UPDATE: Prison reform squeaks throughBy Tim Redmond
Well, the state Senate just approved the Assembly's version of a prison reform bill, which is too weak but at least it's something. It will go back to the Assembly tonight.
By the way, if you want to watch all the end-of-session madness -- the bills flying through, the impassioned speeches and the outright nuttery (I was just enjoying the debate in the Assembly over limits on mail-order ammunition -- good God, these Republicans are strange), you can get streaming video here.
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Comments (2)
The Legislature is not receiving good advice! They adopted a politically risky plan that has been tried several times and just doesn’t work. Reduced caseloads always result in more violations. There is however a proven solution that would save about 20,000 prison beds and at least $350 million annually, a Community Corrections Act (CCA). CCAs have operated successfully in Minnesota and Oregon since the 1970s.
Under a CCA the State contracts with counties for supervision of parolees committed from their county. Violations are handled by county criminal courts in the same manner as felony probation violations have always been handled. Technical parole violation rates would return to standard levels. A CCA contract paying counties actual State parole supervision costs of $7,278 per parolee compared to $1,250 spent for each probationer, would be a financial boost to a budget starved probation system. It can be phased in county by county, avoiding implementation problems.
Several previous efforts to pass a CCA law have been defeated due to union opposition. Maybe the Governor and Legislature are finally ready to make a real improvement to the prison system.
Posted by rich mckone | September 12, 2009 12:26 PM
The legislature are cowards more concerned about their careers than public safety. The real solution is to legalize all drugs but that will decimate the prison industry so will never happen.
Posted by just a guy | September 13, 2009 10:45 AM