California Spending Too Much On Prisoners:Meth Dealers Going

Entire Article Here

New York Times Reported:

According to a new federally backed study conducted at the University of California, Irvine, the state’s corrections costs have grown by about 50 percent in less than a decade and now account for about 10 percent of state spending — nearly the same amount as higher education. The costs could rise substantially given that a federal lawsuit may require the state to spend $8 billion to bring the prison system’s woefully inadequate medical services up to constitutional standards.

The state also has perhaps the most counterproductive and ill-conceived parole system in the United States.  More people are sent to prison in California by parole officers than by the courts. In addition, about 66 percent of California’s parolees land back in prison after three years, compared with about 40 percent nationally.  Four in 10 are sent back for technical violations like missed appointments or failed drug tests.

State lawmakers, some of whom are fearful of being seen as soft on crime, have failed to make perfectly reasonable sentencing modifications and other changes that the prisons desperately need.  Unless they muster some courage soon, Californians will find themselves swamped by prison costs and unable to afford just about anything else.