What state is doing to reduce number of inmates
San Francisco Chronicle July 30, 2011
Five years ago, a federal judge decided that substandard health care in California prisons was leading to the deaths of about 50 inmates a year. Two years ago, a federal court panel ordered the state to reduce its prison population to deal with the problem. And in May, the U.S. Supreme Court told the state that, yes, it has to comply with that order.But California's prisons remain overcrowded.
The state recently filed a preliminary report with the courts spelling out how it intends to meet deadlines to reduce the number of prisoners from the current 143,500 to 110,000 by 2013.
The seven-page filing had some interesting nuggets. Among them:
-- The state won't meet the first deadline, Dec. 27, to reduce the prison population by 10,500 - but state officials think they'll have 8,700 fewer inmates by that time, and a month later will hit the 10,500 benchmark.
-- The state will put $5.1 billion this fiscal year toward Gov. Jerry Brown's centerpiece of the reduction plan, which is known in Capitol parlance as "realignment." In English, realignment means that beginning Oct. 1, low-level offenders will be sent to county jails instead of state prisons.
-- There are about 32,000 inmates in state prisons who would be eligible, under realignment rules, to be housed in local jails. That's roughly the same number of inmates by which the state needs to reduce its prison population.
We'll know more in the coming weeks, when the state files a final report with updated population figures.
Support for plan? Meanwhile, it looks like public support is there for Brown's realignment plan. A University of Southern California/Los Angeles Times poll released this month found that 79 percent of respondents favor keeping nonviolent offenders in local jails, while only 17 percent oppose it.
A strong majority, 69 percent, also said they support releasing low-level, nonviolent offenders from prison early, and 62 percent support reducing life sentences for people convicted of property crimes under the state's three-strikes law. The 1,507 registered voters who responded to the July 6-17 telephone poll also overwhelmingly support medical parole, a new law that allows inmates who are incapacitated due to illness or injuries to be released from prison early.
It's not likely these findings will push lawmakers to embrace criminal justice reforms. As we've noted in the past, Democrats and Republicans alike generally shy away from anything that makes them appear soft on crime.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/29/LV041KFULI.DTL#ixzz1TiMDKyIg
Perhaps lawmakers should shy away from the one to twelve or more voters attached to each low-level, non-violent, non-sexual offender, and also those who are either currently being set up for the 3rd snake bite--I mean--strike. Perhaps they should realize that for almost every one of these offenders they have stolen the daddy or mama from children and have forced the abandoned spouse to live a life of poverty, oftentimes, and forced the family to do without to the point that these families ultimately feel that they have been imprisoned as well. Perhaps that is what they should be shying away from. My husband is a firefighter inmate, serving 4 years for a DUI that occurred under psychological and emotional duress. He has served 2 1/2 years of his time. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation doesn't want to take their sticky web off the firefighters and let them go. They prefer to keep them as slaves for the state. My husband and I have 7 children, two of which have autism. My husband is stationed 12 hours away from our home. We have made it up to see him twice. My phone bill each month, strictly from talking with my husband on collect calls, is $200 a month. We need my husband home. My boys need a father to teach them how to be a man. My daughters need their father to show them what kind a man is good enough for them and how they should expect to be treated. Though my husband has suffered with and struggled against an alcohol addiction that came as a generational curse, he did come to the end of himself during this incarceration, and repented to His Creator, and restored that most primary relationship. He is not a bad man. In fact, he is the most loving man I have ever met. When he met me, I had been abandoned by my ex-husband, leaving me with six minor children, including my two sons with autism. He had enough love in his heart to marry a woman with that much family. He had a tough time coming to terms with his new role, and certainly buckled under the pressure at the time, turned to alcohol, and a calamity of events that included an argument between us ended up with him driving away to avoid police coming to check out the domestic dispute. There are criminals on both sides of the prison system. Send the good ones home to their families, and stop looking for them to trip up. Help them succeed; don't plan to trap them and drag them back to your dungeon.
ReplyDeleteRead our lips; no new taxes; send current imprisoned low level offenders home to county--increase time credits and send them home to their families; kill the3 strikes rule; make everything retroactive; 50% time for 80% guys in firefighter programs.work within your budget, and start prying your fingers off of these men and women. Those with addictionsand behavioral health issues should have never been locked away!
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