| California State Prison | | | | prison, run by inmates, manufactures steel |
| | | | frames for double bunks-and triple bunks-in |
| Prisoners cycle repeatedly back and forth | | | | addition to license plates. As a result of |
| between prisons, where they do not receive | | | | these focus groups, we developed a two week, |
| sufficient treatment, and inpatient | | | | 8 session health promotion intervention for |
| facilities, where they are permitted to stay | | | | HIV+ inmates preparing to be released from |
| for only a short while. Prisoners have been | | | | prison. There have been 15 deaths at the |
| warehoused and locked down in overcrowded and | | | | prison this year; nine in 1999 and 10 in |
| brutal prisons - many due to the 3strikes law | | | | 1998. If the prison is filled to capacity, it |
| - for longer and longer time. Through the | | | | will have about 500 full-time employees, most |
| summer, groups of local, amateur baseball | | | | of them guards. Operation from the grounds of |
| players gain access to the prison yard and | | | | San Quentin, the Prison Law Office is an |
| play against the inmates in weekly games. The | | | | aggressive advocacy group that assists |
| California Department of Corrections (CDC) | | | | inmates in unanswered appeals, and is often |
| operates 32 prisons and 40 fire and | | | | involved in class action suits which are to |
| conservation camps comprising about 3,000 | | | | the benefit of everyone. Provision of |
| structures having 37 million gross square | | | | inadequate health care creates needless pain |
| feet of building space. There are six major | | | | and suffering for the many prisoners who |
| prison gangs that are recognized nationally | | | | require such services. State prisons vary |
| for their participation in organized crime | | | | between 1 percent under capacity and 14 |
| and violence. From 1975 to 1985, members | | | | percent over capacity, while the federal |
| committed 40 homicides in California prisons | | | | prison system is 34 percent above capacity. |
| and local jails, as well as 13 homicides in | | | | But most experts agree that prisons have done |
| the community. The machine shop at the | | | | little to make communities safer. |