April 6, 2011 | 4:54 PM | By

Will prison realignment happen?

FILED UNDER: Corrections, Budget, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Jerry Brown, Realignment

Earlier this week, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill of his own invention, Assembly Bill 109. The bill authorizes significant changes to California’s prison system: it sends non-violent, non-serious offenders (about 38,000 inmates) to county jails, it eliminates parole for the same offender group, and it encourages counties to keep juvenile offenders at the local level. It’s also entirely dependent on the state raising taxes, to fund county departments’ ability to take over these services from the state.

So far, that plan doesn’t seem to be going well. Last week, negotiations broke down between the governor and Republican lawmakers over putting a tax increase on the ballot over the summer. Today, Brown declared “Hug A Republican Day” before a group of law enforcement professionals gathered in Sacramento. According to the Sacramento Bee, Brown told attendees of annual Law Enforcement Legislative Day to:

“Hug a Republican, make them feel good,” Brown said. “In fact I’m going to go up and down the state to see if I can’t hug Republicans and … tell them, ‘We love you, but give us a break, let the people vote.’”

Republicans have not been receptive to the idea of tax increases and are also unsupportive of the idea of shifting prison responsibilities. In a press release earlier this week, the Assembly Republican Caucus called the plan a “flawed measure” that “amounts to a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card for thousands of felons who should be in state prison.”

Meanwhile, California Watch reports that several county sheriffs have warmed to the idea of taking over responsibility for low-level offenders.

Another factor in play is the US Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on whether or not California must decrease its prison population by about 40,000 inmates. If the Supreme Court does rule for a reduction in overcrowding, California will either have to release inmates or build new prisons to accommodate them. Senator Mark Leno pointed out that realignment would accomplish compliance with such a court order.

It’s unclear what would happen if the Supreme Court upholds this order and tax increases fail.

One thing is pretty certain: local sheriffs say that without additional money, they won’t be able to take in more inmates–and according to California Watch, they’re already “skeptical of the state’s financial intentions.”

  • Anonymous

    Well written, as usual, Rina. Truth is, the vast majority of these low level offenders should never have been sentenced to prison in the first place. Community service, education, halfway house, drug abuse prevention and making the victim (if any) whole are much more valuable and used by most democratic countries. Not in our state where people are locked up and made into incredibly worse and violent criminals. No wonder we lock up more people than any democratic country except the USA.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rich-McKone/1261728401 Rich McKone

    The gradual transfer of technical parole violators and “wobblers” – offenders who can serve brief terms in either prison or county jail took place – happended between 1984 and 1996. They now occupy about 48,500 prison beds, adding about $1.3 billion to annual prison operating costs. That is because a prison bed costs $24,000 more to operate than a prison bed. The transfer is also the only reason California has a 35% violation rate rather than 20% like the rest of the country, adding an additional $290 million to prison operating costs. Brown’s realignment proposal should be implemented even if California had a $25 billion surplus.