measures of self-reported 15 victimization, inmates may have faulty memories. 16 For instance, they may report incidents that 17 happened in another facility or outside of the 18 12-month referenced period. We confront the same 19 problems as we conduct the national crime 20 victimization survey with telescoping and false 21 memories. The former prisoner survey that we're 17 1 currently conducting may provide some insight to the 2 extent of these problems, collecting information for 3 the totality of the incarcerated period and not 4 bounding the period, the referenced period, by 12 5 months or admission to the facility. Some types of 6 sexual misconduct may be more susceptible to 7 measurement errors than others. Consider 8 allegations of staff sexual misconduct, particularly 9 unwanted touching. The prevalence of these 10 allegations may be strongly related to institutional 11 climate, as dissatisfaction of the facility, with 12 the staff, or the programming. The prevalence of 13 these allegations may also be related strongly to a 14 frequency of pat-downs and strip searches, which 15 inmates simply don't like. In 2008, BJS intends to 16 include measures of institutional climate and 17 explore the extent to which allegations of staff 18 sexual misconduct are related to pat downs and strip 19 searches. 20 Finally, in response to the NIS results, 21 the inmate survey results, facility operators are 18 1 placed at somewhat of a disadvantage since BJS 2 cannot provide detailed data on inmate allegations. 3 In response to requests from correctional 4 administrators, BJS is provided facility-level 5 reports for the ten high-rated facilities. These 6 reports, as I mentioned, have already been provided 7 to you. We're constrained in the level of detail 8 that we can provide due to confidentiality 9 restrictions; however, we provided basic tabulations 10 showing responses in multiple categories. These 11 tabulations will give administrators and the Panel a 12 better sense of the allegations reported in the NIS. 13 These tables will not provide the level of detail to 14 permit administrators to investigate the validity of 15 specific allegations. However, they do provide a 16 profile of inmates who experience such incidents, 17 detail of when and where incidents occur, details on 18 the type of coercion used, nature of injuries and 19 characteristics, and information on the past 20 employees for reasons -- and for reasons for not 21 reporting. I think this information may be useful 19 1 in evaluating current procedures and taking steps to 2 reduce and eliminate sexual violence. Thank you 3 again for asking me to appear before you. I'm 4 available for questions. 5 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Doctor Beck, thank you 6 very much. I just had a couple of questions. 7 The -- you mentioned that a quarter of the 8 allegations brought to the attention of the 9 correctional authorities upon completion of an 10 official investigation were determined to have been 11 unfounded. And were these uniformly official 12 investigations of the correctional institution or 13 its system or by outside investigators, law 14 enforcement, district attorney? 15 ALLEN BECK: Well, when an allegation is 16 brought forward, an investigation follows, so far as 17 evidence to examine. And when we collect data from 18 administrators, we ask for not only the allegations 19 but whether an investigation was conducted and the 20 outcome of that investigation. Now, the nature of 21 the investigation varies from state to state, from 20 1 facility -- from system to system, and the jails 2 obviously, from jail jurisdiction to jail 3 jurisdiction. In the 2004 report, which I can 4 provide to the Panel, we examined some of that, and 5 who conducts those investigations, as I recall. So 6 some of it may be done internally, some of it may be 7 done by law enforcement, either local or state law 8 enforcement. Some may be referred to child 9 protective services. 10 STEVEN MCFARLAND: In the case of 11 California, they had an office that -- 12 ALLEN BECK: Yeah, it really depends on 13 the operations of the system. 14 STEVEN MCFARLAND: I also wanted to follow 15 up on your statement that in each of the top four 16 facilities, at least five percent of the inmates 17 said the sexual contact with staff was willing. 18 Although this activity is wrong and illegal, it's 19 quite different from activity involving physical 20 force and pressure. In what way is it different -- 21 can't -- is there such a thing as consensual sex 21 1 when there's a relationship of a guard and a 2 prisoner? 3 ALLEN BECK: Absolutely not. That's why 4 it's illegal. And that's why it's wrong. However, 5 I think one of the -- to face reality, that some of 6 these incidents may have been initiated by the 7 inmate, not by the staff. And you do have to 8 consider who is the victim in some respects to these 9 incidents. 10 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Would it be fair to 11 say, though, that an inmate, such an inmate, might 12 have ulterior motives and then as soon as he or she 13 compromises the officer, he's got that guard over a 14 barrel, so to speak, and can extort concessions, 15 contraband, other things, so it may not always be 16 consensual in the sense of an amorous desire but 17 rather -- 18 ALLEN BECK: That's correct. 19 STEVEN MCFARLAND: So we will never know. 20 ALLEN BECK: That's a challenge to 21 understand that dynamic. We certainly found in our 22 1 administrative collections a large proportion of 2 substantiated incidents of staff sexual misconduct 3 involving female staff with male inmates. And upon 4 investigation, a large number of those incidents 5 being characterized as willing or romantic or 6 impossible to determine sometimes. 7 STEVEN MCFARLAND: My last question was 8 related to BJS's attention to measure institutional 9 climate and relationship to pat-downs and strip 10 search. When will that study -- when will we be 11 supplied the -- 12 ALLEN BECK: Well, we're going to 13 introduce a battery of new questions in the 2008 14 inmate survey. And we're developing those questions 15 using institutional climates that have been used in 16 the correctional facilities in the past. And so we 17 feel these are equivalent appropriate measures for 18 deeper understanding of staff sexual misconduct. 19 STEVEN MCFARLAND: When do you expect -- 20 ALLEN BECK: Well, that will be -- the 21 next round will begin data collection in September. 23 1 Expecting review and clearance on those measures. 2 The prison -- prisons will be first -- the prison 3 collection will be done largely upfront first as we 4 get this year. So we're talking four to five months 5 for data collection. So we're into March of next 6 year somewhere. 7 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Doctor Beck, we -- I 8 want to just read excerpts of the testimony of the 9 second expert with whom I think you're familiar, 10 Doctor Gerald Gaes, who is a consultant. Couldn't 11 be here today, but we asked him for his opinion 12 about the credibility of the survey on which these 13 rankings are predicated. And I won't read his 14 entire testimony, but suffice to say he notes that 15 the "national inmate survey is the most 16 comprehensive and systematic assessment of sexual 17 victimization in prisons that's ever been 18 conducted." And then he talks about various 19 problems, some of which Doctor Beck has mentioned, 20 assumptions, and "why research has demonstrated that 21 the audio techniques, computer-assisted surveying 24 1 instrument techniques that Doctor Beck and his team 2 developed, are better than other survey methods to 3 elicit responses to sensitive questions. 4 Furthermore, since the survey questions are 5 transmitted orally over ear phones and the 6 alternative responses are highlighted on the screen, 7 even inmates who have minimal literacy skills can 8 participate in the survey." Then talks about how 9 they overcame other issues, issues of consent, why 10 this is superior to pencil-and-paper forms, the 11 latter being used if it was too dangerous to take an 12 inmate out of his or her cell. He notes that "the 13 overall response rate was 72 percent, which is quite 14 good for a survey of this nature. The statisticians 15 on this project used weights based on inmate age, 16 gender, race, date of admission, and sentence length 17 to insure representation of the facility 18 population." And then he concludes with a 19 discussion of competing biases, as Doctor Beck 20 mentioned, the possible bias of underreporting due 21 to coercion of the -- or suppression of candor on 25 1 the inmates, and the possibility of overreporting, 2 if there is a sense that they wanted to make life 3 difficult for their captors, so to speak, by 4 overreporting incidents. And he discusses how this 5 can and was and might be further ameliorated in what 6 BJS is planning to do in its next survey. I want to 7 thank Doctor Beck for your testimony. Unless 8 Ms. Ellis has any questions. 9 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: Thank you, Doctor 10 Beck. 11 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Thank you very much. I 12 screwed up and failed to give Ms. Ellis an 13 opportunity to make some opening remarks. If she 14 doesn't mind, I'll give you now or would you rather 15 do it tomorrow morning? 16 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: I'll do it now. Good 17 morning. I am a victim advocate, and as such I am 18 both motivated and challenged by the work of this 19 Panel, which of course is focused on PREA, the PREA 20 Act, efforts to eliminate prison rape. Because it 21 is such important work, I feel that we have the 26 1 opportunity to focus in on sexual assault and ways 2 of eliminating it within a specific population and 3 culture. Rape, wherever it might occur, constitutes 4 one of the most demoralizing acts of violence. Rape 5 is an act of aggression, regardless of the gender of 6 the victim or the perpetrator. It is neither about 7 sexual desire nor deprivation, but it is motivated 8 by power and control. Sexual assault in any form is 9 dehumanizing and insidious in ways that leave the 10 victim traumatized, including shamed, self-loathing 11 and the object of blame by others. Sexual assault 12 victims must deal with concerns of sexually 13 transmitted diseases, the loss of sexuality -- 14 because of forced sexual violation, the loss of 15 privacy, self-esteem, and the fear of future or 16 continued sexual violence. I am convinced that as 17 we hear today and throughout the week from so many 18 who will provide testimony, that such shared 19 information will surely expand our individual and 20 collective ability to assist victims of sexual 21 assault, whether in prisons or in the wider world. 