Employees at a California prison largely view inmates as “little more than wild animals” incapable of being rehabilitated, according to the latest in a long series of critical reports.

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. Employees at a remote Northern California prison largely view inmates as “little more than wild animals” incapable of being rehabilitated, according to the latest in a long series of critical reports.



California corrections officials sought the external review after the state inspector general reported last year that High Desert State Prison guards had created a “culture of racism” and engaged in alarmingly frequent use of force against inmates.



The Association of State Correctional Administrators found little evidence of overt racism, but plenty of other problems at the maximum security prison housing about 3,800 inmates near Susanville, nearly 200 miles from Sacramento.

Employees view themselves as united in a two-front battle against some of the state’s toughest inmates on one side and a distant, disconnected state bureaucracy on the other, according to the report provided to The Associated Press.



The report blames a lack of communication and leadership at the prison, which has had 15 wardens in its 21 years of existence - five in the last 18 months.



That “has left the staff without a clear sense of direction, and in particular unaware of the change toward rehabilitation in the department’s mission,” says the report. “In their view, efforts to rehabilitate inmates of the type housed at HDSP, who they view as little more than wild animals, are both futile and dangerous.”



Guards rarely interact with inmates unless violence erupts, tacitly allowing illegal activities like gambling among inmates as a way of keeping the peace, the review team found.



“It was as if the officers and the inmates had reached an agreement. ‘You can do your thing, and we’ll do ours, so long as you don’t get violent,’” the reviewers wrote. “Viewing inmates as dangerous animals, the officers do little to prevent violence but rather keep their distance waiting for it to occur. When it does occur, which it does almost daily, they react quickly en mass to suppress it with force.”