February 6, 2010
Former CDCR head Jeanne Woodford speaks about early release, inmate population reduction
SHERIFFS AROUND California, including in Contra Costa County, are raising legitimate concerns about efforts to reduce the state prison and jail populations. Any significant population reduction, they worry, will push counties to the brink financially and threaten public safety. I share their apprehension.
There can be no doubt that the prison population must be reduced. California simply cannot afford, nor does public safety require, locking up 170,000 people in state prisons on any given day (500 percent more than in 1980).
A federal three-judge panel has come to that conclusion. And several states, including New York, have experienced even greater falls in their crime rates than has California, while simultaneously reducing their prison populations…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
