Early release of inmates a possible solution to overcrowding

Governor, lawmakers seek solutions to ballooning prisoner population

Timothy Jue, California Aggie

February 26, 2007

With a state superior court judge's ruling that blocks the transfer of California inmates to privately run, out-of-state correctional facilities still lingering from earlier in the week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would consider the early release of prisoners to ease continual overcrowding in the state's prison system.

Faced with pressure from federal judges to solve the prison overcrowding problem, and at the risk of a cap on the state's inmate population this summer, Schwarzenegger told reporters at a Feb. 22 capitol news conference that he would look into the possibility that sick and nonviolent prisoners could be released before serving their full sentences.

"We have to look at a [wide] variety of different things in order to solve this problem," the governor said. "But I think the important thing is that we've got to start working on it now, and we've got to take this seriously."

In January, Schwarzenegger proposed spending $11 billion to construct more state prisons and expand existing prisons to house more inmates. However, the construction of new facilities could take years to complete.

At the news conference, the governor talked about moving additional prisoners to out-of-state prisons as another short-term solution to the overcrowding problem, despite Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian's Feb. 20 decision to block the inmate transfer plan.

In her ruling, she said the governor inappropriately used his powers to declare that the crowded state prison system was under a state of emergency. The Emergency Services Act, Ohanesian wrote in her ruling, is intended to provide state assistance to burdened local jurisdictions in the event of natural disasters and other events.

"The intent of the Emergency Services Act is not to give the governor extraordinary powers to act without legislative approval in matters such as this that are ordinarily and entirely within the control of state government," the judge wrote in her five-page order.

The Schwarzenegger administration said it would appeal the ruling and made no plans to discontinue the inmate-transfer plan, which exports prisoners to institutions in Tennessee and Arizona.

"It ought to be more concerning to the public and the press what else can he declare a state of emergency on," said Chuck Alexander, vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which sued the governor over the transfer plan along with another prison guard union.

Alexander praised the judge's decision but expressed frustration over the governor's approach in finding a solution to the overcrowding issue.
"It seems to be indicative of the style that the governor is using," he said. "He doesn't like to be told he's wrong by anybody."

Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation estimated that, by this summer, the state's 33 facilities will run out of bed space for inmates. Currently, 172,000 inmates are housed in a prison system designed for 100,000.
Reposted from The California Aggie: http://www.californiaaggie.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&uStory_id=53a76e84-59cf-4865-96de-55a2a1165f0b