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| Youth Prison Model Sets High Bar |
| By wsj.com |
| Published: 10/12/2009 |
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After recent changes to California's juvenile-prison system brought down recidivism rates and the number of incarcerated youths, and also saved millions of dollars, the state is now aiming to treat its adult prisoners more like youthful offenders. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday signed into law a bill to overhaul the state's adult-prison system. Among other things, the legislation will shift more funding and responsibility for paroled offenders to counties from the state. That echoes a key move in the state's overhaul of juvenile detention -- placing more nonviolent inmates in county jails instead of state prisons and helping counties fund rehabilitation services. "We used the juvenile reforms as a starting point" for the bill, said Democratic Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, who helped to craft the legislation. "We said, 'What if you take this and expand on it?' We were attracted to the ideas that worked." The bill is part of a broader rethinking of California's adult-prison system, the nation's largest by number of inmates. In August, a federal court ordered the state to cut its adult-inmate population -- more than 166,000, despite an official capacity of about 80,000 -- by 40,000 by 2011. Read More. |
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