Prison plan ignores major issues
SACRAMENTO — The Legislature on Thursday passed a sweeping spending package to ease overcrowding in California prisons but did not tackle several problems that experts say are driving the long-running crisis.
While lawmakers celebrated their vote to add 53,000 beds to the state corrections system and boost rehabilitation for inmates, critics beyond the Capitol worried that other ideas left out of the $7.4-billion deal might be sidelined for good.
For example, the package excluded any effort to deal with the state's discredited parole system. Also omitted was a commission to review California's Byzantine sentencing laws.
A third proposal that has drawn particularly high marks from criminologists -- to move 4,500 nonviolent female offenders out of prison to correctional centers near their homes -- was missing from the agreement as well.
"This is a deal about practical politics and beds," said Franklin Zimring, a professor and corrections expert at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. "So it's going to satisfy the Sealy mattress company, and that's about it."
John Lum, a former county probation chief who now lobbies for prison reform, agreed and said the deal would do little to control the rising inmate population or the ballooning costs.
While the package met with enthusiasm in the Assembly, where it passed without debate or a single no vote, some members of the Senate were clearly unimpressed. Conservatives were the most vocal, criticizing the deal because it commits the state to billions in borrowing and spending during lean times.
"In keeping with this casual approach to our state's finances, there is absolutely nothing in this measure to contain costs," said Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks).
The true cost of the $6.1 billion in lease revenue bonds at the heart of the deal could reach $15 billion, including financing, with no voter approval required. About $1.2 billion would come from California counties.
"I find it very troubling that we're still acting so recklessly even as we watch our state's financing deteriorate so rapidly," McClintock said.
After an initial vote in the Senate, the bill fell short of the two-thirds majority it required. Later, Sen. Gloria Negrete-McLeod (D-Chino) switched her no vote to yes to push the measure through, 27-10.
