Newspapers Statewide Editorialize on California's Prison Crisis

Los Angeles Times
STATE PRISONS' REVOLVING DOOR: A Too-Obvious 'Emergency'

“State prison leaders' declaration of an "emergency" because of overcrowding is mostly a sign of their inability to anticipate California 's correctional needs. The calamity - the arrival of 1,200 more inmates than had been expected - was predictable. … The department is six months behind in its plan to send 15,000 nonviolent offenders (people convicted of such "administrative" parole violations as a positive drug test or failure to meet a parole agent on time) not to prison but to drug treatment centers or into home detention with electronic monitoring. … The state's prison system continues to be skewed and distorted by the prison guards union, whose lavish campaign contributions have bought them huge salary increases and too much power over how prisons are run. Taxpayers are still waiting for legislators to fix this calamity behind bars. ” –April 28, 2004

Los Angeles Times:
Lawmakers Question Prison-Agency Order

“A state of emergency enacted in California 's prison system to ease overcrowding - made by administrative order but not made public - created a backlash in the Capitol on Tuesday. Angry lawmakers, who learned of the April 1 directive Monday night, questioned if the California Department of Corrections artificially inflated the inmate population to avoid budget cuts. . … Fueling the concerns of lawmakers is the department's acknowledgment that the emergency may result in more overtime costs at a time when the governor is trying to cut back on those costs. Generous overtime payments and benefits granted to prison guards under former Gov. Gray Davis have played a large role in the massive cost overruns at the department.” –April 28, 2004

The Sacramento Bee:
Inmate shift raises prison violence fears

“A "state of emergency" in California 's jam-packed prisons is forcing the Department of Corrections to move hundreds of inmates into less-secure housing units, raising concerns Tuesday about the potential for violence. … The move comes as prison operations once again face intense public scrutiny. [Sen. Gloria] Romero [D-East Los Angeles ], who has co-chaired the recent hearings into Department of Corrections problems, blasted the agency for failing to inform legislative leaders about the emergency declaration. "It's simply not acceptable, especially with such scrutiny on Corrections, to not inform members of the Legislature," she said. "When we have 1,200 additional bodies in a facility, it's about the money, and it's also about the safety of the institution." –April 28, 2004

The Los Angeles Times
State's Prisons Declare a Crisis: Department enacts emergency measures to cope with overcrowding, angering lawmakers.  

“The emergency declaration took effect April 1 but was never made public. It sparked angry criticism from lawmakers who learned about it only Monday and highlighted concerns about continued cost overruns at the department. … The news comes as the Schwarzenegger administration is working on a plan to cut $400 million from the corrections department as part of the administration's proposal for closing the state's projected $14-billion budget gap in the fiscal year beginning July 1. … Lawmakers, meanwhile, are skeptical of the corrections department's reasoning. Romero pointed out the order was drafted around the same time the governor's staff was working on his revised budget proposal. She questions whether it is part of a ploy to avoid budget cuts: "I am just suspicious of the timing," Romero said.” –April 27, 2004

San Jose Mercury News:
SOME OFFICIALS PICKED BY GOVERNOR ARE PART OF PROBLEM, CRITICS SAY

“To fix California 's strife-ridden prisons, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has turned to some longtime correctional officials who helped create the very system he has vowed to change. The would-be reformers include two advisers who have been criticized for their handling of violent prison incidents, one who relies on prison officials to pay him for consulting work and a fourth who has strong ties to the politically powerful correctional officers union. `` The people who built the system up are part and parcel of the problem,'' said James Esten, a consultant and former Department of Corrections administrator. If change is what the governor wants, he added, ``You need new, outside blood.” … “Critics say Schwarzenegger should recruit more impartial voices. ``They are recycling people born and raised in the system,'' said John Scott, a San Francisco attorney who sued the department on behalf of whistle-blowers. … Robert Stern, president of the non-profit Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles , questioned whether someone with financial ties to the department can also be impartial when examining its shortcomings. ``When you are receiving substantial money and continuation of that depends on goodwill,'' he asked, ``can you be fair and unbiased when you are evaluating what's going on there?'' … –Mark Gladstone, April 6, 2004

