Sunday, Jul. 06, 2008

Guard 'never stood a chance'

Atwater prison officials aren't surprised by death, say staffing level is unsafe

MERCED -- It was 3:30 p.m., count time on housing unit 5A at U.S. Penitentiary Atwater. Jose Rivera was a half-hour short of completing his shift.

He had just announced the count, ordering the inmates under his charge, 110 or so, to return to their cells. He began locking them down one by one, as he did every time he worked the 8-to-4 shift.

It would be the last inmate count he'd conduct.

The two inmates moved in, at least one of them clutching a handmade shank. Rivera, a 22-year-old Navy veteran who'd started at Atwater less than 11 months earlier, hit the panic button on his radio.

The other correctional officers were quick to respond. But the attack was quick. By the time the officers got there, it was too late.

Rivera had been stabbed in the heart.

If the two prisoners were set on killing a correctional officer June 20, Ri-vera never really stood a chance, several of his former co-workers say.

He was by himself with more than 100 inmates. Strapped to his black duty belt were a radio, keys, a flashlight and a pair of handcuffs. He was wearing slacks and a thin, white-collared shirt with no stab-resistant vest under or over it. The penitentiary didn't provide him one, and if he'd wanted to buy one, he wasn't allowed to.

In the wake of Rivera's death, officials at Atwater and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons have declined to answer basic questions about what happened that day and about how Rivera was equipped.

The Sun-Star interviewed six current and former Atwater correctional officers. Two are still employed there. They asked for anonymity because the Bureau of Prisons has instructed them not to speak with reporters.

Four recently left the prison. Two allowed their names to be published. Two did not, one because he feared it could hurt his attempts to get a job in law enforcement and the other because he still works for the Bureau of Prisons, the Washington, D.C.-based agency that oversees federal correctional institutions.

Though they all said they were stunned by Rivera's death, none said it was surprising.

"It wasn't really a matter of if it was going to happen. It was more a matter of when and to who," said James Spencer, a retired lieutenant who worked at the prison from its 2001 opening until December. "I guess I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner, actually."

The current and former correctional officers, along with union officials, said they think policies at USP Atwater are putting employees at unnecessary risk, from inadequate staffing and a lack of protective equipment to too little control over the prison's 1,100 high-security inmates and too few consequences for the ones who act out violently.

They said their safety complaints and warnings to local, regional and national prison administrators have gone largely unanswered.

"It's getting worse and worse," said an officer who is planning to leave the penitentiary after about a year there because of his concerns over safety. "Sometimes there's attacks (on correctional officers) twice a week. Sometimes it's every three weeks or so. All I know is it's way more than it should be and not enough is being done to try to protect us."

No officials from USP Atwater or the Bureau of Prisons would answer questions for this story.

Staffing at Atwater prison 'inadequate'

Current and former correctional officers said inadequate staffing at the prison has made it unsafe for employees and inmates.

"There just aren't enough staff to do things the right way," said Ryan Silva, who left USP Atwater last month after working 12 years for the Bureau of Prisons, the last seven in Atwater. "It's dangerous. We've been saying that for a while."