“It'll Never Happen”: Racial Integration in California Men's Prisons

• Author: Tonya D. Lindsey
• Date: 01 December 2009
• Published date: 01 December 2009
• DOI: 10.3818/JRP.11.2009.77
• Subject Matter: Article

“IT’LL NEVER HAPPEN” • 77

*



“It’ll Never Happen”: Racial Integration in

California Men’s Prisons

Tonya D. Lindsey

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

* Abstract

For much of its history, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

(CDCR) has segregated inmates upon their arrival to a prison reception center ac-

cording to race category. Inmates also participate in this segregation by maintaining

their own and other inmates’ adherence to rules known as “politics.” Presently, as a

result of a mediated legal agreement, the CDCR agreed to implement the Integrated

Housing Program to racially integrate their adult, male inmates in two-man cells.

Using logistic regression analysis, this study reveals patterns in the willingness of in-

mates to racially integrate. Contrary to inmates’ and off‌icers’ beliefs, results suggest

that race category is not a signif‌icant predictor of inmates’ willingness to integrate.

Instead results show that inmates with safety concerns and those who are older are

more willing to participate in integration and gang members are less willing to do

so. A discussion of the results points to the importance of analyses that include those

processed in the criminal justice system. Doing so provides important evidence that

can inform criminal justice policy and practice.

JUSTICE RESEARCH AND POLICY, Vol.11, 2009

© 2009 Justice Research and Statistics Association

78 • JusTIcE REsEARcH ANd PoLIcy

For years the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)

has segregated adult, male inmates in cells according to four race categories: Black,

White, Hispanic, and Other. In 2005, the department agreed to racially integrate

its two-man cells in response to an inmate-initiated law suit and to avoid adju-

dication. In an environment rife with racial divisions, implementing such a pro-

gram promises to be challenging. The CDCR has redesigned its intake paperwork,

known as the 1882, to include criteria other than race category that may be more

useful in predicting the violence expected by housing inmates from different races

together. New questions on intake paperwork assist off‌icers in using information,

such as inmates’ histories of violence, in housing placements; race is no longer the

most important criterion for housing placement. This study evaluates the relation-

ship between inmates’ willingness to integrate and department predictors included

on the revised 1882.1

* Background

In 1995, Garrison Johnson f‌iled suit against the state of California claiming the

racial segregation policy in California prisons violated his right of equal protec-

tion under the law. He had been racially segregated f‌ive times in the California

prison system during the course of his incarceration. Five years later his case was

dismissed by a federal judge and then reinstated by the Ninth Circuit Court of

Appeals. At present, per a mediated agreement between Johnson’s lawyers and

the CDCR’s lawyers, California prison reception centers and prisons will racially

integrate inmates deemed eligible for integration.

Prior to Johnson’s lawsuit, the practice in all California prisons for men was

to segregate inmates for 60 to 90 days before they were moved to permanent

housing. Segregation was accomplished through dividing inmates by their race

and/or gang aff‌iliation. Though race was the primary criterion employed to seg-

regate inmates, on rare occasions gang aff‌iliation would trump race in the place-

ment of an inmate; thus, a White inmate aff‌iliated with a Black gang would be

placed with Black inmates instead of with other White inmates. Once inmates

were moved to permanent housing, they would again be categorically placed in

cells with someone from their own race. The rationale behind such segregation

was to ensure maximum safety of both inmates and off‌icers, presuming an other-

wise violent prison environment were cells to be integrated.

Where once the CDCR had no off‌icial policy concerning the issue of employ-

ing race in the housing process, there is now the following:

1 While it would be interesting to understand the effects of racial integration and if these

effects vary for different groups, the author does not have data ref‌lecting such outcomes.