27 1 Also, the shared information will in the end help us 2 as a society to strive toward a more civilized world 3 where sexual assault in any form will not be 4 tolerated and cease to exist. I want to join the 5 chair in thanking all of those who have worked so 6 diligently to bring us to this point. Thank you 7 very much and I look forward to testimony. Thank 8 you. 9 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Our next witness is 10 Mr. James Tilton, who is the secretary of the 11 California Department of Corrections and 12 Rehabilitation. Thank you for being with us, 13 Mr. Secretary. If you wouldn't mind raising your 14 right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that 15 the testimony you give the Panel will be the whole 16 truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God? 17 JAMES TILTON: I do. Thank you very much. 18 My staff are here to follow behind me to give some 19 more details, but you have my talking points I 20 submitted to you, but I would like to walk through 21 that a little bit to reemphasize how important I 28 1 think this is for my job in terms of secretary of 2 Department of Corrections and some of the major 3 reforms that California is moving forward. And I 4 consider this as one of the major issues in terms of 5 creating a safe environment for our prison system. 6 So let me walk you through a little bit, give you 7 some highlights. I won't go through all of them. 8 But I think it's important for me to reemphasize how 9 important I think the activities of this Panel are 10 and for all of us to keep working to create safe 11 environments. 12 Again, thank you for the opportunity to 13 testify in front of your Panel. I can't think of 14 anything more important as the secretary than 15 creating a safe environment in the prison system in 16 California for both staff and inmates. And I'm very 17 excited about the effort that California has taken 18 in terms of -- in my view taking the issue of prison 19 rape and prison rape elimination very seriously in 20 California. As you know, California passed its own 21 law to make it not just a federal responsibility but 29 1 a state responsibility. Eliminating sexual assault 2 within our facilities and setting zero tolerance 3 expectation, and prosecuting those who violate the 4 laws let them know that you're creating a safe 5 environment in the prison system of California. We 6 have written statewide policies, we created zero 7 tolerance. We put out memos to that effect. We 8 provide standard protocols of investigations. We 9 partner with researchers around the country to make 10 sure we have clear policies in California. We're 11 creating evidence-based practices. I know Doctor 12 Beck has dealt with the issue of the statistics, but 13 it's the best we have. And I think it's important 14 for us not to state lightly some of the variances, 15 but to focus on what it does give us in terms of 16 information and in terms of what's happening. We 17 partnered with NIC in our efforts to eradicate 18 prison sexual assault and we're working very closely 19 with the national standards (inaudible). Again, my 20 agency has zero tolerance for sexual assault in the 21 prison systems as well as for the sole point of 30 1 creating a safe environment. 2 The zero tolerance policy also provides 3 four hours of managerial training. We think this is 4 key to not just have a policy statement, but make 5 sure that all staff and inmates are aware of that 6 policy. Further, to protect that, we establish 7 booklets and information for inmates and staff in 8 order to get the word out in terms of what our 9 expectations are. We have a video that's being used 10 for inmates so they are aware of their rights, 11 trying to reinforce this issue that we have a safe 12 environment and it's okay to report incidents that 13 may take place. We have done all we can in terms of 14 publicizing that issue. We established posters in 15 the prisons and you'll hear more about that from my 16 staff today. 17 STEVEN MCFARLAND: We've seen them. 18 JAMES TILTON: And I think the -- the 19 other thing we've done that has been very 20 educational for us is to look at housing policies, 21 and not just in terms of asking the inmates to 31 1 evaluate the practice in terms of how we do that. 2 We take face-to-face interviews, address their 3 safety issues, height, weight, race, gang 4 affiliation, commitment offense, sexual assault 5 history as we assign housing. And I think that's 6 been a major positive influence on our ability to 7 provide that safe environment. We look at those 8 factors which may be -- to set up a situation where 9 we create a potential for the assaults. We're doing 10 research in California with the assistance of Doctor 11 Bou Regents. We know that establishing housing 12 protocols and considering offenders' size and age is 13 critical to the inmate safety. We're currently 14 taking on a second research project with Mercy 15 California, Irvine, to provide evidence necessary to 16 improve our operational policies and procedures 17 related to transgender inmates. We did a study and 18 found out that they are more vulnerable to this, and 19 so we think it provides a separate focus to look at 20 the transgender inmate population and identify if 21 there's other issues that we should be addressing in 32 1 that population. We've partnered with a non-profit 2 agency, Stop Prisoner Rape, to establish memorandums 3 of understanding in individual institutions for 4 local rape crisis centers to respond to incidents of 5 rape in our prisons. We put an inmate outreach 6 program in 17 of our institutions, hoping to move 7 forward with the rest of those and establish a -- 8 Stop Prisoner Rape has implemented a pilot program, 9 Paths to Recovery. At one adult male institution 10 the CCI -- in one adult female institution, provided 11 extended counseling to inmate victims of sexual 12 assault no matter when the assault occurred. It is 13 my understanding that this is the first program of 14 its kind in the nation. 15 Again, as a system, I think it's very 16 important for us to establish this issue of safe 17 environments for prison. Kind of a side comment, as 18 you know, California is probably one of the most 19 overcrowded prison systems in the nation, and that's 20 been a negative impact on our ability to provide 21 that safe environment. We're on our major issue now 33 1 to rethink how we manage inmate populations in 2 California, to get out of the warehousing mentality 3 that we have had, and this issue, this program here, 4 I think, is allowing us to focus on issues which 5 will help us across the board in terms of addressing 6 the issues in the prison system to create that safe, 7 positive environment where inmates are better off 8 when they leave than when they came into the 9 department. One other comment I want to make, 10 though, in terms of the data. You're going to hear 11 from an institution that has zero incidents of -- 12 based on Doctor Beck's study. And I don't mean this 13 as a negative, it's a great institution, managed 14 very well, but I also am not assuming that it is 15 zero. That it could be, if this was a situation 16 looking at statistics, we could have a situation 17 where inmates could be afraid to report. I don't 18 think that's the case here, but I want to put on the 19 table. In addition, I have institutions who have 20 higher incidence based on Doctor Beck's studies. 21 And when I look at those institutions, I'll be 34 1 candid, that I think those numbers are high based on 2 the characteristics of those institutions. But I'm 3 not ignoring those institutions, and we need to look 4 at the entire spectrum to make sure, again, we're 5 creating an environment in the prison system where 6 people are safe, do their time, and are free from 7 rape and other issues and situations. 8 In closing, I just want to thank you for 9 your efforts. I think it's very helpful for us to 10 take a look at our organizations to make sure what 11 we're doing -- to provide proper environments for 12 inmates to serve their time, and I look forward to 13 working with your Panel and seeing results and 14 seeing if we can't do a better job in California 15 than we already do. 16 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Thank you, 17 Mr. Secretary. The written statement and your 18 verbal summary suggests that Ironwood, the facility 19 that was among the zero incidents facilities, that 20 Ironwood is low because of underreporting. And you 21 explain or suggest that certain of your women's 35 1 facilities, including the Valley facility, are high 2 because of overreporting. Why do you make those -- 3 draw those conclusions, if I understand your 4 testimony correctly? 5 JAMES TILTON: Well, the issue I have, I 6 just want -- the data is the best we have. But as 7 Doctor Beck said, there's some variances there. 8 Now, just because I made those statements doesn't 9 mean we're not paying attention. I think you're 10 going to find some things at Ironwood that deal with 11 inmate communication, training, using inmates as 12 peer counselors and stuff. Good positive things. 13 But I do have a couple incidents that have been 14 found at Ironwood. I think there's been two. So I 15 just want to make sure that we don't get caught up 16 in the numbers as much and not recognize -- I'm not 17 saying there are zero in the other ones, I'm just 18 saying that we need to be aware of the statistics. 