21 replies to this topic

[Brett911]

IMHO, Folsom will have to bear the added police costs of protestors who seek to demontstrate death row events. I doubt any of the Democrat Assemblymembers will agree to pay for the added cost to Folsom and its residents.

I recall that the State Assembly also led the effort to shut down Folsom's run prison whereby inmates separated Folsom's residential garbage for recycling.

Our garbage collection rates recently went up and will continue to rise now that the prison recycling program will end. The state mandates a large percentage of all garbage collected in California be recycled.

Once again, Folsom residents will pay more in garbage collection fees, the cost of increased police for Death Row protests, increased sewer fees (the state fined Folsom for its sewer line spills), increased water fees (the state and feds have threatened to stop the flow of Folsom's water rights from Folsom Lake if Folsom fails to install water meters) and now an increase in the state sales tax (Governor's May revise budget proposed a 0.50% sales tax increase to cover the current deficit).

Let's not forget, Folsom had to pay for and defend its low income housing law suit which was filed by a government funded legal aid group.

How much and for how long will we as Folsom residents continue to pay for kicking ourselves in our own backside? We need to speak out and preserve our beautiful community.

Brett

http://www.sacbee.co...p-7614197c.html

[camay2327]

We will all have to get behind this one. Everyone will need to send e-mails and letters to stop this.

Someone will need to get all the names and e-mail addresses together along with
a form letter to be sent out.

Once this is all together, everyone will need to get behind this one.

Cal

[john]

If someone drafted a letter, I could create an HTML page that would automatically send your email to our representatives.

[Brett911]

I will write a draft for review/input/feedback.

For the group's reference, I used to work in the legislature and still have some contacts there, although in the powerless party.

I am boiling inside from this story and believe some Assemblymembers do not like that Folsom is a quaint, safe and clean city, relatively free of blight and urban problems.

[Brett911]

Sample letter for review/input/suggestions

Dear Assemblymember X:

I recently read with great interest in the Sacramento Bee, May 14, 2003 “Panel backs moving death row to Folsom.”

As a Folsom resident, I strongly oppose relocating death row to Folsom Prison.

Folsom is a small city with limited emergency response resources. Moving death row to Folsom would financially strain Folsom’s police department and have serious negative effects on Folsom’s ability to provide adequate police services to its residents and potential death row protestors.

Additionally, Folsom’s roads and streets near Folsom Prison are not designed to handle major traffic as would be generated by such protests nor are there any safe areas for those would seek to protest death row events.

Furthermore, with the closure of Folsom Dam Road, traffic has already increased to unsafe levels on East Natoma Street which intersects Folsom Prison’s entrance road, Prison Road.

Moving death row to Folsom Prison is an unwise and unsafe decision, regardless of our state budget finances.

I oppose such a move and ask that you consider alternative solutions and plan for long term effects.

Sincerely,



Your Name Here
Email address here

[B][B]

[camay2327]

From the official Folsom Web site

On Tuesday, May 13, 2003, the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 approved a proposal by Chair Rudy Bermudez (D), Norwalk, to transfer housing for death row inmates from San Quentin to California State Prison, Sacramento (Folsom Prison)nbsp; In spite of objections from the California Department of Corrections (CDC) and the State Department of Finance, and in addition to testimony in opposition from Assembly Member and Minority Leader Dave Cox, representatives from the City of Folsom, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s office, the California Peace Officer’s Association, California Police Chief’s Association and others, the Democratic members of the Subcommittee chose to ignore the facts presented by CDC and approved the Chair’s proposal. The Republican members of the subcommittee voted against the proposal. Attached for your information is a copy of the Committee Report as well as a report on the feasibility of the transfer prepared by the Department of Corrections.

Any interested parties are encouraged to contact those members of the Committee voting in support of the proposal as well as the Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee and the Speaker of the Assembly to register your viewpoint.

If you have any questions, please e-mail Assistant City Manager Will Kempton at wkempton@folsom.ca.us.

Voting “Yes” Voting “No”

Hon. Rudy Bermudez Hon. David Cogdill
Assemblymember.bermudez@assembly.ca.gov assemblymember.cogdill@assembly.ca.gov
Hon. Sarah Reyes Hon. Rick Keene
Assemblymember.reyes@assembly.ca.gov assemblymember.keen@assembly.ca.gov
Hon. Lloyd Levine
Assemblymember.levine@assembly.ca.gov

Non-voting Assembly members:

Hon. Jenny Oropeza, Chair, Assembly Budget Committee
assemblymember.oropeza@assembly.ca.gov

Hon. Dave Cox, Minority Leader, State Assembly
assemblymember.cox@assembly.ca.gov

Hon. Herb Wesson, Speaker of the Assembly
assemblymember.wesson@assembly.ca.gov


------------------


I sent the following to the mayor, city council members and city manager.