The Los Angeles Times:
STATE PRISONS' REVOLVING DOOR

“ California 's prison system fails to protect the taxpayers whose dollars it gobbles . Its repeat-offense rate is among the nation's highest. More than two-thirds of the state's prisoners commit a new crime or violate their parole within a few years of release.” –March 24, 2004

The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Prison reform: Comprehensive penal review is long overdue  

“It's tough enough that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger inherited a massive fiscal crisis that has consumed much of his time in Sacramento . Now comes a festering prison crisis that could ultimately prompt federal intervention unless he cleans up the mess. Schwarzenegger got off to a good start last week when he appointed a commission, headed by former Gov. George Deukmejian, to investigate California 's prison system and recommend changes. … The comprehensive review will be wide-ranging, including a hard look at whether California needs all 33 of its prisons in light of projections forecasting a significant drop in the inmate population this year. ” –March 10, 2004

The San Diego Tribune:
Rampant Spending—State Prisons Hold Taxpayers Hostage

“ California 's insatiable prison system is consuming a large chunk of the state's finite fiscal resources at an alarming clip. It's bad enough that the state Department of Corrections has been basically immune from budget cuts. And that the department overspent its bloated budget by 10 percent last year. And that from 1990 to 2002 department overspending totaled $1.6 billion. … The Schwarzenegger administration, which has taken some steps to rein in the rampant abuse of prisoners, needs to move no less aggressively against a system that for far too long has been an fiscal entity unto itself.” – February 18, 2004.

The Associated Press:
GOVERNOR MUST DEAL WITH PRISON CRISIS OR FACE FEDERAL TAKEOVER

“Pledges of reform have echoed every few years, but even Schwarzenegger's political opponents believe things might be different this time. The problem is too huge — and too costly — to ignore, said Frank Zimring, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley who has studied California prisons for 20 years. … If Schwarzenegger does not follow through, court oversight will, said Donald Specter, director of the Prison Law Office, a nonprofit group that provides legal services to inmates. The Pelican Bay prison is already under federal monitoring, and Specter and some legislators said California 's system is just a court order away from a federal takeover.

–February 13, 2004

The San Francisco Chronicle:
California Prison Mismanagement Extends to Budget Overruns

“If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature hope to regain control of the California Department of Corrections they should start by putting an end to the fiscal recklessness that allows the agency to routinely overspend its budget. This is a department that seems to be out of control in more ways than one. Recent accounts of prison guards' misconduct, physical intimidation of whistle-blowers and high-level cover-ups are all the more deplorable considering that taxpayers are digging deep to pay for it. Over the past five years alone, the CDC has exceeded its budget by $1.4 billion, continuing a decade-old trend that has recently picked up pace. The agency overspent its budget by $50 million in 2000, and by $150 million in 2001. Now, with five months still left in this fiscal year, the agency is seeking a whopping $500 million supplement to make ends meet until it is funded again in June. The cost overruns are maddening in that the CDC has a $5.2 billion annual budget which consumes about 6 percent of the state's general fund. Its spending practices are unacceptable, particularly at a time when other agencies are struggling to stay afloat and Sacramento is working feverishly to close an impending $14 billion shortfall in the 2004-05 budget. ” – February 5, 2004.

The Daily Review ( Hayward ):
CALIFORNIA MUST EXORCISE STATE PRISONS OF DEMONS

"When corrupt people are watching over corrupt people, the only thing that results is corruption,” [said] Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough. Inmates are not running California prisons . Guards are, but at times it is hard to tell which are the criminals. No state agency needs reform more than the California Department of Corrections. ” –January 25, 2004

The Visalia Times:
Corrections Department out of control

California 's Corrections Department has been the poster child for government waste for a long time. It has also been protected politically by a powerful union and friendly governors. If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger or anyone else expects to reform the state bureaucracy and curb spending, that person will have to get the Corrections Department under control. That is entirely evident from a report by the Associated Press about state prison operations and finances. The AP report found that corrections had overspent its budget by $1.4 billion over the past five years, including almost a half billion dollars this year. … Schwarzenegger ought to make the Corrections Department his first stop in his role as deficit Terminator in making California government pay its own way. –January 22, 2004

The Los Angeles Times:
STATE PRISONS' REVOLVING DOOR-- Ask Hard Questions

"Roderick Q. Hickman, secretary of the state Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, should also be pressed to explain why his department recently reclassified thousands of low-risk inmates as high risk, a shift that is the basis for insisting that California taxpayers spend $700 million to build Delano II, a maximum security prison in the Central Valley that will cost more than $110 million annually to operate. " –January 7, 2004.

