Solving California's Corrections Crisis:
January 25, 2007
Time is Running Out
(Report #185, January 2007)
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger and members of the Legislature:
California
’s prisons are out of space and running out of
time. The State already has ceded control to the federal
courts for prison mental health, juvenile justice and the
prison health system. In December, a federal judge ordered
the State to fix the overcrowding problem within six months,
or face the prospect of a prison population cap. The State
is past the point for assigning blame. The urgency of the
crisis demands we look now to those who can produce a
solution. That responsibility lies with the Governor and the
Legislature. You have the authority and, as
California’s
leaders, must share the duty of fixing
California’s failed
corrections system.
A default strategy of waiting until federal judges order
needed changes is not governing. The Governor and
Legislature need to take the initiative away from federal
courts by demonstrating you have a better plan. That way,
the Governor and Legislature can regain the confidence of
the courts as well as the Californians they govern. You must
assess your options frankly and move forward together on a
solution. The Governor has taken a first step with proposals
that acknowledge the key issues and signal willingness to
engage in the process of developing solutions. But proposals
have been made before only to stop short of full
implementation. The Governor and Legislature need to lay out
plans that include strategies and timetables for major
milestones. And you need to deliver on your commitments.
The Governor and Legislature must find the political will to
move past rhetoric and address ways to solve the prison
population crisis and make good on promises to improve
public safety. “Tough on Crime” sentencing laws have to be
judged by outcomes and matched with fiscal responsibility.
To ensure public safety, reforms will have to jettison
posturing to make room for smart on crime policies.
You must act decisively on the problem or turn it over to an
independent body, insulated from politics, that can. Our
recommendation and preference is for you to do it
yourselves.
The problem does not need further study. The
State knows what the answers are, thanks to nearly two
decades of work by such groups as the Blue Ribbon Commission
on Population Management, the Corrections Independent Review
Panel and a series of reports by this Commission. Despite
ample evidence and recommendations, policy-makers have been
unwilling to take on the problem in a purposeful,
constructive way.
The consequences of failing to act
aggressively now leave the
State open to losing control of the State correctional system and with it,
control of the state budget. The debacle developed over decades.
Solutions,
likewise, will be years in the making. But making a start
now is essential.
The bare facts have earned California’s
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation an ignoble
distinction for systemic failure. Inmates have swelled
prisons far past capacity. With cells already full, new
inmates camp out in hallways, gyms and classrooms. The goals
of punishment and confinement have left little room, or
budget, for rehabilitation. The bulk of the State’s
prisoners are not succeeding once released.
California’s
recidivism rate, at 70 percent, is near the highest in the
nation. The ranks of correctional officers have not kept
pace with the rising prison population. The department has
thousands of openings, resulting in huge overtime bills and
mounting stress for correctional officers.
These are some of the problems you must solve.
During the past five years, the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation budget has urged 52 percent.
California
taxpayers legitimately can ask what return they are getting in
increased public safety and question the trade -offs the State
implicitly makes in spending an increasing portion of its general
fund dollars on corrections. The status quo is not acceptable. But even
federal court intervention, a special legislative session
and a Governor’s emergency proclamation have yet to generate
a level of alarm that reflects the size of the crisis. The
choices are stark. The price of failure is unimaginable. It
is not too late to act.
Sincerely, Michael E. Alpert
Chairman
Solving California's Corrections Crisis:
Time is Running Out
(Report #185, January 2007)
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Solving California's Corrections Crisis: Time is Running Out
 
