Before any semblance of reform can be achieved in the overcrowded, overwhelmed, under-performing, understaffed, unaccountable, out-of-control, out-of-step, and in-debt California prison system, two things need to happen: prisoners must be released and sentencing laws must be changed.
Since the legislators operate the bureaucracy with dollars derived from, and budgets generated by the criminal justice system, we aren't likely to see desperately needed prisoner releases unless there is a loud enough public outcry. For years, Republican politicians have shot down good reform bills that could have saved us billions in tax dollars by lock-step voting against everything that didn't serve the interests of the law enforcement labor unions that put them into power. Every Governor has pandered to these law enforcement labor unions. CCPOA isn't the largest of the 134 voting groups that control California, but they are certainly the most aggressive organizers.
When a reform bill rarely made it through both houses of the state legislature, Governors Wilson, Davis and Schwarzenegger would veto it 99% of the time. These facts and voting records are public information in the state archives and at http://www.senate.ca.gov., Click on "legislation" and research it for yourself.
Laws were foisted upon Californians by the same voting group that elected the Republican lawmakers to office which were designed to expand the prisons system. And, predictably, that's just what happened. Now our state has all but collapsed under the expense of a humanitarian and fiscal crisis beyond measure.
Laws such as Three Strikes, Jessica's Law, and Prop 9 were fraudulently and unconstitutionally forced into place via the initiative process led by Republican politicians anxious to bolster their careers with a "tough-on-crime" image. These initiatives, now laws, were funded by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) at a cost of billions of dollars that should be going to education and human services if reducing crime were really the goal.
Human bondage is now California's largest industry thanks to these harsh laws. Former Gov. Pete Wilson taught the lawmakers and small towns with dying economies how to build and operate scores of prisons with very little public resistance. Wilson had his eye on running for the presidency using a tough-on-crime platform, and he was able to establish his bona fides by expanding the prison industrial complex from about 20,000 in the late 1980's to 150,000 prisoners in just a few short years. Harsh sentencing laws passed by former Gov. Jerry Brown laid the foundation for this unprecedented growth that resulted in today's fiscal and humanitarian crisis .
The deceitful, self-serving political posturing persuaded the voters that they would be safer and benefit with a massive expansion of law enforcement and prisons. Yet violent crime has changed very little since the 1960's and there is no evidence anywhere that prisons, jails, juvenile halls or harsh laws have done one thing to reduce crime. Only a small percentage of prisoners have been convicted of violent crimes, in spite of the political rhetoric. You can view the evidence here: www.lao.ca.gov/2007/cj_primer/cj_primer_013107.aspx
No leading sociologist or criminologist believes that prisons are serving their intended purpose. On the contrary, it seems clear that offenders who complete their sentences emerge far worse off than before incarceration. There are several good books and leading university studies that demonstrate through empirical evidence that prisons don't work Google up information on these online.
Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse (Studies in Crime and Public Policy by Professor Todd R. Clear of John Jay College
Imprisoning America: The Social Effects of Mass Incarceration by David F. Weiman
Prison State: The Challenge of Mass Incarceration (Cambridge Studies in Criminology)
Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration by Michael Jacobson
The need for reform is obvious and urgent. In future columns, I'll identify the most important changes that are required and how they can be achieved in fiscally and socially responsible ways.
Comments
Jessica's law works to keep the sex offenders in compliance. Your dead wrong. Perhaps you should invite a sex offender into your home....
Very true words, the california prisons are a total failure. July 1st. California will be totally bankrupt. Thanks to the massive prison explosion of "tough on crime" with life sentences and a parole board that does not have a clue. I wonder where they will get their big paychecks from now? It will be very interesting to watch these same individuals scramble when there is no money to pay them.
We have 90,000 people accused of being sex offenders and one million women and children related to them, that chances are we already live next to "sex offenders." All it takes in this country is to be accused-no conviction necessary!
Jessica's Law is the BIGGEST failure of them all. It does NOTHING to protect children or society and it costs MILLIONS for NOTHING.
U.S. Dept of Justice recidivist rates.
Highlights include the following:
* Released prisoners with the highest rearrest rates were robbers (70.2%),
burglars (74.0%),
larcenists (74.6%),
motor vehicle thieves (78.8%),
those in prison for possessing or selling stolen property (77.4%), and those in prison for possessing, using, or selling illegal weapons (70.2%).
* Within 3 years, 2.5% of released rapists were arrested for another rape,
and 1.2% of those who had served time for homicide were arrested for homicide.
* The 272,111 offenders discharged in 1994 had accumulated 4.1 million arrest charges before their most recent imprisonment and another 744,000 charges within 3 years of release
Check out the STUDY'S:
cfcoklahoma(.)org
This hard-hitting article points to the urgent need to reform our criminal justice system.
Yesterday, U.S. Senator Jim Web authored an article in which these sobering facts were revealed:
• The United States has 5% of the world's population, yet possesses 25% of the world's prison population;
• More than 2.38 million Americans are now in prison, and another 5 million remain on probation or parole. That amounts to 1 in every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail, or on supervised release;
• Incarcerated drug offenders have soared 1200% since 1980, up from 41,000 to 500,000 in 2008; and
• 60% of offenders are arrested for non-violent offensives--many driven by mental illness or drug addiction.