19 Keep looking at that, trying to fine-tune it. One 20 of the things -- it's not in my testimony but I want 21 to add, besides the ombudsman process in California, 36 1 we have an independent outside investigation process 2 that I think has helped us in California do a better 3 job of our investigations when we had an issue of 4 code of silence in California. And that's what I 5 just raised. I just want to throw that out, the 6 ideas. We have an independent, outside oversight of 7 all investigations of both staff and inmate 8 behavior. 9 STEVEN MCFARLAND: That's the office of 10 Matthew -- 11 JAMES TILTON: Matt Cate, Office of 12 Inspector General. To me, that's been a real asset 13 to have that independent -- to feel comfortable that 14 investigations are done fairly, completely and 15 appropriate. So I just want to throw that out, that 16 that's an added asset for me as the secretary. 17 We've got an outside watch-dog agency that oversees 18 the investigation. 19 STEVEN MCFARLAND: And how is that office 20 outside, who does he report to? 21 JAMES TILTON: Well, it's an independent 37 1 office, reports to the Governor and Legislature. 2 STEVEN MCFARLAND: And the ombudsman 3 reports to you? 4 JAMES TILTON: The ombudsman is an office 5 within my office, yes. 6 STEVEN MCFARLAND: And are there ombudsmen 7 at every facility in CDCR? 8 JAMES TILTON: Not every one. They are 9 assigned to facilities. 10 STEVEN MCFARLAND: How many would you say? 11 JAMES TILTON: I think we have about 12 or 12 13 that go through 30, 32 prisons. 13 STEVEN MCFARLAND: And the size of the 14 budget for the ombudsman is what, any idea? 15 JAMES TILTON: No idea. It's about 13, 15 16 prisons and whatever traveling. I'll be glad to 17 follow up with that if you would like. 18 STEVEN MCFARLAND: If you wouldn't mind, 19 that would be helpful. It's pretty unique within 20 the country. And what authority does the office of 21 sexual assault in detention and elimination 38 1 ombudsman have? 2 JAMES TILTON: Well, the office is set up 3 to have an independent -- again, report to my 4 office. The idea is that they work with inmates in 5 the facilities and we provide a fair and independent 6 safe place to report, that they can ensure that this 7 confidentiality and issues be addressed. Again, 8 reports right to my office. 9 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: What is your systems 10 biggest concern in implementing PREA? 11 JAMES TILTON: I think the issue for us is 12 just a matter of getting communication out, 13 establishing an environment where inmates feel safe 14 to report the incidents. I think we're taking a new 15 approach to address the issue of victims, which you 16 talked about. It's no different in a prison system 17 than outside. And so are we providing that service 18 that's necessary. For me, one of my lead managers, 19 who is taking this very seriously and she very much 20 assisted us and paid attention to it -- we have a 21 reputation in the prison system of being a little 39 1 callous to the people who we are providing care for. 2 So this is an opportunity for us to demonstrate -- 3 to me it's the major reforms we're trying to put in 4 California today. Inmates -- the penalty is that 5 you serve your time, not be penalized while doing 6 your time. So, to me, this is one symptom of how to 7 provide a fair and safe environment. At the same 8 time, I'm concerned about issues with my staff, 9 false reporting, to make sure they are protected 10 also. We have put some cameras in place. I am 11 putting them in other areas. Cameras in the prisons 12 have been very helpful, to be honest, in 13 investigating incidents in the prison system. So 14 I'm looking forward to the paths we have with 15 cameras, and I think I will move forward -- there is 16 more on that, not just on the prison rape issue, but 17 in terms of incidents in the prisons in terms of 18 identifying those predators in the prison and not 19 penalizing the entire prison population when you 20 have incidents that have investigations. I think 21 right now the issue is what are we doing to make 40 1 sure that there's communication of good practices, 2 health practices, do that from a public (inaudible). 3 They're doing a very good job, I think, of 4 communicating to the inmates the negative -- certain 5 behavior that may have an impact. So my issue, I 6 think, is a lot of focus on the issue, it's 7 providing management and a system that helps us in 8 other areas beside rape elimination. That's my 9 point here, is that some of the things we're putting 10 in here today assist us in creating a safe 11 environment for both staff and inmates so they will 12 be held accountable. 13 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: You mentioned earlier 14 making inmates or making victims aware of their 15 rights. And, of course, across the nation victims 16 have rights in every state. How is this conveyed 17 within a prison environment to inmates, that they 18 have rights? What are those rights, how do they 19 understand those rights in terms of their safety and 20 ability to make reports? How is that conveyed? 21 JAMES TILTON: You'll hear more details 41 1 from Ironwood in terms of what they're doing there, 2 but the basic issue is we publicize, we do training 3 of staff and inmates, we do all we can to make sure 4 inmates -- I think you'll hear about inmate 5 orientation that is provided when they first come 6 into the facility at Ironwood. It's one of those 7 things that's done early on to communicate that. 8 But it's up to us as managers of the system to make 9 sure that, when people do raise those issues, they 10 are followed through fairly, investigated, and 11 prosecuted when appropriate. 12 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: You also mentioned 13 your partnerships with a number of national 14 organizations, and you touched very briefly on your 15 relationships and partnerships within the closer 16 community. Could you say a few more words about 17 that? You mentioned that you are in touch and in 18 communication with community-based organizations. 19 JAMES TILTON: Right. Well, what we have 20 here -- and this is one of my pleasures of coming in 21 as the secretary the last two years, I found that I 42 1 have a department that's reaching out, outside of 2 our organization, for assistance. This is one of 3 those. We're doing female gender-response 4 strategies, we're doing issuing -- the same person, 5 you'll hear from her shortly. But the issue is, 6 we're reaching out of the organization. My 7 observation is we in California have put up the 8 walls a little bit in terms of -- I know fences are 9 good for keeping people in, they are also used to 10 keep people out. And what we're trying to do is 11 open ourselves up to anyone out there who has 12 information that we can take advantage of and 13 partner to learn best practices. And so I think 14 that's the issue we have here is that we have -- 15 we're not saying we don't have issues in California, 16 we're saying we do have issues, but we're looking 17 around the country and partnering with folks. 18 Your background in terms of victims 19 advocate -- I travel around institutions, and it's 20 interesting when you start putting the rights of the 21 victim on the individuals. But all I can say here 43 1 is, and my staff has the details, but in reality 2 we're opening ourselves up. We're working with NIC, 3 we're working with your Panel, we're working with 4 victims organizations in our communities to have 5 them assist us with the fact that we have victims in 6 this business and we should be treating them like we 7 would victims on the outside. We're just opening 8 ourselves up, try to take advantage of whatever 9 assets, and we're finding people are raising their 10 hands and assisting us and we sure appreciate that. 11 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: Thank you. 12 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Is it fair to say, 13 Mr. Secretary, that CDCR is overcrowded, as you 14 said? I've seen a figure of 270 percent of 15 capacity. Is that approximately correct? 16 JAMES TILTON: Well, it's hard. We talk 17 about the numbers. I even lose track of them. 18 Reality is in California we have all the housing 19 units stacked up as high as we can. We have over 20 18,000 inmates, or had over 18,000 inmates in gyms, 21 day rooms, laundry rooms. Pretty well overcrowded 44 1 in any term we have. What we're doing now is we're 2 going over a combination of reforms, some is 3 building, but largely reassessing alternatives for 4 population. And our population is down 5,000 in the 5 last six months. So we're taking steps to do that. 6 Because without getting a more reasonable 7 population, it's hard to address basic fundamental 8 services. On top of that, we're bringing programs 9 back in place. So clearly when the Governor took 10 over we had the label of California as the 11 warehousing system. I was there 20 years ago, I 12 built 20 prisons, and when I got back a few years 13 ago I completely had a warehouse. 14 STEVEN MCFARLAND: What's the staff, 15 quote-unquote, ratio to inmates? 16 JAMES TILTON: It's hard to say because it 17 varies, but very clear California, by buildings and 18 prisoners, has the leanest staffing. I think 19 48th or 49th in the country. We have prisons with 20 6,000 inmates or more. So we did a good job in that 21 goal. But a little background. I left the 45 1 department in 1998 and was in charge of improving 2 staffing patterns as part of my job, and always felt 3 I was very tight in my approval of staffing. When I 4 got back, through budget cuts they had eliminated 5 4,000 positions without touching the inmate 6 population. So you walk into prisons, you have very 7 little programming. And I don't care what kind of 8 staff, whether it's correctional officers, teachers, 9 vocational instructors, administrative, maintenance 10 staff were taken away. So my task now is to reduce 11 the overcrowding, put in place appropriate 12 resources, provide proper supervision and programs. 13 We did have a situation where inmates were sitting 14 idle and our response to that was to lock the 15 prisons down. We're now unlocking the prisons, 16 realizing that there are predators, we isolate the 17 predators, and create safe environments to bring 18 programs and services back into that. 19 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Is overtime a problem 20 for your budget? 