Prison Place

California has the most women incarcerated anywhere in the USA, and more than most other countries, as well. We have three women's prisons in California, and they are all extremely overcrowded.  Many of these women have children, and many were abused before arrest.  All three of these prisons, Valley State Prison for Women, Central California Women's Facility, and Corona Institute for Women, have active Inmate Family Councils.  I work with the one at VSPW, and the board members are great.  We're working to increase positive communications with the administration, and are making steady progress.  If anyone has any questions, just let us know.  You're welcome to email me or post here if you have comments, questions or concerns that relate to women's prisons (lonemtn@snowcrest.net).  Hang in there!  Nancy R.

I had no idea so many woman were incarcerated in CA!  Most everything we hear seems to be focused on Pelican Bay, Corcoran, or Calipatria...all men's units.

Thanks for posting and I will take advantage of your generosity and refer questions about women's units to you!

Hi, my name is Lori and I did two terms at CCWF.  I write to two girls I left behind, one LWOP and one 39-life.  the LWOP changed my life and I credit her with my turn around.  I am active on a lot of prison reform groups, etc., and I am always aware of how little you hear from people who have females in prison.  And then, the few who are active with womens prisons fight for issues that I never came across, nor did my friends.  It's hard because my experiences are often different than what the "loved ones" of inmates are hearing about. 

OK, I'm going to go out on a limb here. I seem to catch flak for this one, but what I am about to say is true to the best of my knowledge ~ I've even checked with my girls I write to in case something has changed since I've been there . . . This issue of removing male CO's from housing units is one of the worst things I've heard of!  That sounds backwards I know, but let me introduce the inmate in me to you!  The male CO's were SO much nicer than the women CO's.  My experience was that they were 100 times better to deal with than the women!  They were easier to manipulate, thereby getting our room skipped over for searches.  Many are SO cognizant that they are men in a women's facility that they went out of their way to avert their eyes~not that they needed to:  I made sure I checked from the outside and I don't know who engineered the doors to the toilet and shower, but the middle piece absolutely covers the private areas of your body.  I looked from many different angles.  PLUS, it was the same way INSIDE the room too.

But you can never get much passed the women CO's.  They had NO sympathy for just about any issue you had.  They were REAL B***'s.  Only a few were nice and I remember their names still. 

I've heard stories about being touched inappropriately by male CO's.  Heck, I used to try to get a male CO, because chances were, he MIGHT be a little concerned in that area, so if I was trying to get something through (and I am NOT talking about drugs), I would definitely try for the male CO.  Neither terms did I hear of any rape, by man or inmate.  It's a felony now for staff and inmate to have any sexual contact~since we do not have the right to consent.  Heck again, I believe it's a class E 115, last I checked for INMATES caught in any sexual act, that is a loss of 120 days I believe.

I was a lieutenants clerk and had to type up all the 115's for them.  They got paid like $75/hr and we did all the paperwork for .23 cents/hr!  But hey, it was better than working split shifts in the chow hall for .08 cents/hr!

Boy, I just meant to say hi and let you know that I'm more than happy to take questions too and then ended up with all this. Time to shut up and move on.  Thanks for listening and email me if you want too!

~Lori~
~namaste~

I've heard from other inmates that women COs can be really bad, and that they are even more aggressive than the male COs when doing pat searches -- and can be extremely vulgar and abusive, too.  Some of the women have told me of men on the yards that are truly wonderful and straight-up.  And, of course, there are plenty of COs who are horrible. 

I found Lori's comment about the LWOP (Life Without Parole) interesting.  I deal mostly with Long-Termers, and find them to be some of the most honest and caring people.  It seems backwards that these women are in prison and will probably be there for 20 or 30 years (or for life), when they would be some of the best and more caring individuals we could have in our communities. 

 Recently, I got a letter from one of my 20-to-lifers, and she was explaining how the main population in prison isn't expected to do more than their time, for the most part (Term-Lifers have all sorts of requirements to be even considered for parole; education, self-improvement, community involvement, etc.).  Inmates who have determinate sentences know they will get out have a lot less to loose.  There are many of them that are wasteful, disrespectful and disruptive.  My friend mentioned her concerns about youngsters who come in are quickly acclimatized to this lifestyle and leave worse than they came in.

