tool name

Wednesday, Jul. 02, 2008

Atwater prison policies leave staff in grave danger, correctional officers say

In the wake of Jose Rivera's death, his current and former co-workers say his murder could have been avoided

It was 3:30 in the afternoon — count time on housing unit 5A at U.S. Penitentiary Atwater. Jose Rivera was a half-hour short of finishing his shift.

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

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

The two prisoners moved in, at least one of them clutching a sharp handmade shank. Rivera, a 22-year-old Navy veteran who'd started at USP 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, too. And brutal. By the time the officers got there, it was far too late.

Probably chosen by his attackers for no other reason than convenience, Rivera had been stabbed directly in the heart.

If the prisoners to blame were set on killing a correctional officer that Friday, then Rivera never really stood a chance, several of his former co-workers say.

He was by himself with more than 100 inmates. Backup was nowhere in sight. Strapped to his black duty belt were a radio, keys, a flashlight and a pair of handcuffs — no match for the well-armed population he oversaw. 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 his own to wear, he wasn't allowed to.

Article continues below video

Editor’s note: This footage of a riot at US Penitentiary Atwater was shot in 2006 and uploaded to YouTube, according to correctional officers at the prison. The officers say the video shows how poorly equipped the prison is to respond to fights and attacks.

In the wake of Rivera's June 20 death, officials at USP 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: Where in the prison was he attacked? How many other officers were with him? How many were nearby? Was he carrying any weapons? Was he wearing a stab-resistant vest?

So the Sun-Star interviewed six current and former USP 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 new job in law enforcement and the other because he still works for the Bureau of Prisons, the Washington, D.C.-based agency that oversees all federal correctional institutions.

Though they all said they were stunned by Rivera's death, none of them 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 last December. "I guess I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner, actually."

The current and former correctional officers, along with union officials, all said they think policies at USP Atwater are putting employees there 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.