Profile | Chuck DeVore
Website | DeVore for California
» Follow Me on Twitter
» My Facebook
Author's Latest Posts |
- THESE are the times that try blogger’s souls
- Thoughts on California's Inmate Release and Sentencing Commission...
- "The Stoning of Soraya M" is a Solemn Duty
- California Lawmakers Target Child Actors
- California Voters on Prop. 1A: Very Uncool
More»
Thoughts on California's Inmate Release and Sentencing Commission Proposal
By Chuck DeVore | 08/21/09 | 10:07 AM EDT | 3 Comments
That California has had budget difficulties for years is well known. The growth of government spending in California has rapidly outstripped taxes, now among the highest in the nation.
One rapidly growing part of our budget has been the state prison system, now accounting for about 11 percent of the state General Fund budget. There are many reasons for this high cost. Liberals often blame the three strikes law and tough sentencing laws – yet Texas has a higher proportion of inmates behind bars. Instructively, Texas’ cost per inmate incarcerated is $18,031 while California now weighs in at $49,000! Of that, California is now burdened with a medical care cost of more than $14,000 per year per inmate. We also have double the white collar prison management positions of Texas.
Due to these high costs, Governor Schwarzenegger and Democrat lawmakers have chosen not to fight a three-judge federal panel (all appointed by Jimmy Carter) who have taken over many aspects of California’s prison system. They gained control via lawsuits from the ACLU alleging cruel and unusual punishment of California prisoners due to poor medical treatment and overcrowding. This, in spite of the fact that California prisoners were healthier than the national average and even better off than their age and gender cohort on the outside (probably due to exercise, no smoking or drinking and nutritious food). Now this federal judicial panel is seeking to release 40,000 inmates over two years.
In light of the federal judicial branch takeover, and wanting to save $1.2 billion now, rather than later, the governor and Democrats have worked out a deal to release 27,000 felons now and another 10,000 inmates next year. This dangerous plan will harm the public. California crime rates have fallen, largely due to the fact that dangerous people are locked up and the consequences of committing a crime are greater than they were in the 1970s.
As part of this plan to reduce California’s prison population, Democrats have drafted language for a sentencing commission to reduce the penalties for a whole range of felonies, including sexual assaults and other violent crimes. Democrats have even proposed to give a former inmate felon a seat at the table – a non-voting seat, but a seat nevertheless. This provision, and others, has drawn opposition from California Police Chiefs Association.
Further, establishing a sentencing commission composed of unelected and unaccountable members furthers the trend away from representative democracy started about 130 years ago by the Progressive movement. The Progressives opposed the entire concept of checks and balances – of the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches – as an obsolete break on being able to expand government as rapidly as they wanted. Instead, they proposed two spheres of government: the political and the administrative. The elected representatives in the political sphere would pass broad and vaguely-worded laws that the administrative professionals would then implement, often having been invested with legislative power to write regulations, executive power to enforce regulations, and judicial power to interpret regulations. (We see this today in the government healthcare takeover and in the cap-and-trade energy tax proposals.)
Instead of giving up and releasing inmates while abdicating legislative responsibility, California should get serious about implementing the prison reform plan passed in the legislature two years ago. AB 900, of which I had a hand in authoring a section seeking to improve California’s miserable recidivism rate for drug and alcohol-addicted inmates (Article 5), has never been given a serious chance to work. As written, AB 900 is supposed to build new prisons while revamping the state’s broken drug rehab program. This would reduce recidivism while making Californians safer, saving money and lives in the long run.
Texas has been making great strides in drug and alcohol rehab for prisoners, and it is paying off in both lives saved and inmates successfully becoming productive citizens. California has done the opposite, eliminating drug treatment programs while wondering why drug addicted inmates re-offend so quickly. The proposals on the table today are the wrong solution for California’s desperately needed prison reforms.
Late update as of 6 AM Friday: the Assembly adjourned at midnight without a vote on the inmate release plan or the sentencing commission bill. Word was that Democrats had extreme misgivings about voting for the package, worried about the political implications of supporting a plan that would release felons back into their communities before they had served their time.