Mayor Miklos, and all city council members.

I was amazed when I read in the Sacramento Bee that
they are thinking about moving death row from San
Quentin to Folsom.

I am against this just like everyone else in Folsom is.

Here are my suggestions.

1. City of Folsom get a complete listing of names,
e-mail addresses, mailing addresses and phone numbers
of everyone that has anything to do with possibly
getting this transfer to happen.

2. Write up a great "form letter" that can be put out
to all Folsom residents so we can copy it and forward
it on to all names on the list.

3. If a petition is needed I will be glad to help get
signatures.

4. One of my biggest concerns is what the state is
planning to do with the property at San Quentin if the
transfer is done! If they move death row to Folsom
someone is going to make a mint selling the San
Quentin property to developers.

If my wife and I can help, please let me know. Also
place my e-mail address on any correspondence going
out on this subject, if possible.


Thanks

Cal

------------

I also received the following from city council members and asst city manager
(for your information)

-------------

Subject: RE: Death Row to Folsom ??
Date: Wed, 14 May 2003 18:46:21 -0700
From: "Will Kempton" <wkempton@folsom.ca.us>
CC: "Martha Clark Lofgren" <mlofgren@folsom.ca.us>


Dear Mr. May:

Thank you for your suggestions regarding the Assembly Budget
Subcommittee's action on Tuesday. Like you, City officials are extremely
concerned about the proposal to move the death row inmates now housed at San
Quentin to the California State Prison, Sacramento (Folsom Prison).
Actually, we have already implemented many of your suggestions, and you
can obtain some of the information you have requested off of our website
at www.folsom.ca.us. On the web, you will see the e-mail addresses of
the subcommittee members, those voting "yes" and "no," as well as the
web address for the Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee and the
Speaker of the Assembly. It would be very helpful if you communicated your
concerns to these individuals. You should know that our Assembly
Member, Dave Cox, actively opposed this proposal before the subcommittee,
and he has advised the City that he is committed to continue the fight to
ensure that this transfer does not take place. For additional
information, our website also contains a copy of the report from the Director
of the California Department of Corrections that clearly indicates this
move is not in the State's best interest. I encourage you to read it.
If I can be of further assistance, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Will Kempton
Assistant City Manager.



From: "Andy Morin" <andy@themorins.com>
Subject: Re: Death Row to Folsom ??
Date: Wed, 14 May 2003 19:53:50 -0700


Calvin,

Thanks for jumping in. The recurrence of this issue is obviously very
troubling to all of us on the council. My initial observations are
that we do have some allies, some surprising, that helped before and that this
reeks of state budgetary political maneuvering. We obviously have and will
continue to keep our finger on the pulse of this one. I must add that the
City staff, Martha and Will Kempton, did an excellent job sniffing this one
out when an obvious attempt was made to quietly and quickly zip it through
committee.

Always nice to hear from you. Ask at anytime for updates but I can
Assure you that everyone will be kept front and center on this.

Andy

Andy Morin
Folsom City Council
50 Natoma Street, Folsom
andy@themorins.com
916.355.7310

--


From: Eric King [mailto:eric@ericking.org]
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 9:18 PM
To: 'eric@ericking.org'
Subject: Death Row


All,

Moving Death Row to Folsom has become a part of the budget discussion
for the state. On Tuesday, May 13, 2003, the Assembly Budget
Subcommittee No. 4 approved a proposal by Chair Rudy Bermudez (D),
Norwalk, to transfer housing for death row inmates from San Quentin to
California State Prison, Sacramento (Folsom Prison). In spite of
objections from the California Department of Corrections (CDC) and the
State Department of Finance, and in addition to testimony in opposition
from Assembly Member and Minority Leader Dave Cox, representatives from
the City of Folsom, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s office, the
California Peace Officer’s Association, California Police Chief’s
Association and others, the Democratic members of the Subcommittee
Chose to ignore the facts presented by CDC and approved the Chair’s proposal.
The Republican members of the subcommittee voted against the proposal.

The City is working diligently on this issue. You can help by
e-mailing the assembly members that voted for the transfer of Death Row to Folsom
with your concerns related to how they could vote for this transfer
against the recommendation from the individuals and groups listed
above.
More info and the appropriate e-mail addresses are on the City's web
site. See link below.

http://www.folsom.ca...=1&ar=1137&st=3

Thanks for your help on this!

Regards,

Eric King
Folsom City Council



Everyone get involved as soon as possible. The city, as well as everyone I have
contacted does not want Death Row here in Folsom


Cal

[intelkid]

John, you said you would make this page available to send out via email?

