California senator pushing for media access to prisons

A California state senator wrote a bill to allow media to have better access to state prisons and county jails, inspired, in part, by KTVU reporting. 

The bill, authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) is now on Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. SB 254 would allow news organizations to interview incarcerated people and use video cameras, which is typically not allowed under current policies. The legislation would also allow lawmakers and other state officials to access prisons in order to improve transparency and oversight. 

In an interview on Wednesday, Skinner explained why she is pushing for this access.

"You take good media outlets, like KTVU, which did excellent reporting on the horrible ‘Rape Club,’ the situation in the Dublin federal prison, where there was just rampant staff-on-inmate sexual abuse against the women. And then the deaths that occurred in Alameda County Jail, which again, KTVU put the spotlight on to help the public see that it has then caused some changes which were very important."

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