Guards Win the First Round in Effort to Sue Prisoners Over Assaults

However, the group's four other cases are in limbo in the Los Angeles County judicial system after questions arose about how to give incarcerated felons their day in civil court. Those questions, involving law and logistics, may determine the success of the 3,900-member California Staff Assault Task Force's efforts.

The group, which formed in October, maintains that prisoners are not adequately punished for attacking guards. As a deterrent, the task force is helping guards across the state file small civil suits that target inmates' pocketbooks -- from their bank accounts outside prison to the meager "trust accounts" they use to buy food and supplies for their cells.

Lt. Charles Hughes, the task force president, called the Chino case a "great victory." But he said he was worried about the stalled cases in Los Angeles, and what they may mean for future cases.

"We just want our day in court," he said. "If inmates want to assault officers, we're going to take action to hold them accountable."

The Chino judge and the Lancaster commissioner who heard the cases differed on a key issue: whether inmates must be physically present in court to defend themselves in small claims cases.

In the Chino case, San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Linda M. Wilde issued the $5,000 default judgment Wednesday against inmate Glen T. Herring after he failed to appear, according to Darlene Vastine, a legal assistant for the court.

Herring was sued in March by Officer Stephen J. Clark, a guard at Chino's California Institution for Men, who alleged that the inmate came out of his cell and severely beat him on Aug. 13.

The court sent a written order to the inmate, informing him that he had been named as a defendant and giving him the option to tell his side of the story in a written declaration, Vastine said. The inmate never filed a declaration with the court, Vastine said.

It is unclear, however, if Herring received the order. It was sent by mail in March to the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, where the Corrections Department lists Herring as an inmate. At the time, he was at a county jail in Rancho Cucamonga awaiting trial on criminal assault charges for the beating incident, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. A sheriff's spokesman could not say if the order was forwarded to Herring, and officials from the Tehachapi prison had no comment Thursday.