California state officials gathered at the State Capitol May 16, 1988, to honor 18 corrections employees and one community volunteer during the annual Employee Recognition Program.
Governor George Deukmejian joined Youth and Adult Correctional Agency (YACA) Secretary N. A. “Chad” Chaderjian and CDC Director James Rowland for the ceremony.
Officer Gina Banks is first woman to receive Medal of Valor
The ceremony featured a keynote address by the governor, who presented Medal of Valor awards to Officer Gina Banks, Parole Agent Ben DeGroot and Lt. Steven Fletcher. Banks is the first woman to receive the Medal of Valor.
Also, Sgt. Al Inslee was named California Correctional Officer/Supervisor of the Year.
Ceremony heads inside due to rain
Rain forced the ceremony indoors from the traditional location on the main steps of the State Capitol, but did not dampen spirits. The California Medical Facility Honor Guard presented colors to a hushed audience in the large hearing room inside the Capitol.
The California National Guard 59th Army band played patriotic favorites. Following their performance, Sacramento television news anchorwomen Carol Bland, Karen Massie, and Martha Sharan described the heroic acts to the crowd of 400.
Following the ceremony, California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) President Don Novey hosted a luncheon in honor of the award recipients.
Medal of Valor
Officer fights off attacker to protect fellow officer
Officer Gina Banks, California Correctional Institution, Tehachapi
Officer Banks and her partner were escorting a maximum-security inmate to his cell. As the door opened, his cellmate, armed with a 10-inch inmate-manufactured knife, rushed out and stabbed her partner in the throat.
Banks immediately struck the armed inmate with her side-handle baton. The inmate then turned his attack on her, stabbing her in the shoulder. Despite her injury, Banks continued to fight, keeping him away from the fallen officer until responding staff arrived.
Officer Banks is the first woman to receive the Corrections Medal of Valor, the highest honor bestowed on a Corrections employee. The courage, loyalty and unselfishness displayed by Officer Banks during a life-threatening situation meets the highest standards for Correctional Officers.
Agent helps save two from river
Parole Agent III Ben DeGroot, Sacramento
While on a camping trip with his family, Parole Agent DeGroot was approached by a woman urgently seeking help for a couple whose canoe had overturned in the Russian River. DeGroot ran to the river, where he saw an unconscious man being carried by the swift current and a woman struggling in the water.
The agent swam to the unconscious man and towed him to shore. DeGroot then quickly swam back out and rescued the woman. Others arrived to assist the pair and call paramedics. After both victims were safely on shore and revived by paramedics, DeGroot returned to the river and retrieved their canoe and other personal belongings.
DeGroot displayed great courage in a unique off-duty situation while helping save two lives.
Lieutenant captures accused murderer in Susanville
Lt. Steven C. Fletcher, California Correctional Center, Susanville
A heavily armed off-duty correctional officer had murdered his wife and a neighbor, then barricaded himself in his home. Lt. Fletcher was requested by the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office to assist at the scene.
Fletcher established telephone contact and agreed to meet the off-duty officer in front of the residence. He spoke with the man to try to convince him to surrender. When Fletcher realized he wouldn’t surrender, he wrestled him to the ground. Fletcher than held him until deputies were able to assume control.
Fletcher demonstrated remarkable bravery under extraordinary circumstances with great risk to himself. His selfless act brought an extremely volatile situation under control. His actions also prevented additional injuries to peace officers and members of the community.
Corrections Gold Star
Provides first aid to injured officer
Officer James Chvala, California Correctional Institution, Tehachapi
Officer Chvala was the first to respond to an assault on two officers by an inmate with a 10-inch inmate-manufactured knife.
One officer was down with a severed jugular vein. The other officer, Gina Banks, had forced the inmate to change his attack toward her.
Chvala first helped Banks keep the inmate separated from the officer. He then applied pressure with his left hand on the injured officer’s neck.
Officer Chvala acted with complete disregard for his own safety to assist a fellow officer, providing vital first aid measures.
Helping stabbed officer
Officer Patrick O. Taporco, Correctional Training Facility, Soledad
An officer escorting an inmate to a second-tier cell was attacked and stabbed four times by another inmate wielding a homemade knife.
Officer Taporco rushed to the scene and forced the inmate away from the officer, pinning the attacker to the floor until other staff arrived.
Taporco acted quickly and instinctively without regard to his own safety and undoubtedly saved the other officer from death or serious injury.
Corrections Silver Star
Agent helps defuse hostage standoff
Parole Agent II Joseph “Ben” Holloway, Parole Region IV, San Diego
An armed parolee abducted his girlfriend and her son and held them hostage. Agent Holloway responded to the scene to assist San Diego Police Officers, who had been unable to establish contact.
As the SWAT Team was ready to enter the building, the suspect announced that he would surrender, but only to Agent Holloway.
Holloway put on a protective vest and went to the front of the building, where the parolee surrendered after 22 hours. The woman and child were not harmed.
Wounded officer continues protecting others
Officer Hollis L. Jones, California Institution for Men, Chino, now of Folsom State Prison
Officer Jones was stabbed in the abdomen in an unprovoked attack by an inmate. Jones, despite his wound, was able to knock the weapon from the inmate’s hand. Responding staff then restrained the inmate without further incident.
