California Travesty

In California, a gang of correction officers won an appeal to be reinstated after being fired for an alleged beating scandal.

According to Sunday's Monterey County Herald:

A state appeals board has ordered reinstatement of eight correctional officers who were fired from Salinas Valley State Prison in the wake of revelations about a rogue gang of guards known as the Green Wall.  The state Personnel Board ruled last week there was insufficient evidence to support allegations that the officers stood by or helped beat up an inmate during an unauthorized "extraction" from a caged exercise yard.  A spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said her agency and the state Attorney General's Office will consider appealing the decision.

So who is to blame in this fiasco, this travesty of justice? Foot soldiers of the Rove Republican Racket who ignored requests for an investigation.

According to the local warden, the FBI and his office contacted the U.S. Attorney's Office

Edward Caden, the former warden of Salinas Valley State Prison who initiated the investigation and who later testified regarding the Green Wall, was appalled at the board's decision. He said the case was mismanaged by the CDCR, which assigned at least three different attorneys to handle the case during its pendency. Caden said he and the FBI also tried to get the U.S. Attorney's Office to prosecute the case, to no avail. "This is just an absolute travesty. This sends a clear message" to both honest and dishonest correctional officers, said Caden, now a Sacramento-area attorney. "If you commit a crime under the color of authority and stick together and keep your mouths shut, no one can do anything."

Bush-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California Joseph P. Russoniello (pictured)allegedly did nothing and let this travesty occur.