 I hope we will see some reform in sentencing and parole, and can reverse this upward trend in incarceration.  The overcrowding is dangerous.  Programs are stretched past their limits.   It's frustrating.  Thank God for people like Grandmothers in the Light, who help children get to Chowchilla to see their moms!

Unfortunately, I have to agree that the youngsters become institutionalized quickly.  Plus they are often the mosst trouble to deal with.  They think they are bullet proof as do most young people and they have no problem taking down those around them.  My first term I was housed with this one kid and when I came back two years later I ran into her (him) and she was a totally different person~much evil had grown in her heart  . . . it would have been sad to see, except she came into my office and demanded I "lose" her 115 (write-up).  There were definitely safeguards in place that made sure we can't do that anymore.  The cops aren't dumb all the time!

I believe the long termers, lifers and LWOPS, especially the ones that started out young, HAVE to become well adjusted, else they don't make it long.  They kill themselves or end up in long term SHU programs, or get into drugs and get caught up.  My LWOP friend, Amber, has been down since she was 18 and is now 28 going on 29, I believe.  She certainly deserved to have a chance at freedom more than I did the day I met her.  A lot of people won't understand this, but if it was possible, I would do a year of her time so she could have a year on the outs.  That, of course, might be a cruel gift as she would then have to return, but the sentiment is real.

 Hello ya'll ‼ I correspond with an inmate at VSPW, and she was transferred from CCWF from across the street.  When she was at CCWF, I had problems with my letters and stamps disappearing from the mail room.  I sent her 2 books of stamps, and she writes back "thanks for the stamps, why didn't you include a letter?"  I suspected my letter was destroyed because the mail room kept one book, and gave her the 2nd book of stamps. So I write back and ask her to confirm how many stamps she had received, and this time, I only enclose 1 book of stamps.  3 weeks go by, and she writes "I haven't heard from you in a while, had you forgotten me?"  So now, I'm thinking the mailroom is destroying my letters when I ask her to confirm how many stamps she received ‼  On her 2nd letter, she mentions she enjoys reading certain topics, so I order 3 paperbacks from Amazon.  Tracking shows the books got there, and I write to ask her to confirm she had received them.  None of my letters got through.  I figure everytime I write to ask about the books, the mail room destroyed my letters, so I email Sara Malone, the Ombudsperson for women's prisons, 5 weeks when none of my letters are getting through. A week after I email her, the books materialize ‼  By now, it's been 6 weeks since the books arrived at CCFW, and my ♥ ♥ had been transfered across the street to VSPW.  

So this is what I figure had happened.  The mail room staff are stealing stamps and packages, then trading them for sexual favors .  Its a fact that when women are pushed into dire economic situations, some will resort to selling themselves to survive; history had proven this.  The male COs inside the mail room are only human, and have their needs like most men ( I know I do).  I believe there's a policy that a female inmate can be charged a misdemeanor crime for having sexual contact with COs, even if she were coerced into it, so that creates an atmosphere of discouraging inmates from reporting COs for using their position of trust to coerce sex from inmates.  I don't care what policies are in place to discourage sex between inmates; men are men, and the market demand for female prostitutes is proof that men can't be trusted to watch over female inmates ‼  Some male COs claim that reports of sexual coercion towards female inmates are fabricated, and inmates are only seeking retribution for being told what inmates can and can't do.  If this were true, then why are male COs strongly against polygraph test to vindicate themselves from charges of rape and sexual abuse of female inmates ??   I think male COs should be restricted to the perimeter and outside areas; and the interior buildings should only be restricted to female COs ‼  Male COs should only be allowed to enter the building, when they're called upon for assistance, and must be accompanied by a female CO at all times when they're inside the interior buildings ‼  The FACT that male COs are strongly against the use of polygraph test to evaluate if they have had sexual relations with a female inmate is proof they're hiding something ‼ 

Why would anyone object to a polygraph test, if the test only ascertains if he's lying or not ??  The answer -- the truth will lead to his termination ‼

