Pubdate: Mon, 26 Feb 2007
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2007 The Fresno Bee
Contact:  http://www.fresnobee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/161
Author: Jim Boren, Editorial Page Editor

DON'T LET POLITICIANS FOOL YOU WITH PRISON SPIN

The politicians and their special-interest pals in Sacramento have 
tried to make California's prison crisis complicated. Don't fall for 
the spin. It's really very simple.

The state is on the verge of being forced to release thousands of 
inmates from overcrowded prisons because legislators and governors 
have traded campaign contributions from the prison guards union for 
taxpayer-funded goodies that have made our prisons too expensive to 
operate. And as the overcrowding problem has escalated, the 
legislators -- Democrats and Republicans -- have ducked every 
solution put before them.

Incompetent management of the correctional system, as well as 
individual prisons, has contributed to the problem careening out of 
control. Prison authorities can't even hire the 4,000 correctional 
officers that have been authorized because they can't get them trained.

Now the state's politicians are wringing their hands, blaming 
everyone but themselves for the out-of-control prison system.

Same Old, Same Old

It's a tired old story in California. Major problems are ignored 
until they become too big to contain. We see it in the state's health 
care crisis, in our crumbling infrastructure and with the upside down 
state budget. Now we have an emergency in the prison system, and the 
politicians act as if they didn't see it coming.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried a short-term fix, proposing the 
transfer of thousands of prisoners to private lockups in other 
states. But the politically powerful guards union and the Service 
Employees International Union, which represents other prison 
employees, went to court to stop the transfer. They claimed 
Schwarzenegger didn't have the authority to send prisoners out of 
state, and they won.

Now the legislators are complaining about the court decision, saying 
it threatens public safety by forcing the early release of some 
prisoners. But don't believe that misdirection. It's our elected 
officials who have made California a more dangerous state by not 
fixing the system before it got into this shape.

If dangerous criminals are released to prey on Californians, those 
crimes will be on the hands of the state's elected leadership. It 
will happen because the legislators and a string of governors have 
ignored the problem for years.

Don't forget that during the time that the prison crisis has been 
brewing, the politicians have been dancing to the tune of the guards union.

Prison officials say there are about 173,000 inmates crowded into 33 
prisons. Those prisons are designed to hold 100,000 inmates.

They're not working together

Schwarzenegger has proposed building more prisons and also wants a 
sentencing commission to look at ways to reduce the prison 
population. But he's not getting help from the Legislature.

Lawsuits have put the prison system under federal oversight for 
several reasons, including overcrowding. If the governor doesn't 
offer a viable plan to a federal judge, the release of prisoners 
could be ordered by the court.

The Schwarzenegger administration says it will appeal last week's 
state court decision on the out-of-state transfer of prisoners. The 
governor wants the ability to transfer prisoners to ease the crowding 
problem until a long-term solution can be found. Of course, 
"long-term solution" is not a phrase that the state's politicians are 
familiar with.

On Thursday, Schwarzenegger gave the predictable sound bite: "One 
thing I can assure you, we will not release any inmates that are a 
danger to society just because of overcrowding."

He may not have a choice if the federal judge doesn't think the 
governor and Legislature is acting in good faith on the overcrowding issue.

With their backs to the wall, maybe our leaders will solve this 
problem. But don't count on it. If their pattern holds, they'll do 
just enough to avert the immediate crisis.

Then they'll move to the next crisis. They can't help themselves.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman