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BOE Member George Runner

Early Release of Bureaucrats Not Early Release of Prisoners!

Posted by at 12:00 am on Jul 22, 2009

What California needs is a release of middle management prison bureaucrats.  Instead of pushing a plan of early release of tens of thousands of convicted felons from our state prison we ought to be looking for savings by cutting the fat out of CDCR.

The Governor’s prison budget savings plan would release nearly 30,000 prisoners into our communities.  Senate Republicans have a safe and sane plan to achieve the same level of savings without any early release of prisoners, and it’s in writing.

See the "Corrections Budget Reductions" document below.

California has virtually the same number of prisoners in state prison than it did ten years ago, while the state population continues to increase.  The number of individuals in state prison in California is roughly average per capita in the US, why the rush to release.

We should cut the fat instead of releasing dangerous felons into our neighborhoods.

 Corrections Budget Reductions

Summary of conflicts between Democrat and Administration’s jointly proposed cuts to Corrections and Senate Republican alternatives

The 2009-10 budget is expected to reflect $1.2 billion in cuts to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.  Many of the cuts are painful.  However, Senate Republicans believe that these cuts can be achieved without severely jeopardizing public safety.  Of particular concern are proposals that a portion of budget cuts be achieved by:
  1. Turning felonies into misdemeanors
  2. Granting additional early release credits to prisoners already receiving half-time credits for doing nothing
  3. Releasing tens of thousands of felons a year early on the pretext that it will save millions
Senate Republicans have identified alternative cuts which can save more taxpayer dollars without reducing felonies to misdemeanors or dumping prisoners into neighborhoods throughout the state.

 

Democrat/Administration Proposal

Republican Alternatives

Early release credits which permit felons to serve less than half of sentence

$26 million

$0 – Reject Proposal

Reduction of penalties for felony vehicle theft, forgery, fraud, and grand theft regardless of amount to a misdemeanor

$99 million

$0 – Reject Proposal

Reduction of sentences by releasing prisoners a year early to undefined community supervision

$120 million

$0 – Reject Proposal

Additional reduction to inmate and parole rehabilitation programs

$0

Up to $265 million*

Thirty percent reduction to budget of CDCR’s Department of Juvenile Justice

$0

Up to $107 million**

TOTALS

$245 million

$375 million

The three most ill-conceived Corrections budget proposals are projected to save the state $245 million but have little to do with savings.  Reductions of sentences and release of prisoners are perpetual goals of the most liberal members of the California State Legislature.  The budget crisis has created a pretext for advancing soft-on-crime proposals that have routinely failed when they are exposed to public scrutiny and fully debated in open legislative hearings.  Moreover, much of the proposed savings are illusory because proposals to reduce sentences are not accompanied by the closure of any prisons or any consideration of the costs of increased crime following the release of felons before they complete their terms. In fact, one proposal granting authority to an unelected sentencing commission to set criminal penalties saves no money at all and only shields the Legislature from responsibility for bad criminal justice policy decisions.
 
Releasing some convicted felons so that others can participate in largely ineffective rehabilitation programs is a poor use of scarce resources and a betrayal of the public trust. Nor should Corrections release adult felons to save money while little is done to reduce the obscene, $250,000-per-year cost of incarcerating each juvenile offender in the state’s bloated Department of Juvenile Justice.

*The Governor proposed $440 million in program cuts in his May revise but Democrats have sought to restore $265 million in programs.
**DJJ spent $252,000 per ward in the just-ended fiscal year. A 30% reduction to the 2009-10 budget would leave about $165,000 per ward would save approximately $107 million.

See this LA Times story.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.

3 Responses to “Early Release of Bureaucrats Not Early Release of Prisoners!”

  1. gydanw@cvip.net Says:
    July 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am

    I support what the Governor wants, which is what you’re objecting to, George. It’s time to downsize the prisons and do away with ridicious “enhancements” that can be twisted. When a group of music fans is being classified as a criminal street gang because some cop finds the music to be “anti-establishment” it’s time to wake up from this insanity.

  2. gydanw@cvip.net Says:
    July 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am

    And, the Governor’s office said the prison changes can be passed without any Republican votes–a simple majority is all that’s required.

  3. hoover@cts.com Says:
    July 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am

    So THAT’s why we have Prison Overcrowding.

    Too many music down-loaders. LOL !

    Maybe the Black Helicopters are also involved.