Pubdate: Wed, 26 Dec 2007
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Jordan Rau, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

STATE'S PRISON BUDGET SOARS

Court Orders and Ballot Measures Like Jessica's Law Have Helped Fuel 
Spending, Which Has Climbed 79% Since '03.

SACRAMENTO -- When a judge put Robert Sillen in charge of healthcare 
in California prisons, the medical staff was vastly underpaid. 
Software used to track inmates' medical histories could not transfer 
information between computers.

San Quentin State Prison had only one phone line for incoming calls 
and none to dial out, isolating doctors who needed to talk to 
specialists and other professionals.

"It's just shameful what the state has done," Sillen said in an interview.

He has been trying to fix things, but solutions come at a price: 
Healthcare spending in state prisons has doubled in the last two years.

Sillen's court-ordered intervention is just one reason California's 
prison spending has far outpaced the swelling number of inmates, 
contributing to the state's projected $14-billion budget gap, which 
would be the worst since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's election in 2003.

The prison population has grown by 8% since 2003, to more than 
173,000. But the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's 
budget has exploded, increasing 79% to $8.5 billion, and is expected 
to top $10 billion next year.

Prison spending now is greater than that for any other major program 
except public schools and healthcare for the poor. The nonpartisan 
legislative analyst's office projects 6% annual increases in prison 
spending for the next five years as a new prison and dozens of 
building additions are constructed and opened.

"We know there's a lot coming down the pike," said Daniel Carson, who 
oversees criminal justice spending for the legislative analyst.

Several causes of the department's fiscal metastasis are the same 
that plague many parts of California's $145-billion state budget: 
spending set at the ballot box and in the courts; bureaucratic waste; 
and more than a decade of neglect in construction, repairs and other 
improvements. In addition, failed efforts to help inmates stay away 
from crime after their release have boosted prison spending.

The fiscal problems might not be so severe if the prison population 
had dropped as crime rates went down. But it hasn't, largely because 
lawmakers have been lengthening sentences and many released inmates 
end up back behind bars for new crimes.

Voters too have contributed to the burgeoning budget, notably by 
approving the three strikes initiative in 1994, which authorized life 
imprisonment for repeat felons, and Jessica's Law in November 2006. 
The latter measure, supported by 70% of voters, restricts where 
released sex offenders can live and requires that they be tracked by 
satellite for life. Over time, the cost of tracking paroled offenders 
could grow to $100 million or more, the state says.

Another initiative is being readied for the ballot next year by the 
authors of last year's measure: Sharon and George Runner, two 
Republican lawmakers from Lancaster; she in the Assembly and he in 
the Senate. The proposed initiative, which has not yet qualified, 
would require the state to spend nearly $1 billion to combat gang 
crimes and lengthen some prison sentences.

"People are trying to do one-upmanship to claim 'I'm tough on crime,' 
and it has a cost to it," said Sen. Michael Machado (D-Linden), who 
oversees the corrections portion of the state budget.

But spending on prison programs has not always been a good 
investment. For example, some programs intended to help inmates avoid 
future prison stays have proved ineffective.

A report by the inspector general in February found that the 
corrections department repeatedly failed to fix problems that had 
been identified in studies the department commissioned.

The report concluded that substance abuse treatment programs, which 
have cost taxpayers more than $1 billion since 1989, have had no 
effect on keeping people off drugs so that they don't end up back in prison.

With overflowing prisons and antiquated computers, the corrections 
department has proved incapable of even such basic tasks as releasing 
inmates when their time is up.

Department officials admitted this month that as many as 33,000 
prisoners may be scheduled to remain behind bars longer than they 
were supposed to because corrections officials miscalculated their 
sentences. Over-long stays could be costing the state nearly $26 
million extra each year.

Lawmakers have postponed dealing with prison overpopulation for so 
long that federal courts, which put Sillen in charge of medical care 
in early 2006, are considering imposing a cap on the number of 
inmates. That could result in lower prison spending.

"We have not added to our prison capacity to any significant degree 
since the 1980s," said Assemblyman Roger Niello of Fair Oaks, the 
highest-ranking Republican on the Assembly Budget Committee. "We have 
for the past couple of decades neglected the development of our 
public infrastructure generally, and the prisons are just another 
part of that."

Legislators this year approved $7.4 billion in borrowing to add more 
beds in hopes of appeasing the judges, but that plan may not be 
sufficient to avert a court takeover of the entire system. Whatever 
happens, the state is committed to the spending required to pay off the debt.

Meanwhile, prison guard salaries have escalated substantially, adding 
to the spiraling expenses. That is due in large part to the political 
influence of the guards union, which donates heavily to politicians 
and has been an effective lobby at the Capitol.

The average monthly salary of corrections officers has increased 57% 
during the current decade, to $4,959 a month, according to the department.

Sillen, for his part, has raised salaries for doctors, nurses, 
dietitians and X-ray technicians to fill long-standing vacancies and 
recruit more skilled employees. Prison pharmacists, for instance, who 
had earned less than half the salaries they could get outside the 
system, have received 64% raises to as much as $123,936 a year.

There is little sign that the growth in the prisons budget will abate 
any time soon. Prison healthcare spending alone has increased 263% 
since 2000, to $2.1 billion a year, and Sillen predicted that he 
would raise it by as much as $500 million for the fiscal year that 
begins in July.

Through the courts, Sillen has the power to order spending that not 
even the governor can deny.

"We're not cutting our spending -- we're planning on increasing our 
spending," Sillen said. "Our charge is to bring the system up to 
constitutional muster." 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake