Editorial: Early release of prisoners has to be considered

Reply

FreeJP Posted: 12-28-2007 12:51 PM

rated by 0 users

 Editorial: Early release of prisoners has to be considered

Prison costs are a big part of fiscal crisis; controlling them is part of the solution


Published 12:00 am PST Thursday, December 27, 2007
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B6
 
Print | E-Mail | Comments (6)| Digg it | del.icio.us
 
With California facing a $3.3 billion deficit in the current fiscal year and a $14 billion deficit the year after, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should be looking at all possible options for bringing spending in line with revenues, and visa versa.
 
K-12 schools. Higher education. Environmental protection. County welfare programs. All face cuts of 10 percent or more under a proposal the governor is pushing. Schwarzenegger has declared a fiscal emergency and called for the Legislature to launch a special session (yet another one) to respond to the budget gap on Jan. 10.
 
If this is truly a fiscal emergency, then nothing should be sacred. That should include pledges of "no new taxes." It also should include the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which each year consumes an ever-increasing portion of state spending – leaping from $3.8 billion to $9.8 billion over the past decade.
 
As part of a broader package of spending cuts, Schwarzenegger has floated a one-time, accelerated release of lower-risk offenders in the final 20 months of their terms. The aim is to reduce the prison population by 22,000, both saving money and relieving overcrowding.
 
The governor also is considering changes to the parole system. Offenders on parole would not be returned to prison on technical violations (such as failing a urine test). This would reduce the prison population next year by 6,249 inmates, and reduce prison costs over the long run.
 
Such proposals are not novel, nor are they unprecedented. In 1967, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan reduced the prison population by 13 percent through an accelerated release of selected prisoners.
 
But Reagan operated in a much different era, when lawmakers were less apt to exploit public fears over crime and stifle all discussion over prison reform.
 
All that has changed. Today, the prison guards union and victims' rights organizations are a powerful combo, and few politicians have the courage to buck them. Quite predictably, some lawmakers of both parties are gunning to shoot down Schwarzenegger's trial balloon before it even gets out of the policy shop.
 
One of these is Assemblyman Jose Solorio, D-Santa Ana, who was quick to declare the governor's proposal "DOA." Another is Republican Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, an Orange County Republican who has made a career of stoking fears about "early release" of prisoners.
 
To be sure, any proposal to reduce prison populations will need to be fully vetted. Key questions will need to be answered, such as who would qualify for early release. Already, about 115,000 offenders are released to parole from prison every year. What follow-up programs would help 22,000 in the proposed early release successfully re-enter the community – and not end up back in prison?
The response of Spitzer, Solorio and their legislative brethren so far seems designed to quash, instead of illuminate. In doing so, these lawmakers are using scare tactics to serve the interests of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
 
The prison guards union fears the loss of 5,854 state positions with the governor's proposal. Although some politicians make noise that "everything should be on the table" in solving the state's fiscal troubles, few are actually willing to embrace that principle if it means confronting a well-funded political apparatus. No wonder the state is in a fiscal crisis.
 
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/592852.html