Reflections of John J. Nazarian, one of America’s most famous private investigators, don’t think so? The proof is right here and none of it is make believe. Nazarian’s life and career is nothing short of spectacular.
It was the late 70’s when I applied to the California Department of Corrections, and by the time I got assigned it was 1980 and the years I spent with the CDC was the very best of times. I attended the training at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, California. Talk about great training for when I would later become a street cop. I lived in an old barracks for a few weeks while I received training and learned the system known as the California Department of Corrections, PRISON! The years I spent with the department were some of the best, great people and the inmates were definitely ‘very, very special’.
I was blessed to have landed my first assignment at the California Institution of Women in Frontera, California. This was during the time that Sylvia J. Johnson was the Superintendent of the institution. ** The use of the word “warden” was not used except for a few institutions back in the day as I was told they had to pay more for the title, warden had a certain tone to it. Sylvia J. Johnson was a great lady, she was very imposing and had a presence, I loved that lady.
My training was pretty darn good, but nothing gives you a big wake up call then when you take control of the housing units. In time you get to know all the players and deal with the ‘young ladies’ as you see fit, using the rules and guidelines. Like all training it is to get you prepared for the initial encounters. After that it is ‘common’ sense and realizing that it is a fact that all prisons are run by the inmates. As guards and supervisors all we do is try to keep the lid on the facilities and to keep in mind, being a hard ass in this environment can get you hurt or killed. We are not the issuers of punishment, we are present to only manage the inmates as they serve their time.
I also had to remind myself very often that ‘ALL’ these bodies were in fact women, no matter how manly they looked or acted! This was evident during my first riot in one of the “cottages”. It was Captain Dave Escoto and I back to back taking punches and giving as good as we got! I have to note nothing like what could happen in a man’s “joint”, it was riot of females raging! These women were all convicted felons and had an assortment of charges from murder to other serious felonies. ** The females who were in for the most serious charges such as murder were also the easiest to deal with you had the least encounters with them. The little ghetto rats both hispanic and black were the agitators most often and could be very dangerous to staff’s well being. Many of these ghetto rats were out of control on the streets and being incarcerated had little change of that behavior.
Thanks to Sylvia J. Johnson I would be assigned to ADM which meant that I had access to the administration and as an officer and sometimes acting sergeant, I had prestige and influence. There was some great times, Don Williamson was the Deputy Superintendent and had come from the toughest prison in the state, San Quentin, “Q”. ** I would spend two weeks at San Quentin on a training assignment and it was a place where evil without question lived. Death Row, was just like the movies, some of the cells were in terrible shape, but the inmates liked it as they were. As long as the TV and the music was working, snacks to eat and books and things to pass the time, it was workable. The most dangerous meals at the prisons was always chicken, Big Black guys would snatch chicken from Little Black guys, sometimes not often they would touch a white inmates food and all of this could trigger a riot and or a killing. Two critical issues in prisons is medical care and food the occasional asshole prison guard can be dealt with the other two are unforgivable and can be deadly! ** Most career guards know exactly how to manage and how to treat the inmate population, fairness is the name of the game. When you can, for a future street cop, I can only tell you it was a doctorate in human behavior that no formal education can ever teach you.
The first time I interacted with the Manon Girls was actually pretty cool, I had been in high school when they decided to slaughter their victims. Clearly I recognized them the first time I saw them walking around the security area of the prison. These were the girls that I had watched for months on television on the evening news. I have personal mementos from those days, the lock up papers for Leslie signed by Don Williamson and enforced by myself. She was locked up for a rule violation. Krenwinkel was the roughest looking one, not sure the hair on her face or her tough outwards appearance? Leslie Van Houten was tall and thin and attractive in a strange way. Of course the one I was closest to was Susan Atkins, supposedly the most vicious of the three. I would stand with Susan when she got hustled by an old fat phony Don Lee Laisure who married Susan with the bullshit thought of getting her out of prison. That is a short story into itself, Don Lee Laisure, a total con! ** On one of his visits he showed up with a large briefcase and when I opened it to search and scan it it looked to be full of Hundred Dollar Bills…. after it was secured, we opened it again. The stacks were all one dollar bills, with hundred dollar bills on top of each stack. As the old saying is, you cannot make this stuff up.
Susan Atkins would die at CIW on September 24, 2009 of brain cancer….. please remember she along with the other two were all sentenced to death. ** The State of California had built a “death row” for the housing of the girls. Then of course the death penalty was no longer used in California so the death row housing was turned into a discipline unit. The facility was used for inmates that were not “programing well” and needed to be kept away from staff and other inmates for everyone’s safety. Of course, being California in 1972 the state changed the laws and they were sentenced to LIFE.
Leslie Van Houten got out of prison on July 11, 2023, The Homecoming Queen got out finally after 53 years!
Krenwinkel is still sitting at CIW the only one of the famous 3, one dead, one out and Krenwinkel stays.
Susan Atkins would never have been paroled, as I said she was one of the most vicious of the gang.
It was myself and Officer Sondra White who took Susan Atkins to the Riverside General Hospital for a needed medical appointment. It was the fist time that Susan Atkins had ever left the prison and security was tight. ** there was more concern that one of her victims’ family members would try and kill her. Naturally it was all done very, very quietly in the early morning hours with very heavy security. ** I had made it clear to Susan that in the event of any kind of ambush, that I would shoot her dead as my last act. Further any attempt to escape would be a deadly mistake on her part! We had a clear understanding, the department had a policy that I did not have to fire a warning shot and I could and I would shoot any “fleeing felon” in the back. My mini 14 was as accurate as a rifle could be and was the official rifle of the CDC.
One of the biggest mistake in my career was, as I look back, was not staying with the CDC. I was on the fast track to being promoted as rapidly as anyone. I had the desire to go work as a street cop and was hired by the S.F. Sheriff’s department. I would attend the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California for my police academy training. Another great experience, upon graduating the music that was played was the theme song from one of the most popular cop shows on television, ‘Hill Street Blues!’ Written and produced by Steven Bochko, a guy I would be hired by years later to track down a female stalker that was terrorizing him and his family. Can you believe this? Becoming a P.I. in Beverly Hills California would give me access to all of these people that I once admired and enjoyed their works.