Prison Reform
May 3, 2012
Corrections’ master plan falls short
The Department of Corrections’ recently released ten-year master plan “The Future of California Corrections” does not manage to escape the massive gravitational pull of 30 years of failed prison policy and in the end fails to offer a vision of a better future for California.
The CDCR has been going through an extended identity crisis since 2005 when then-Secretary Rod Hickman declared Delano II to be the last prison that California would build, announcing an end to a 25 year run of runaway prison construction. Widespread opposition to that prison, the persistent budget crisis and consistent polling results that showed Californians opposed to spending more on prisons left CDCR looking for a new mission...
LINK - CapitolWeekly.net
May 3, 2012
Correcting problems in prisons
There was a time, not so long ago, when the California prison system seemed headed inevitably for a complete meltdown.
There were about 140,000 inmates in facilities designed to handle about 80,000. Sick prisoners weren’t getting the treatment they needed, and the in-prison death rate soared. The Department of Corrections was spending billions warehousing criminals, many of whom, after serving their time and being released, quickly broke the law again and were shuttled back inside.
It got so bad that federal agencies began to intervene. The courts ordered state prison medical care to be overseen by someone outside the prison hierarchy. Then, a year ago this month, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the California prison inmate population to be significantly reduced — or else...
LINK - LompocRecord.com
April 27, 2012
Ridley-Thomas on Juvenile Justice & Reform
Several weeks ago, I was a spectator in a remarkable classroom. An instructor from India was teaching a group of African-American, Latino, and white high school students about religion in South Asia and showing them pictures of Krishna, Vishnu, and Ganesha on a multimedia “smart board” she controlled with a laptop computer.
As a former teacher and a career civil rights advocate interested in improving education for minority youths, I found the scene heart-warming. But the visit was also heartbreaking.
The class was taking place in a juvenile detention facility in Houston. Of course, seeing young men incarcerated is always tragic. But what hurt most was realizing that this everyday ritual in Texas—in which students gathered in an innovative, engaging class in a youth probation camp—was something I’d rarely see in Los Angeles...
LINK - CityWatchLA.com
April 2, 2012
TIME Magazine: Can Food Be Cruel and Unusual Punishment?
If you’ve led a law-abiding life, chances are you have never encountered “nutriloaf,” a foul-tasting brick served to prisoners who get out of line. How foul-tasting? Depending on the recipe, somewhere on the spectrum from unpleasant to vomit inducing. A Milwaukee inmate who threw up violently for days after eating nutriloaf asked a federal appeals court to consider whether nutriloaf could be so bad that it is unconstitutional. Last week, that court became the first federal appeals court to say yes.
Despite occasional claims by the tough-on-crime crowd, prison food is generally lousy – or worse. There have long been reports of prisons that serve roadkill – “meat so fresh you can still see the tire marks,” as one news story put it. Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, has boasted of serving meals that cost between 15 and 40 cents each...
LINK - ideas.Time.com
March 27, 2012
Reform is needed, but it’s too soon to do away with California’s Division of Juvenile Justice
Lawmakers created the California Youth Authority in 1941, making in the process a bold statement of purpose and conviction: Juvenile delinquents are redeemable. They should no longer be imprisoned with adults but instead given a chance at basic education and job training. Rehabilitation, not punishment, is the proper goal of an enlightened and effective juvenile justice system.
But by the late 1990s the California Youth Authority had become a network of grim and violent youth prisons that were so abusive and so destructive to their mission that all but a few were shut down. A majority of the 10,000 state wards returned to probation departments in their home counties; just over 1,000 remain in what is now the state prison system's Division of Juvenile Justice...
LINK - LATimes.com
December 16, 2011
New fees may force Tulare, Kings counties to bring juvenile offenders home
Dozens of juvenile criminals from the Valley now in state custody will return home to finish their sentences because of state budget cuts, officials said.
Under mid-year cuts taking effect Jan. 1, California counties must pay the state $125,000 per year for each juvenile offender held by the state Division of Juvenile Justice.
