California tries to sell convicts on glories of out-of-state cells

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Tasty meals! A room with a view! Pingpong! Cable TV!

In one of the more unusual marketing campaigns undertaken by state government, California prison officials are asking inmates to bid adieu to their cellmates and transfer to lockups elsewhere in the U.S.

As part of the recruitment drive, wardens are screening a film extolling the virtues of out-of-state prisons — and reminding convicts of the violent, overcrowded, racially charged conditions they face in California.

"You get 79 channels here — ESPN!" one tattooed California felon, now housed in Tennessee, says in the movie.

"They talk to us like humans," says another, "not like animals."

The 20-minute movie shows inmates lounging in roomy cells with views, playing basketball and chess, lining up for hot meals and chatting amiably with smiling officers.

The campaign reflects the desperation that corrections officials feel as they grapple with a ballooning prison population and no easy fix. Leaders say they will run out of room for new inmates by summer, and a federal judge has ordered the overcrowding eased by June.

"They've marketed these places like cruise ships," said Lance Corcoran, a lobbyist with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has unveiled a $11.9 billion prison building and reform plan. But its prospects are uncertain in the Legislature, and creating bed space — whether through building new cells or policy changes that slow the incoming tide of convicts — can't be accomplished overnight.

The governor declared a state of emergency in October and announced plans to ship some inmates out of state.

So far, the transfers have been voluntary. But officials say mandatory moves are increasingly likely because so few convicts are willing to go.

In an initial survey, more than 19,000 felons said they might like a change of scenery. But officials say they have only 600 volunteers on their list, including 365 who already have been shipped to Arizona and Tennessee.