Pubdate: Fri, 14 Nov 2003
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2003 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Yomi S. Wronge

PAROLE SYSTEM DECLARED A FAILURE

Condemning the state's parole system as a $1 billion failure, the Little 
Hoover Commission says greater emphasis is needed on preparing inmates for 
release and giving local police departments increased authority to 
supervise parolees.

In a report released Thursday, the commission charges that few of the 
125,000 felons released from prison each year are prepared for life on the 
outside. And it noted 70 percent of the parolees return to prison within 18 
months.

"Virtually every other state has done a better job at returning parolees to 
society," said James Mayer, the commission's executive director. The Little 
Hoover Commission is a bipartisan, independent state agency charged with 
recommending ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of state 
programs.

Mayer said the percentage of California parole violators returned to prison 
nearly tripled between 1980 and 2000. He blames this cycle on the wasteland 
of daily life in prisons, where, he said, most inmates spend their time 
honing their crime skills.

Few receive education, job training or drug treatment necessary to stand a 
chance of success on the outside.

"It's an insane system," said Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, who joined the 
commission at a press conference Thursday.

The report -- the second such analysis the commission has done of 
California's correctional system in the past decade -- was delivered to 
Gov. Gray Davis, Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature.

Brown said parole reform is critical to helping stem crime in Oakland, 
where 106 homicides have been committed this year. Last year, 113 people 
were killed in the city, and officials say felons are involved in most 
violent crimes -- either as victims or perpetrators.

He is scheduled to meet with state parole officials today to discuss his 
recommendation that local authorities be allowed to jail parolees who 
commit minor offenses, such as drug possession, for up to 10 days so they 
can receive drug treatment and spiritual counseling. From there, he'd like 
to impose night curfews for the city's most worrisome parolees.

"If I don't get what I want, I will go to Arnold personally," said Brown, 
who served two terms as governor in the 1970s.

The Department of Corrections, meanwhile, is jumping ahead of the state 
Legislature by implementing its own form of the commission's recommendations.

Beginning in January, new parole agents will be hired to do risk 
assessments on every inmate coming up for release in California's 32 
prisons. Parole agents will then use that information to determine 
appropriate ways to deal with parolees who commit low-level offenses, such 
as failing a drug test.

The so-called New Parole Model is designed to keep non-violent felons from 
returning to jail by linking them up with services to get to the root of 
their problems.

"This will actually have a net benefit effect on public safety and a 
positive effect on our budget," said Russ Heimerich, spokesman for the 
Department of Corrections.

The program will cost an estimated $40 million to implement, but Heimerich 
said the reduction in the prison population -- as much as 15,000 by 2005 -- 
should result in a net savings of $79 million by the end of the next fiscal 
year.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman