Pubdate: Sun, 15 Feb 2009 Source: Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Newspaper group Contact: http://www.dailybreeze.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/881 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion) A SENSIBLE PRISON RULING Releasing low-risk inmates would relieve overcrowding and save the state millions. Three federal judges did the state a huge favor last week by ordering the release of tens of thousands of inmates from California prisons. But you'd never know that from the protestations of Attorney General Jerry Brown and the Schwarzenegger administration. Instead of vowing to try to overturn the ruling, Brown and the governor should negotiate a settlement. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger knows that what the judges are demanding is necessary and doable; his own budget calls for the early release of 16,000 prisoners and changes in parole policies that also will lead to fewer inmates. Court intervention was inevitable. The judges' tentative ruling on lawsuits brought by inmates follows years of state inaction. It is based on persuasive findings that overcrowding denies inmates the fundamental right to medical and mental health care. And what's appropriate for inmates is smart for California. The ruling offers political cover for Schwarzenegger and lawmakers to adopt common-sense prison and sentencing reforms that could save the state $1 billion this year alone without threatening public safety. Prison spending has soared faster than any area of spending since 2001 and now consumes 10 percent of the budget - twice what it was 20 years ago. Despite all that money, much of it in higher pay for guards, the 33 prisons are a mess and are filled with inmates who need not be there. The 158,000 inmates (not counting 12,000 shipped out of state and in other facilities) are housed in prisons built for 84,000. The judges want to cut the capacity from nearly 200 percent to between 120 and 145 percent of capacity. That would force the release of 36,000 to 57,000 inmates over two or three years. The state Legislative Analyst suggested ways that this can be done: Cutting the number of criminals sent to prison by prosecuting crimes like drug possession and forgery as misdemeanors instead of felonies; and diverting some criminals to intensive probation and community-based programs. Every criminal diverted from prison would save the state $100,000. Reducing time in prison by granting credits to inmates who complete rehab programs and granting early release to some nonviolent offenders. Last year, Schwarzenegger proposed early discharge of 20,000 prisoners, although he failed to limit the program to low-risk offenders. Republican lawmakers balked at the whole idea. Reducing the number of parolees returned to prison and scaling back parole for nonserious offenders from three years to a year. Nearly half of 70,000 parolees each year are sent back to prison on technical violations such as a failed drug test. The state would save $125 million if only 25 percent of technical violators weren't reincarcerated, the Legislative Analyst estimates. Some of the savings would reimburse counties for redirecting inmates to jails and to locally based drug treatment and counseling programs. Schwarzenegger has recognized the need for this. He just hasn't moved fast enough. The court action is a last resort. Continuing to pack inmates into prisons, regardless of cost and consequences, is just not a workable formula. Schwarzenegger and legislators should admit it and settle the case. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin