Arnold wants to let them out of jail to save state money

[donsu]

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/8013619p-8949908c.html

Convinced that California can no longer afford its $5.3 billion prison and parole system, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is exploring moves that would all but eliminate parole conditions for nonviolent, nonserious offenders and eventually -- through early release and lighter penalties -- dramatically shrink the prison population.
Some of the moves result from recent court settlements. Others are efforts whose planning began under former Gov. Gray Davis and have been speeded up by Schwarzenegger.

-snip-

"Arnold has had us identify the nonviolent, nonthreatening inmates," said one high-ranking corrections official working on some of the proposals. "We could probably cut the (prison) population by a third, which would be a huge savings for taxpayers and give some of these people a chance to be productive citizens again."

-snip-

It's on the Republican side of the aisle, however, where Schwarzenegger might run into more resistance.
-snip-
----------------------------

I guess at this point the private prison lobby will pitch a fit.

[Champion Jack]

1. He can start with the drug offenders

[bahrbearian]

2. So he can pardon himself ?

[Champion Jack]

7. Ho Ho!!!!

[PaDUer]

11. They can send these

offenders to Iraq instead of using the draft..

[xray s]

3. Does "playful groping" qualify as "non-violent, non-threatening"?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[drdigi420]

4. ooooo - this is great

this ought to release thousands of nonviolent drug users that are serving time for choosing a different intoxicant than alcohol.

It is a real slap in the face for the neocons that installed him as governor too. They thought they were appointing another sheep like Dubya.

I love poetic justice.

It's akin to when SUV owners rush out into the snow because they finally have an excuse to engage their 4-wheel drive, only to end up in a ditch because they forget that SUVs already have poor braking and they stop even less on snow and ice. I LOVE that!

I just love when the cocksure stupidity of people backfires in their face.

[Bush loves Jiang]

5. Arnold is doing something right?

What the fuck is going on?

Has his wife been witholding sex until he does institutes some progressive policies?

[sid dicious]

6. Amen!

Now if they can fix the 3 strikes law.

As long as they still consider pedophiles as serious offenders...I'm cool.

Let the punishment fit the crime. Now if a burgular (that spelling just does't appear to be correct), happens to break into my home in the middle of the night and I happen to have my Louisville Slugger handy...I might not let him get to prison. But only if my kids are visiting.

[louis-t]

8. I know for a fact that

people can be jailed in CA for the most minor offenses. I've always thought that was odd for a so-called 'liberal' state. In Michigan, our newly elected Democratic governor has allowed early release for some non-violent prisoners. They are being released up to 2 weeks early to help balance the budget because her Republican predecessor left the state in such a terrible financial mess and then downplayed how bad it really was. The results of a recent audit revealed deficits of hundreds of millions. Why do Repubs always leave messes for Democrats to clean up?

[sid dicious]

9. You have to understand that crime got really bad in CA

We had the big gang problems. There were lot's of drug related killings during the crack craze in the early 90s. And in some ways things were too lax.

So what did we do? We went overboard. California, if anything, is reactionary. We don't always think ahead (look at some of our roads in the SF Area) and we react (look at the recall election).

But in a way that does indicate the liberal roots of this state. If it's gonna fix something we'll take it.

It's a good state still just a broke one. Hopefully we'll start thinking of the long term consequences of our decisions from here on. But I wouldn't count on it. That's what makes this state such a roller coaster ride to live (not to mention the quakes :) )

[mmm]

10. very surprising

this actually turns out to be the right thing to do,
both morally and economically.

[Robb]

12. ...but it'll never happen

Too much money in the private prison industry.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. I agree with Arnold on this and believe this is definitely the DOWN

side of having had so much support on the Dem side from law enforecement. That was the main reason our drug treatment programs had to go on the ballot rather than get passed through the legislature.

If Arnold is taking advantage of his populism by remedying this wrong more power to him..the Repub party here is the party of private prison interests...Davis has stopped working with the private prison lobby.

Non violent offenders of victimless crimes should not be put in jail.