Prison Population
May 12, 2008
Prison and Parole Population Management Options
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The administration proposes two policies - 20-month early release and summary parole—designed to significantly reduce the state's inmate and parolee caseloads by a total of 63,000 offenders at full implementation in 2009-10. The administration estimates its proposals would save the state $354 million in 2008-09 and $758 million in 2009-10.
March 31, 2008
Opinion: “Prevent crime, prevent prison crowding”
by Jerry Powers, chief probation officer for Stanislaus County and president of the Chief Probation Officers of California.
True reform of our overcrowded and ineffective state corrections system cannot be accomplished by spending billions on bricks and mortar, or releasing tens of thousands of offenders early.
The citizens and taxpayers of our state are being shortchanged by shortsighted approaches that do not address the underlying causes.
The current approach is akin to waiting until the patient develops pneumonia instead of treating the cough in its early stages…
LINK - ModBee.com (The Modesto Bee)
February 25, 2008
Budget watchdog’s plan finds fault with governor’s early-release proposal
The Legislative Analyst's Office is proposing to shift more than half of the state's parole population to county probation control. In its most recent analysis of the state budget, the LAO said the move could mean annual savings to the state of $500 million.
"We've been on record for something like 15 years advocating the idea of consolidating state parole supervision with county probation," said Dan Carson, chief of the LAO's criminal justice program. "What we've come up with this year is a specific proposal that takes the first step in that direction." Carson said the LAO proposal contrasts sharply with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plans to release 22,000 inmates in the final 20 months of their term and leave them and 18,500 more offenders essentially unsupervised but still subject to search and seizure…
LINK - SacBee.com
January 25, 2008
Prison Population Drops
Brown said the LAO is recommending against Schwarzenegger's budget cut for the current year because the lower-than-expected prison population will result in the added savings. As of Jan. 16, the prison population stood at 170,811, or more than 2,300 fewer than the state housed on Nov. 21. Corrections spokesman Oscar Hidalgo attributed the decline mostly to the creation of new community drug programs for parolees who otherwise would have been returned to prison on parole violations…
LINK - SacBee.com
January 15, 2008
Reforming Our Prisons in 2008: Can California Get Rational Sentencing
The outcry over Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal last week to release 22,000 prisoners as part of a budget deficit reduction plan has drawn some predictable responses - mostly expressions of horror and fear mongering ala Willie Horton about criminals coming to your neighborhood. It came as a shock to Assembly Republicans - and taking a look at what the Governor had to say repeatedly last year about prisoner releases, this is actually very understandable…
LINK - CaliforniaProgressReport.com
November 25, 2007
Big Plan for Change Stumbles
Lawsuits and public hearings, Austin said in the declaration, also "can be expected to delay the process for years." "Any time you try to build your way out of these situations, it usually doesn't work very well," Austin said in an interview. Beyond concrete and steel, the corrections agency also is trying to alter the prison population by revamping the parole system…
LINK - SacBee.com