PassingTrucker mentioned several problems with CCWF/Prison mail & receiving, and I was fascinated by these comments.  If I were to follow up on these concerns, I would have to ask several questions before I was able to move forward.  First of all, is this new correspondence?  PT mentioned that in her second letter she mentioned certain reading topics -- is this a new correspondence?  Was the first letter that PT sent in any way considered 'contraband' ("dirty talk" is technically 'contraband', although we all know it gets through regularly)?  If it was considered contraband in any way, the inmate should have been notified that the mail had been conviscated.  The mailroom is supposed to open the letters when they come in and check for money, stamps, or contraband.   When stamps or money arrive for an inmate, they are either sent to the inmate or sent to the trust accounting department, and the inmate receives notification in writing, usually on the envelope itself.  I believe that the mailroom is supposed to write down the number of stamps on the envelope.  The mailroom is separate from the units and yards -- it's out by the warehouse, and can only be accessed by inmates who are programmed to work in those areas.  I believe that inmates are NOT allowed in the mailroom, and none are programmed to work there.  Part of the mailroom workforce is composed of civilian workers and not official COs.  This creates a problem when the mailroom is short-staffed because of holidays or vacations, because then the warden has to decide whether or not to reassign COs temporarily from other positions to help out, which usually creates more overtime costs.  COs that work on the yards and have access to inmates don't work very often (if at all) in the mailroom.  If the stamps get out to the yards, they should be numbered on the envelopes, so it's unlikely that the COs on the units are holding on to stamps as coersion.

Occasionally, letters get separated from stamps.  That's why I recommend that you staple your stamps onto your letter, and write the name, CDCR number, and room assignment directly onto the backs of the stamps, just in case.  It's okay to put a little notation on the bottom outside of the envelope that "stamps are enclosed", just so that there's some record on the actual envelope of the presence of stamps.  These are all 'just in case' measures, because sometimes things can get separated or lost.

As far as timing --  when the letters were written and mailed is a real important factor.  If a letter is sent in anywhere near a holiday  (and this means any time between November 20th and January 20th, Easter, the 4th of July, Veteran's Day, MLK Day, and even Ceasar Chavez Day!!!)  then mail can be backed up anywhere from 2 weeks to 45 days.  Honest.  Add to this that inmates are moved without warning, and mail that has the wrong housing unit number on it can take forever to reach an inmate, because it gets sent back to the mailroom and left in a stack for someone to get to 'when there's time'.  A letter chasing an inmate can take up to three months to catch up with her, especially if she's moved to a different facility.

Since you mentioned that your inmate got moved across the street, that indicates to me that she was having some sort of problems with enemies or something.  When this is the case, inmates are often moved around a lot, can be in Ad Seg for a while, and other things like that.  Since you mentioned that she was moved like that, I'd probably want to find out if you'd heard of any trouble she was having.  This would give me a better idea of what you could expect in terms of getting regular word to and from her.  Since you mentioned that Sara Malone was helping out, I'm guessing that this whole thing must have happened a while back, since Sara is no longer the Ombuddy at VSPW or CCWF.  Karen Johnson has been in that position for a while now.  CCWF has had trouble in the past with mailroom workers shredding and hiding mail, but that was about 6 years ago, and I haven't heard of any recent problems.

About sexual favors from CO's.....  The women's prisons in California technically have a zero tolerance for sexual liasons between inmates and COs (or any volunteers or civilian workers entering the prisons), and will be escorted off the grounds immediately upon discovery, and prosecuted.  Inmates involved in these affairs are SUPPOSED to currently be treated as victims, as they are not in a position of power, and are not considered to be perps.  However, if the women involve themselves in sexual liasons with other prisoners, that would be a different case, and both women would be given 115's.  A lot of sexual activity goes on between inmates, and it's generally ignored unless someone is ruffling the wrong feathers. 

 I know of a case at CIW where the woman was involved in a sexual liason with a CO in return for favors, and when they got busted, he got fired and prosecuted immediately, and she got sent to VSPW and had no penalty given.  This was 10 or 15 years ago, and they've gotten much stricter about the zero tolerance policy since then.  [Not that it doesn't happen...]

I know of a separate case at VSPW where someone got involved with one of the civilian ministers (!!!), and he got in a helluva lot of trouble, too.

Every case is different, and the best remedy is steady support and communication from the outside with loved ones.  I hope that things work out for you.  Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help out.