Man in California prison caught in crossfire of Mexican gang violence, mother says

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WASHINGTON - The mother of a Canadian imprisoned in a California jail on marijuana charges is pleading with Ottawa to do something to help her son and other Canadian inmates living in violent conditions among those she describes as hardened Mexican gang members.

Sirah Vettese, a Canadian-born author and psychologist now living in Santa Monica, says her 36-year-old son, imprisoned for operating a San Diego-area grow-op, is afraid for his life as gang violence breaks out regularly in the California City Correctional Center east of Los Angeles.

There have been two lockdowns in recent weeks after violence erupted at the facility, which only houses "deportable aliens," not U.S. citizens.

In one brawl last month, two prison guards and 20 inmates were injured, and in February, tear gas was used after more than 500 inmates started fighting in the jail's recreation yard. Nine prisoners were injured.

Vettese said she understands her son broke the law, and isn't asking for clemency. But she's arguing that the conditions her son is being forced to endure simply aren't commensurate with his crime.

"It is inhumane for Canadians to have to endure this," she said yesterday in an interview.

Vettese doesn't want to publicly identify her son, whose surname is different from hers, for fear of reprisals from prison officials. Other inmates who have complained publicly about the conditions at California City have paid the price, she alleges.

Her son, a Canadian citizen who has lived in L.A. since he was 15 but returns to Toronto frequently to visit his father, doesn't have U.S. citizenship, Vettese said -- something that's resulted in him being thrown into California City along with other non-citizens.

He's one of seven Canadians in the prison. Vettese and the families of the other Canadians are hoping to convince Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon to help them, and hope to organize a protest soon at the Canadian embassy in Los Angeles.

"If the minister is aware this is going on, and that these Canadian citizens are living in these conditions, he's going to have to do something about it. They should be allowed to serve their sentences in Canada."

Foreign Affairs spokesman Alain Cacchione said he was unable to provide information about whether Vettese's son was receiving any consular assistance.