California's prison chief James Gomez has quietly moved into a new administrative job with the state retirement system, despite court findings of serious abuse of power in the state's prisons during his tenure. However accountable Gomez may be, the situation reflects a widespread public desire to simply look the other way when it comes to the criminal justice system. PNS correspondent Corey Weinstein is a medical doctor and a board member of California Prison Focus.

The director of the California Department of Corrections, the state's "prison chief" James Gomez, has moved on.

By all accounts, Mr. Gomez is not being pushed or even "resigning in disgrace" -- despite court findings of consistent abuse of power in the state's prisons on his watch. Rather he is moving sideways in the state civil service, and will become an administrator at the Public Employees Retirement System with a six-figure salary.

During his tenure in office the federal courts found that operation of the state prison at Pelican Bay was "maliciously cruel and neglectful." Such practices were evidently not restricted to one institution: women at Valley State Prison have testified that guards who abused and harassed them said "Valley State is the Pelican Bay for women."

At the notorious Corcoran facility, seven prisoners were killed and hundreds more maimed by guard gunfire. More than a thousand were forced to fight in the "gladiator arenas" of the security housing unit.

Successful class action suits have demonstrated that the Department under Gomez willfully and knowingly discriminated against disabled prisoners and ignored the basic needs of inmates with psychiatric problems. Claims of severe medical neglect of women prisoners are now making their way through the courts.

Gomez has claimed he had no knowledge of these incidents. One thing he cannot claim ignorance of is the fact that he instituted a media ban to keep prisoners from reaching the public.

But if any or all of the allegations are fully proven, Gomez will no longer be in the hot seat. Instead, as a retirement system executive, Gomez, ironically, may be able to administer payments to those who once worked under his direction, including Charles Marshall, who retired as warden of Pelican Bay just before its policy was ruled unconstitutional, and George Smith, who retired as warden of Corcoran when the guards' shameful brutality became known.

All this comes as no surprise to those such as the prisoner advocacy group California Prison Focus. Visits to California high-security units on 16 occasions make it clear the agency runs more like an old boys network than an efficient modern bureaucracy. Staffers in the prison system feel they are doing tough work that people on the outside want but know little about. They see themselves as isolated by a public that has turned its back on the running of prisons, with a "lock them up and throw away the key" mentality.

In fact, it is hard to argue with this conclusion. Accountability depends on a vigilant public or public representatives, and there are few signs of any such concern. Certainly, the legislature has provided little oversight in the past seven years, when more prison inmates were shot and killed by guards in California than in all other prisons in the United States combined.

In a sense, Gomez is just another administrator who has risen through the ranks by responding to the powerful forces around him -- and one of the most important forces these day is public apathy.

Running prisons is ultimately a community issue: nine out of ten of those now serving time will return to their communities -- particularly to poor neighborhoods and communities of color. Most will be worse off in every way than they were when they were sent to prison -- and coming back to families with few resources and to communities already facing more social and economic problems than they can handle.

Responsible government goes beyond oversight. The state should provide meaningful restitution to communities that receive prisoners damaged by abuses in the state's prison system stem. At the very least, rehabilitation counseling, education and job training should be offered, as well as therapy for those who need it.

If citizens were truly concerned with the criminal justice system, California would not have to endure the likes of James Gomez. Our communities will be safer when citizens wake up to their responsibilities in relation to imprisonment. Until then, we deserve recycled good old boys earning six-figure salaries directing our public institutions.