21 JAMES TILTON: Well, it was. Because one 46 1 of the budget cuts they had was they shut down the 2 correctional officer pipeline to hire, which is 3 industry-wide. So we have been basically for the 4 last 18 months -- we have fixed that. We're now 5 hiring, we will be fully staffed by the summer. 6 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Fully staffed to what 7 ratio or -- 8 JAMES TILTON: Well, it's kind of 9 interesting. We will be up probably no less than 10 five percent vacancies. Many of our prisons are 11 fully staffed -- just a matter of getting the 12 process up and recruiting. We pay very well in 13 California for our correctional officers, so it was 14 an issue of just getting the process going. More 15 important even than the staffing issue is putting 16 the programs back in place. 17 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Well, how can you have 18 programs when it's kind of overcrowding? The panels 19 at Folsom and Sacramento -- we went into the gym, 20 they were triple-bunked in the gym. One hundred 21 four inmates, two officers. One of the guy -- the 47 1 cage, not on the floor. Two officers -- I asked one 2 of them, if you heard a scuffle down the third row, 3 number one, how would you know what was going on; 4 and number two, what would you do about it? 5 JAMES TILTON: Or who it was. 6 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Or who it was. And 7 they had two convex mirrors to go around a corner. 8 That was -- that was the line of sight for 104 9 inmates. How realistically can you have programs 10 when the gym is full of beds and you have a very 11 high ratio, you're overcrowded, and you can't afford 12 overtime? 13 JAMES TILTON: You're right. And that's 14 one of the reasons I didn't walk into the 15 Legislature and say, by the way, I need $100 million 16 for programming. I got to find a safe environment. 17 But we're finding out that we have the ability to -- 18 give you an example. Had a prison that was locked 19 down for 18 months, if you can imagine. The whole 20 prison was locked down. So we took steps to 21 identify some incentives for inmates to behave. For 48 1 example, those locked-down inmates were still 2 getting all of the services, quote, unquote. So 3 what we did was take away some of those services and 4 said, if you want to integrate and behave and do 5 your time, then we will bring back those. Well, 6 three big facilities. Now, one facility is ready to 7 be opened up. The second one is, it's got some 8 issues. The third one is not working well. But 9 instead of locking down all three of those 10 facilities, we now have one facility that we're 11 bringing the program back in place, we've gone 12 through the inmates. Those inmates are ready now to 13 be willing to have a safe environment. So it's a 14 matter of what I call take back the prison a little 15 bit and reinforce that. You can't do all -- won't 16 be able to turn it overnight, but we're finding that 17 by identifying those inmates who are willing to 18 program and then giving those programs we're having 19 success. It's one of the issues our population is 20 down, we're providing some alternatives. You're 21 right, it's a huge challenge for us in California. 49 1 It's not a build your way out of it, but the most 2 exciting thing for me in California is to build 3 range facilities. As you know, most of our 4 prisoners are out -- it's a nice community, but it's 5 a long ways away from the rest of California. We're 6 building community centers so that inmates will go 7 back into those facilities in their communities up 8 to a year before they get out, and there we will 9 provide 100 percent programs. So we have to 10 prioritize our resource allocation, but we're 11 excited about that and California communities are 12 accepting part of the responsibility when their 13 citizens are coming home. 14 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Does your collective 15 bargaining agreement mention the latitude you need 16 to reduce the overtime? 17 JAMES TILTON: The overtime that we're 18 running, to be honest with you, it's twofold. One, 19 it's driven by the agency. We're addressing that. 20 We also had a major effort in California -- I had a 21 few court cases in California, not the least is the 50 1 thought of which is the medical one. And we're 2 working with that office and they are identifying 3 significant resource allocations to increase 4 resources to move inmates out for medical services. 5 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Out of the institution. 6 JAMES TILTON: Yeah. So that's providing 7 overtime right now as we work with that office to 8 validate, what's the need you have, establish the 9 post, and then we will have the staff. 10 STEVEN MCFARLAND: In other words, you're 11 spending a lot of personnel time escorting folks to 12 ERs and outside medical facilities. 13 JAMES TILTON: That's right. 14 STEVEN MCFARLAND: And a federal trustee 15 is calling the shots so you spend what he says you 16 spend. 17 JAMES TILTON: Well, we have transitions 18 taking place now. We had a receiver who was 19 spending the money, wasn't communicating very well 20 with me. My words. We have a new receiver who has 21 taken a different approach to work with us so that 51 1 we can evaluate an efficient use of resources on 2 that. So I've been very excited in a matter of 3 weeks that we will be working with -- yes, we need 4 to make sure inmates get services, and yes, we will 5 provide that service as part of my responsibility, 6 but we're also working with that office to see if we 7 can do a better job, a more efficient use of those 8 resources and I think we will. 9 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Mr. Secretary, you 10 mentioned Doctor Genesis's report of April 27 of 11 last year. As you know, there are 322 random 12 interviews of male inmates, and indicated four 13 percent of them had been sexually assaulted, which, 14 given 180,000 inmates, if that was actually 15 extrapolated across, that's a lot of people getting 16 sexually assaulted. Do you have plans for doing a 17 similar study at women's facilities and what did you 18 learn from Doctor Genesis findings? 19 JAMES TILTON: That's the issue I raised 20 about the transgender inmates, is that was a major 21 focus of that study. We will do some more work on 52 1 addressing policies in terms of housing, addressing 2 that population. We think it's a vulnerable 3 population that we need to take steps in -- I think 4 the rest was less than 1 percent. I think four 5 percent was that population, if I'm not mistaken. 6 STEVEN MCFARLAND: So what you learned 7 from this report was that you needed to do the UC 8 Irving report on transgender? 9 JAMES TILTON: Yes. Look into that 10 population more carefully. The issue for me on this 11 one -- the whole issue here is I've got 33 adult and 12 four or six now depending on -- we're going to pay 13 more attention to this whole issue. I think it's a 14 symptom for me to manage my institution -- the Rape 15 Elimination Act and process is a symptom of creating 16 safe environments in my business. So I'm using this 17 as kind of a lead, it's already here, we're working 18 with it. But the same environment that will create 19 a safe environment for inmates, the reporting of 20 incidents, take proper steps to make sure they are 21 investigated, that we do training, are the same kind 53 1 of things I see necessarily in my institutions to 2 create programming in institutions, to create an 3 environment where staff know who the inmates are. 4 They are so big. Talked about that gym -- we have 5 over 200 inmates and two staff. They don't know 6 those inmates. How do you know who they are? And 7 anonymous inmates are a problem. And so one of the 8 issues we're struggling with, I think, in California 9 is how do you get back, provide that environment 10 where it's safe, where an inmate can do their time, 11 where they can do programming and try to improve 12 their abilities and then provide a better transition 13 out of the system and into the communities with 14 appropriate services so that -- as I say all the 15 time, the ultimate public safety is inmates don't 16 come back because they are now productive citizens. 17 So I'm looking at this entire area as a way for me 18 to test what am I doing in terms of creating that 19 good safe environment, for both staff to work and 20 inmates. 21 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Is anybody looking at 54 1 California's sentencing, particularly the high rate 2 of sending parole violaters back to prison even for 3 short periods? Are they looking at alternatives to 4 sending them back? 5 JAMES TILTON: Yes. In fact, my 6 population is down 5,000 in the last six months. 7 It's largely due to the impact I'm having on the 8 violation rate. 9 STEVEN MCFARLAND: In the what, violation? 10 JAMES TILTON: Violation. In other words, 11 we had an environment where if you violated your 12 parole condition, the options were do nothing or put 13 you on a bunk for five months. So we were putting 14 inmates on bunks for five months. But with the 15 support of the Government and Legislature, I put in 16 about 1,800 drug treatment beds recently. We're 17 looking forward to about 200 mental health beds. 18 And so I just asked my parole board and staff, asked 19 the question, is it better to put a person in 20 services or to put them on a bunk? And we're 21 finding by putting in services they are getting more 55 1 supervision. 2 STEVEN MCFARLAND: These are outside. 3 JAMES TILTON: Outside. So we contracted 4 with programs, and I'm pleased to say that we're 5 taking advantage of that and it's caused my 6 population to be down. 7 STEVEN MCFARLAND: You don't have control 8 over the parole office, so you're getting some 9 cooperation from them? 10 JAMES TILTON: No, parole office is under 11 my jurisdiction. The issue is there were no tools, 12 and so if you're a parole agent and you have no 13 tools, the only tool you had was to put them back in 14 prison. So what we're doing is implementing tools, 15 asking the parole board that looks at parole 16 violations as an administrative body, to ask the 17 question, would this person be better served by a 18 program or sitting on a bunk? When we have services 19 out there, we're finding that they can make a proper 20 decision by putting in the services programs. 