For Release Sunday, August 16, 2009
© 2009 Washington Post Writers Group
In a season of deep deficits and alarming program cuts, why aren’t states more seriously focused on reducing their swelling prison populations?
The Vera Institute of Justice reports unusual progress–22 states, pressed by recession, reluctantly starting cutbacks. But with a world-leading 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States has a long, long ways to go.
California’s case is extreme–but illustrative. In the mid-1970s, it was jailing 20,000 offenders. Today the total is 168,000 inmates–an increase of 740 percent. In 1999, its prison system cost an already massive $4 billion to operate. Now, with more prisoners, more penitentiaries, more guards, more health costs, the budget figure has topped $10 billion–a big contributor to California’s $26 billion budget shortfall.
And the money’s producing more horrors than cures. After 14 years of lawsuits by inmates alleging cruel and unusual punishment, a three-judge federal court panel Aug. 4 ordered California to reduce its prisoner roll by 43,000 inmates over the next two years.
The state, the judges wrote shortly before a major riot at the state prison at Chino, has created a “criminogenic” system that actually pushes prisoners and parolees to more crimes through “appalling,” “horrific” prison conditions:
“Thousands of prisoners are assigned to ‘bad beds,’ such as triple-bunked beds placed in gymnasiums or day rooms, and some institutions have populations approaching 300 percent of their intended capacity. In these overcrowded conditions, inmate-on-inmate violence is almost impossible to prevent, infectious diseases spread more easily, and lockdowns are sometimes the only means by which to maintain control. In short, California’s prisons are bursting at the seams and are impossible to manage.”
Mentally ill inmates are left without access to health care, said the judges, noting that in the last four years “a California inmate was dying needlessly every six or seven days.”
California’s fiscal crisis has already led Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders to agree to cut $1.2 billion from the prison budget. They haven’t agreed how, though discussion includes reducing prison rolls by up to 37,000 through early releases and revised parole practices.
Already, California’s increasingly ideological Republicans are opposed; Assembly Leader Sam Blakeslee talks darkly of “letting out some very dangerous criminals onto our streets and into our neighborhoods.”
And it isn’t just Republicans who resist significant reform–it’s California’s powerful “prison-industrial complex.”
Last autumn, the reformist Drug Policy Alliance and its allies put a “Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act” on the ballot. Supported by a wide range of treatment officials and former high-ranking corrections officials, it focused on non-prison treatment for nonviolent drug offenders plus good time credits for inmates and less arrests of parolees for technical violations. California’s high recidivism rates would be curbed and billions in new prison construction forestalled, the advocates claimed.
But California’s prison guards union (with 2,000-plus members earning over $100,000 a year) didn’t like the idea of fewer inmates (and jobs). So with other pro-prison forces it mounted a $3.5 million television advertising campaign in opposition. California’s political establishment fell into line including Schwarzenegger and former governors including present Attorney General Jerry Brown (a likely 2010 gubernatorial candidate). The measure lost resoundingly.
In contrast to California’s folly, New York State has actually reduced its prison rolls by 10,000 in the last decade. How? By relying heavily on the types of alternative treatment for non-violent offenders that California spurns. And just this year, New York finally repealed the infamous “Rockefeller drug laws” that helped swell its prisons with minor offenders serving long terms.
Now California reformers are pushing a “People’s Budget Fix” formula they say would save at least $12 billion over the next five years. It includes a claimed $5.5 billion through community-based addiction treatment for minor drug offenses (proposed by the Drug Policy Alliance).
Another $1 billion a year, it’s claimed, could be saved by limiting “Three Strikes and You’re Out” penalties to violent crimes (not just shoplifting or simple drug possession). Emptying “Death Row” by converting California’s current capital sentences to life without possibility of parole–an American Civil Liberties Union proposal–would reportedly save $1 billion over five years. Another $1 billion, it’s claimed, would come from closing California’s dysfunctional youth prisons and shifting responsibility to local programs with successful track records.
Such rational reforms–increasingly echoed in states nationally as the fiscal grinder minces budgets–were needed long before the current recession. They’ll be important long afterwards.
When, as a society, we take these rational steps, we’ll not just save dollars. We’ll also start to spare the horrendous human waste and harm to families of knee-jerk law-and-orderism that can’t discern between deep and serious criminal behavior and the missteps, usually in youthful years, that most societies deal with far more calmly–and effectively.
Neal Peirce’s e-mail is npeirce@citistates.com.
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The Vera Institute has revised its recent report — “The Fiscal Crisis in Corrections: Rethinking Policies and Practices,” which highlights the impact of state budget cuts on departments of corrections. The update is prompted by information about the influence of stimulus funds in a number of states and new budget information from four additional states. The revised report, which is based on survey responses from 37 states, finds at least 26 states have reversed the trend of recent decades and cut corrections spending. In three states—Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota—officials reduced initial general fund appropriations knowing that a portion of the reduction would be made up by federal stimulus funds. Thus, although general fund appropriations decreased by double-digits in these states, the actual operational impacts were smaller.
At least 31 states are reducing staff, instituting hiring freezes, reducing salaries or benefits, and/or eliminating pay increases.
At least 22 states are closing facilities or reducing beds, or delaying expansion or construction of new facilities.
To download the revised report visit Vera’s web site at http://www.vera.org/content/fiscal-crisis-corrections-rethinking-policies-and-practices.
A simple solution to overcrowding is in the state run drug rehabs such as the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, Calif. These men are civil commits, not inmates; they chose drug rehab instead of prison but because of overcrowding but they are housed with regular felons. That should be a no-no in itsself. The state would be discharging patients early, not releasing inmates: a win – win situation that could ease tension on both sides of the prison crisis debate.
