SACRAMENTO — Reversing a century-long tradition of allowing California's prisons to operate as fiefdoms, Schwarzenegger administration officials Thursday unveiled a new model that places one man in charge and aims to reduce crime by better preparing inmates for life on the outside.
Under the plan, prison leaders for the first time in decades would emphasize rehabilitation, marking a shift away from an era when punishment was the overriding mission.
In his State of the State speech Wednesday, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that his first attempt to streamline government would focus on corrections, and vowed that his reforms would make California a national leader.
The proposal targets a $6-billion correctional system that most experts -- inside and outside of government -- have described as in crisis. Over the past year, California's prisons have been rocked by federal investigations, budget overruns, a videotaped beating of juvenile inmates, audits exposing waste and mismanagement, and a federal judge's threat to place adult lockups into receivership.
Since his election, Schwarzenegger has expressed a strong desire to clean up the mess, visiting two prisons and declaring that "the purpose of corrections should be to correct."
Unlike many politicians, who steer clear of prison issues for fear of being dubbed soft on crime, this governor -- elected on a platform of radical change -- appears determined to make genuine reform part of his legacy, corrections leaders said. He has called the state's failure to prevent parolees from committing new crimes an unacceptable waste of taxpayer dollars and human lives.
But some experts said that while change is sorely needed, the governor's plan does not go far enough. The powerful prison guards union, meantime, voiced its displeasure at being left out of the reform planning process.
On Thursday, officials revealed the fine print of Schwarzenegger's sweeping plan, which would topple the old, multi-pronged management structure and replace it with a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The plan was accompanied by a vision statement that, among other things, proposes to reduce crime by better preparing parolees to go straight -- increasing, for example, the amount of education, job training and other help they receive behind bars.
