CCPOA.org News Blog

Governor, tell us you’re joking about building state prisons in Mexico.

More absurd ideas may have arisen out of the Capitol in recent history, but none quite so impossibly impractical has made it out the mouth of a governor not nicknamed Moonbeam.

First, the context. This wasn’t something Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger muttered in the gym locker room, though for all we know that’s where the idea originated. (The governor’s office remains coy about exactly who came up with this notion of sending thousands of undocumented inmates to specially built prisons south of the border.)

This was a straight-faced statement at the Sacramento Press Club, where the governor knew he was on the record…

LINK - FresnoBee.com

In remarks at a public forum Saturday morning about prison facilities planned for Stockton, County Supervisor Steve Bestolarides noted that, in a deviation from historical precedent, the city and the county were on the same side of a lawsuit.

“I’ve brought the community together,” joked J. Clark Kelso, the prison health care receiver whose efforts to bring a facility to Stockton have been criticized by local business and political leaders for a lack of transparency and local outreach.

The forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, started early Saturday morning in a banquet room at Valley Brew, a brewpub off the Miracle Mile. Bestolarides, Mayor Ann Johnston and Chamber of Commerce CEO Douglass Wilhoit were there to represent local interests. Kelso, former state Sen. Mike Machado, and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Chief of Staff Brett Morgan were there to make the case for the facilities…

LINK - Recordnet.com

Police arrested nine people at a Saturday night driver’s license and sobriety checkpoint, an Escondido police lieutenant said.

The checkpoint at East El Norte Parkway and Ash Street ran from 6 p.m. Saturday to 1 a.m. Sunday, Lt. Chris Wynn said.

Wynn said 2,132 vehicles entered the checkpoint and police screened 1,057.

Police arrested six suspected drunken drivers and one parolee driving a stolen car, Wynn said. One person was arrested for public drunkenness, and another was arrested for possession of false documents, he said…

LINK - NCTimes.com

Gordon Hinkle, spokesman for the State Corrections Department, says the state spends $52,000 a year for each inmate and $16,000 to $18,000 for medical on each inmate.

The two times I was a guest of the state, I received no medical treatment whatsoever, and 75 percent of all inmates I know didn’t receive any treatment, either.

Sure, some inmates have special needs and need treatment, but most inmates do not…

LINK - WhittierDailyNews.com

Two men arrested in the stabbing of an El Monte store clerk last month had been on parole — one was later put on probation — and could be considered the kind of “non-violent, low-level offender” now being unleashed as part of the state’s budget-minded “parole reform” that would release as many as 21,000 prisoners over the next two years.

According to court and county jail records, suspect Allen Tran had been released on parole earlier in December before being placed on probation Dec. 17 for identity theft. The second suspect in the case, Johhny Ngo, had been released on parole Dec. 20, 2008 after serving time for petty theft with prior convictions.

Police allege that one of the men stabbed a clerk at Ted’s Quality Market in El Monte Dec. 26. Tran, 28, showed up the night of the stabbing at County-USC Medical Center, where the victim was being treated…

LINK - LAWeekly.com

Law enforcement officials throughout the region and across the state are bracing for a possible spike in crime as thousands of state and county prisoners are returned to the streets under a new law aimed at cutting government expenses.

More than 130 non-violent San Bernardino County jail inmates have been turned loose early since Monday and more than 1,000 others could soon join them on the outside.

That’s in addition to 6,500 non-violent state prison inmates who are slated for early release in the next 12 months.

“Even though the prisoners that will be released may not be violent offenders, they’re still offenders and I don’t think we should be surprised to see our property crimes increase,” Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann said…

LINK - SBSun.com (The San Bernadino Sun)

The chief executive of the trendsetting California Highway Patrol union told a CalPERS forum last week that he is thinking about negotiating lower pension benefits for new hires, a move to protect them from a greater rollback by a future initiative.

Jon Hamm, the CEO of the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, said he is concerned about “pension envy” among private-sector workers with dwindling retirement security as corporations switch to 401(k) individual investment plans.

Hamm said “public employee unions are becoming villains” because some are playing on public fears. He also said assuming that economic growth will return to “normal” and generate the big pension investment earnings of the past could backfire…

LINK - CalPensions.com

In the growing furor over the early release of thousands of inmates by the cash-strapped corrections system, Assemblyman Ted Lieu on Friday accused officials of trying to deceive the public by defending the plan.