I would like to know which states are closing hospitals (NJ), junior colleges & laying off street cops, while maintaining their prisons at ‘full levels.’
In Texas we call that ‘fence-post stupid.’
I could not agree more with your article Neal; it is high time that the federal government take a more proactive stance on setting up a national discussion with states to move toward non-prison sanctions for low risk and non-violent or non-dangerous offenders. We have a very long way to go in dismantling the prison machine that has resulted in laws and policies that ensure for a very large number of Americans being painted with the brand of a felon…which many could argue could be causing more harm to our communities than just expensive incarcerations rates…the affects to multiple generations will surely be felt for years to come as our affects to broken families will continue to assure for future prison populations to come. We have been focusing nationally on Reentry when really we need to now begin to look at Pre-Entry and provide evidenced based programs at the local levels throughout the country in habilitating lives rather then sending them to ,(the college of criminality), prison.
An interesting letter on this topic from Sharon of Kent, Washington:
I have worked with people in many different situations in life. For one thing, 27 years in a state institution for the mentally disabled, taught nursery school overseas, and was a military wife for 20 years.
So– When my only daughter decided to marry a man she barely knew and he was “reformed”, I thought twice, but she didn’t.! He had been on his own since he was 15. He came from a poor family that the mother left and took two of the kids, and left my son-in-law ( we can call him Len) with an alcoholic and disabled father in the south. Len moved on with his life and learned to be a “meth cooker” user, seller at an early age. He was in and out of jails and “found God’ several times, attempted to change his ways, married, got in drug messes again and managed to stay clean enough to do some interstate trucking. He divorced. Once more, the addiction took over and it landed him in a southern state prison.
My daughter met him as she was working her second second job and he was on work release…. My daughter and Len married and he was clean for three 3 years. A great marriage, a step-son of age 3, earning $60,000 a year out in the Seattle area. He was attending church, coming home from working… Then, one evening he didn’t come home. My daughter was frantic! The next day he came in and she could see he was changed…. He’d bragged to a co-worker that he knew how to cook the Meth and that LOTS of money could be made. One heartbreak after another came with this horrid addiction. He got fired from his job, moved out, ruined a brand new home where the Meth was being cooked. He would call my daughter from various places. She had no idea where he was calling from. My father died, and he promised he’d come for the funeral… he didn’t!
When he was finally caught in Oregon, he was sent to a state prison for five years, and has served that time. However, he is also classified as a felon and when arrested, had 5 weapons on his body ( thank God he didn’t shoot anyone.) So, presently, he is in a federal facility and has three years to serve.
Len is an extrovert a friendly man and fully believes that he should serve all of his time. But it is the situations of others and the many times he has been lied to by wardens, guards and professionals that irks him and also me! He was told to put in his transfer papers six months ago, that there was a possibility he could move to the state my daughter is, now, we come to find out that the counselor who told him this and who apparently was going to see to the details and fax is “TOO BUSY”…. But, he thought the papers were sent…
There aren’t enough jobs for the inmates, they are in lockdown more than they are out. This federal facility he is in has incidents all of the time. They then lock everyone in their cells for days even weeks at a time. There is no such thing as incentives or time off or special anything to get their “time reduced.” He has never been offered any type of rehabilitation. In the seven years that he has been incarcerated he has been written up once…one naughty little thing….you know what it was? He got a coke out of a machine and handed it to his buddy. As he was getting his own out of the machine a guard came up and yelled at him for “sharing..” He then was locked in his cell and had the punishment of 10 days of isolation….
So, when I hear of riots, and things of that nature, I ask questions… What are the incentives for good behavior, are there jobs, is there exercise, are classes offered?
There are usually two sides to every story. Locking up men ( women also) and tossing the key away is not the answer…..Prison reform is needed..and a little positive help.
Oh! My daughter has not seen her husband in over three years, as every time she plans an expensive trip to see him, he goes into lockdown. One bad apple spoils the situation for the other 2,000…..Sending Len and other druggies to Rehab would be a LOT cheaper than prison life…Even sending them 10 times…
It is a shame that all of the bad stuff of inmates is shown on t.v. and nothing about the good ones that don’t cause any problems and are just doing their time..of course, that wouldn’t be newsworthy, would it???
Thanks for reading this. Your news column was great and it appears in the Seattle Times. Sharon of Kent, Wa.
Reform is absolutely necessary and we need to back Senator Webb’s bill http://webb.senate.gov/email/criminaljusticereform.htmIf we could even begin with ridding the system of the elderly incarcerated in minimum security prisons, these old people who are basically not harmful to society and cost the maintain inmates over the age of 75 is so high and they cannot work – this would be a good start.
Received from Art Michael of Mercer Island, Washington–
Read your column Tuesday 8/18 in the Seattle Times.
Prison spending is out of line because our ultra conservative legislators have produced laws that choke the judicial bench, and load the prisons, while not accomplishing the purpose of the justice system- send a warning to potential lawbreakers to avert future lawlessness. I think we do a great job of educating those we send to jail, in accomplishing even more dramatic crimes, and produce super criminals- adding to the cost of detention.
While the states will find the money to fix the jail spending, they won’t find the money to fund education, and thereby produce a new generation of unemployables, more than likely to follow their predecessors to spend time behind bars.
What’s wrong with this picture? Legislators that focus on last week, not the future. Legislators that spend more time thinking up dirty tricks to play against their counterparts than working on honest legislative needs. Legislators who would rather debate the placement of the Ten Commandments than follow them.
Write a column on that! It would be far more significant than recounting worthless statistics on how bad the prison system is. That is just a symptom of the underlying cause- a legislative branch – state and federal – that has its head buried deep in the sand and wrapped in a bible.