At a time when public schools lack essential funding, our infrastructure is collapsing, and state and local governments are running unprecedented deficits, how can we afford to continue throwing billions of dollars at failed criminal justice policies?
Luis in LA says: Jessica's law works to keep the sex offenders in compliance. You’re dead wrong. Perhaps you should invite a sex offender into your home.... Luis fact is no would could be more wrong than you about Jessica’s Law! Jessica’s Law was supposed to keep track of sex offenders that harm children, what I did was drive them all underground and out in to rural areas and had the exact opposite affect! Even the DA’s know it, and realized just like Three Strikes, they were dumb on crime! Read these laws carefully before voting on emotion. California is a mess because voters thought these laws were a good idea! Now its coming back to bite California.
And Great article! Every word is true and I can only hope the legislators will read it and realize what they have done. The CCPOA members won’t admit it they are responsible, yet just go back a few years when they bragged about it. CCPOA member Lt. Kevin Peters summed up the membership’s position on “Three Strikes” when he said:
You can get a job anywhere. This is a career. And with the upward mobility and rapid expansion of the department, there are opportunities for the people who are [already] correction staff, and opportunities for the general public to become correctional officers. We’ve gone from 12 institutions to 28 in 12 years, and with ‘Three Strikes’ and the overcrowding we’re going to experience with that, we’re going to need to build at least three prisons a year for the next five years. Each one of those institutions will take approximately 1,000 employees.
But Lt. Peters, like the CCPOA as a whole, can see no farther than the end of the snout he has buried in the publ
It is true that sex offenders are every where. Simply watch your own child/ren, that is what I do. Most sex offenders against children are their own family members anyways! I can't wait for the human bondage industry to collapse completely because we have a dumbed up general public and a corrupt government. California has become a disgrace.
Great article!
HEAR! HEAR! I am so pleased to see an article which clearly states the facts! I wish I could have done it as well as you have!
The public has been hoodwinked into supporting what I call, "Gotcha" legislation which depends on fear and hysteria to keep it in force.
Follow the lead of this article, study the subject for yourselves and LEARN how you are being taxed out of your socks to support an industry which thrives on your fear for its existance.
Betweeen Three Strikes, Mandatory Minimums, and an ever growing list of public registrys, YOU are being used to fund your own demise.
See that picture of the "dorm"? Ask how many toilets and showers there are for 160 or more men in that one room. And, these are the "good guys" who have been promoted for excellent behavior. Want to see your own kid living like that? Think it takes a major crime to get there? Think again! Any minor offense these days is overcharged,over sentenced, and over paroled! And YOU are over taxed for it!
The State could save billions by making a few overdue changes to the prison system.
The Governor could:
Save about $220 million annually by speeding up the technical violation process by one month.
Save about $220 million annually by increasing inmate good-time credits by a month.
Save about $250 million annually by implementing Little Hoover Commission recommendations to realign responsibility for serious juvenile offenders from the State prison system to the counties.
Save up to $500 million annually by establishing a community corrections program authorizing the State to contract with counties to provide parole supervision.
Save billions by adopting prison bed standards used by the Legislative Analysist rather than using unique California prison bed standards. Based on national standards, the prison bed shortage is about 11,500 beds rather than 60,000 beds.
It is not rocket science but it does require political will!
release inmates
We must remember Arnie doesn't live in the real world... RELEASE INMATES
Bravo, a great article, facts well researched. Let us pass it along to our legislators.
The point about Megan's law and Jessica's Law is right on. These ill advised laws do not protect our kids, but endanger them. They are unenforceable and they drive that population underground. Our tax dollars are spent on "fear mongering" not problem solving.
I would like these inmates released right into your neighborhood. Maybe then you would change your tune.
in response to Sean O'Donnell, Baltimore Republican Examiner
We have 37 million Californians and they are releasing 10,000 per month anyway. So many people are caught up in the system here that chances are every neighborhood already has parolees. It is in everyone's best interest to make certain that psychological and physical torture caused by overcrowding is brought to a screeching halt. There are 750,000 Californians in jail, in prison, or on probation/parole right now, at least l.5 million more have been caught up in the past in this ugly destruction. Harsh laws were funded and forced upon us by Republican politicians which created a fiscal and humanitarian crisis. Don't let this happen in your state. Government should be limited not expanded, isn't that the Republican mantra? They're not living up to that here in California
The artical is right on the money. Whats wrong is that most people don't want to belive it, they would rather belive the fearmongers and the politians, thats why they keep voting them into office,they have no idea the torture and abuse that goes on in the prisons,they can't see how the elderly and the disabled and the poor are suffering because the fearmongers are feeding fear into the public and there belivig it so that more money will be tossed to them.Thats what three strikes has done, prisoners are being keep in prison longer so they can make more money it's not for public safety but to get more money. After all the public only has to fear the paid killers that patrol our neighborhoods,You all know the ones, the ones with badges!!!
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