At least two Valley counties -- Tulare and Kings -- say they can't afford that, so they'll seek to have their juvenile offenders serve their sentences locally, even though local facilities aren't set up for long-term incarceration and rehabilitation of younger criminals...
LINK - FresnoBee.com
December 16, 2011
Los Angeles Jail Plan Hits Resistance
Los Angeles County supervisors are balking at a proposal from the county sheriff’s department to issue $1.4 billion of bonds to rebuild the 5,000-bed Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.
The sheriff’s department describes the jail project as a means to address California’s ongoing corrections “realignment” that is shifting 30,000 prisoners to county jails from the state prison system over the next two years, while also alleviating security issues at the Men’s Central Jail.
The facility has been the subject of allegations involving sheriff’s deputies beating prisoners over the past year...
LINK - BondBuyer.com
December 15, 2011
Probation reports on realignment; concerns raised for public safety
County supervisors this week received an update on the state’s correctional realignment and what it means for Lake County, with the county’s acting chief probation officer warning of serious health and safety implications for community residents.
On Tuesday, acting Chief Probation Officer Steve Buchholz gave a report to the Board of Supervisors on realignment, which includes supervising new probationers and housing in the county jail prisoners who formerly would have served their time in state prison.
The state’s correctional realignment, which went into effect Oct. 1, is meant to reduce the state’s prison overcrowding, as well as to save the cash-strapped state money...
LINK - LakeconNews.com
December 14, 2011
Trigger cuts: CA counties to pay state $125,000 to house juvenile offenders
Gov. Jerry Brown announced earlier this week the state has to pull the trigger on a series of mid-year budget cuts due to low tax revenues. One of those reductions shaves $67 million from the state’s juvenile justice budget. The cut will force counties to foot the bill for Juvenile Justice wards in state custody.
In the 1990s the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice oversaw 10,000 young offenders. Then, about a decade ago, state lawmakers restricted the types of offenders counties can send to state juvenile facilities to those convicted of violent and serious felonies and sex offenses.
The belief was that keeping youth closer to home would reduce their risk of becoming a repeat offender. The change shrunk the Division of Juvenile Justice population to 1,100...
LINK - SCPR.org
December 14, 2011
Inmates file class-action suit against Fresno due to jail overcrowding
Four Fresno County Jail inmates filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday, claiming Sheriff Margaret Mims maintains an unsafe jail and fails to provide basic health care.
According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Fresno, inmates are regularly denied treatment for life-threatening illnesses, severe mental health symptoms and serious dental conditions.
There are not enough medical personnel -- doctors, nurses, therapists and social workers -- to provide adequate care for more than 2,300 inmates, the lawsuit says. As a result of the understaffing, inmates can wait weeks to months before being examined by clinicians...
LINK - FresnoBee.com
December 12, 2011
Calaveras County Jail likely to fill
By this coming summer, most of the beds in the Calaveras County Jail will be occupied by inmates who would previously have been in state prisons, Calaveras County District Attorney Barbara Yook said last week.
Yook said she estimates that 40 of the jail's 65 beds will be occupied by offenders who would have served that time in prison before realignment - a process under which California is reducing its state prison population.
Yook made her remarks Friday in Angels Camp during a workshop on a variety of criminal justice issues for representatives of local media outlets....
LINK - Recordnet.com
December 11, 2011
Alameda County realignment plan “ambitious” but moving in the right direction
More than a hundred felons have filtered into Alameda County since Gov. Jerry Brown's controversial plan to shift inmates from state prisons to local jurisdictions kicked in on Oct. 1.
Of the 115 who had arrived as of Monday, two have reoffended.
One was for forgery and the other for car theft, Chief Probation Officer David Muhammad said. "Given the history of the population," he added, "it's not bad."
The challenge now will be keeping the others expected to come under county supervision out of jail and in their community...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
December 10, 2011
Butte County Jail crowded; prisoner realignment shifts 110 to county lockup
Staff has to determine who needs to be in custody and who can reasonably be put into alternative custody programs to prevent the jail from overcrowding, Undersheriff Kory Honea said.
