By Jon Ortiz
Sacbee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A $6 million contract between California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and a private law firm broke the law last year, according to a ruling released this week by the state’s civil service system watchdog.
The State Personnel Board’s decision marks the second time the prison agency has been dinged for hiring Sacramento-based Williams & Associates to defend it against inmate lawsuits. Last year the board ruled against a similar agreement, dubbed “Williams I,” a three-year, $5 million deal that expired – in theory, anyway – in the summer of 2012.
But instead of moving the work back to state attorneys as the board directed, Corrections inked what is now called “Williams II,” the $6 million contract that expires – in theory, anyway – in 2015. The board struck that second contract down with the decision released on Tuesday.
By law, Justice Department lawyers are supposed to defend the state in prison litigation, but Attorney General Kamala Harris said that years of budget cutbacks and furloughs created a shortage of qualified attorneys. Until this year, she sent inmate lawsuits back to Corrections because she didn’t have staff to take them.