21 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: I'm curious about 56 1 something, sir. In reflecting back on our visit to 2 California and having stepped into that gymnasium 3 with so many inmates and just two guards, I'm 4 wondering, are there morale issues in terms of the 5 safety of your staff? As they go into a workplace 6 environment that is so volatile for them as well, 7 and we talk about over time and those things that 8 impact workers every day, those issues that they 9 take home and that certainly direct their lives. 10 What can you tell us about that? 11 JAMES TILTON: Let me give you a juvenile 12 example because the juvenile justice system is under 13 my purview. And I had a facility that had -- 14 basically was a high-end juvenile population, was a 15 very violent facility under -- courts everywhere. 16 But I was in that facility about a couple months ago 17 and talking to the staff. And what we're trying to 18 do -- we're trying to do two things. We're trying 19 to get the overcrowding down. We're trying to 20 provide tools for the staff. In that case, we had 21 provided some intervention training to staff. And I 57 1 walked in and was talking to one of the officers 2 there and he told me about six months before that he 3 was afraid to come to work. He was afraid to come 4 to work. He says, these inmates here, I don't have 5 control, I'm afraid. And he told me after he had 6 gone through the training, it's not the pantasy of 7 it basically, but he told me, I got some training 8 and I came in this morning and felt the wards had a 9 conflict. He says normally I would have locked -- 10 before I would have locked the place down. But, no, 11 he walked up and started engaging them. Next thing 12 you know they were discussing NASCAR on the TV and 13 how fast the cars go. And he was able to channel 14 their dialogue in a more positive way. I'm not 15 going to say that's reflective of all, but the issue 16 to me is we're trying to fill positions, because we 17 had huge vacancies. I had over 4,000 pushed out. 18 So if you're working double shifts, tired, yeah -- 19 so we're addressing that. The other issue is we're 20 breaking down and providing real tools for the 21 staff. We're -- had some major projects we can't do 58 1 statewide -- we're taking a series of prisons, 2 reception center, GP, parole and starting to move 3 through those -- how do we manage that institution, 4 how do we identify the predators of the inmate 5 population and move them out so we can create a safe 6 environment. Provide real tools for staff to manage 7 that facility, create a safe environment and bring 8 the resources in. As we work through that in terms 9 of training staff how to do that, how to reinforce 10 our management strategies in terms of managing that 11 population, as well as provide the encouragement for 12 good behavior, we see positive results with that. 13 Now, I wish I could tell you I could do that in all 14 my prisons today. I can't. We're demonstrating to 15 staff that we're going to hold inmates to their 16 behavior. And if you are willing to do your time 17 and behave, you get some reinforcement. That is 18 starting to work. And then those inmates who are 19 the predators, we're taking some efforts to try to 20 address that now and get those out of this business. 21 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Mr. Secretary, how does 59 1 your department ensure accountability for the 2 implementation of the state and federal PREAs? 3 Whose job description does this responsibility 4 reside on? 5 JAMES TILTON: I hate to point out, but I 6 have an individual who you're going to hear from who 7 is the associate director -- she heads my women's 8 program. At the same time she -- Wendy Still has 9 picked up this as an issue. And Wendy has clear 10 access to me, to these issues, and I look to her to 11 provide guidance to me of what I can do to reinforce 12 the position of the PREA Act. She has been 13 invaluable in that effort, and I'm confident that if 14 she believes the department is not being 15 responsive -- she has taken on this issue very 16 energetically, as well as lots of other issues she 17 has, and so I lean on Wendy to let me know how we're 18 doing and whatever I can do to assist in the 19 implementation of PREA for both the federal and 20 state level. 21 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Finally, you mentioned 60 1 you're working with Stop Prisoner Rape. I had heard 2 that SPR has found it seemingly difficult to get 3 into the facility that we're talking about this 4 morning. Do you -- 5 JAMES TILTON: I had not heard that. 6 STEVEN MCFARLAND: I hope it's not true. 7 Do you have a system-wide policy or mandate that 8 cooperation with community groups, advocacy groups, 9 and others like these should be 100 percent -- 10 JAMES TILTON: Yes. In fact, I just 11 recently established positions in all the prisons 12 and that is going to be their responsibilities, to 13 communicate with locals, as well as bring various 14 providers from the communities into the prisons. 15 It's one of those issues we have put in place. But 16 I haven't heard that. I will follow up on that. 17 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Thank you very much, 18 Mr. Secretary. Appreciate your coming and for your 19 testimony and for your leadership in this area. 20 JAMES TILTON: Thank you. 21 STEVEN MCFARLAND: We will now call the 61 1 next panel. Ms. Wendy Still, who Secretary Tilton 2 was just introducing, as well as Lieutenant Timothy 3 Riddle, Associate Warden Richard Anti, and Staff 4 Nurse Lynn Thomas. Good morning, welcome. Raise 5 your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm 6 that the testimony you'll give the Panel today will 7 be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 8 truth? 9 WITNESSES: I do. 10 STEVEN MCFARLAND: I think, Ms. Still, you 11 wanted to go first. Do you have any comments you 12 want to make first or are you open to questions? 13 WENDY STILL: Actually, I do have a few 14 comments. On behalf of Mr. Tilton, I would just 15 like to provide information that you requested of 16 him relative to the ombudsman's budget. Budget is 17 $1.16 million. Fourteen positions, 11 ombudsmen, 18 one staff services analyst, and one executive 19 assistant. And also, yes, California is 20 participating currently in a study very specifically 21 on women's -- rape in women's institutions and 62 1 sexual assault. Doctor Barbara Owen is the lead 2 researcher on that effort. 3 STEVEN MCFARLAND: When are the results 4 due on that? 5 WENDY STILL: I believe that she is going 6 to have some preliminary results this spring, and 7 I'm not certain her time frame for the actual 8 publication of the final results. Thank you for 9 this opportunity to testify before the Review Panel 10 on Prison Rape. As Secretary Tilton said, I am the 11 overall statewide coordinator, executive project 12 manager for PREA. But as you requested, 13 specifically looking at what is the PREA 14 coordinator's responsibility at Ironwood State 15 Prison, the primary duties, I think it's important 16 to note, are in addition to the staff person's 17 regular responsibility. And his regular 18 responsibility is he's a facility captain, which 19 means he runs a facility. The normal duties of the 20 coordinators are to liaison with headquarters and 21 keep in touch with what the statewide changes are, 63 1 and then take that and communicate with the 2 institution staff at the local level -- and 3 communicate those policy changes. That could be in 4 the form of preparing a memorandum for the warden's 5 signature and then disseminating it to staff. Also, 6 working with the in-service training manager to 7 ensure that the training responsibilities and the 8 training program is on track. Every person working 9 in a California prison mandatorily has to have 10 four hours of training on PREA education, so the 11 coordinator communicates with the IST manager to 12 make sure the lesson plan is up-to-date. Any 13 changes received from headquarters, they are 14 incorporated and revised into the training plan. 15 Also, ensuring that the posters are up and 16 throughout the facility, that the orientation and 17 informational materials, including the inmate's 18 rights, are consistently being provided to the 19 inmate, and the videos are being ran. Also, to work 20 with the PREA education coordinator related to the 21 PREA program on any changes that are needed and 64 1 communicated from down. Also, taking headquarters 2 and identifying challenges and issues, bringing that 3 institutional-level feedback up to headquarters so 4 we're aware of what's going on out in the field and 5 that we can for a system-wide basis attempt to 6 revise our policies and procedures around whatever 7 the issues are. And then also to be familiar with 8 the research results -- for example, you mentioned 9 Doctor Genesis's reports and findings. And then, as 10 they go about their duties, looking for ways in 11 which they can further support our safety programs 12 that we have. And also communicate those ideas. 13 Ours is unique, it has a PREA education and PREA 14 coordinator program so we get a lot of good feedback 15 from the institution. I have not heard that the 16 Stop Prison Rape was having a hard time getting into 17 Ironwood. I have not heard that. We have a very 18 good relationship with Louisa Stannow and also her 19 staff, Linda McFarlane, so we will follow up on 20 that. But it's not been raised to our attention. 21 We have a very good close working relationship with 65 1 them. That's it, thank you. 2 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Thank you. Ms. Still, 3 you've read obviously the BJS report on sexual 4 violence. What in your opinion, as the person most 5 familiar with and responsible for implementation of 6 PREA, is the explanation for zero incidents at 7 Ironwood and yet a high incidence at the Valley 8 State Prison and similar other prisons within the 9 same system? 