The State of Corrections

The state of California is often touted as a growth state. Shamefully, one of its biggest and fastest growing institutions is its massive penal system of 170,000-plus prisoners, the largest in the nation. And as huge as the penal system is, its still too small for its burgeoning occupancy, which is almost double over what it was physically and constitutionally designed to hold.

Over thirty-three concrete and steel prisons hold this independent-county-sized population of people. That’s a lot of growth from the first California prison in the 1850s, which was actually a rotting three-mast ship. (Imagine how different things might be if we focused on growing the educational system with similar zeal.)

Following a derailed attempt at badly needed prison reform by the legislature this Spring, this massive monster of a penal system is now slated to grow even more. In a hurried effort to hold three federal judges at bay—who see the need to intervene or outright takeover the failed system—Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently announced that he had forged a deal with lawmakers to add nearly sixty thousand new beds to existing sites, unsightly, matte-gray sites that dot California’s otherwise lively green landscape like a bad case of acne.

Of course, the price tag for these ungainly places must grow as well. Californians already strain to pay the current $9 billion a year budget, which translates to an estimated $40,000 a year, per prisoner. Add to that $7 billion for the expansion—which one insider estimates will balloon to $15 billion with interest.

The justification for the expansion is to ease overcrowding. It’s the exact same so-called remedy each governor has implemented; governor after governor, term after term, for the last thirty years. Each one passing along a more dire crisis.

Today, the state of corrections can best be described in two syllables: a mess!

Yet, this band-aid of a fix does nothing to address the causes of the mess.

-There’s no plan for parole reform, though California has the highest recidivism rate in the nation.

-The CDCR’s Board of Parole Hearings is in complete shambles; releasing only two percent of lifers who come before it—though the system was actually designed to release reformed men and women, like other states manage to do. As a result, the hopelessness increases violence and suicides—and again, California has some of the highest rates in both categories.

-And thousands of non-violent three-strikers still hopelessly linger within, though just about everyone, including a number of judges, agree the law is bad policy and needs desperate reform—in fact, the only opponents seem to be those who profit politically or financially from the yearly growth.

-Robert Sillen, the federal court appointed receiver of the failed medical division of the CDCR, has charged repeatedly that the department wastes billions of dollars because of chronic mismanagement.

-Incessant overtime due to staff shortages has caused persistent cost overruns over the years. Last year, alone, overtime totaled $277 million. This year is expected to be no different.

Astonishingly, there was no remedy offered for these obvious problems, which actually go on and on but were limited for this essay.

In sum, the state of corrections is so tattered that even those who host the most unfettered hatred towards prisoners should be white-hot at the failures because each parolee who fails after release, and makes a new victim, is but a reflection of the bigger picture.

Sources:

William Wan., “Parole Museum Pays Tribute to Unsung System,” Los Angeles Times, May 17, 2004: B3 (First prison, according to parole agent Paul Toma).

Pacifica Network’s KPFK Evening News (90.7 FM), February 8, 2007, (billions wasted).

Pacifica Network’s KPFK Evening News (90.7 FM), February 9, 2007, (billions wasted).

Pacifica Network’s KPFK Evening News (90.7 FM), April 26, 2007, (Prison expansion deal).

KNBC4 News, April 27, 2007 (Prison expansion deal).

“California Parole Board Squelches Life Prisoner Writs on Procedural Grounds,” Prison Legal News, October 2006: p. 38, (98% of paroles denied).

“California Prison Guards’ Overtime Doubles to $277 Million,” August 2006.

Don Thompson (AP), “California Inmate Suicides Climb, Security Changes Blamed,” August 6, 2005 (Herald.com).

Inmate Price Tag $43,287 – Legislative Analyst’s Office, Sacramento Bee, February 2007.

cdcr.ca.gov – violence statistics and other information.