"The primary concern for us is public safety," Honea said.
A law that took effect Oct. 1 shifts responsibility for thousands of lower-level criminals from the state to local jurisdictions. Judges no longer can send offenders to state prison for crimes such as auto theft, burglary, grand theft and drug possession for sale. Non-serious, non-violent, non-sexual felons, called "the nons," are instead sentenced to the county lockup. Parole violators who previously would have been returned to state prison now can only be incarcerated in county jails...
LINK - ChicoER.com
December 10, 2011
California’s county jails struggle to house influx of state prisoners
The early release of inmates in some parts of California is accelerating as officials at county jails struggle to accommodate state prisoners flowing into their facilities.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department planned to begin releasing about 150 inmates Friday because of overcrowding in county jails.
Sheriff Rod Hoops has decided to release the inmates, mostly parole violators or those convicted of nonviolent crimes, over the next five days. The inmates must have served at least half of their sentence, and have less than 30 days remaining on their sentence...
LINK - LATimes.com
December 9, 2011
CDCR Announces Plan to Convert Female Facility to House Low-Level Male Inmates
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) today announced the decision to convert Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW) in Chowchilla to a facility that will house low- to medium-security adult male inmates. The conversion will help alleviate the adult male inmate overcrowding problem and avoid staff layoffs at the institution.
The conversion will happen in phases and is anticipated to be completed by July 2013. The facility currently houses 3,171 female inmates. The level of male inmates and staff is expected to be similar once the conversion is complete...
LINK - CDCRToday.blogspot.com
December 9, 2011
High Desert AB 109 Agreement
Agreement between CDCR and CCPOA regarding High Desert State Prison (AB 109)...
December 9, 2011
County officials hope to offer health treatment, prevention information to early-release prisoners
The San Bernardino County Department of Public Health wants to connect with California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation prisoners immediately after their release to get a handle on cases of tuberculosis, HIV and hepatitis.
"We want to address treatment and prevent it from spreading and becoming a widespread community issue," said Trudy Raymundo, interim public health department director.
Health department officials hope to connect with prisoners released under the provisions of AB 109 at the three Day Reporting Centers to be established in Rancho Cucamonga, the High Desert and San Bernardino...
LINK - RedlandsDailyFacts.com
December 9, 2011
more on VSPW conversion to men’s prison
Chowchilla's Valley State Prison for Women will be converted to a men's prison in July 2013, even though local officials have voiced strong opposition to the change.
The change is being made because of fewer female inmates and overcrowding in men's prisons, said Dana Toyama, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The prison will hold low- to medium-security adult male inmates, Toyama said Friday...
LINK - FresnoBee.com
December 9, 2011
First group of released prisoners hit the streets
The early release of 150 San Bernardino County jail inmates due to the state's prisoner realignment law generated mixed reactions among law enforcement and educators.
But the county's sheriff said Friday that it's a necessity at a time of serious overcrowding in the wake of the new law.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department announced Thursday that it planned to release the inmates between Friday and Wednesday because the county's jail populations are nearing capacity...
LINK - SBSun.com
December 8, 2011
Early Jail Releases – More Serious Crime?
It’s becoming more difficult to keep accused criminals locked up.
It’s bad now, and may only get worse.
Fresno County is getting state inmates. The county was supposed to get 560 inmates in the first year of prison realignment. They got 600 in the first two months.
Some of those who are released early are committing more serious crimes.
39-year-old James Whitaker had been arrested for a series of burglaries. He was released after just a few hours in the Fresno County jail. Four days later, he allegedly held up a bank...
LINK - CBS47.tv
December 5, 2011
Inmate Shift To Cost Riverside County $968,000
Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach will ask the Board of Supervisors tomorrow to earmark $968,000 to cover D.A. office expenses incurred from "realignment," which shifted responsibility for a number of criminal justice activities from the state to counties.
