Playing Politics with California's Prison System

Abstract

DOI 10.1515/cjpp-2013-0015 Calif. J. Politics Policy 2013; 5(2): 313–315 Book Review Ryken Grattet Playing Politics with California ’ s Prison System By Joshua Page The Toughest Beat: Politics, Punishment, and the Prison Officers Union in California. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. In recent years, the politics of corrections has shifted discernibly in California. Although much of the attention centers on Public Safety Realignment and the twin forces of a state budget crisis and a federal court order to reduce overcrowd- ing, prison and parole populations actually began falling before realignment commenced. From its high in October 2006, the institutional population dropped 11% by September 30th, 2011 – the day before realignment took effect. Between the start of realignment to the present, the institutional population has dropped another 17%. Despite these changes, the reductions realized thus far will not be enough to meet the federal court ’ s targeted cap, falling roughly 9000 inmates short. This guarantees that further state efforts to reduce the prison population will remain a central concern in Sacramento over the coming months. Published in 2011, the moment before realignment, Joshua Page ’ s The Tough- est Beat , provides some context for understanding how we got to where we are. The key animator of the pre-realignment era, the prison officers union (the Cali- fornia Correctional Peace Officers Association or CCPOA) serves as Page ’ s entry point into California correctional politics, but the real focus is on the larger system of political and social relations, what he calls “ the penal field. ” Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the penal field concept alerts us to the struc- tures, relations, and meanings within which battles over punishment policies take place. Page applies the concept with a light touch, using it to examine how interest groups draw on and create sources of meaning, and challenge, ally with, or chart a compromise with other interests in the field. The Toughest Beat traces the roots of the contemporary union to its origins in the California Correctional Officers Association (CCOA), organized by guards at San Quentin as a fraternal organization dedicated to “ pizza and beer. ” In the early days, the CCOA ran a snack bar and a dry cleaning service for prison employees based on inmate labor. However, the organization was transformed during the 1960s and 1970s in direct reaction to the prisoner ’ s rights movement