Lieu sent a letter to Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, “demanding that CDCR stop misleading the public.”

“In my over 15 years of public service, including serving on active duty to defend our country, I have never before seen this scale of deception and misleading statements being made by a California governmental agency to the media,” said Lieu, D-Torrance…

LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com

About 200 unsupervised parolees are anticipated to be returned to Butte County gradually this year under a state plan to save money and reduce prison overcrowding.

That was the assessment Chico police chief Mike Maloney said he received during a meeting with other law enforcement and parole officials prior to the new prison reduction measures going into effect Monday.

“We haven’t been given a lot of detail about what is happening and it’s implication, but the release of that many unsupervised parolees causes us significant concern,” Maloney said…

LINK - ChicoER.com

In the intensifying debate over budget-driven releases of state prison inmates, the state’s cash problems are well known. But at least one private correctional company is reaping major rewards.

In three years, a private-prison construction and management company, the Corrections Corporation of America, has seen the value of its contracts with the state soar from nearly $23 million in 2006 to about $700 million three months ago – all without competitive bidding. Even in a state accustomed to high-dollar contracts, the 31-fold increase over three years is dramatic.

During the same period, the company’s campaign donations rose exponentially, from $36,750 in 2006, of which $25,000 went to the state Republican Party, to $233,500 in 2007-08 and nearly $139,000 in 2009. The donations have gone to Democrats, Republicans and ballot measures. The company’s largest single contribution, $100,000, went to an unsuccessful budget-reform package pushed last year by Gov. Schwarzenegger…

LINK - CapitolWeekly.net

A state appellate court decision allowing violent felons to possess body armor has touched off a firestorm in law enforcement, legal and legislative circles.

The ruling could set up a showdown before the state Supreme Court and puts once-overlooked legislation sponsored by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office in the spotlight.

Authorities and lawmakers argue that the armor gives convicts unnecessary protection during gun battles with police…

LINK - SignOnSanDiego. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

OUR economic problems and California’s budget crisis have impacted every level of government: state, county and city. Painful cuts have been and will continue to be made in all areas. Inevitably up and down the state, counties and local governments are looking at another year of reduced budgets and additional cuts. I write this to share with you what impacts these cuts will have on public safety and on our communities.

Legislators wrote and passed Senate Bill 18 (SBX3 18), which took effect Monday. This measure was written as a way for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to decrease its budget by cutting the amount of time sentenced inmates serve in prison by increasing sentencing credits for jail and prison inmates. It also removes certain prisoners who would normally be released on a supervised parole, meaning the parolee would have a parole agent and a detailed program of re-entry, and places them on unsupervised parole, better known as summary parole…

LINK - DailyNews.com

State officials this week began releasing the first of 6,500 inmates from state prisons — a move designed to save the state money.

Orange County law enforcement officials said the move is merely shifting the burden to local governments.

The move will allow low-risk offenders and those convicted of nonviolent crimes to earn credits in prison to reduce their time served – up to six weeks for each year served. Credits earned by prisoners for such things as fighting forest fires and completing drug and alcohol programs…

LINK - OCRegister.com

In his recent State of the State address, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger addressed our fiscal deficits. He lamented that the budget for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has doubled on his watch.

Moreover, the governor is tired of California being a donor state. Recent estimates suggest that California gets back 78 cents for every tax dollar sent to Washington. His answer?: “We need to work with the federal government to build a more fair and equitable financial relationship.”

I couldn’t agree more. One obvious place to start has been staring California in the face for years — illegal immigrants in our prisons. While in Washington D.C. this week, Schwarzenegger should be sure to include this important issue in his discussions with federal leaders…

LINK - DailyPilot.com

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that the state could save $1 billion by building and operating prisons in Mexico to house undocumented felons who are currently imprisoned in California.

The governor floated the idea during an appearance at the Sacramento Press Club in response to a question about controlling state spending. His speech came on the same day that changes in prisoner parole and credits for time served took effect.

“We pay them to build the prisons down in Mexico and then we have those undocumented immigrants be down there in a prison. … And all this, it would be half the cost to build the prisons and half the cost to run the prisons,” Schwarzenegger said, predicting it would save the state $1 billion that could be spent on higher education…

LINK - SFGate.com