WINNING THE RACE TO INCARCERATE
By
DORTELL WILLIAMS

(Approx. 310 words non-fiction)

According to the colorful Western European flavored magazine “the Economist” (August 12, 2006, p.23) California’s colossal prison population, under Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, exceeds that of Japan, Germany, England & Wales, and France, respectively.

California has pressed and packed within it’s repressive citadels 172,000 stress-tainted prisoners, all behind the massive walls of 33 prisons and 12 “community correctional facilitites,” designed to hold about half its current number.

One major problem, among many, is that the beleaguered state has bedeviled itself with a policy of perpetually locking up people for trivial offenses under 1994 Three Strikes law.

Thousands of non-violent vexation is the state’s approach to released parolees. California supervises its parolees for far longer than most states and sends them back to prison for relatively minor mis-steps such as reporting late to a parole officer or missing a drug test. The combination of a 3-year parole tail and myopic zero tolerance policy for ex-offenders struggling to reintegrate into free society without pre-release rehabilitation or drug treatment almost ensures a return to the inside. The sad and expensive fact is that 11 percent of California’s prisoners are parole violators and 70 percent of California’s parolees are recidivists. Critics call it a set-up to fail.

California is on the fast track to becoming a literal prison state. With such policies, along with an obstinate refusal to release reformed lifers, California’s prison population is expected to grow by 21,000 within the next 5 years. The Democratic-controlled Congress has been pushing for prudent sentencing and parole reform, but Schwarzenegger has vehemently rebuffed such efforts; instead pushing to pour another $6 billion to expand the already $9 billion a year debacle.

Oddly enough, Schwarzenegger defeated Davis in the 2003 recall by promising badly needed education and prison reform. We certainly got that; only now it seems we’re winning the race to incarcerate and losing the battle to educate. It’s as backwards as backwards can get.

Sources:

Don Thompson (AP) “Prison watchdog Rips Governor,” Antelope Valley Press, June 22, 2006: A10

Don Thompson (AP) “Prison Problems Prompt Special Session,” Antelope Valley Press, August 2006: A1, A6

Jennifer Warren and Jordan Rau, “Prison Reform Plan Falls Short,” Los Angeles Times, August 30, 2006: B1, B7

Valdiva v. Schwarzenegger, 2004, also Steven Fama, The Prison Law Office

SEPT 2006