Lawmakers critical of $222,000 cost for each new bunk.

California's $7.9 billion prison construction and rehabilitation plan will provide at least 6,900 fewer beds than previously promised and take longer to complete, according to testimony at a legislative hearing Tuesday and interviews with corrections officials.

An expansion plan slated for existing prisons has been downsized from 16,000 to 13,000 beds, officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told lawmakers at a state Senate Public Safety Committee hearing…

There are mounting concerns here at home about a proposed plan to release 22,000 inmates from state prisons in California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made the proposal to help close a $14 billion gap in the state's budget. But local law enforcement officials are taking aim at the plan.

Kern County District Attorney Ed Jagels blasted the Governor's proposal, and Tuesday county supervisors joined Jagels in criticizing the plan to give hardened criminals a fast track to freedom. With California's budget $14 billion out of whack, one proposal is to save millions by releasing low risk convicts out of prison early…

Kern County supervisors on Tuesday ripped into Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to release 22,000 state prison inmates early to save money.

They voted to send letters to local lawmakers demanding the state Legislature scuttle the governor's plan.

One supervisor even suggested shipping released Kern County prisoners to Beverly Hills to help Schwarzenegger understand the impact…

Amador County will move forward in seeking state funding for a new county
jail, the board of supervisors announced Tuesday. Supervisor Richard Forster, at the end of the board meeting, said that during a closed session meeting, the board agreed to move forward to hire a consultant to prepare the grant application.

The grant, from Assembly Bill 900, passed last year as the Public Safety and Offender Rehabilitation Services Act, could provide up to $30 million toward a new jail. At present, the county jail has only 76 beds, but is expected to need 165 beds by 2010 and 217 beds by 2030, according to a report presented to the board last week by Harry Munyon of TRG Consulting in Rancho Mirage…

North Kern State Prison appears to be a good neighbor, but the road that leads to it could use some improvements. That's what state environmental planners heard from several people at a meeting Thursday regarding plans that would add more buildings and beds so inmates don't have to sleep in areas such as gyms and dayrooms. The growth is part of Assembly Bill 900, which gave the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation authority to design, construct or renovate prison housing and other structures to add up to 16,000 beds in several phases at state facilities, including North Kern…