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| Top Calif. Prison Officials Questioned |
| By The Sacremento Bee |
| Published: 02/06/2006 |
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Despite reforms promised last year, California's corrections system hasn't moved quickly enough to improve its rehabilitation programs for inmates, Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, said at a hearing where she grilled top prison officials last week. In a testy exchange, Romero warned officials that they needed to explain why they hadn't done more in the past seven months to deliver on their pledge that a restructuring of the corrections system would lead to declines in the inmate population -- or they would face questions about whether they should keep their jobs. Department of Corrections Secretary Roderick Hickman and Undersecretary Jeanne Woodford must be confirmed by the Senate before this summer because their job descriptions changed last year when the Schwarzenegger administration reorganized the prison system to incorporate rehabilitation as part of its mission. Hickman, who released a 53-page report documenting efforts underway to change the system, said it was too early to expect complete results from programs that were enacted last year. "Are we rehabilitated? No," Hickman said. "We're on the road to recovery." Expanded rehabilitation programs and changes in the parole system were supposed to lead to a drop in recidivism. Instead, Romero said, 70 percent of California inmates still return to prison within 18 months of being released, twice the national average. The inmate population, now about 167,000, is projected to increase to 171,500 this year. Since the new emphasis on rehabilitation was announced, Romero said, only about 3,000 new inmates have been enrolled in programs preparing them for life after they are released. Overall, only 38,000, or about a quarter of all inmates, are participating in those programs. Romero criticized the spiraling costs of the correctional system, projected to reach $8.1 billion in the 2006-07 fiscal year _ up $2 billion over the past two years. A failure to keep inmates from re-entering prison was a factor in the increased cost, she said. Romero also criticized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to spend $12 billion in bond money on building new prisons at a time when the state is trying to decrease the prison population. Hickman said his agency was not to blame for the growing number of prisoners. "You have to look at the communities of California and you have to look at the courts," Hickman said. "We do not produce inmates." Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata charged Romero, who heads the Senate committee on corrections, with reviewing the progress of prison system reforms in advance of the confirmation hearings for Woodford and Hickman. Romero, who plans to hold five hearings on prisons, will report her findings to the Rules Committee, which votes on appointments. The hearing, the first in a series, did not get off to a friendly start. Romero and Hickman exchanged heated words. "I think a strong leader and a leader who deserves confirmation, at the very least, you've got to listen to the observations and the perspectives of those who come before you," Romero told Hickman at one point. For their part, Hickman and Woodford complained that they had not been told in advance what questions they would be asked at the hearing. They left the hearing before it ended, displeasing Romero, who had planned to call them back for further testimony. |
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