Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have given judges and media increased access to prisons on Sept. 27.
Current regulations do not allow pre-arranged or one-on-one interviews between a journalist and an inmate. Journalists are allowed to interview an inmate only as part of the regular visitation process, with the prior consent of a warden.
Senate Bill 254 would have allowed news media to tour prisons and interview inmates with the inmate’s approval, instead of the warden’s permission. The warden would have the ability to deny the interview, or a prison tour, only if it would pose a threat to security.
It also would have granted journalists the right to bring cameras or recording equipment. It would have banned retaliation against an inmate for accepting an interview.
In his veto message, Newsom said the bill could romanticize criminals.
“By removing nearly all discretion to limit media interviews of specific incarcerated individuals, this bill could have the unintended consequence of creating or elevating the celebrity status of certain incarcerated individuals through repeated media appearances, including on television and social media, which could glorify their actions and hurt victims and their families,” Newsom wrote.
He also said the bill imposed budgetary concerns.
Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the bill’s author, said that California has one of the least transparent prison systems in the nation.
“SB 254 brings back some transparency to our state prisons. California used to be a national leader in terms of access to media, but in the 1990s, California cut off most of the access, and today, our prisons are among the least transparent in the nation,” Skinner Skinner told the Assembly Standing Committee on Public Safety on Aug. 28.
The bill would have affected only state prisons, and not county jails, Skinner said.
Transparency is essential to a well functioning government, especially during the recent years of judicial reform, said Brittney Barsotti, attorney for the California News Publishers Association, at the same committee meeting.
“The Fourth Estate has been limited, especially as it pertains to (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation), which has a $14.5 billion General Fund spending tag. Right now, the press and the public are really unable to see how that money is spent,” Barsotti said.
The bill passed the California Senate with 30 ayes and 10 noes Aug. 29, with Sens. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa) and Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta) voting no. It passed the Assembly with 72 ayes, no noes, and seven votes not recorded. Assemblymembers Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside), Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) and Bill Essayli (R-Corona) did not vote.
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