[NYTr] California Governor considers early release of 22, 000 prisoners

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Steven L. Robinson - activ-l

[It is ironic that Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may
finally be taking steps to limit the bloated prison industrial complex
in Californa by releasing over 20,000 petty offenders. He will not be
doing it out of humanitarian or progressive motivations, only out of
budgetary compulsion. Nonetheless it should be applauded as a good
first step.  Note he is also proposing eliminating some prison guard
jobs.  By proposing to cut prison jobs the Terminator is the first
California Governor in decades to take on the right wing prison guards
union - Dem Governor Gray Davis would never have dared to do so. -SR]

San Francisco Chronicle -  Dec 21, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/21/MNMHU2OOI.DTL


Governor considers early release of 22,000 from state's prisons

by Kevin Fagan, Staff Writer

Sacramento-- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering the early
release of 22,000 inmates from the state's prisons to save hundreds of
millions of dollars in an effort to ease California's looming budget
crunch.

The idea is one of many that have been presented to the governor by his
departmental budget directors, and he has not decided if he likes it or
not, Schwarzenegger spokesman Bill Maile said Thursday. But if the plan
were to be put into action, it would constitute one of the biggest
early releases of prisoners in U.S. history.

"The governor asked his department heads to work with their budget
managers to find ways to cut the budget by 10 percent because of the
budget crisis we are facing, and this idea was one of many that was
floated in reaction to that request," Maile said. "It's not a proposal
yet, just an idea."

California has 172,000 inmates incarcerated in 33 institutions. The
release of 22,000 offenders would reduce the number of inmates by 12
percent, and potentially save about $250 million a year, sources told
The Chronicle.

Only prisoners who are considered low risk because they are nonviolent,
not sex offenders and had less than two years left on their sentences
would be considered for the early release.

Details of the plan were first reported on the Sacramento Bee's Web site
Thursday night.

If Schwarzenegger decides the idea of releasing the inmates early has
merit, he may include it in the annual budget proposal he will send to
the state Legislature on Jan. 10, Maile said. But for now, there are
too many ideas to analyze before anyone determines what will fly and
what will not, he said.

Legislators, the governor and managers throughout the state are
grappling with ways to stave off a projected $14 billion budget
deficit. The California Department of Corrections, which has an $8
billion annual budget, has often been targeted as a place where money
could be saved in lean times.

The state's prison system is the second-biggest in the United States,
after the federal prison system, and has the country's worst
overcrowding problem. Some prisons are at more than 200 percent of
their planned capacity.

The plan that was forwarded to Schwarzenegger also proposes cutting more
than 4,000 jobs in the prison system, sources said. That, plus the early
release, would represent a change in direction for the governor, who has
vigorously advocated building more prisons to expanding the number of
beds by more than 10,000.

Any proposal the governor comes up with next month would have to be
approved by the Legislature before it goes into action.

The early release plan would be sure to draw both praise and fire from
the perpetually heated corners of prison debate.

Eric Hickey, a criminology professor at the California State University
Fresno, said the concept of releasing prisoners early is not new. He
also did not think it was wise.

"A lot of these guys are getting time off already for good behavior, so
letting them out even earlier sends a message that we're not serious
about being tough on crime," Hickey said. "It's not good policy.

"It's unfair to the victims, and it sends the wrong message."

He noted that the recidivism rate among state prisoners - the rate at
which they re-offend and have to go back to prison - runs as high as 75
percent.

"When times get tough, someone always proposes letting prisoners go
early," Hickey said.