WITNESS
Donald Specter has been Director of the Prison Law Office, based in San Quentin, California, since 1984. Mr. Specter manages and directs the legal and administrative operations of a nonprofit 11 attorney office providing free legal services to California state prisoners. Mr. Specter has been lead counsel in numerous successful institutional reform litigation, with assistance from major Bay Area law firms, through federal and state class actions challenging various conditions of confinement system-wide at all 32 state prisons, and at individual prisons, including Pelican Bay, San Quentin, and Vacaville.
Mr. Specter also has an extensive appellate practice, including one argument before the U.S. Supreme Court, six arguments before the California Supreme Court (two death penalty cases), numerous prison conditions cases and criminal appeals before state and federal appellate courts. He has been chair of the State Bar's Commission on Corrections, has spoken to local and national audiences of attorneys and correctional officials, and is frequently interviewed by the local and national media. Mr. Specter earned his B.A. in Economics from New College in Florida in 1974 and his J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1978.
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STATEMENT
"In the mid-1990's California was confronted with the gruesome spectacle of guards in the Security Housing Unit at Corcoran State Prison purposefully releasing rival gang members in small exercise yards and betting on which of the 'gladiators' would be victorious. And only last year, State Senator Romero released a videotape of 'counselors' at the California Youth Authority mercilessly beating young wards as they lay passively on the day room floor.
"These and other scandals that have plagued California's prison system for the last 15 years were not hidden and they were not accidents. They were known by high-level correctional administrators who showed a complete indifference to the lives and wellbeing of prisoners. Their utter failure to strictly and appropriately regulate the use of force in a manner consistent with nationally recognized principles of correctional administration was responsible for untold suffering.
"To prevent abuse the use of force must be controlled through (1) clear policies, (2) meaningful and constant supervision of all uses of force, (3) timely and truthful reporting of all uses of force by the officer who used the force and anyone who witnessed the incident, (4) an accurate and unbiased investigation into allegations of excessive force and (5) the consistent imposition of progressive and proportional discipline when excessive force was used or when it was not reported. A breakdown in any one of these components will lead inevitably to abuse."
Excerpted from a written statement submitted to the Commission
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Note: Some witnesses submitted documents in addition to the written statement they prepared for the hearing. In most cases, those documents are not available on the Commission's web site.
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