The allotment would come from roughly $24 million in state funding to Riverside County agencies and courts in the current fiscal year to mitigate realignment-related costs.
The county's general fund would not be impacted...
LINK - KESQ.com
December 4, 2011
‘Depopulation’ Prison realignment bringing welcome changes to S.J.‘s DVI
Not long ago, Dorm X buzzed with the chatter of dozens of state prisoners who were in protective custody.
The large hall at Deuel Vocational Institution is now dotted with empty beds and rolled up mattresses.
The warehouse-like room - used for years to ease overcrowding - is no longer needed. It has become a quiet place, and its transformation marks the beginning of more changes to come...
LINK - Recordnet.com
December 3, 2011
Meeting to focus on inmate firefighters
Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, Chair of the Rural Fire Protection Working Group, has called a meeting for Monday at the State Capitol to discuss the potential loss of inmate fire crews under the state's prison realignment program.
The state runs one such camp in Solano County near Suisun City.
"While much of the discussion surrounding the realignment program has dealt with the early release of criminals and new cost burdens to local governments, a less publicized problem is the impact that these early releases may have on our state's ability to fight wildfires," said Jeffries in a press release announcing Monday's meeting...
LINK - TheReporter.com
December 1, 2011
Public Safety Realignment and the Probation Department
The Public Safety Realignment Bill, known popularly as AB 109, was signed into law by Governor Brown on April 5, 2011. It represents the most sweeping changes to community corrections in a generation. Realignment focuses on several aspects of criminal sentencing, punishment, and community supervision. Certain offenders now are categorized as Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS), those convicted for various non-serious, non-violent, non-sex related offenses. Rather than being committed to state prison as in the past, they now serve their sentences in local jails. The legislation also transferred the responsibility for supervising these offenders upon their release to local county jurisdiction- county probation departments rather than state parole. Provisions of this bill took effect on October 1, 2011. Other key components include a mandate that offenders be released to the counties where they lived when the crime was committed; and one that prevents them from being sent to prison for violation of their terms of supervision. Realignment also requires probation departments to utilize programs that have proven records of success for the treatment and rehabilitation of these offenders.
Realignment mandates that probation departments perform the job of supervising these PRCS offenders similar to those already placed on probation. With AB 109, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is required to classify offenders only by the present committed offense. In other words, a person with a history of violence or serious crime, but has a less serious current conviction, qualifies for local incarceration and probation supervision pursuant to AB 109...
LINK - BlackVoiceNews.com
November 30, 2011
Inmate shift quickly filling some California jails
Two months into California's most far-reaching public safety realignment in decades, some counties are seeing a higher-than-expected influx of inmates who could crowd jails to the breaking point much earlier than expected.
State corrections officials say it is too soon to panic and expect the numbers to even out after an initial surge.
But reality is settling in as local law enforcement agencies struggle to contain criminals with a history of violence, substance abuse and mental illness who previously would have been tucked away in state prisons...
LINK - SFGate.com
November 30, 2011
Realignment sentences give long jail terms to inmates
Inland officials are facing lengthy consequences from the state’s new law to house nonviolent convicts in county jail instead of state prison.
The realignment law, AB109, which took effect Oct. 1, was presented as capping county jail sentences at three years. That isn’t happening.
As an example, on Tuesday a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sentenced Dr. Conrad Murray to four years in county jail on his involuntary manslaughter conviction in the death of Michael Jackson...
LINK - PE.com
November 30, 2011
Opinion: Is realignment an opportunity? If so, let’s not waste it on building costly jail beds
November 17th's "California's Prison System - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly” conference, organized by Capitol Weekly and the University of California, brought together experts, advocates, and law enforcement and highlighted the devastating impacts of the expansion of California's prison system and consequent shift in state spending on education and social services. Conversations at the conference brought into sharper focus why California can't risk falling into the familiar pattern of failed corrections policies as it realigns public safety.
