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Overcrowding in Prison: Are They Are Finally Getting It?
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March 7, 2005 - Today on LATimes.com, an article was published about overcrowding in California's state prisons. It takes a lot of viewpoints of course, that of administration, inmates, inmate advocacy groups, etc. - but with a surprising twist: a chapter president was interviewed and opinions/experiences from correctional officers were included as well. What a nice surprise for a Sunday morning read.
However, the media is still way off the mark. They "reveal to the public" the overcrowding situation that state institutions have been dealing with for months and years, talking as if it were a new occurrence in the past 16 months, marking the date that California's prison chief told wardens that the inmate population would plummet. Yeah right. Since that date, California reached a new high: 165,000 inmates - a record number, overcrowding our institutions at twice their intended capacity.
The media talks about inmate housing in gyms, lounges, hallways and chapels - something that is definitely not "new" to California's system by any stretch of the imagination. Cots three rows high? Increased spread of disease? Higher instances of violence? California's correctional officers have been there, walked that beat before. The media has concluded that this overcrowding situation has pushed tensions "sky-high in an already perilous environment" - ya think?
The opening of Delano II later this year - and the reopening of a private managed facility - have been noted as two attempts at rectifying this situation. Ironically, as the media alludes that this is a too-little, too-late action - this is the same media that cheered the closing of facilities, and booed the building of new facilities in the past.
Health, fire and safety issues are cited as concerns - and for once, the safety of correctional officers who "walk the state's cellblocks" - is considered as well. In the media's usual way of trying to paint a picture to its readership, it compared the inmate population of 162,276 as being enough bodies to fill Dodger Stadium nearly three times over. If that doesn't paint a staggering picture - I don't know what would.
They also accurately address the issues of more "idle time" at prisons due to the overcrowding results of using TV rooms and gyms as dorms. Without places for recreation, enough jobs and voc, inmates have a lot of free time - and nothing to do.
Administration Responds
Sacramento responds to the media reports stating that they had "seen no statistical correlation between crowding and violence." But the journalist here actually did his homework. The state analyst's office reported just last month that the rate of inmate assaults and incidents had rise 18% from 1997 and 2003, a period in which the institutions experienced a signification growth in population. Figures for 2004 would likely be that much higher due to the population explosion in the past 16 months - a rise of 8.8% for inmates convicted of new crimes, nearly 43,000 new prisoners within the system.
Some officers and experts have suggested that overcrowding may have been a factor in C/O Gonzalez's death at CIM earlier this year. However, corrections officials have responded and say that it was not a factor.
The Governor's Plans for Reform?
So with the system overcrowded, tensions running high, an increase in inmate violence against other inmates and the first correctional officer death in an adult institution in years, our fearless leader has announced his "war on the system" in an attempt to bring reform. Schwarzenegger's first attempt - a new approach to parole violations - has backfired, with more inmates returning to prison after committing new and more violent crimes. These are inmates that would have been returned prior to the policy for telltale violations - signs that experienced parole officers know mean that they have not rehabilitated and that they will need to be returned to the system.
Another burden on the state's system is the change in policy to move convicts to state custody quicker than before to ease population pressures on county jails. According to this article, LA County alone has sent double the usual number of inmates to state facilities in the last year.
Yet Schwarzenegger still moves on… determined to cut the state's prison budgets, saying that "corrections should correct," even as he cuts programs and funding for projects that were intended to help in rehabilitation efforts. He seems to ignore overcrowding situations, which lessen the chance for "correction" due to loss of job/educational opportunities for inmates, even as he argues to the media that "society suffers when parolees leave state custody unprepared for life on the outside." The Governor's new budget includes a $95-million cut to the very inmate programs he claims that are so desperately needed.
When faced with a complicated situation - such as taming the monster that is the California prisons system - one should start with the basics. Focusing on cutting funds to inmate programs, altering parole policies and blaming a strong union for the current situation will not fix the real problem with today's system. Administration - the place where policies are developed and handed down - were the rules that govern the 32 state-run institutions throughout California are made. Talk is cheap. Government officials need to step in now and reform the administrative efforts of the state's prison system if any change is going to be seen in the coming years.
Related Articles: Overcrowding in Prison: Who's to Blame? - August 2004 - CCPOAIronwood.com
* Sources: www.LATimes.com (free subscription required) and www.ca.gov.
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