“It’s not a surprise when we have violent events take place inside the prison, any prison in the country,” he said. In fact, a night of unchecked prison violence that ends in more than a half-dozen deaths is extremely unusual. States have a responsibility to protect inmates and prison staff—and well-funded, properly staffed prisons can and do prevent widespread inmate violence or stop it swiftly when it occurs, prison experts say. Prison violence “shouldn’t be an expectation,” said Robert Ayers, who worked at California’s San Quentin State Prison from 1968 to 1987 and went on to serve as the warden at four California prisons. That’s extrapolating a lot, but I think there’s an undercurrent out there that believes that.” People need to be asking questions of the governor’s office and the legislature, said Anthony Newland, a former warden of California State Prison Solano and former chief compliance officer for that state prison system.

Source: Huffington Post April 20, 2018 23:15 UTC