The Sacramento Bee:
take on California 's "prison -industrial complex"

“The panel needs to take on what has been termed California 's "prison - industrial complex" -- the bureaucratic, political and economic interests that encourage increased spending on imprisonment regardless of actual need. … What's needed is political will to implement them. Building support for action is the task of Deukmejian's panel. The last thing we need is another report that gathers dust.” ­January 5, 2004

Editorials and Articles About Prison Closures and Corrections

THE SACRAMENTO BEE: take on California 's "prison -industrial complex"

“The panel needs to take on what has been termed California 's "prison - industrial complex" -- the bureaucratic, political and economic interests that encourage increased spending on imprisonment regardless of actual need. … What's needed is political will to implement them. Building support for action is the task of Deukmejian's panel. The last thing we need is another report that gathers dust.”

Editorial , January 5, 2004

THE SAN DIEGO TRIBUNE: Rampant Spending—State Prisons Hold Taxpayers Hostage

“ California 's insatiable prison system is consuming a large chunk of the state's finite fiscal resources at an alarming clip. It's bad enough that the state Department of Corrections has been basically immune from budget cuts. And that the department overspent its bloated budget by 10 percent last year. And that from 1990 to 2002 department overspending totaled $1.6 billion. Now we learn from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office that during the last three years the department's budget grew at a faster rate than the inmate population. … Basically, it boils down to holding the state prison system strictly accountable for its actions. The Schwarzenegger administration, which has taken some steps to rein in the rampant abuse of prisoners, needs to move no less aggressively against a system that for far too long has been an fiscal entity unto itself.”

Editorial, February 18, 2004.

THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: California Prison Mismanagement Extends to Budget Overruns

“If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature hope to regain control of the California Department of Corrections they should start by putting an end to the fiscal recklessness that allows the agency to routinely overspend its budget. This is a department that seems to be out of control in more ways than one. Recent accounts of prison guards' misconduct, physical intimidation of whistle-blowers and high-level cover-ups are all the more deplorable considering that taxpayers are digging deep to pay for it. Over the past five years alone, the CDC has exceeded its budget by $1.4 billion, continuing a decade-old trend that has recently picked up pace. The agency overspent its budget by $50 million in 2000, and by $150 million in 2001. Now, with five months still left in this fiscal year, the agency is seeking a whopping $500 million supplement to make ends meet until it is funded again in June. The cost overruns are maddening in that the CDC has a $5.2 billion annual budget which consumes about 6 percent of the state's general fund. Its spending practices are unacceptable, particularly at a time when other agencies are struggling to stay afloat and Sacramento is working feverishly to close an impending $14 billion shortfall in the 2004-05 budget. ”

Editorial, February, 5, 2004.

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES: STATE PRISONS' REVOLVING DOOR

“ California 's prison system fails to protect the taxpayers whose dollars it gobbles . Its repeat-offense rate is among the nation's highest. More than two-thirds of the state's prisoners commit a new crime or violate their parole within a few years of release.”

Editorial, March 24, 2004

Editorial, January 2, 2004

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS: SOME OFFICIALS PICKED BY GOVERNOR ARE PART OF PROBLEM, CRITICS SAY

“To fix California 's strife-ridden prisons, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has turned to some longtime correctional officials who helped create the very system he has vowed to change. The would-be reformers include two advisers who have been criticized for their handling of violent prison incidents, one who relies on prison officials to pay him for consulting work and a fourth who has strong ties to the politically powerful correctional officers union. ``The people who built the system up are part and parcel of the problem,'' said James Esten, a consultant and former Department of Corrections administrator. If change is what the governor wants, he added, ``You need new, outside blood.''

