Archive for January, 2008
New “News Feed” on CCPOAIronwood.com
You may have noticed a new “news feed” in the left-hand column of CCPOAIronwood.com in the past week. This feed comes directly from the new-and-improved www.ccpoa.org website and is automatically updated with new items throughout the day.
This is a beta-testing feed option that will be improved and added to over the coming weeks. Members will be able to sign-up to receive these updates automatically via their e-mail clients or through registered RSS feed readers. If you would be interested in registering for such a feed update service, please e-mail the webmaster via ccpoaironwood@mindspring.com.
Also - if you have news items or other things you would like to see posted here at CCPOAIronwood.com, please send them along. This is YOUR WEBSITE - everyone within the Chapter Membership is invited to participate. See the upper left-hand column on this page for information on how to REGISTER to become a blogger.
We want to hear your .02!
Chuckawalla/Ironwood to Get New High-Tech Command Center
Money is no object when it comes to finding new ways to keep the public safe from convicted felons housed in California’s state prisons. This week Riverside County supervisors will be signing off on a donation of a 1973 GMS motor home to Chuckawalla Prison. Warden Salazar stated in a county staff report that he plans to “refurbish” the vehicle and turn it into a “command post” to serve both Chuckawalla and Ironwood State prisons.
The motor home - which is older than many of the officers and inmates in these institutions - was first “deposited” in the care of Riverside County officials way back in 1985 through an asset forfeiture. It was used for 15-years as a mobile command post for the sheriff’s department. However, since 2000 the vehicle has been sitting in a county service yard and, according to the county report, has minimal resale value.
Clearly, due to its current state of devalue, the motor home is now worthy of use by California’s correctional officers.
According to Wikipedia.org, in true California’s government-gone-Hollywood style – and not unlike our very own Governator, the GMC motor home has an old history on the silver screen. It was the basis for the EM-50 “urban assault vehicle” in the 1981 comedy, “Stripes” starring Bill Murray and was used to “chase down tornadoes” in the action-film “Twister”.
Watch for it when it gets dumped off - er, donated - this week!
SacBee Article Says 2 Youth Facilities to Close: Dewitt Nelson & El Paso
In addition to the El Paso institution’s closure in July that we posted on the site earlier today, the SacBee.com website now shows that the state has announced that the juvenile detention center in Stockton will be closing as well effective July 31st.
State prison officials announced today that they are shutting down two of the state’s eight remaining juvenile prisons, one of them in Stockton and another in Paso Robles.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Jim Tilton said in a statement that the state’s declining juvenile inmate population has enabled the closures of the Dewitt Nelson Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton and the El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility in Paso Robles.
El Paso Youth Correctional Facility to Close in July
This article was posted today on the San Luis Obispo News Website. The article states that staff was informed of this decision on Thursday, just before the New Year.
El Paso de Robles houses:
Wards: 150
Staff: 350
Highest previous population: 1,000 wards
Opened: 1947 Annual budget: $35 million
The El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility is set to close in July, its 350 or so employees were told Thursday, because of state budget cuts and declining ward populations. The former California Youth Authority facility is scheduled for closing as part of cuts contained in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s draft 2008-09 budget…
LINK