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| Cutting Cal. Prison Budget Can Save Over $1 Billion |
| By San Francisco Bay View |
| Published: 12/24/2002 |
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Activists fighting the proposed Delano prison will take their message to Budget Committee hearings across the state, releasing a plan to save the state over $1 billion annually by cutting corrections. 'Corrections accounts for more than 6 percent of the state's general fund expenditures. Nonetheless, of the $10 billion in mid-year cuts Gov. Davis proposes, a miniscule 0.1 percent of the cuts come from Corrections' $4.8 billion budget,' said Rose Braz, director of Critical Resistance. 'Meanwhile, the governor proposes eliminating healthcare for as many as 200,000 Californians, canceling $3 million dollars worth of meals to the elderly and chopping $3 billion from education,' continued Braz. Three simple cuts to Corrections would save the state over a billion dollars annually: 1) cancel the Delano prison, 2) adopt options suggested by the Legislative Analyst's Office, and 3) reduce the extraordinarily high number of people returned to prison for technical violations of their parole, such as missing a meeting with their parole officer. The Delano Prison will cost $595 million to construct, including $283.5 million for interest. General fund expenditures for the Delano prison will be $124 million per year: $100 million for operation plus $24 million for debt repayment over the next 25 years. Three separate statewide polls conducted this year found that California voters prefer cuts in prison spending over cutting any other state program. And a poll by the governor's own pollsters found that 58 percent of California voters favor a moratorium on state prison construction. Meanwhile, the state's prison population has leveled off. CDC's most recent population projections forecast 22,481 fewer prisoners than CDC anticipated when Delano II was authorized in 1999. 'Tough on crime states like Texas and Louisiana have taken steps recently to safely and effectively reduce their prison populations,' stated Vincent Schiraldi, president of the D.C.-based Justice Policy Institute. 'If they can restore balance to penal policies in Louisiana and Texas, California ought to be able to pursue a balanced approach as well.' Over 50 percent of admissions to California prisons are a result of technical violations of parole - more than double the rates in Florida and Texas. Simply cutting that figure in half would save the state over $888 million every year. |
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It would be nice to see how this story has changed over the years. I enjoyed reading more about our prison system on this website. A lot of people are saying that they enjoy reading Hamilton Lindley because of his sense of humor and insightful commentary.