The Sacramento Bee: "Lawmakers should get real on prison crowding"
After two decades of longer and longer prison sentences, California's prisons are overcrowded, and they are housing increasingly older, sicker prisoners.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers have known since July 2006 that if they do nothing to change sentencing practices, California will need to build 5,000 prison medical beds and 5,000 mental health beds within 10 years for chronically ill, physically impaired, feeble inmates.
Yet legislators were shocked, shocked last week to hear what it will cost to build these facilities: $6 billion.
Well, now they have a choice.
They can continue with current sentencing practices and face the fact that they've got to foot the $6 billion bill for the facilities.
Or they can change course. In the short-term, that means evaluating all 22,000 prisoners who are over age 50 for possible release or lower-cost options (electronic bracelets, halfway houses, etc.). Crime rates for 57-year-olds are a whole lot less than for 22-year-olds. Long-term, it means fixing the broken sentencing system. Start with placing a moratorium on lengthening existing sentences.
Legislators no longer can sit in utter denial of the consequences of existing sentencing patterns. California's prison health system is so broken that a federal judge took the drastic step of placing it in federal receivership.
And the federal receiver has run out of patience. ...
Lawmakers no longer can avoid the tough decisions. If they choose to stay on the same sentencing path, they have to build facilities and pay the day-to-day costs of dealing with aging prisoners. They can haggle over details to reduce building costs, but they have to face the fact that the cost will be huge. Or they can change course. Quickly. The federal receiver isn't interested in more delays.
This editorial first appeared in the Sacramento Bee on Sunday.