10 WENDY STILL: I think Ironwood, I believe 11 they have a very effective program. I've actually 12 been down to the program, I've met with peer 13 educators -- they are very effective. Not only are 14 they very effective in terms of enhancing the safety 15 related to sexual assaults, but actually teaching 16 the inmates how to protect themselves as they come 17 into the system. They also help protect and provide 18 information on how to not spread STDs and talking to 19 the inmate population. They take that information 20 and share it with their families. So I think it's 21 created the environment and culture not only to 66 1 staff -- well, staff are very dedicated to the 2 program, but also inmates feel very safe about 3 reporting. And it's created that culture -- that is 4 what our goal is, is to have a safe environment. So 5 I think the peer education program has had a major 6 impact. I think our statewide policies that we 7 provided in training tools for both the staff as 8 well as the inmates, you know, knowing their rights, 9 all of that, I think all of those things have had a 10 very positive effect. Taking that and moving over 11 to the women's prison, which I'm very familiar with, 12 Valley State Prison, and why they have a high rate 13 of reported incidents -- if you break down the 14 incidents, it was inmate-on-inmate incidents. And 15 they are touching issues. And I believe that this 16 is a sign that's just indicative of the issues that 17 women bring to prison. They have poor relationships 18 on the outside, they have poor boundary issues, and 19 many of them come from abusive relationships. So 20 they have very significant boundary issues as well 21 as lots of trauma in their lives. And I believe 67 1 that that adds to, when they come in -- we're 2 overcrowded in the women's institution, just like 3 the men's. We were built for four to a dorm and 4 we actually have eight. I believe that that's -- 5 the overcrowdedness is creating a problem. But I 6 also believe we need to develop a successful 7 intervention on teaching women on how to have 8 healthy relationships and how to have improved 9 boundaries. I've actually had some discussions with 10 NIC and the Moss Group about my desire to move 11 forward. We also are participating in the study, 12 the -- Doctor Barbara Owen's study, to further 13 understand. And in addition to that we volunteered 14 Valley State Prison for Women to be one of the 15 institutions or pilots to help set the standards. 16 So we're continuing looking for ways to help improve 17 that safety. As well as staff. The warden at the 18 local level has met with her executive managers and 19 they are doing several things, also, to ensure that 20 their program is on track, which it is with the 21 orientation materials and the brochures, and just a 68 1 heightened educational awareness of staff of what to 2 be looking for and talking to the inmates about. 3 STEVEN MCFARLAND: A federal grant was 4 awarded to you last -- a year ago, August, for a 5 pilot program to examine the effectiveness of 6 cameras as a deterrent. And Secretary Tilton 7 mentioned you're moving forward with some cameras. 8 We understand those have been purchased, but tell me 9 about the pilot where -- have you increased the 10 number of video surveillance, is it audio as well or 11 just video, and which institutions are participating 12 in the pilot? Ironwood, I understand, is not one of 13 them. 14 WENDY STILL: That's correct. 15 STEVEN MCFARLAND: How about Valley State 16 Prison? 17 WENDY STILL: Yes, Valley is one of them. 18 The goal of the pilot is to create a better 19 detection or enhance a detection part of our 20 program, as well as prevention. And one of the 21 elements -- it was actually through an NIC meeting 69 1 that the Moss Group arranged back in Arizona quite 2 some time ago, hearing about what the different 3 states had done. I was very interested in the 4 cameras. I thought that that really -- the use of 5 cameras had some merit and could help us in those 6 two areas, prevention and detection. And so we 7 applied for the grant and received it. The 8 California Correctional Institute up at Tehachapi is 9 one of the pilot institutions. Valley State Prison 10 for Women is another institution. And in our DJJ 11 facility, juvenile facility, at Ventura where the 12 girls are at, is the third institution. And we have 13 the security cameras, we have installed the cameras, 14 and we're just getting ready to go live with them. 15 And the cameras are -- they are monitoring -- we put 16 a work group together to determine where the 17 appropriate placement of the cameras would be at, 18 and we're placing them in areas where we feel that 19 inmates could be in an at-risk situation. And 20 basically it's areas where an inmate could become 21 isolated. Might have, you know, a mop closet or a 70 1 culinary area. Basically, we're going to be like a 2 private room. So the cameras will be monitoring 3 those areas. But also very important is to take 4 into consideration, because they are in the housing 5 units, the inmates' privacy. Privacy is a very big 6 part of their recovery, their self-esteem and 7 self-efficacy. So the way that -- we position the 8 cameras in where the housing units are at so that 9 they can't see into the actual units themselves. 10 Basically, they see the doorways and just can 11 monitor movement in and out so we can see if an 12 inmate was going out of the dorm cell and into 13 another area. But -- 14 STEVEN MCFARLAND: I'm sorry, were you 15 finished? 16 WENDY STILL: I was just going to say that 17 we think also the cameras -- what the goal of it is 18 is to measure the incidence of overfamiliarity or 19 reports of assault in the facilities that have -- 20 the facility that has a camera versus a facility -- 21 compared to those that do not. 71 1 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Aren't cameras only as 2 good as the number of staff that you can afford to 3 have watching them, or is it just a prophylactic 4 effect, they never know if somebody is watching them 5 so it's an inhibitor? 6 WENDY STILL: I think there are two 7 positive aspects to them. One is, yes, absolutely, 8 I think it has a prophylactic effect, but I also 9 think that if you have -- because you do pick up 10 intelligence that something may be going on. You 11 always have the ability to go back to the camera and 12 watch. It's continuous recording, it records to a 13 DVD basically in a computer, and it's retained for 14 30 days. So I think that's also excellent in terms 15 of for an investigative tool. 16 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Do you find that 17 victims of sexual assault many times will not report 18 the next day, but rather it might be a couple months 19 before they get up the courage to report an 20 incident? And, if so, what good is that tape going 21 to be if it's been erased? 72 1 WENDY STILL: Part of the problem with 2 technology now is the storage-capacity levels of 3 what you need. In terms of -- we're very surprised 4 at that. But I would say that, yes, some don't 5 report for quite some time, and I don't generally 6 find it's two or three months. It can be, you know, 7 periods of time long after that. And it's because 8 of recovery. I mean, it's very traumatic, the 9 assault has a very traumatic effect, and sometimes 10 it's months or even years later that they are 11 willing to say something. But for those incidents 12 that occur, and a majority do -- and the majority of 13 reports do come -- especially in the safer 14 environment that you create in terms of inmate 15 reporting, then the more timely the information will 16 come. But also predators, that's what I consider 17 any staff that basically sexually assaults an 18 inmate, they typically have a pattern also. So it 19 is a very good preventative tool and an 20 investigative tool. 21 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: Good morning, 73 1 Ms. Still. Nice to see you again. I recall how 2 helpful you were when we were in California. Is it 3 a crime for a staff member to have consensual sex 4 with an inmate? 5 WENDY STILL: Absolutely it is, because 6 there is no such thing as consensual sex with an 7 inmate. The inmate does not have the power to give 8 consent. 9 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: So the degree of the 10 crime, is it a misdemeanor or felony? 11 WENDY STILL: Felony. 12 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: Felony. How many of 13 your staff have been criminally charged with sexual 14 misconduct? 15 WENDY STILL: I'm sorry I don't have that 16 information off the top of my head. I'll be glad to 17 get it for the Panel. 18 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: And if they were 19 charged, if there is a number there that you can 20 report, what was the range of their sentences, if 21 any; and is staff ever allowed to resign in lieu of 74 1 a full investigation? 2 WENDY STILL: They are absolutely not 3 allowed to resign in lieu of. In the event that 4 there is any type of misconduct and the staff 5 resign, we still complete the investigation and we 6 still, if we have enough material, turn it over to 7 the D.A. for prosecution, irregardless of whether 8 that staff resigns or not. In addition to that, the 9 completed investigation, even if there is not enough 10 to go forward with the prosecution, the completed 11 investigation is retained and notice is in the 12 employee's file. So in the event that the employee 13 ever tries to come back, that information is there 14 and it will prevent that employee from coming back. 15 And in terms of the prosecutions, every case that we 16 can substantiate is referred to the district 17 attorney for prosecution, and then it's up to the 18 D.A. whether they will prosecute or not. 19 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Do you know of a single 20 correctional officer in your tenure that's been 21 prosecuted successfully for sexual assault? 