Saturday, July 2, 2011

Calipatria State Prison given fairly good review by (Imperial County) civil grand jury

By SILVIO J. PANTA
Imperial Valley Press Staff Writer
1:09 a.m. PDT, July 1, 2011

CALIPATRIA — Calipatria State Prison is a well-run prison with no major issues to address except to have video cameras and monitors installed in some areas and an armed officer posted at the gatehouse, according to the Imperial County Civil Grand Jury’s final report.

In addition to those two recommendations, the grand jury also pointed out in its report that prison officials at the 20-year-old facility should “make greater use of trained narcotic dogs, up to and including dogs that the department would own.”

Among the grand jury findings was that a perimeter gatehouse has an officer on post at specific times but not all the time, and that there are areas in the prison where staff are not always able to see incidents that happen because of the number of inmates.

While the problem is common with all prisons, Calipatria State Prison has had a problem with contraband, such as illegal narcotics, the grand jury noted.

The final report did not specify when the grand jury made its findings, but it stated that state law mandates that the civil grand jury inspect all prisons and jails on a yearly basis.

The prison, whose construction was completed in late 1991 and began receiving inmates in January 1992, was designed for 2,208 inmates.

But there were about 4,250 inmates at the prison at the time of the grand jury’s tour, the report read.

The population was double “the original housing plan, a situation common among most California prisons,” the report read.

Staff Writer Silvio J. Panta can be reached at 760-337-3442 or at spanta@ivpressonline.com

http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/ivp-news-calipatria-state-prison-given-fairly-good-review-by-civil-grand-jury-20110701,0,3106223.story

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