No Las Vegas trip for California prison guards’ union — CCPOA cancels retreat

The California state prison guards’ union has canceled a planned trip for its leaders to Las Vegas next week, citing infections in prisons.

The meeting, which had been scheduled for Jan. 26 and 27 at Caesars Palace, will instead be held by video conference from three California offices, a union spokesman said.

“Infections in prisons are at an unacceptable level,” union president Glen Stailey said in an emailed statement provided by spokesman Nathan Ballard.

Infections have been high in prisons for most of the time the coronavirus has been in California. The Bee first reported on Jan. 7 on the union’s plans to hold a meeting in Las Vegas.

Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, called the plan “offensive, flat out wrong, and extremely dangerous” at that time.

The union had invited representatives from each of the state’s 35 prisons plus a number of others who represent parole agents and officers who work outside prisons, in places like fire camps.

“I recognize that our membership counts on the union’s leadership to model the strictest safety protocols,” Stailey said in the emailed statement. “With this in mind, we are shifting the venue of our upcoming board meeting from Las Vegas back to California. We’ve identified a way to hold in-person meetings — which was vital for this particular session — while strictly following the safety protocols set forth by the state government.”

The meeting will be held from offices in Fresno, West Sacramento and Rancho Cucamonga, according to spokesman Charlie Harris.

As of Friday, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported about 46,000 inmates have tested positive for the virus since March. The prison population was about 114,000 on March 11, and has been reduced to about 90,000 inmates.

About 15,000 prison employees out of about 55,000 have reported infections, with 1,427 infections in the last two weeks.

This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 11:08 AM with the headline "No Las Vegas trip for California prison guards’ union — CCPOA cancels retreat."