75 1 WENDY STILL: In my tenure, I don't know 2 of a case off the top of my head. I know that we 3 have had one. I don't know if it was a correctional 4 officer. I know it was a correctional staff. I'll 5 have to get the specifics and get back to you. What 6 we really focus on is -- we focus on ensuring that 7 we identify the behavior, that we do a thorough 8 investigation, and we turn it over to the D.A. and 9 then they take the appropriate action -- and that 10 the staff is barred from ever coming back inside the 11 facility. After it hits the prosecution -- and then 12 what happens to that staff person after that -- 13 STEVEN MCFARLAND: That's out of your 14 hands. 15 WENDY STILL: It's really -- my focus is 16 really on what's happening inside. 17 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Staff sexual misconduct 18 hasn't been a felony for a long time. And do you 19 find that district attorneys are particularly 20 motivated? They have to do the triage, they have to 21 decide what's worth their time and what isn't. Do 76 1 you find that sexual assault by staff or by inmates 2 within an institution is a high priority for D.A.s? 3 WENDY STILL: I think the D.A.s have a lot 4 of cases they have to prosecute. I don't think they 5 have enough resources, and I think the answer to 6 that significantly varies county to county depending 7 upon their priorities and how overburden their case 8 loads are. 9 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Do you have one county 10 in mind in California that is exceptionally astute 11 and motivated, apparently, to prosecute -- at least 12 investigate and to prosecute? 13 WENDY STILL: There isn't one that stands 14 out. 15 STEVEN MCFARLAND: How about 16 administrative discipline? Do you know of any CDCR 17 staff, not just correctional officers, who have been 18 administratively disciplined in any facility for 19 staff sexual misconduct? 20 WENDY STILL: Oh, absolutely. 21 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Do you have any idea 77 1 how many? Say in 2006 or 2007? 2 WENDY STILL: I don't have the total 3 number in terms of how many were disciplined. What 4 I will say, and I'll certainly be glad to get you 5 that information, is that staff sexual misconduct, 6 it's one of the most severe types of rule 7 violations, and we take it very seriously. If there 8 is misconduct, staff are terminated, period. 9 STEVEN MCFARLAND: If you could include in 10 your numbers the number that have been terminated 11 for staff sexual misconduct, that would be great -- 12 in any period, 2006, 2007, last ten years, whatever. 13 WENDY STILL: Absolutely. We have that 14 data and I think you'll find that we consistently -- 15 STEVEN MCFARLAND: This would be very 16 helpful because every prison we're going to hear 17 from this week has a zero tolerance policy. Every 18 one of them look great on paper. To be very frank, 19 it's great to hear the people are committed, but the 20 proof in the pudding is how many folks does this 21 actually get implemented against, if it's happened. 78 1 Not looking for sacrificial lambs, but if your own 2 study indicates four percent of random selected 3 males having sexual assault, one would expect to see 4 some prosecutions and some discipline. That would 5 be the proof in the pudding. 6 WENDY STILL: There will absolutely be a 7 number of terminations. And in addition to that, I 8 want to go back to your question about which county. 9 In -- Madera County has been -- it's been reported, 10 and that's where our two women's prisons are at, in 11 terms of our prosecution. That county does come to 12 mind. 13 STEVEN MCFARLAND: What kind of 14 activities, Ms. Still, would constitute staff sexual 15 misconduct as you understand it? 16 WENDY STILL: Well, any type of -- any 17 type. 18 STEVEN MCFARLAND: When does a pat-down 19 become sexual misconduct? 20 WENDY STILL: Well, California has 21 eliminated cross-gender pat-down searches for women. 79 1 We did that about two years ago. And we did that 2 because of concerns that were raised by the women 3 that the pat down by men was re-traumatizing to them 4 because so many of them have been prior victims of 5 sexual abuse. And we're very pleased with that. 6 It's had a very good effect in terms of managing the 7 population and creating a safer environment and 8 also -- now, in converse, because in the men's 9 prison, men have not been subjected to the same 10 level of trauma as women inmates have, so therefore 11 it is permissible for women to pat search male 12 inmates. So we do have gender-responsive policies 13 and they are each different depending on the gender 14 of -- whether it's the male inmate or the female 15 inmates. And our policies are supported by what's 16 been upheld and tested in the courts. 17 STEVEN MCFARLAND: What about a staff 18 verbally degrading -- not touching, but verbally 19 degrading a prisoner in sexual terminology, 20 especially in the presence of other inmates? 21 WENDY STILL: Definitely that would be 80 1 considered a violation of policy, not only from a 2 PREA perspective but also from a respect -- you 3 know, all staff are expected to remain professional 4 and treat each other with dignity and respect. So 5 if they were to be saying things that were of a 6 sexual nature, derogatory -- whether it be 7 derogatory or otherwise, then they would be 8 violating our codes -- 9 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Do you think it 10 happens? 11 WENDY STILL: Do I think it happens? 12 Absolutely I do. And I would say, and I hate to 13 admit this, but I would say probably in my women's's 14 prison is where I have the biggest challenge. We 15 actually did something about it because of my 16 concerns. We created 40 hours of training 17 specifically for staff that are working with women. 18 And, on many different levels, it's really important 19 for staff to understand the differences so they know 20 how to deal with them, in addition to providing 21 training and education in terms of how to deal with 81 1 the difference in the populations, the men versus 2 the women. Also taking actions against staff. I 3 mean, that's really where the rubber meets the road, 4 is if staff are mistreating, whether it's verbal 5 mistreatment or any other kind, is taking 6 appropriate action against them because that sends a 7 message. 8 STEVEN MCFARLAND: What about withholding 9 privileges, rec time, writing them up for, you know, 10 arbitrarily, unless they provide sexual favors for 11 the officer? Would that be sexual misconduct? No 12 touching, no verbal degrading, just, hey, you're not 13 going to the yard. 14 WENDY STILL: Absolutely. I would deem 15 that as coercion, the behavior. That's how we would 16 classify it. 17 STEVEN MCFARLAND: And that would be a 18 disciplinary violation? 19 WENDY STILL: Yes, it would be. 20 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Would that be a crime? 21 WENDY STILL: Well, it depends upon the 82 1 nature of it. If it was being withheld because of 2 sexual -- you know, the staff person wanted sex, 3 absolutely it would be. 4 STEVEN MCFARLAND: How about if a staff 5 person wanted to -- had voyeuristic, not any 6 touching but I want to see you in the shower or 7 you're not going to have rec time? 8 WENDY STILL: Yes. Any action that 9 basically is taken against an inmate because -- that 10 is sexual in nature, whether it's touching or not, 11 whether it's voyeurism, whether it's the language 12 even as they're referring to the population, all of 13 those things should be considered a violation of 14 policy. I think we're talking about standards here, 15 and I would fully support that. Because it's all 16 those things that add up to creating an environment 17 where the inmates aren't safe, and it's those 18 building blocks to the actual physical assault. So 19 if you don't stop it in the very beginning, it leads 20 to more and more endangering of that inmate. And 21 any of it is wrong. They come to prison, they're in 83 1 prison to serve their time, period. And they should 2 not be subjected to any of those forms of sexual 3 harassment or misconduct. We're trying to 4 rehabilitate them, we're trying to teach them how to 5 be good citizens. And if we ourselves can't behave 6 as such, how can we expect the inmates to ever 7 rehabilitate themselves? 8 STEVEN MCFARLAND: How do you separate the 9 alleged predator from the victim? What's the 10 protocol you expect? 11 WENDY STILL: Well, if we have 12 intelligence that we have actual staff sexual 13 misconduct, more often than not the staff person is 14 put out on administrative time off while the 15 investigation ensues. That's one way to quickly get 16 that person out of the prison, working in the 17 prison. And the reason for that is if they would 18 have assaulted one inmate, there is a potential to 19 endanger the safety of others. Sometimes, if we 20 have some intelligence, kind of a different factor 21 is, if we don't know we have enough intelligence to 84 1 really catch someone, we may put them in an 2 administrative area where there's no inmate contact 3 just until we can put them in ISU, investigative 4 services perspective -- develop into enough 5 intelligence for us to determine whether or not 6 there's probable cause that something is occurring. 7 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Would it be fair to say 8 that often it's a swearing contest, so to speak, 9 between the credibility of the staff, the alleged 10 predator, and the inmate? The inmate -- the camera 11 shows the CO going into the cell, as you said 12 earlier, can't see in the cell. And there -- he or 13 she is in there for some period of time, and there's 14 a disagreement as to what was going on. What kind 15 of intelligence do you need? I mean, you have an 16 inmate saying he forced me to do such and such, and 17 the CO of course says, no, I was doing a search for 18 contraband. 19 WENDY STILL: Generally, our assaults 20 don't take place in the cells, because in a women's 21 prison, the Valley, which is where the majority of 85 1 the female population is at, other than one smaller 2 prison down south, there is eight women to a dorm. 3 And there's full glass windows as you go down. So 4 there's clear visibility, and I think that provides 5 adequate protection for the women. So that's not 6 typically where an assault would occur. It would 7 occur in a broom closet or some other isolated area 8 where there isn't inmate traffic and clear 9 visibility. 