It has been seven months since the Supreme Court ordered California to drastically reduce the state's prison population. Beginning Oct. 1, responsibility for low-level prisoners was transferred from state prisons to counties. While politicians and undits called the move unprecedented, many counties drafted ill-conceived plans that simply shift overcrowding from the state level prisons to already crowded county jails...
LINK - CapitolWeekly.net
November 30, 2011
Riverside County accepts 735 parolees from state prisons
Riverside County has taken over control of 735 parolees since a state law went into effect Oct. 1 and shifted oversight of most felons to local counties.
It expects an additional 477 by April, Chief Probation Officer Alan Crogan said today.
He spoke during part of a town hall forum hosted by Assemblyman Brian Nestande and State Senator Bill Emmerson. It began at 3:30 p.m. in the Palm Desert City Council chambers...
LINK - MyDesert.com (The Desert Sun)
November 29, 2011
Alameda County finalizes prison realignment plan details
Alameda County has finalized details for dealing with hundreds of felons the probation department will inherit from the state as a result of the controversial realignment program that kicked in Oct. 1.
The plan approved by Alameda County supervisors Nov. 22 also provides details for how to divide the $9.2 million the state provided to help pay for supervising 848 felons expected to be incorporated into the county system over the next three years. They are inmates who have been released from state prison to community supervision, those who previously would have been sent to state prison for nonviolent felonies and parole violators...
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
November 29, 2011
First Adult Pre-Trial Facility pods opened
AB 109 is presenting a unique set of challenges in 58 different ways, as officials in each of the state's 58 counties are quickly finding out.
In Tulare County, the transition spurred by AB 109 appears to be going fairly smoothly. According to Tulare County sheriff's Capt. Robin Skiles, who heads the jails division, a 37-bed pod at the Adult Pre-Trial Facility was recently opened to accommodate the county's growing male inmate population, while a 48-bed pod has been activated to handle the expanding number of female inmates.
New staffing hires for each of the reopened pods came from AB 109 funds provided by the state, said Skiles...
LINK - ValleyVoiceNewspaper.com
November 29, 2011
State will be paying $10 million for CCF
The state of California may be broke, but it is going to commit itself to paying nearly $10 million in lease payments over the next 5 years for a facility it has no plans to use -- the now-closed Taft Correctional Facility.
The Taft City Council approved a series of contract amendments with the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at a brief special meeting Tuesday night that will continue lease payments for the CCF into 2017.
It was closed earlier this month when the CDCR removed the low security inmates as part of a state prison realignment...
LINK - TaftMidwayDriller.com
November 28, 2011
‘Smart on Crime’ Plan Not So Smart without Transparency and Community Help
California is making the transition to become smart on crime. AB 109 that took effect in October of this year shifts the responsibility for newly convicted offenders who are deemed to be non-violent, non-serious, and non-sex offenders from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to local counties. Offenders can be placed in county jail or on probation instead of detention at a State Correctional facility.
This new “smart on crime” approach is intended to create innovative and effective responses to prison overcrowding and to decrease recidivism. Additionally, it falls in line with the Supreme Court Brown v. Plata decision that ordered the state to remedy the safety and health conditions caused by overcrowding...
LINK - CityWatchLA.com
November 25, 2011
No room in Fresno Co. Jail for parole violators
In another sign that Fresno County is struggling to manage more criminals, the sheriff has ordered that state parole violators no longer will be held at the county jail.
The parolees, who were once sent to state prison if they got into trouble, are now sent to local jails instead – part of the state's recent realignment of the penal system. But in Fresno County, where the jail already is crowded, the Sheriff's Office has determined there's no room for the former convicts.
State parole officials, acknowledging counties are being asked to do more under the realignment, say they'll try to find other ways to deal with problem parolees...
LINK - FresnoBee.com
November 23, 2011
Opinion: Realignment is a dangerous, reckless mess
Last week, Capitol Weekly sponsored a panel discussion on the governor’s public safety realignment. The more discussion and scrutiny that can be focused on this ill-conceived policy the better. And, for the sake of every Californian, I hope that the close attention given to the real consequences of this dangerous plan will hasten its early repeal and a concerted effort to design a new justice and public safety based plan.
