COALITION SUES TO BLOCK NEW PRISON

State Predicts Rise In Inmates; Activists Want `Schools, Not
Jails'

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A coalition of anti-prison activists sued Monday
to block a second state prison from being built in the Central Valley
town of Delano.

The coalition relies on environmental grounds for a challenge that has
more to do with a political and philosophical fight against the
proliferation of prisons.

The National Lawyers Guild Prison Law Project and Critical Resistance
cite threats to the endangered Tipton kangaroo rat and contend the
state failed to conduct a so-called no-project alternative. Their
joint complaint was filed Monday at Kern County Superior Court under
the California Environmental Quality Act.

By challenging the environmental soundness of the project, the groups
hope to halt construction while they raise deeper questions that fall
outside the scope of the lawsuit: whether more prison beds are needed
in California, and whether the money would be better spent on
education and other social services.

``We should build schools, not jails,'' said Rose Braz, program
director for Critical Resistance, as she and others demonstrated
outside a state parole office in San Francisco. She said Delano, an
agricultural community, needs a second high school more than another
prison.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jeanie Esajian said the need for
the new prison is more than justified by population forecasts, and
said it is the agency's policy ``to comply with all requirements of
the California Environmental Quality Act in all of our projects.''

Delano, a city of 35,000 about 25 miles north of Bakersfield, already
has a maximum-security prison with about 5,000 inmates. The
five-member city council approved the second prison after a series of
public hearings. Groundbreaking is scheduled for early next year.

``The city is in support of the prison,'' said City Manager Adela
Gonzalez. ``It's cleaning the streets, and it will generate
employment.''

Roughly 161,500 inmates are now held at 33 state prisons, in a system
with a capacity for about 166,000.

With crime dropping and with the correction department's figures
showing a decline in the inmate population, anti-prison groups argue
there is no need to spend $335 million on another maximum-security
prison for 5,160 more inmates.

And the activists contend that there will be even more space available
if the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000 passes in
November, diverting non-violent drug offenders into specialized
programs rather than prison.

But the California Department of Correction, which forecasts prison
populations each spring and fall, expects a rise, especially with the
passage in March of the controversial Proposition 21, also known as
the Juvenile Justice Initiative. The measure lets prosecutors rather
than judges decide whether to try juveniles as adults for serious crimes.

By fiscal year 2003-2004, the department expects more than 5,000
additional adult prisoners. By June 2005, the overall population could
reach 178,800, Esajian said.

``Delano II doesn't even take half our need at that point,'' she
said.