Violent Crimes Prison Issues       Governor's move sends California into new prison territory By Mason Stockstill, Staff Writer Associated Press Article Launched:10/06/2006 CHINO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent declaration of an emergency in state prisons will mean two new possibilities for inmates at the California Institution for Men and other prisons: doing time at private prisons and doing time in other states. Criminal Neglect Schwarzenegger's proclamation makes it possible for California to contract for prison beds with private operators in other states - a proposal the governor had sought earlier this year but was rebuffed by the Legislature. "Our prisons are now beyond maximum capacity, and we must act immediately and aggressively to resolve this issue," he said Wednesday. But experts questioned the wisdom of the move, noting that placing prisoners in out-of-state facilities has in the past led to violence. "There's been lots of problems with inmates being shipped out, in particular if they're put into a facility with multijurisdictional inmates," said Ken Kopczynski, of the Florida-based Private Corrections Institute. "California inmates are under California law. If they have Oklahoma inmates, or Texas inmates, they all have to be handled separately." Disparity in treatment of prisoners from several states was one cause identified in a 2004 riot where inmates alternately smashed, flooded and torched a private institution in Colorado, Kopczynski noted. In that incident, prisoners from different states -Colorado, Washington and Wyoming - felt they were being treated unfairly, since each state paid different wages for inmate labor. Other problems can arise when inmates from different states get together to form their own gangs, or when the distance from their families and support networks is too great, making rehabilitation less likely. Kopczynski also said the private corrections industry has racked up a less-than-stellar record in the past, mostly due to cost-saving efforts such as using low-wage guards and cutting corners on security. At a media briefing, James Tilton, the secretary of California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said he is close to signing contracts with private operators in four states: Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Those facilities could house 2,200 inmates total - a drop in the bucket compared to California's total of 172,000. Still, Tilton said as many as 16,000 California inmates are living in what are called "bad beds," meaning they're set up in gymnasiums, hallways and other makeshift environments. To relieve that overcrowding, the department last month sent a survey to inmates, asking if they would consider serving their sentence in another state. More than 19,000 inmates indicated they'd be open to the idea, but the actual number who are shipped elsewhere will be lower, Tilton said. Schwarzenegger's proclamation also makes it possible to involuntarily ship inmates to out-of-state locations. The governor had sought a similar plan earlier this year during a special legislative session aimed at addressing the state's prison crisis. The Legislature, however, did not pass a single bill during the special session. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Mason Stockstill can be reached by e-mail at mason.stockstill@dailybulletin.com, or by phone at (909) 483-9354.   ***   California Prison Population A Look At Who’s Behind Bars May Offer Clues On How To Fix Problems By Public Policy Institute of California Amanda Bailey and Joseph Hayes, research associates This opinion article appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune August 31, 2007 California prisons are in crisis. Inmates are dying at an unusually high rate, rehabilitation programs are minimal, and a federal receiver has taken control of the prison health care system. Prisons are severely overcrowded –- with 173,000 prisoners sleeping in gyms, dayrooms and classrooms and state prison facilities will likely run out of space by this time next year. California has the highest recidivism rate in the country: 70 percent of prisoners are re-imprisoned within three years. In response, state leaders are debating next steps and struggling to develop a strategy to fix the system. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed large-scale construction of new prisons and generated widespread opposition in the process; a special session of the Legislature has met to grapple with the construction issue and to evaluate whether the governor's plan includes adequate rehabilitation and other alternatives to construction. While it's true that action is needed, but may not be forthcoming soon, the short-term decisions by policy-makers could lead us down a faulty and expensive path. An essential ingredient to solving the massive prisons problem is to take a breather and understand the population at the center of the debate: a group that has been growing at three times the rate of California's overall population for the last 15 years. What's different about California prisoners today? For one, despite policies such as “Three Strikes and You're Out,” which have lengthened inmates' sentences and the time they serve, more and more prisoners are cycling repeatedly through the system. In 2004, two-thirds (67 percent) of admissions to state prisons were returning inmates, a jump from 59 percent in 1990. Prisoners are being returned either for technical violations of their parole or for new crimes, which contributes to the 70 percent recidivism rate. The current parole system increases the likelihood that parolees will return to prison. The state doesn't use any intermediate level punishment; if you violate parole, you go back to prison, no matter how minor the