By Timm Herdt
Ventura County Star
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the first of what will be a series of difficult confirmation hearings, Matthew Cate, who heads California’s problem-plagued prison system, sought to assure lawmakers on Wednesday that he intends to systematically attack such problems as chronic overcrowding, inadequate healthcare services and the virtual absence of rehabilitative programs.
Cate has been secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for 10 months and must be confirmed by the Senate before his one-year anniversary.
Testifying before the Senate Rules Committee, Cate did not shy from acknowledging the prison system’s problems.
“Our prisons are at 195 percent of capacity,” he said. “It makes everything we do more difficult. It’s all we can do to make sure the prisons are safe and that we provide constitutional care, and we don’t always do that.”
The hearing fell on the same day the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal denied Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appeal of a district court’s order to either provide funding to a federal receiver in charge of the prison medical care system or show cause why he should not be held in contempt.
In addition, on Tuesday, District Court Judge Thelton Henderson denied the state’s request that the receivership be disbanded.
Cate said regardless of how those court cases proceed, his department is committed to bringing its medical and mental health systems up to constitutional standards.
“We must improve clinical care,” he said. “Not because the courts say so, but because it’s the right thing to do. It’s the moral and ethical thing to do.”
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said the committee intends to conduct a series of hearings on Cate’s confirmation, with the hope of using the hearings to establish goals and timetables for reforming California’s prisons.
“We don’t believe we can do this appointment justice without having a lengthy conversation,” Steinberg told Cate. “It’s not to put you through the proverbial wringer, because you’re a fine public servant. We want to talk about your plans for reforming the department.”
Steinberg opened the hearing with a directive that defused the potentially explosive issue of parole reform. A parolee over the weekend killed four Oakland police officers, a tragedy that has raised questions about whether proper parole supervision and enforcement was in place.
Steinberg said lawmakers will conduct separate hearings focused exclusively on parole issues rather than have “a high-octane discussion” during Cate’s confirmation hearings. “Let’s do it with a little breadth and some respect for the victims and their families,” he said.
Cate is a former prosecutor who was persuaded last year to leave his post as inspector general reviewing prison operations and take over as secretary of the troubled department.
He said he is in the process of developing a strategic plan to set goals and standards to improve such areas as literacy, education, job-training and drug-treatment programs as a means to reduce recidivism. Those steps are essential, he said, because the state releases 10,000 inmates a month into California communities.
Currently, he said, only about half of all inmates receive any treatment during their prison terms.
A second hearing on Cate’s confirmation will be conducted next week.
Copyright 2009 Ventura County Star