[camay2327]

Please note that this article from the San Jose Mercury News, dated 20 Aug 2001,
tells us a little more of what they want to do with the land at San Quentin and why
they want to move death row.

Cal

---------------------------------------------------------------

Outdated San Quentin Prison may be doomed

Aug. 20, 2001
----

BY DAN REED, San Jose Mercury News

The oldest penitentiary in the state, San Quentin is a historical -- if grim -- treasure. Through its iron gates walked the likes of stagecoach robber Black Bart and cult killer Charles Manson. It houses the state's only death chamber; inmates have been executed here since before President Lincoln was assassinated.

But in a region where real estate is like gold, San Quentin's most lasting legacy may be its location. The land once known as the Bay of Skulls is a shoreline spread just 20 miles north of San Francisco with sweeping views of bay waters and jagged bluffs. Untapped locations in the Bay Area don't get much better than this.

And, with state officials saying the prison is outdated, unsafe and falling apart, with a new political climate in prison politics and with developers almost giddy over the prospect of building over the land, a move to raze the penitentiary may succeed where others failed.

The just-approved state budget carries $250,000 to study plans to tear it down and replace it with less notorious residents -- suburbanites.

One proposal involves essentially enough housing units for a new small town.

A report by the Department of General Services, released last month, laid out three options for San Quentin's 432 acres, which are bordered by San Rafael, Larkspur and Corte Madera. They range from a plan for 500 units of housing that retains some prison buildings as historic artifacts to one with up to 3,500 homes, including ``a moderate amount of historic reuse.''

Potential developers are frothing over the prospect of unlocking such rare bayfront property. The vistas just outside the three-foot-thick walls are certainly wasted on the criminals inside. ``They only can see the sky,'' said prison spokesman Lt. Vernell Crittendon.

Plowing it under and developing the land is a chance to offer much-needed housing in affluent Marin County, and the Bay Area at large, advocates point out.

Nonetheless, the red-roofed penitentiary has its would-be saviors. Advocates for the inmates say it's unfair to send them to some remote new prison, away from the support provided by their families, friends and lawyers.

In any case, many think the familiar refrain to close ``Q,'' as it's sometimes called, will again fade away, only to be revived another day.

In 1971, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan promised in his State of the State address to `take the first step toward closing San Quentin.'' Another strong push came in 1984, but the effort fizzled.

But the politics are different now.

Gov. Gray Davis' secretary over the Department of Corrections is former state Sen. Robert Presley, who sat on the Joint Legislative Prisons Committee during the prison-building boom of the 1980s and early 1990s. He wants San Quentin shut down, and his opinion carries weight.

The 19th-century fortress was built with forced labor during the gold rush, by men shipped over on the Waban, which had been docked at Treasure Island. Opened in 1852 with 68 inmates, the prison had a gallows for the condemned and a torture chamber for coercing prisoners to talk. ``Torture was an approved method of interrogation'' until it was banned in 1944, Crittendon said.

Until the mid-1960s, salt water from the bay was pumped in for showers and toilets. The unclaimed dead were buried on a now-overgrown boot hill, their graves marked only by wooden boards listing their prison numbers, no names.

While acknowledging San Quentin's storied history, some government officials argue that it's in its dotage, hopelessly enfeebled after a good long life. ``We have much more secure facilities than that one,'' said Steve Green, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections. ``It's sitting partially on fill, and that fill is eroding. It has extraordinarily high maintenance costs because of the age of the institution.''

San Quentin's old-fashioned design also leaves nooks and crannies where prisoners can hide, out of sight of guard towers. It lacks the up-to-date electronic sliding doors and openings that in newer prisons keep staff and convicts apart. Guards at San Quentin have daily contact with inmates when feeding them, exchanging their laundry and walking them to the showers, said guard Tony Jones, president of the correctional officers union.

As with many of the state's prisons, San Quentin is packed way past capacity. Designed for 3,417, it houses 6,121. For years now it's held mainly low- and moderate-risk prisoners -- those with drug, burglary or auto theft convictions. The rest -- more than 550 -- are on death row.

The general services report estimated the cost of relocating San Quentin's inmates to two new prisons at $695 million, assuming occupancy July 1, 2006, with an additional $107 million in one-time costs. Then there's the problem of moving death row to another penitentiary -- a task that's expected to run into a wall of resistance from the chosen community and from prisoner-rights advocates.

For the foreseeable future, however, San Quentin's prisoners won't be going anywhere. ``This is not going to be a quick process,'' said Green, of the state corrections department. ``We may all be retired by the time it's finished.''

