Do you smell smoke?
Inside California prisons, there are people assigned to do just that.
As CalMatters’ Cayla Mihalovich explains, California’s 31 prisons have outdated, malfunctioning or inoperable fire alarm systems. But replacing all those systems, which include various detection devices, control panels and network connections, would cost $1.5 billion.
To get around shelling out that much, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has spent a total of nearly $50 million between 2020 and 2025 instead on “fire watch,” which entails paying correctional officers — who already have the ability to move about prisons freely — to look for smoke and fire.
The base monthly pay of an experienced correctional officer is roughly $9,600, and performing fire watch duty is typically coded as overtime. The corrections department is also piloting a program at Solano State Prison where the fire watch program can be carried out with workers holding a lower-cost job classification, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. These positions are classified as “office assistants” and pay about $4,300 a month.
Some experts on prisons are split about whether California’s corrections department is putting enough money and effort into fire safety.
Kristen Cowan, an assistant professor at the University of Buffalo who studies the impacts of weather disasters in prisons, said fire alarm systems are “baseline disaster preparedness.”
- Cowan: “It makes you wonder what else is missing in the facilities. … We wouldn’t let anyone else live in a place that doesn’t have a smoke detector.”
But Matt Cate, who was a former California corrections secretary, questions the need for the spending in fire watch coverage.
- Cate: “Large-scale fires in prisons are extremely rare because prisons are made of concrete and steel. There’s a fire department attached to each prison and there are people throughout the prison who are there all the time. It’s staffed 24-7.”
CalMatters events: Join us Aug. 5 in Riverside for a free conversation about how California will educate its future workforce. CalMatters’ Adam Echelman will moderate a discussion with health, education and workforce leaders. Register here.
CalMatters and inewsource are also hosting a conversation on Aug. 13 in San Ysidro about the Tijuana River contamination crisis, an environmental emergency affecting millions on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Register.
Other Stories You Should Know
Abuse as a legal defense?
Next month, the state Senate’s appropriations committee is expected to consider a bill that would enable certain defendants to use their trauma as a legal defense, writes CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow.
The bill would allow victims, such as survivors of human trafficking and intimate partner or sexual violence, to cite abuse they experienced when they’re facing charges for violent crimes. Those already convicted could also petition a judge to vacate their convictions, and if approved, their case files would be sealed and destroyed.
- Assemblymember Mia Bonta, an Oakland Democrat and the bill’s author: “Survivors should not spend their lives paying for abuse they endured.”
But district attorneys and police groups say the proposal would water down penalties for violent criminals, and allow them to add to California’s long backlog of defendants petitioning to clear their convictions. The Legislature also rejected similar legislation at least three times before in previous years.
Environmental groups call for Newsom ally to step down
Environmental groups are calling for the newest member of the state’s Board of Environmental Safety to resign. But legal experts say there’s nothing illegal about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s appointment of Rhys Williams, report CalMatters’ Alejandra Reyes-Velarde and Jeanne Kuang.
The governor appointed Williams, his former deputy chief of staff, in January to a board that decides appeals involving hazardous waste facility permits. His previous work for the lobbying firm Axiom Advisors, however, has advocates arguing that Williams’ inclusion undermines public confidence in the board’s impartiality.
Axiom’s clients include Clean Harbors, a hazardous waste management company, and GKN Aerospace, the company at the center of a May chemical incident in Orange County.
But the governor’s office contends that Williams has been thoroughly vetted, and Williams has agreed to recuse himself of matters involving Axiom clients. It’s also not illegal nor uncommon for state board members to have worked as lobbyists, according to legal experts.
And lastly: A dimming art scene
San Diego is considered one of the top cities in the country to support the arts. But as federal and local governments cut arts funding, the city is slipping in its ranks — leading to high-profile fights over local arts spending. Read more from CalMatters’ Deborah Brennan.
California Voices
CalMatters contributor Robert Greene: Separate attempts to overhaul municipal governance by both the city and county of Los Angeles highlight a surprising role reversal, in which a county government is looking suddenly more urgent and creative than the smaller and comparatively scrappier City Hall.
Other things worth your time:
US appeals court rules Trump cannot implement mail-in voting order // Reuters (free)
CA rejected its highest percentage of mail ballots in a decade during June primary // San Francisco Chronicle (gift link)
CA Dems ramp up anti-voter ID fight // Politico (free)
CA’s voter ID ballot measure has a new name. Backers say it’s biased // The Sacramento Bee (gift link)
Corporate America has suddenly decided to stop blowing its money on AI // The Wall Street Journal (gift link)
Street homelessness went up in LA. In Nithya Raman’s district, it was nearly cut in half // Los Angeles Times (paywall)
State vulnerability metric overlooks SF neighborhoods, excluding them from billions in funding // San Francisco Public Press (free)
Mexico and US team up to build desalination plant // Voice of San Diego (free)
How the kidnapping of two forest service workers unfolded in CA // The Guardian (free)
