'Cracked Paint And A Faint Manure Odor'

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Guillermina Hall, warden of the state's Norco prison, on Monday toured the overcrowded facility for low-level offenders and drug addicts (pictured below). The buildings date back to 1928 when it was a luxury hotel, the governor noted, before it was transformed into a naval hospital during WWII, and then a prison in the 1960s. Ah, human progress!

Schwarzenegger is campaigning for an $11 billion reform and building package that he says will alleviate severe overcrowding at the state's 33 prisons and avoid a federal takeover. At the photo opportunity, the governor said "the Legislature has not really yet committed to really solving this problem."

State Senate leader Don Perata (pictured) said about the governor's visit: "I am disappointed that the governor today blamed the Legislature for the state's prison crisis instead of offering ways to attack the problem. As the governor said, we need to show the court short-term solutions.  But the governor's only short-term proposal has been ruled illegal. ... It's time to stop the antics and give the Legislature something to work with – not hyperbole or hastily crafted fixes. I am committed to working with the governor, but he must step up and show real leadership."

The Norco gym was evacuated and the entire prison was put on lockdown for the governor's visit. Complete report on the visit after the jump.

(Photos: Rich Pedroncelli / AP; Terry Pierson / AP)

Print pool from the Governor's tour of the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco was provided by Paige Austin, The Press Enterprise:

Sporting a red elephant tie, a grey suit and an "I voted" sticker, Schwarzenegger toured an empty gymnasium-turned-dormitory with corrections officials, Assemblyman Todd Spitzer (R-Orange) and Warden Guillermina Hall.

The governor focused his questions on the dangers and challenges of overcrowded living conditions in the Norco prison while pressing the warden on the prison's effectiveness in rehabilitating its roughly 1,000 drug offenders and 3,500 felons. Originally designed as a narcotics center in 1962, the California Rehabilitation Center has morphed into the state's only prison to house both felons and civil narcotic addicts.

The department's center for drug rehabilitation programming, the prison boasts intense inmate programming including educational and vocational classes along with a six-month re-entry program to help inmates transition back into society, said the warden.

"Why do we still seem to have a high recidivism rate with that much programming going on?" pressed Schwarzenegger during a 10-minute briefing with Hall before the tour.

The prison's recidivism rate is better than the statewide average of 70 percent, but the more crowded the prison becomes, the less room there is for rehabilitative programs, said Hall.

"The problem that you have right now is that you are way overbooked here," said the governor as he walked through a dark prison hallway with cracked paint and a faint manure odor.

During his 20-minute tour, the governor examined a gym crowded with rows of 226 beds.  Rusted lockers anchored each end of the double bunked beds. Paint flaked off the vaulted ceiling and boards covered up broken windows around the makeshift dorm. The gym had been evacuated and the entire prison remained on lockdown for his visit.

The dorm once held triple bunked beds, but prison officials were forced to switch to double-bunked beds for fear that the aging floor would give way under the weight, explained James Tilton, secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

"This is a typical example of a gym that would be used for rehabilitation and other programs, and it's now being used for double-bunking," added Schwarzenegger.