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

ACSS Inc. 1108 O Street, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95814
Telephone (916) 326-4257
TOLL FREE (800) 624-2137
FAX (916) 326-4364

[john]

QUOTE

John, you said you would make this page available to send out via email?

I haven't had a chance to get to it. I am working on it...

[camay2327]

Here are some web sites that I have found that shows more about
the possible move of San Quentin prison. Instead of copying them
into MyFolsom.com I will just give you the URLs to go to. If you
are interested please go to them and read them.

Cal

--------------------

SF Weekly HEADLINE: San Quentin Blues
DATE: April 2, 2003
By Ron Russell

http://www.cjcj.org/...an_quentin.html

--------------------

SFGate.com
HEADLINE: Demo opposition rises on Davis plan for new Death Row
DATE: February 20, 2003
By Mark Martin

http://www.cjcj.org/...davis_plan.html

--------------------

Marin struggles to define future of notorious site
Ryan Tate

2003 American City Business Journals Inc.

http://sanfrancisco..../03/focus4.html


--------------------

Death row may not leave Big Q
By Michelle Locke, dated 05/02/2002

http://www.examiner.....deathrow.0502w

--------------------

Concerns About Moving Death Row
Associated Press 02-28-2001

http://beta.kpix.com..._Death_Row.html


--------------------
Political Pressure

http://www.baycrossi...san_quentin.htm

--------------------

That’s enough for now. If you want more information go to
Google.com and do a search for San Quentin prison.

[Folsomite]

I recommend NOT sending out a formmail as suggested earlier in this thread... a personalized email including your name, address, and phone number goes a much longer way. Without your address, they cannot pursue anything, as they cannot verify you are in their district. If you are emailing someone out of their district, the email gets deleted.

Formmails are often filtered out and not even read by many - any website owner will tell you that if they have an email address on a website somewhere, it's an open door for spammers.

Please take the extra minute to visit your representative's website and contact them throught their website. That is a much better form of getting their attention. I have contacted many representatives and found this is the best way your email will get noticed - do it via their website.

PS - Even if you email a couple sentences saying you are not in favor of Death Row is more impactful than a "cut & paste" job.

[john]

Here's some more light reading for any of you interested in this - it's an article out today on the possibility of shutting down San Quentin.

http://www.marinij.c...1419983,00.html

[shaggy]

For once, I think I agree with Gray Davis on something. If you read that article, it looks like Davis wants to build a new wing for death row in San Quentin. If they shut San Quentin down, Folsom would be harboring the state's most hardened criminals. Do we want to risk them breaking loose? I know I don't!

[Terry]

Death row inmates are the least likely to escape because they have really no opportunity. For those of you who remember way back when Folsom did have a death row, it wasn't the big deal that it seems to be now. And granted, the population of Folsom wasn't what it is now.

As to escapes in general, any inmates successful in escape will get as far away from Folsom as fast as they can, so the chance of an escapee staying in town to commit crimes is slim to none. When the prison was on the edge of town, escapees (we called them "walkaways" because they'd typically just walk away from their work camp assignment) would be found wandering around town and never put up a fight when caught. There was an alarm that sounded when there was a walkaway and everyone kept an eye out and it was rare that they weren't caught within a couple hours.

San Quentin is in need of what sounds like a whole lot of money to renovate and given that it's on very valuable land, why not sell the property for big money and add a new death row at one of the existing prisons. I wouldn't rule out Folsom's two institutions for death row because each prison community throughout the state could make what they feel legitimate arguments for not wanting death row at their facilities. It's gotta be somewhere, as does affordable housing, fast food restaurants and all those other elements of community life that we require but may not like.

Every distasteful element of our lives can't be located somewhere other than Folsom.

[Folsomite]

QUOTE

It's gotta be somewhere, as does affordable housing, fast food restaurants and all those other elements of community life that we require but may not like

OK, Terry, I think it's official, you are just around to cause trouble. There are many prisons in the middle of NOWHERE that can and should have death row before Folsom. And I mean in the middle of nowhere, as in... not in the middle of a upper-middle class suburb, but along stretches of freeway where signs are posted "do not pick up hitch-hikers".

Having a prison is not a required element of Folsom. I don't see maximum security prisons anywhere else in this county. Granted, I moved here, but it doesn't mean I have to want death row to come here.

And your argument that escapees wouldn't want to stay long? True... but in the meantime they'd do whatever it takes to get the heck out of here! That means stealing your car, hiding out in your house for a while... I would imagine that if someone escaped Folsom prison they'd have to be pretty desprate and willing to try anything.

I'm SO not in favor of a death row here in Folsom. I cannot believe there are people here who just shrug and say "Feh. I guess they have to come somewhere."