Calif. Lags on Prison Expansion Projects

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Under pressure in 2007 to reduce crowding in California’ state prison system, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger allocated $7.4 million in bonds under AB900 to expand prisons and jails and add 53,000 extra beds, but so far, the state has failed to complete any of its expansion projects and has only begun planning or construction of 8,400 beds.

 

Most of the expansion projects, which include building healthcare and re-entry facilities in addition to adding beds, were only approved in the latter quarter of 2010.

 

In light of California’s declining crime rate, the easing of crowding in the state prison system, and the implementation since 2007 of measures to reduce crowding, such as granting medical parole to severely incapacitated inmates, critics are calling for newly inaugurated Gov. Jerry Brown to halt expansion.

 

Roughly 8,200 inmates are housed in prison gymnasiums and dayrooms, down from 20,000 in 2006. The drop is largely the result of shipping inmates out of state to private prisons and transferring others to county jails.

 

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the department has been unable to proceed on AB900’s projects due to lawsuits over their environmental and budgetary impact and the difficulty of selling bonds during a recession. The department said that it will reevaluate how to proceed on expansion efforts but stated that despite the ease in crowding, California still requires more prison beds.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide in the coming months whether to uphold a lower court’s 2009 ruling ordering California to reduce its prison population by 40,000 inmates. That ruling resulted from a lawsuit brought by inmates over the state prison system’s inadequate healthcare. A judge found in 2006 that overcrowded conditions were contributing to the inadequate delivery of healthcare to prisoners and prisoner suicide, and in turn, to 50 unnecessary inmate deaths a year.

 

If the Supreme Court upholds the order, Gov. Brown will need to reduce the state’s prison population by 30,000 inmates. Brown plans to propose shifting 20,000 low-level offenders to county jails as part of his plan to shrink California’s $28,000 billion deficit.