Prison Guards Union Softens Stance
Behind the scenes, the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. — the 30,000-strong prison guards union famous for punishing its political enemies and supporting tough-on-crime policies that keep the prisons full — has been embracing its critics.
Union officials have opened up the organization to academics, pushed for new spending on alternatives to incarceration, and begun regular meetings with other unions.
Over the last three months, the union has convened a working group of inmate advocates, defense attorneys and politicians who support the kinds of shorter sentences that were long anathema to the union. Their goal: creating a sentencing reform bill that, with the union's sway over lawmakers, could pass the Legislature this year. JOE MATTHEWS in the Los Angeles Times.
Union officials have opened up the organization to academics, pushed for new spending on alternatives to incarceration, and begun regular meetings with other unions.
Over the last three months, the union has convened a working group of inmate advocates, defense attorneys and politicians who support the kinds of shorter sentences that were long anathema to the union. Their goal: creating a sentencing reform bill that, with the union's sway over lawmakers, could pass the Legislature this year. JOE MATTHEWS in the Los Angeles Times.