As a public official, I believe it is my responsibility to advocate for the best policies for the people of California. As Vice Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, I know firsthand that there are always tough choices when it comes to making budget decisions during state budget negotiations, which are often the result of bipartisan compromise...
LINK - CapitolWeekly.net
November 20, 2011
Shifting prisoners to counties could strain local services
California needs to pay attention to potential strains on county services as it implements Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to shift nonviolent criminals and parolees to counties, a RAND Corp. study says.
The study [PDF], “Understanding the Public Health Implications of Prisoner Reentry in California,” released last week, said the plan to shift low-level offenders to county custody could strain local health care and social services programs that already have been ravaged by budget cuts.
California began sending low-level felony offenders and parole violators to county jails on Oct. 1...
LINK - CaliforniaWatch.org
November 20, 2011
Prison plan sways prosecutors in filing charges
Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley's office handles about one-third of California's felony convictions, making this single county critical to the success of Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to reduce prison overcrowding by sentencing nonviolent felony offenders to county jails.
Cooley, however, is a Republican who adamantly opposes the Democratic governor's plan and is training his staffers to do everything they can to work around it - including pushing for the most serious charges to ensure that as many offenders as possible are sentenced to state prison. In a recent interview, Cooley said he is trying to mitigate the "public safety nightmare" that realignment will bring - particularly in a county like Los Angeles, where the jails are overcrowded and the sheriff regularly releases offenders early...
LINK - SFGate.com
July 4, 2011
Calif. budget provides money for prison changes
California's budget provides the framework for the state to comply with a federal court order to slice its prison population by more than 20 percent over the next two years but also acknowledges the state is not likely to meet its initial deadline.
Plans for the change gained urgency this spring after the U.S. Supreme Court, on a 5-4 decision, upheld the authority of a federal judicial panel to order the release of inmates to relieve overcrowding and improve conditions.
The centerpiece of the state's response was funded in the budget that Gov. Jerry Brown signed last week. It will redirect $5 billion from state sales and vehicle taxes to local governments so they can accommodate some 40,000 lower-level offenders who otherwise would serve their sentences in a state prison...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
June 14, 2011
‘Political paralysis’ in Calif. over prison reform
As California deeply cut spending for public schools, social services and health programs in recent years, state leaders also found themselves grappling with a court order to reduce the prison population by tens of thousands of inmates.
Some civil rights groups and criminal justice experts are now seizing on this perfect storm of chronic deficits and crowded prisons to push for wide-ranging changes to the state's sentencing laws that would transform California's handling of crime and punishment. The California chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups want the state to reduce drug possession and low-level, nonviolent property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, and they want more community-based alternatives to incarceration.
Yet even modest changes have trouble getting legislative support from Republicans and Democrats alike in California - even as bipartisan groups of policymakers in conservative states such as Texas, Mississippi and Kentucky embrace sentencing reform and alternatives to incarceration...
LINK - SFGate.com
February 11, 2010
New Directions A blueprint for reforming California’s prison system
A blueprint for reforming California’s prison system to protect the public, reduce costs and rehabilitate inmates
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
January 2010
CALIFORNIA’S PRISON SYSTEM is failing at every level. The cost to taxpayers and public safety for this failure is staggering. More than 170,000 inmates are now being warehoused in facilities designed to accommodate 80,000 inmates. Coupled with severe staff shortages, this overcrowding is inordinately jeopardizing the safety of inmates and correctional officers, while straining prison resources and infrastructure to the breaking point. Today, an average of nine correctional officers are assaulted every day inside California prisons, while tens of thousands of inmates are being denied the help and incentives needed to help make them productive citizens.
Inmate rehabilitation programs are failing, turning prison gates into revolving doors, giving California one of the nation’s highest recidivism rates. Thousands of inmates who have served their sentences are being released without the education, job training or basic life skills needed to function in society. With few chances to succeed, they have little choice but to return to crime.