Mark Gladstone, April 6, 2004

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS: SOME OFFICIALS PICKED BY GOVERNOR ARE PART OF PROBLEM, CRITICS SAY

“Critics say Schwarzenegger should recruit more impartial voices. ``They are recycling people born and raised in the system,'' said John Scott, a San Francisco attorney who sued the department on behalf of whistle-blowers. … Robert Stern, president of the non-profit Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, questioned whether someone with financial ties to the department can also be impartial when examining its shortcomings. ``When you are receiving substantial money and continuation of that depends on goodwill,'' he asked, ``can you be fair and unbiased when you are evaluating what's going on there?'' …

Mark Gladstone, April 6, 2004

THE LOS ANGLES TIMES: STATE PRISONS' REVOLVING DOOR-- Ask Hard Questions

"Roderick Q. Hickman, secretary of the state Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, should also be pressed to explain why his department recently reclassified thousands of low-risk inmates as high risk, a shift that is the basis for insisting that California taxpayers spend $700 million to build Delano II, a maximum security prison in the Central Valley that will cost more than $110 million annually to operate. "

Los Angeles Times . Jan 7, 2004.

THE VISALIA TIMES: Corrections Department out of control

California 's Corrections Department has been the poster child for government waste for a long time. It has also been protected politically by a powerful union and friendly governors. If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger or anyone else expects to reform the state bureaucracy and curb spending, that person will have to get the Corrections Department under control. That is entirely evident from a report by the Associated Press about state prison operations and finances. The AP report found that corrections had overspent its budget by $1.4 billion over the past five years, including almost a half billion dollars this year. … Schwarzenegger ought to make the Corrections Department his first stop in his role as deficit Terminator in making California government pay its own way.

Visalia Times, January 22, 2004

Prison reform:Comprehensive penal review is long overdue

“It's tough enough that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger inherited a massive fiscal crisis that has consumed much of his time in Sacramento . Now comes a festering prison crisis that could ultimately prompt federal intervention unless he cleans up the mess. Schwarzenegger got off to a good start last week when he appointed a commission, headed by former Gov. George Deukmejian, to investigate California 's prison system and recommend changes. … The comprehensive review will be wide-ranging, including a hard look at whether California needs all 33 of its prisons in light of projections forecasting a significant drop in the inmate population this year. … Gov. Schwarzenegger must move aggressively to implement the reforms he deems necessary to clean up one of the world's largest penal systems.”

Editorial, The San Diego Union-Tribune , March 10, 2004

CALIFORNIA MUST EXORCISE STATE PRISONS OF DEMONS

"When corrupt people are watching over corrupt people, the only thing that results is corruption ." -- Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough

Inmates are not running California prisons . Guards are, but at times it is hard to tell which are the criminals. No state agency needs reform more than the California Department of Corrections.

Editorial, The Daily Review ( Hayward , CA ), January 25, 2004

CALIFORNIA PRISON MISMANAGEMENT EXTENDS TO BUDGET OVERRUNS

“If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature hope to regain control of the California Department of Corrections they should start by putting an end to the fiscal recklessness that allows the agency to routinely overspend its budget. This is a department that seems to be out of control in more ways than one. Recent accounts of prison guards' misconduct, physical intimidation of whistle-blowers and high-level cover-ups are all the more deplorable considering that taxpayers are digging deep to pay for it. Over the past five years alone, the CDC has exceeded its budget by $1.4 billion, continuing a decade-old trend that has recently picked up pace. The agency overspent its budget by $50 million in 2000, and by $150 million in 2001. Now, with five months still left in this fiscal year, the agency is seeking a whopping $500 million supplement to make ends meet until it is funded again in June. The cost overruns are maddening in that the CDC has a $5.2 billion annual budget which consumes about 6 percent of the state's general fund. Its spending practices are unacceptable, particularly at a time when other agencies are struggling to stay afloat and Sacramento is working feverishly to close an impending $14 billion shortfall in the 2004-05 budget.”

Commentary, San Francisco Chronicle , February 05, 2004

Schwarzenegger Deals With Prison Crisis

“Pledges of reform have echoed every few years, but even Schwarzenegger's political opponents believe things might be different this time. The problem is too huge — and too costly — to ignore, said Frank Zimring, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley who has studied California prisons for 20 years. … If Schwarzenegger does not follow through, court oversight will, said Donald Spector, director of the Prison Law Office, a nonprofit group that provides legal services to inmates. The Pelican Bay prison is already under federal monitoring, and Spector and some legislators said California 's system is just a court order away from a federal takeover. "It's just one unconstitutional practice after the next," Spector said. "It's so big, it's nearly impossible to manage."

Don Thompson, Associated Press, February 13, 2004