It is time to revisit how we use our prison system. California's total state budget for all government services hovers at around $100 billion per year, and we are facing a $41 billion budget shortage. Programs for educating children, providing social services to the elderly, public health care, and services to transportation and infrastructure are being slashed. Tax increases are being proposed across the board.
More than 100,000 inmates are released each year, and nearly 80,000 of them return to prison. It costs $47,600 per year to house one inmate, and $600,000 to build a new prison cell. California's growing prison population exceeds 172,000 inmates (in a system designed to house just 75,000).4 As it approaches 230% of design capacity, conditions are leading to hostilities and conflict which then finds its way into our communities.
On average there are more than 315 violent riots each year in California's prisons that are not disclosed to the public. Recently, in Folsom State Prison, a guard was taken hostage and the entire state correctional system was shut-down because headquarters expected it to be a part of a larger conspiracy to attack staff throughout the statewide prisons system. Nearly one-third of the prison population is presently serving a sentence for a non-violent offense which posed no actual or credible threat to public safety, and could have been dealt with using other more cost-effective and constructive ways than prison. However, offenders of all types (non-violent and violent) are mixed together in 'general population' so it becomes a 'survival of the fittest' scenario which is not conducive to a rehabilitative environment. No risk assessment is used to separate violent from non-violent inmates and they are all housed together. While there must be consequences for breaking the law, prison ought to be a last resort. Prison should be reserved only for those offenders who are an actual credible threat to the safety of the public, and only so long as they remain a credible threat to public safety. It is time we take a non-partisan approach
to reforming Corrections in meaningful ways
and provide real public safety for all Californians. Presently 1 in every 116 Californians is either incarcerated or on parole and under the control of California's state correctional system. 4 out of every 5 of our adult offenders (and 9 in every 10 youthful offenders), who are released on parole or probation, fails to complete the terms of their release and most are soon returned to 'the system.' As a result, our prison budget keep growing by roughly $400 million each year. In 2005, their budget ran $1 billion over primarily due to overpopulation demands. Things have not improved since then. This creates a costly and repeating cycle of crime which costs taxpayers and jeopardizes funding for public education, transportation, and healthcare by taking their budget money and diverting it to instead fund prisons.1 The Governor's 2006 May Revise of the Annual Budget Act seeks to increase CDCR's budget by another $600 million4, or enough money that we could have otherwise provided full education to 120,000 K-12 school children, or a college education at a State University for 183,000 students.4 Instead of wisely investing in the education of our youth, the care of our elderly, and the social needs of our society, nearly 40% of all our tax dollars is devoted to public safety services from the point of making first contact with an offender to the point of their release. The failure rate of that 40% investment? 79% -- 4 out of 5 ultimately fail parole.2 Our tax dollars continue to be spent on a failed and costly correctional system which returns less and less on our investment. The annual budget for the adult system alone continues to grow by $400 to $600 million each year.4 When the Little Hoover Commission, which is an independent government oversight and audit committee, audited the cost of 'dealing' with our failed parolees and probationers, they concluded it ultimately costs taxpayers at least $900 million extra each year.3 Every year California's prison budget increases
while other state programs are slashed to pay for it
and we are not any safer as a result.4 Our rapidly growing prison system has the highest failure rate in the nation. According to the Legislative Analysts Office (LAO), if California was to report recidivism (rate of re-offense) like most other states do, then 79% of inmates who are released fail to complete their parole and are returned to "the system" because they are unprepared to succeed in our society.2
But the Department of Corrections has only been reporting the first two years of parole when determining the recidivism. Now, they will only be reporting the first year. Obviously a shorter monitoring and reporting time will give the appearance of a better statistic. But either way, new offenders and returning offenders means an ever-growing, bulging, and costly correctional system. In 2005, when the name of the California Department of Corrections was changed to include the word "Rehabilitation," $45 million was slashed from Rehabilitative programs. Yet despite significant cost increases and obvious failures, very little money and effort is spent on providing life changing tools to these offenders:5 Drug treatment (when available) is given only at the end of a prison sentence, yet 80% of our inmate population is serving time for an offense related to substance abuse. Drugs are readily available inside of our prisons. The average inmate has a 7th grade education, however educational courses are offered only to 3% of the inmate population and classes are frequently cancelled (yet still fully funded) Without the skills to get a job, a parolee is more likely to return to a life of crime. Yet only 10% of our inmates are allowed to enroll in a vocational program to provide them with employable skills once released. Few of the "jobs" offer skills which provide livable wages in society.
Where does the money we spend on Corrections go? 66% of the entire Corrections budget goes to a phenomenal salaries and benefits package for prison staff, and 30% of the budget goes to facilities maintenance. That leaves just 4% actually being spent on inmates and their improvement.6 Shall we keep locking up inmates for longer
and continue to increase our taxes
to pay for this failed system? Leading criminologist research shows that approach no longer works for California because we have reached the threshold of "diminishing returns" on our investment in prisons.7 That means the past 30 years of lock 'em up and throw away the key mentality no longer makes us any safer, it just costs us more money -- money that could be better spent on our own families, public education, fixing our roads, and providing improved healthcare for the average Californian.
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