California’s parole policies are also failing. Parole officers are overworked and overwhelmed. Parolees are receiving neither the services nor support they need to find jobs, deal with substance abuse or resolve psychological issues. This is wasting their lives, bankrupting taxpayers and endangering public safety
Following is our blueprint for fixing California’s broken prison system — a plan that offers relevant reform at multiple levels. Together, these reforms will save billions of tax dollars, protect the public and help inmates turn their lives around.
MIKE JIMENEZ, President
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
July 10, 2009
Special to the Bee: A Letter from Chuck Alexander
While Sacramento police and firefighters are receiving accolades from local officials for making contract concessions during tough times, our governor has summarily rejected any and all attempts by California correctional peace officers to do the same.
With California now reduced to passing out IOUs to cover its growing debts and its credit rating in free fall, the governor's refusal to even consider, let alone enact, any of these cost-saving proposals is puzzling.
We recently offered to reduce future pension obligations, alter sick leave provisions and make other contractual changes that would save California taxpayers more than a billion dollars annually, all of which were flatly rejected by the Schwarzenegger administration.
May 11, 2009
Cut the Fat Not The Muscle
While California's inmate population has grown by less than six percent since 2002, the Department of Corrections' administrative bureaucracy has doubled. Billions of dollars could be saved by streamlining operations, reducing bureaucratic staff and eliminating waste and inefficiency - without jeopardizing public safety or increasing the dangers for prison officers and parole agents.
April 2, 2008
Prison Reforms: Achieving Results
In the past year since lawmakers agreed on a comprehensive corrections overhaul and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 900, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has made great progress. As this document illustrates, there is a significant amount of oversight and direction that has been provided to this agency. My staff is fully committed to being responsive and accountable in meeting the benchmarks and expectations that have been laid out. CDCR has kept pace with AB 900 and has completed or is on track to complete each of the 13 progress benchmarks mandated by the bill..
February 21, 2008
LAO Recommends Against Governor’s Early Release and Summary Parole Programs
Prison and Parole Population Reduction Proposals Not Best Options. We recommend alternatives to the administration's early release and summary parole proposals which we believe offer a better trade off between public safety and budget savings by: (1) changing crimes currently classified as "wobblers" to misdemeanors and (2) substituting an "earned discharge" program for the Governor's summary parole proposal…
LINK - LAO.CA.gov
February 18, 2008
Juvenile prison system needs reform, lawyers say
Advocates urge a judge to appoint a receiver to take over a system they say remains broken despite long-standing promises to fix it.
Three years after state officials promised to fix California's troubled juvenile prisons, advocates for incarcerated youths are urging a judge to appoint a receiver to take over a system they say remains tragically broken. The plea came in a filing last week from lawyers who had settled with the state after suing to transform institutions they said treated children as hardened criminals without regard for their welfare. They contend that the state's Division of Juvenile Justice has missed dozens of court-ordered deadlines for change dating to 2005, making "a mockery of compliance" in six areas: education, safety, medical care, mental health, disabilities and sex-offender treatment…
LINK - LATimes.com
February 17, 2008
Juveniles tried as adults up 170%: DA Cites Gang Prosecution
The district attorney's decision to try 14-year-old Brandon McInerney as an adult in the killing of another boy is part of a soaring trend in Ventura County. In the past two years, the number of juvenile offenders tried as adults has nearly tripled from 10 in 2006 to 27 in 2007, officials say — a nearly 170 percent increase. Also, in the four previous years — from 2002 to 2005 — the total number of such cases was just five, according to figures from the Ventura County District Attorney's Office…
LINK - VenturaCountyStar.com
January 12, 2008
An Opportunity to Make Juvenile Detention Better
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation plans to close one of its three remaining youth prisons in Stockton by July. That's good news for Stanislaus County. Why? Because the county will be closer to providing better rehabilitation, education, health care and, if necessary, incarceration for juvenile lawbreakers…
LINK - ModBee.com
