Apr 18 2011
The Toughest Beat: Politics, Punishment, and the Prison Officers Union in California
Recent demonstrations by thousands of Cal State University students and faculty against budget cuts are indicative of the fiscal dire straits California is in. Central to Governor Jerry Brown’s state budget are serious funding cuts in education, social services, and other crucial services. But while the Governor has been busy conveying the message of “painful but necessary” cuts, he sent a very different message to one particular union of state employees: the prison guards union. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, is one of the most powerful political forces in the state, and in fact the country, whose members work in the U.S.’s largest prison system. In fact California’s prison system is bigger than the federal correctional system, as well as the entire prison systems of France and Germany combined. At a rally organized by CCPOA last Monday at which Jerry Brown spoke, he went as far as to push the crowd to lobby for more money for prisons. Even though a new contract with the union has prison guards furloughed once a month and contributing a bit more to their retirement plans, they won greater contributions to their health insurance premiums, and salary increases for senior staff. The CCPOA has long been considered one of the most important drivers of prison growth in California. But just how did that happen? Chronicling the connection between the potent influence of the CCPOA and the massive growth of California’s prison system is a new book by Joshua Page called ‘The Toughest Beat: Politics, Punishment, and the Prison Officers Union in California.’
GUEST: Joshua Page, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota
Find out more about the book at: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Sociology/CriminalJustice/Criminology/?view=usa&ci=9780195384055
One Response to “The Toughest Beat: Politics, Punishment, and the Prison Officers Union in California”
Haven’t read the book…don’t plan to…just watching the fat (largely overweight) prison guards sit around on their rears (or waddle as they walk to another chair) when I visit the prisons is enough to tell me that being physically fit is not a high priority in keeping their jobs…just reading the signs they post is enough to tell me that being literate or even able to spell adequately is not a priority in being hired…(it’s possible most have only a weak high school education)…just learning that anything educational or psychologically helpful is almost gone from the “programs” the California prisons offer—therefore, rehabilitation is all but nonexistent…and then reading that the base pay is $70,000 (double what starting teachers are paid). The Governor has sold us out. We want support for the schools, but not at the cost of giving the CCPOA such benefits as offered in the latest contract. Hopefully, the legislature will wake up and see what Jerry’s doing. Go see http://www.facebook.com/LiberalsToRecallJerryBrown