10 STEVEN MCFARLAND: How about same-gender, 11 inmate-on-inmate alleged assault? 12 WENDY STILL: Well, inmate-on-inmate 13 alleged assault, now that's where you typically find 14 it does happen in the actual dorm. But to get back 15 to your question of when it comes down to 16 credibility, there is a credibility factor. You 17 have staff and then you have inmates, and you have 18 to have enough proof that something is going on. 19 And each individual incident, it's the totality of 20 circumstances. And even if you can't prove it the 21 first time around, I know our investigative services 86 1 unit is down -- we had an incident at one of our 2 women's prisons, and I was talking with the warden, 3 and what she had talked about is just how closely 4 they monitor, even if they can't prove it the first 5 time around, the staff person's behavior, to ensure 6 that nothing else is going on or, if something is, 7 that we're picking up and detecting it. And there's 8 things -- how you find out about it is just not by 9 the action of what's going on in the prison. I 10 mean, staff, you know, you can find -- there's love 11 notes written or contraband given to the women, or 12 whether it be male or female, special privileges. 13 There are a lot of indicators that our investigative 14 services unit can look for and do to try and prove, 15 versus -- you know, even if it's words, one word 16 against the other, looking for all of those other 17 factors that can prove and demonstrate what was 18 going on. 19 STEVEN MCFARLAND: What do you think the 20 chances are of a fellow officer providing testimony 21 against the alleged predator officer? 87 1 WENDY STILL: I really feel comfortable in 2 saying that, because Secretary Tilton said, our 3 system has done so much work on the code of silence 4 that if one officer knew that another officer was 5 doing anything sexual in nature with an inmate, that 6 they would tell. Because they know not only would 7 that one staff person get fired, they would get 8 fired also. 9 STEVEN MCFARLAND: That's the 10 repercussions for the witness. 11 WENDY STILL: Yeah. If they had knowledge 12 and they didn't tell and they didn't do anything 13 about it, absolutely. They are as guilty for 14 protecting. And we don't find that happening now. 15 I mean staff will come forward and they will -- if 16 there's something going on, they will say -- they 17 will tell someone. 18 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Is the failure to 19 report a crime? 20 WENDY STILL: Failure to report. I don't 21 think the failure to report is a criminal act, but 88 1 it's certainly an administrative act if it can be 2 proven. 3 CARROLL ANN ELLIS: How quickly and how 4 responsive would staff be to a complaint from an 5 inmate who might be celled with someone who is 6 abusive? Would that happen instantaneously? And 7 how quickly would the system respond to an inmate 8 who reports a staff violation, a misconduct? Is 9 there a downtime when that individual may be left in 10 an environment where intimidation could continue or 11 abuse could continue? Or is that person immediately 12 cordoned out? 13 WENDY STILL: I would say that the rule of 14 thumb is that the person is immediately cordoned 15 out. When I say that -- if there's an allegation 16 about a staff person, I'll describe what happens to 17 that staff person. If there is any type of evidence 18 to prove that it could be true, like I said, more 19 often than not they are often ATO immediately. Now, 20 if an inmate -- I will tell you what the policy 21 says. If an inmate comes forward and complains 89 1 about -- raises concerns about their safety or makes 2 complaints about staff misconduct, we look at the 3 individual circumstance, and that's what our 4 policies say also, because our responsibility is to 5 protect that inmate. And so either we move that 6 inmate to another facility or put that inmate in 7 administrative segregation, because sometimes not 8 knowing -- say for example if it's an 9 inmate-on-inmate issue, you don't know what other 10 inmates may harbor a grudge or take some type of 11 retaliatory action. So the totality of the 12 circumstance is going to determine where you move 13 the inmate to or if you move the inmate. But you 14 will always, per policy, take immediate action to 15 protect or come in and to remove whatever the safety 16 issue is from the -- what was -- what was creating 17 the safety concern. 18 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Thank you, Ms. Still. 19 We're going to now turn to Lieutenant Riddle. Good 20 morning. Do you have any initial statements you 21 want to make? 90 1 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: I'm ready for questions. 2 STEVEN MCFARLAND: How long have you 3 worked in corrections, sir? 4 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: 25 years. 5 STEVEN MCFARLAND: And how long have you 6 worked at Ironwood? 7 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: Approximately 14. 8 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Is there a SART team at 9 Ironwood? 10 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: There's not a SART team 11 per se. I believe there's only one institution that 12 has the whole assembled team. I do field part of 13 the responsibilities for that team. 14 STEVEN MCFARLAND: What are those 15 responsibilities? 16 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: My responsibilities come 17 into play as soon as there's an allegation made of 18 inmate-on-inmate or staff-on-inmate sexual abuse of 19 any kind. So I respond immediately. Some of my 20 other team members will also respond immediately, 21 assuring the parties are separated, making sure 91 1 evidence is collected. I also ensure that other 2 steps are taken, that he gets taken to an outside 3 hospital, where also evidence will be collected. 4 Just to make sure the whole process works. 5 STEVEN MCFARLAND: What other positions 6 have you had at Ironwood? 7 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: I have worked on the 8 facilities as a correctional sergeant. I came to 9 Ironwood as an officer and went into the 10 investigations unit as an officer, promoted to 11 sergeant, was out on the main lines of the field, if 12 you will, came back into the investigation unit as a 13 sergeant, promoted to lieutenant, went back out to 14 the field, spent a year or so out there, and then 15 came back into the investigations unit. 16 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Have you had duty in 17 one of the residential units at Ironwood? 18 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: I've had a lot of 19 contact. 20 STEVEN MCFARLAND: So you're well familiar 21 with where the blind spots would be in that 92 1 facility? 2 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: Yes, I am. 3 STEVEN MCFARLAND: If you wanted to, as a 4 staff member, wanted to sexually assault or -- or 5 even, quote, consensual activity with an inmate, 6 where would you do it at Ironwood? 7 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: First, let me say that 8 the design of prisons have improved a great deal. 9 When I started at Soledad years ago, there were far 10 more many blind spots. The design and layout gives 11 the staff much greater field of view. There are 12 fewer blind spots. They do exist. For a staff 13 member to do something in a housing unit would 14 almost require them to go either into a cell that 15 had less view of the other officers, which would be 16 difficult because the other officers are watching 17 each other constantly to protect each other. They 18 would have to go into what they call a supply room, 19 or where they keep the cleaning supplies. 20 STEVEN MCFARLAND: What time of day would 21 you want to do that if you were doing it in a 93 1 residential unit? What shift? 2 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: That's difficult to say. 3 I mean there are always other staff that are 4 observing you. 5 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Always the same 6 number -- 7 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: No, it does lessen during 8 first watch, which is 10:00 to 6:00 in the morning. 9 There are less staff; however, it would be a 10 difficult process to pull an inmate out of the cell 11 and then go into a broom closet. The behavior would 12 be so unusual that the control booth officer who is 13 watching the whole unit would take note of that. 14 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Outside of the 15 residential unit then, anywhere in -- that an inmate 16 has access to or could be taken? Where would you 17 want to do that? Where would be the safest place 18 for staff to do that? 19 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: Most unseen places are at 20 least monitored by other staff, such as the 21 libraries. 94 1 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Kitchen. 2 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: The kitchens, back where 3 they prepare the food. There are some education 4 areas that are less monitored where, at times, 5 you'll have a teacher and an inmate student that 6 might even be by themself. That would be the prime 7 opportunity. That's generally during the daytime. 8 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Are those teachers 9 taught anything about sexual assault, are they given 10 the PREA training? 11 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: Yes, they are. Every 12 employee at Ironwood is given that training. They 13 have what we call block training and they are 14 required to go to the training. 15 STEVEN MCFARLAND: Is there any intention 16 that you're aware of -- well, let me ask, is there a 17 need for video cameras at some of these blind spots 18 that you mentioned? 19 TIMOTHY RIDDLE: As an investigator, I 20 would love to see cameras everywhere. I understand 21 the need for privacy also, but I also understand the 95 1 climate that we work in is very dangerous at times. 2 Given the two, you know, I can see a common ground 3 somewhere where there is more cameras. 4 STEVEN MCFAR