TAGS: sentencing commission, schwarzenegger, inmate release, prisons, progressives
| 
|
3 Comments | Related Topics »Orange County (CA)
RECOMMENDED SITES
Comments
here are just few quick facts to think about..why is the california prison guard union so powerful.?.it's about 1/4 in size of teachers union yet yields more power,..very disturbing,yet very telling... it also explains within early 80's to 2004 25 years or so 30 or more prisons were built..yet prior to that they had'nt built in 100 years only 10 prisons (give or take) but ALL OF A SUDDEN with in 25 years the state built 20 ..thats out of control SO california had all this crime.JUST THRUST UPON THEM.and its not about the illegals texas has just as many illegals if not more than caly..take a look at kern county..DA JAGELS..THEY STILL DON'T HAVE CAMERAS IN PATROL CARS?? ..NONE NOT EVEN THE SHERIFFS DEPT .YET THEY HAVE (THEY WOULD BRAG IN FACT)state of the art everything else,(dna in the oj case came out of kern county lab, when no one had heard of DNA yet)THEY SEEM TO GET IT BEFORE ANYON OTHER STATE DOES,BUT CAN'T SEEM TO PUT CAMERAS IN THEIR VERY BUSY COURTROOMS,COUNTY JAILS,CLAIMINF THE BUILDING IS TOO OLD for wiring..ha if it was'nt so sick it could pass as comical..but ripping off taxpayers,families etc is no joke....but they are a Prison machine out there...i am conservative, but i also am smart enough to know when i see a scam being played on taxpayers(and how about the innocent people being locked away, first of all how sick is that and than you've got innocent taxpayers footing the bill.. california (not texas)prison guards were making up to 6 figures up till a year or 2 ago..and yes 3 strikes is a money maker for these people and it has destroyed the tax payer,destroyed innocent people being locked away for life....so its not about red vs blue (believe me i want boxer and pelosi out just as much as you do) but they have no clue whats going on with the prison system ..so just like what happened here with wall street..it affects so many people throughout the entire country, people who did nothing wrong ,if your watching the health scare debate going on with the townhalls you can see its about americans coming together because the taxpayer is red and blue., its about a sham is a sham and the entire country loses money on it(people are deeply affected by californias money problems)..its far reaching..there are also questions about 'WHO" REALLY is sitting in those prisons..you can't blame anyone but your own state for this the writing was on the wall no one has the kind of prison system you have..not even another country comes close to californias prison problem..its bigger than you..i'm afraid..the blame game is over..people need to be released..there is no way all those people are guilty (well at least the ones from kern county are the ones i would look into ) the money is no longer there to feed the sham..
- reply
|There are young men and women who have fallen through the cracks, or didn't have the money to fight for their right. We all know public defenders have a much to heavy load to give anyone the time it takes to defend their client. I know of a young man at the age of 19 went to court just after the 3-strike law came into effect had gotten into a fight and stole some cigaretts and was remanded into custody but before he went to jail 5 inmates had been planning an escape from county jail by cutting the bars in the shower, now this took time. This young man was placed into that cell and was forced to leave by knifepoint with the others. This created a wobbler for him and gave him 3-strikes 25-life. He is now 35 never had a parole hearing has had roomates that murdered come and gone home since he has been there. Oh did I mention he had never been in prison, never got the chance to reform before given another strike.All in one day and now his 1 year appeals date has run out he has nothing in the courts and no money to hire anyone. So our taxpayers will pay for him until he is 47 and a half,he has now done almost 16 years and think this is a crime. If you would like to check on this case you are welcome to his name is Adam Parsons, he is working on a college education and has taught himself to speak and write Russian fluently. Some inmates need to be released, he has a family that loves him and could guarantee he would never be seen in the system again.
- reply
|I agree with the release. These prisoners are suffering. Medical care, food, being way over capacitated. I have a fiancee in a california state prison. He was in a bad situation with a woman that was on drugs and drunk all the time. I knew her well. The District attorney had proof that she was on drugs and had provoked this fight between them. All he did was push her and she fell and called the police. I saw the pictures. (not one mark). I beleive that he was sentenced for the drug charges he had previously 10 years prior and did no time for. The system sucks. No man should ever put his hands on a women. This man is the sweetest man. He's not a con. He's not a liar. He's not into any drugs at all. You can get more drugs inside than outside. When i go visit him and the storys I hear because of the overcrowding is unbeleivable. There are people in wheelchairs on his yard that crap on thereselves because the lines are so long to wait, to use the restroom. The medical is never available to people who are NOT considered a priorty. People stick eachother because someone doesn't dry there hands good enough and they go to shack off the water and it gets on another (race) Prison politics is just plain pathetic. I have met many of my fiancee's friends in prison visiting. These people made mistakes. Like, this one man.... He killed a drug dealer when he was 17 years old because his brother was almost killed to death fro beating him up. He has life now. Then another man, He and a friend were playing around wrestling and he hit his head from a blow and he died instantly. He was only 17 and they tried him as an adult. He's 27 now. I've met many good men of my fiancee's friends in prison and they are human and deserve to have another chance at life. Howcome drug dealers get away with hurting onnocent people? Howcome child molesters get probation. They need to release the ones that don't deserve to be there. I also beleive there are people who belong there. People who continue to do crimes and put peoples lives in jeopardy and don't care for life at all. These men want to come home to there families and start a life with there wives that have been waiting for them. Oh! And not to mention the fact that these lifers don't have dates to even get a family visit with there wives. I'm fortunate that my future husband will be getting out in a year. He does qualify for a early release. In 3 years he has not had one write up. So to all those that don't agree. Oh Well. we are all human and WE all makes mistakes.
- reply
|Post new comment