violation. Furthermore, this is a tremendous administrative burden: of those 173,000 prisoners, about 120,000 are admitted in and 120,000 released out of the system throughout the year. Any thoughtful solution to the state's prisons crisis should realistically consider the effect this type of turnover has on the communities, neighborhoods and families from which prisoners come, and to which many eventually return. For example, two-thirds of women and over half of men in prison are parents of minor children and children of incarcerated parents have been found to be more likely to serve prison time themselves. Overcrowding has curtailed rehabilitation efforts because of space and budget constraints, so released prisoners return to their neighborhoods without the skills to make it on the outside. Too often, they subsequently commit a violation of their parole, or a new crime, at the expense of their communities and families, and return to the prison system, at the expense of California taxpayers. Studies show that prisoners who earn a GED in prison are less likely to return to prison. California's prison population is also aging rapidly. In 1990, 20 percent of the prison population was under age 25; by the end of 2005, this group made up only 14 percent of prisoners. During the same period, the share of prisoners age 50 and older nearly tripled, from 4 percent to 11 percent. Given the state of health care in California prisons, these trends have critical implications. Researchers have estimated the cost of housing, transporting and caring for elderly prisoners to be two to three times higher than for other prisoners. Inmates are aging because the state's overall population is aging, but also, policies have lengthened prisoners' sentences and the amount of time they serve, so they age while incarcerated. Also, older adults are increasingly likely to go to prison. As costs mount, cost-effective alternatives to incarcerating older people who are statistically less likely to pose a threat to society may become a prudent consideration. Decision-makers charged with reforming the prison system should consider the characteristics of the prison population before implementing policies that would affect it. The changing demographics of prisoners can provide valuable clues as to the origin of rising costs and unchecked growth, and perhaps informed decisions on whether to emphasize deterrence, rehabilitation or warehousing, in crafting a coherent corrections policy. All Contents © Public Policy Institute of California 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007   ***   Inmates proud to earn diplomas behind bars By Charles F. Bostwick, Staff Writer L.A. Daily News 10/06/2006 LANCASTER - Thirteen men in graduation gowns and caps walked up to a podium Friday to receive diplomas and shake hands with dignitaries - but these weren't typical graduates. These were men locked up behind electrified fences and barbed wire, some for life for crimes like murder, men who earned their high school equivalency diplomas - and in one case, a college associate degree. "For myself and for a lot of prisoners, the idea of advancing ourselves and doing better, that's something a lot of prisoners share," said Kenneth Hartman, 45, who dropped out of eighth grade and has been in prison for nearly 27 years, since a drunken, drugged-up beating that killed a homeless man in a Long Beach park. From California State Prison-Los Angeles County's Honor Yard - for inmates who've sworn off violence, gangs and drugs - Hartman earned an associate degree from Coastline Community College. Hartman studied by correspondence courses and watched classes on an Orange County public-television station. He'd like to go for his bachelor's degree but says the fees and other expenses would cost him $10,000 to $15,000. The dozen other men who earned their general equivancy diplomas passed the GED test in April, getting together in cellblock day rooms to help one another learn subjects like math, grammar, science and social studies, prison academic instructor Bert Fisher said. "When I was young, I said I was going to graduate from high school and I was going to go on to college. I was going to go on to do the best I could with my life," said inmate Jimmie Gilmer, the class valedictorian. "But sometimes things change in life, and we all took detours to get here. I want to step closer to completing what I told my younger self I would." The 13-year-old prison holds some 4,500 inmates, more than twice what it was designed for - though ever since its 1993 opening, it has had two men in each one-person cell. Now inmates also sleep in bunks set up in gymasiums and cellblock day rooms. More than 150 inmates are taking academic classes, teachers said, and others take vocational classes in trades like plumbing and masonry. About 15 are taking college classes. " The department is changing. We're kind of going away from the warehousing to the rehabiliation," acting Warden Robert Wong said. Besides the 13 graduates from the Honor Yard, there were an additional 43 from a second prison yard earning high school diplomas and vocational certificates. The Honor Yard graduation ceremony featured entertainment by inmate musicians, including a vocal quartet whose four members included former professional vocalist Eric Davis, who performed in Las Vegas and toured the U.S. with an opening act for the 1970s soul group The Delfonics. The Honor Yard, created in 2000, holds inmates who apply to be there. They must be without disciplinary problems for three to five years, agree to random drug tests and swear off gang activity.     Copyright 2007 by WJFA. All rights reserved. The material on this web site may not be copied, published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. See WJFA's Disclaimer and Privacy Policy.