Corrections Bronze Star
Sergeant protects others despite injury
Sgt. Jose A. Hernandez, Deuel Vocational Institution, Tracy
Sgt. Hernandez approached an armed inmate who was chasing two other inmates in a housing unit.
The inmate turned toward Hernandez with a sharpened weapon. Hernandez deflected the inmate’s hand, knocking the weapon to the floor, wrestled the suspect to the ground until responding staff could take custody. Despite an injury to his shoulder, Sgt. Hernandez remained at the scene until the situation was returned to normal.
Saves life of inmate
Officer Louie Poteat, California Medical Facility, Vacaville
Officer Poteat was among the first staff members to respond to the scene where an inmate was found unconscious, discolored and having difficulty breathing. Poteat immediately began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation which he continued until medical staff arrived to relieve him. The inmate was transported to a hospital and stabilized.
Breaks up life-threatening fight, captures one
Officer Boris Roberts, Correctional Training Facility, Soledad
Officer Roberts observed two inmates fighting in a housing unit. One inmate stabbed the other. Roberts intervened immediately, causing the inmate to cease the attack and flee. Officer Roberts pursued the assailant, tackled and disarmed him, and placed him under restraint.
Sgt. Joseph Roberts, California Medical Facility, Vacaville
During lunch break, Sgt. Roberts noticed a fellow officer who was having difficulty breathing.
A food particle had lodged in her throat.
Roberts immediately pulled the officer to her feet and administered the Heimlich maneuver until the food particle dislodged.
Sgt. Andrew Ruiz, Sierra Conservation Center, Jamestown
During an evening break for a meal at a fire scene, Sgt. Ruiz observed a camp inmate unable to breathe, apparently choking. Sgt. Ruiz performed the Heimlich maneuver, dislodging the food particle in the inmate’s throat.
Wanda J. Wilridge, Office Assistant II, California Institution for Men, Chino
Note: She is now in training at the academy to become a correctional officer.
Wanda Wilridge noticed a fellow employee bent over and unable to breathe. Wilridge acted quickly, applying the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the blockage in the employee’s windpipe, saving her life.
Parole Agent Daniel Witzel, Parole Region, Fresno
Agent Witzel was driving through a Fresno neighborhood when he was flagged down by a distressed woman. The woman found her baby girl floating unconscious in her swimming pool moments earlier and was unable to revive her. Witzel, finding no pulse or heartbeat, administered CPR. Eventually, Witzel revived the child who was then transported to the hospital, recovered and is alive today due to the quick intervention of the agent.
Distinguished Service Medal
Ronald Lewis, Building Trades Supervisor, Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, San Diego
A water main broke and quickly flooded a plumbing vault and street at the San Diego prison, endangering an area in which the main telephone system is housed. Lewis dove several times into 10 feet of water with a rope attached to his waist for safety, and finally unplugged a large, stopped-up drain. Lewis acted unselfishly and at great risk to himself to help ensure that a loss of communications would not breach the security of the prison.
Parole Agent II Daniel Mariani, Parole Region III, Huntington Park
During the last ten years, Parole Agent Mariani created and developed an extensive job bank for training and placement of parolees.
Known as CAREE, The Council of Advisors for the Reemployment of Ex-offenders, the program currently helps find jobs for 1,400 parolees each year. Its success rate is impressive: 87 percent of participating parolees remain arrest-free and in their communities. The CAREE program has attracted the attention of major corporations. They’ve also received grants from Sarah Lee Foods and Arco Oil Company.
Jerry Pacheco, Chief of Plant Operations, Deuel Vocational Institution, Tracy
A total loss of electrical power at the institution interrupted operations and threatened security at the prison.
Pacheco was notified and entered a service tunnel where explosions had been heard. The tunnel was engulfed in dense, scalding steam and high-voltage electrical lines were sparking.
Pacheco attempted to reach the main steam shut-off valves but was forced to retreat. He was able to reach another steam shut-off valve and close it, resulting in quick restoration of power at the prison.
Correctional Community Service Award
Ronny D. Svenhard, a volunteer private citizen from Oakland, has contributed enormously to the development of Prison Ministries. He established the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International Ministries in every correctional facility in California. He supervises a large network of prison ministry volunteers.
During a recent period of unrest among the Hispanic inmates at San Quentin, Svenhard brought in a chaplain from the Mexican prison system to address the inmates. A potential uprising was averted.
Svenhard has made contributions to many public organizations as well as his work with inmates. He has devoted his life to helping others.
Correctional Officer/Supervisor of the Year
Sgt. G. Alva Inslee, California Correctional Center, Susanville
When the city of Flora, Illinois, a sister city to Susanville, expressed interest in becoming a state prison site, Sgt. Inslee was one of the first to become involved.
In conjunction with Lassen Community College, he produced an audio-visual presentation about the positive aspects of having a prison in the community. He also accompanied the mayor of Susanville to Flora for its showing. Last Christmas, Inslee worked with the National Forest Service and the California Department of Forestry to donate and ship a 28-foot fir tree to Flora.
Inslee also serves on the prison Citizens Advisory Council, volunteers as a range instructor at the Department of Corrections Academy at Galt, and trains departmental staff in emergency firefighting.
His proposal to the Employee Merit Award Suggestion Program to expand the institution firing range and build a chemical agent testing range will result in annual savings of $20,000.
Inslee is dedicated not only to his career, but to serving his community as well.
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