Prison Nation- California Jails packed and still growing

[n2doc]

Packed Prisons Brace for New Crush
Another 23,000 inmates will crowd into state facilities within five years, a forecast says.
By Jenifer Warren, Times Staff Writer
April 22, 2006

SACRAMENTO — Already bulging with inmates wedged into gyms and hallways, California prisons must make room for 23,000 more felons over the next five years, according to new projections that are forcing managers to explore still more unusual options — even tents — to house bunks. The forecast, which outlines much steeper growth than numbers released just six months ago, predicts enough new convicts to fill five prisons. California would have more than 193,000 inmates by 2011. The growth is being driven by increases in new prison admissions and by parolees who either commit new crimes or violate the terms of their release and are re-incarcerated for short stays.

Though a recent report showed a decline in California's recidivism rate, officials said the state's overall population expansion inevitably means more people breaking the law. The crowding is intensifying during a time of management turmoil. This week, the acting corrections secretary quit — the second top official in two months to leave amid concerns about the guard union's influence over prison management. On Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named a temporary replacement who told reporters that crowded conditions were a safety hazard and were among his top concerns. In January, Schwarzenegger proposed building 83,000 more cells — some in county jails, some in state lockups — with bond sales totaling $13.1 billion. But that idea, part of his sweeping public works plan, stalled in the Legislature, and corrections officials are scrambling to create bed space.

Already, they say, most of the state's 33 prisons are at twice their intended capacity, jammed with about 170,000 people — enough to fill the Rose Bowl more than two times over.


More:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prison22apr22,0,3066366.story?coll=la-home-headlines


Comment: Will we ever grow up as a nation enough to reform our Drug Policy? Or are we doomed to spend vast sums of money and ruin countless lives performing a futile cycle?

[acmejack]

1. The war on drugs is big business

A lot of money is made in the conduct thereof. Need one say more?

[DrBloodmoney]

4. Way too much money to be had...

... profitting from a hugely successful program of systematic oppression of the poor, minorities, and immigrants.

includes:

politicians (both parties)
pharmaceutical industry
prison-industrial complex (slavers)
the urine warriors (drug-testing firms)
the military (see prison-industrial complex)
alcohol/tobacco companies
drug cartels
drug dealers
DEA
ONDCP
your local police department (legal seizure funding the jackbooted brownshirts)


We need to wake up in this country. This is the largest public policy failure in American history. It costs us 50 billion a year to fight an war we cannot possibly win. But winning was never the point, the current police state was.

[philosophie_en_rose]

2. Yet Drug Treatment and Education are too "expensive."

:eyes:

Republican short-sightedness never changes.

Not to mention greed. Many prisons are privately run, meaning that there is no motivation for the prison industry to encourage rehabilitation or recovery.

What do they think will happen, after a person leaves jail with no skills or support? Survival-based crimes like theft or drug use.

[randr]

3. immigration implications

The anti immigration crowd with their american jobs for american workers chant completely ignore the fact that so many americans are sitting in jails at tax payers expense, sorta like captive welfare. Jobs that may be filled by these idle hands still need a work force.
What would the consequences be if all non-violent criminals were released into the work force? Would the demand side of the jobs economy shrink therefore slowing the movement of labor from south of the border?

[madrchsod]

5. 13 billion dollars and no jobs

makes perfect sense to me. send all the jobs across the borders so there are no jobs in the united states so guys can`t find a job and have a decent life. what a fucking civilized society we live in.

[dogday]

6. Prison Industries Stock Rising

and more people going to prison every year... Could there be a collation here????

[madrchsod]

7. i forgot this

california also has to desegregate the prison system. as it now most if not all sections of the prisons are segregated and the only mixing is at meals and yard time. the guards are dead set against desegregation because of more violence will occur.
the prisons do not have enough guards to provide security for there fellow guards let alone security for the prisoners not only in california but across the nation , states refuse to hire more guards because of costs. where i live there are no more than two to three guards for over 800 inmates. if an inmate attacks a guard the other inmates will stop the fight. in cook county,il ,the nation`s largest jail, there is one guard for 300-400 prisoners in a two room holding floor. i won`t begin to describe texas prisons.

biggest problem facing this society is class and racial warfare waged by those who gain everything by preventing others of their right of dignity