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| Rumors of Early Prisoner Releases Squelched |
| By Los Angeles Times |
| Published: 01/12/2004 |
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The new man in charge of the state's prison system said last Wednesday that, despite California's desperate budget woes, the Schwarzenegger administration would not release inmates early to save money. Roderick Q. Hickman, secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, said a rumor that the administration would free nonviolent convicts before their scheduled release date to cut the $5.3-billion prison budget was not true. "There is no intent to eliminate parole for that population or do early releases for that population," Hickman said. "I won't sacrifice community safety" to trim costs, he said. Rather, he said, the administration aims to save money by reforming the state's beleaguered parole system - specifically by dramatically reducing the number of ex-convicts sent back to prison on parole violations. By expanding programs to better prepare inmates for release - and by supporting them with drug treatment and other help on the outside - fewer will return to prison and "we will get a fiscal payoff," Hickman said. Hickman's comments marked his first public appearance since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to run the state's adult and juvenile penal system, the nation's largest. He appeared before a special state Senate committee on corrections that met to examine California's parole system. That system has been criticized by judges, legislators and, most recently, by a government watchdog agency that dubbed it a "billion-dollar failure" because two out of three parolees wind up back behind bars. Hickman, who began his career as a prison officer, acknowledged that "we can do better." He also said that, despite past tensions between the Legislature and prison administrators, his would be a "collaborative" leadership style. State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman of the committee that convened Wednesday's hearing and a strong critic of the penal system, said she was encouraged by Hickman's remarks and hoped he would bring a new emphasis on rehabilitation to California's 32 prisons. In his wide-ranging testimony, Hickman stressed that Schwarzenegger had no plans to shorten prison terms. Noting that it costs $28,000 a year to house an inmate in California, Democrats in the past have put forth proposals to release certain "lightweight" offenders early. But those ideas have never won much support in the Legislature or the governor's office. With the scale of today's budget problems, however, officials in the Schwarzenegger administration have said that every proposal capable of saving money is on the table. Hickman said that did not include letting convicts out early. About 125,000 inmates are released from California prisons each year. Each is given $200 and told to stay out of trouble while on parole, usually for three years. But few receive much help in rejoining society. A three-week prerelease program is voluntary and not available at all prisons. Only one in four of the state's 161,000 convicts can take academic or vocational classes because offerings are so sparse. Under reforms compelled in part by a class-action lawsuit by inmates, the Department of Corrections this year will establish prerelease centers at every prison, with staff members who will do a risk assessment of outgoing inmates and match their needs with resources in their communities. |
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