BILL NUMBER:  AB 2101
  VETOED	DATE: 09/30/2000




Sep 30 2000



To Members of the California Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 2101 without my signature.

This bill would allow the news media virtually unlimited access to
convicted felons incarcerated in California state prisons.  This
measure would also permit the news media to receive confidential
correspondence from a prisoner.

Under present law, journalists have ample opportunities to interview
convicts:          1) during regular visiting hours on the same basis
as family and friends; 2) by accepting collect phone calls from the
prisoner; 3) by written correspondence; and   4) by unlimited access
to the prisoner's lawyer.

This bill is inconsistent with the national trend to reduce, not
expand, rights of prisoners (e.g., prohibiting them from profiting
from their crimes by selling their "stories" via book, television, or
movie rights).

Furthermore, according to correctional authorities, its
implementation would disrupt the orderly administration of prisons
and interfere with the ability of inmate families to visit their
loved ones.

The purposes of incarceration is punishment and deterrence; it is not
to provide additional celebrity to convicts, many of whose criminal
acts were brutal and violent, thereby causing further pain to the
victims and their loved ones.

AB 2101 is based on the false premise that press interviews with
inmates are banned.  The press can either visit inmates during
regular visiting periods, or receive collect calls from inmates.
These are the same rights provided to the inmate's family and
friends.

This bill guarantees the press preferred access greater than that
accorded family members and close friends.  The regulations currently
in force are properly balanced to achieve legitimate objectives.



Sincerely,





GRAY DAVIS