Sacramento -- Whistleblowers leveled allegations of corruption, coverup and an omnipresent code of silence within California penitentiaries at a legislative hearing Tuesday as corrections officials announced changes at embattled Folsom State Prison and pledged to clean up a department characterized by two lawmakers as morally bankrupt.

But that pledge came on a day when dramatic testimony brought stark problems within prison walls into public view. One corrections employee testified while under police protection; another said he was wearing a bulletproof vest. State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, one of two senators probing prison issues, told a room full of reporters she had received a death threat related to her work on prison reform.

Romero called on Tuesday for the firing of the former director of the Department of Corrections, Edward Alameida, who still works for the department, and another high-ranking prison official.

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