While he was governor, Gray Davis approved a plum contract for the state's 30,000 prison guards that effectively gave the California Correctional Peace Officers Association management control over the state's prison system.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger worked to wrest back control of the prisons from the CCPOA. But now that he is governor, Jerry Brown is reversing those hard-earned reforms on behalf of a major campaign contributor.

If this were a movie, we'd call it "Contract Giveaway: The Return of Gray," starring Jerry Brown.

Given that the state's corrections system is a major driver of state spending, the stakes are immense in any new contract for prison officers. Yet the Brown administration has released a 218-page proposed 2011-13 contract document that is loaded with barely legible handwritten notes and cross-outs. Whole swaths of the corrections system, such as parole, remain to be negotiated. Estimates of costs are woefully inadequate. The Legislative Analyst's Office admits that its one-week review of this "extraordinarily complex" document is not enough to determine full costs to taxpayers.

Here's just a sample of the potential damage in the proposed contract:

• Back are provisions that have the effect of discouraging reporting of incidents and encouraging retaliation against whistle-blowers.

• The Davis provision allowing the union to fill 70 percent of all prison posts by seniority would return in full force. Management should be in charge of assigning all posts, not 30 percent.

• Gone would be some reforms allowing management to investigate and take "corrective or disciplinary action" for sick leave abuses.

• Because of new "days off" provisions, starting employees would have eight weeks of paid time off each year (more for senior employees). Most would not be able to use it all, but the contract would allow them to cash it out at retirement. Gone is the vacation cap – allowing no more than 80 days each year to carry over. No "use it or lose it" policy here.

• Each officer would be required to contribute one hour of vacation time each July 1 to a "time release bank" for union representatives to do union business on state time. Before 2001, the CCPOA could not "accumulate or use" more than 10,000 hours over five years. That cap would be gone, providing unlimited time – including new release time for 10 guards at each prison to attend the CCPOA annual convention.

• Any guard who gets an annual medical exam would be paid $130 every pay period. The contract is not clear whether that pay comes every 11 days or every 28 days. Either is outrageous. Before the Davis contract, officers had to pass fitness tests.

• Back in full force is the "entire agreement" clause allowing the union to challenge and interfere in virtually any change by prison management. That means Schwarzenegger-era changes go back to the table at CCPOA request.

In 2001, legislators were told that the estimated cost of the 2001-06 contract signed by Davis would be $567 million. It was $2.3 billion.

Legislators, notwithstanding that most in both parties have taken thousands of dollars from the CCPOA, owe it to the people of California to take a deeper look.

The Legislature should separate the CCPOA contract from others that lawmakers have bundled in a single bill (Senate Bill 151, by Sen. Lou Correa).

Scrutinize this contract in a stand-alone bill, and kill it if major amendments aren't forthcoming.

"The Return of Gray" is a truly scary film that legislators should leave on the cutting room floor.

Editor's note: This editorial was changed on April 19 to correct errors involving training, sick leave abuses, compensation and "time release bank" provisions contacted in the Brown administration's proposed contract.

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