Out of Their Minds: Prison Reform

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By Harrison Sheppard

 

California’s prison system is massively overcrowded, with 174,000 prisoners serving time in facilities built for 100,000. The prison health system is already under control of a federal receiver and the courts may force more changes, like releasing prisoners, if something isn’t done this year to relieve overcrowding.
     Gov. Schwarzenegger has proposed a prison reform package that includes spending nearly $11 billion to add 78,000 new beds; a new commission to study and help reform the state’s sentencing guidelines; modifying the parole system; and creating new anti-recidivism programs.
     Republican lawmakers have concerns about the proposal, including that changing sentencing guidelines could mean letting more prisoners go free and that assigning the job to an outside commission is delegating authority that belongs to the Legislature. Democrats would like to see more programs to help prisoners make the transition to the outside world, and would like to see sentencing reform that straightens out an inconsistent justice code.
     Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster) is a leading Republican voice on the prison reform issue. Sen. Michael Machado (D-Linden) is a leading Democrat on the issue.

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Sen. George Runner, R - Lancaster

How bad is the prison situation in California right now?
“The current prison system is truly a powderkeg. We’ve already lost control of the medical aspects of our state prisons, and as a result we have a federal court and a receiver operating that portion of our state prison system. This means there’s no accountability and there’s lots of money being spent. We’re very close to that being the case in the rest of the prison operations because we have such extreme overcrowding.”

What do you think of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s plan?
“I think overall the governor’s plan helps solve many of the issues. I think the construction aspect is a good one. I like the rehabilitation aspects, particularly the community re-entry facilities. I think that makes a lot of sense, to be able to bring people closer to the communities they’re going to be going into at the end of their incarceration time, prior to parole. We can get them hooked up to services at that time. The whole idea of getting a bus ticket and a few dollars and then having to show up in this community and try to find your parole officer just doesn’t lend itself to a very good success rate.”

Are you concerned about the governor’s proposals on sentencing reform?
“We really have concerns about the sentencing commission.
     “Our view in our (Republican) caucus is that one of the primary roles of government is public safety. To try to transfer that role to some appointed body doesn’t make a lot of sense. That should be one of our number-one roles.
     “And the governor’s plan is have more of a group make a recommendation. I just see that as another layer of unnecessary government. We were elected to deal with those issues, not some commission.
“The other aspect is whenever people talk about sentencing commissions, they always seem to be talking about lowering sentences. My view is whenever we put anything on the ballot about sentencing, it seems the voters of California go in the opposite direction. They want longer sentences. That’s certainly what we saw with Jessica’s Law, which we put on the ballot in November.”

Prisons have been a problem for a long time in California. Do you think there is the political will this time to actually get something done?
“I believe there is a will to take care of that. I think the governor helped us a great deal at the end of last session by at least putting it on the table.
     “I think that’s one of the reasons the court said you guys are at least thinking about it. Now we’ll give you guys six months to come up with what you’re going to do.”


Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden

Why has the prison situation gotten so bad in California?
“I think it’s for a variety of reasons. Prisons are the last thing anybody gets credit for. When the (Corrections) department made known the problems we would be facing with respect to overcrowding and put proposals on the ballot to update the system, voters rejected it. You have an out-of-sight out-of-mind mentality with respect to people who are put into prisons. I also think we have some very severe labor management issues.”

What should we do about it?
“This is a problem you cannot build yourself out of. We need to look at how we manage our prison population. That starts outside the prisons. That means on the outside, before people get into prisons, we need to look at basic societal needs – good schools, good jobs, those sorts of things.
     “On the inside, you need to have programming. Not every prisoner is a violent prisoner. There should be programs that allow them to turn themselves around, like literacy programs, vocational programs and life-skills programs.
     “The other part is, we’re the largest mental health facility in the nation and we need adequate mental health facilities to deal with the problem.
     “Until you can bring these all together, you’re not going to solve the problem. I realize it may seem overwhelming, but you can break it down into parts.”

What do you think about the governor’s plan?
“I think the governor is attacking the problem by saying we’re going to build our way out of it, and we’re going to shed part of our problem by putting it down to the local levels. Those are all laudable goals, but you have to have some criteria by which that’s going to happen. The governor’s program is lacking in the details how to do it. That’s a disservice to the people of California in terms of trying to address the problem and it risks us being taken over by the federal courts. And I think that’s even worse.”

What about sentencing reform? Some Republicans think it’s code for releasing prisoners.
“I think we need to have sentencing reform. We need to take the politics out of sentencing. Right now, because of the transient nature of the Legislature, everyone comes in with a new sentence for a repeat crime. That has resulted in layering of sentences upon sentences without a review of the effectiveness. What it has allowed is a campaign mailer that says ‘I’m tough on crime.’
     “I think we need an objective third party to look at the effectiveness of sentencing, — to see where the existing sentencing could be open to reform — if it is related to another outcome like lower recidivism or effective treatment.
     “I don’t think the Legislature is capable of doing that. Because of the transient nature of the Legislature, you never have anybody there with the background to do it.”

 

 

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