Solutions: $550 Million in Annual Cost Reductions

Because of the state’s dire fiscal situation, the question is no longer will we cut the corrections’ budget but how. The answer to that question is critically important. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past. The decisions made now will have real and lasting consequences for the health and safety of California communities for decades.

The State Legislature should reject the Governor’s plan to shift the state’s prison crisis to the counties and should instead adopt sensible, modest reforms that will reduce over-incarceration of non-violent offenders and juveniles, promote rehabilitation, and preserve prison resources for responding to serious offenses.

To end wasteful corrections spending and promote public safety, the state can’t simply pass the problem down to the counties. But there are effective solutions. California can achieve over $550 million in annual savings and promote public safety by implementing the following reforms:

Move incarceration for low-level offenses to the counties, while also reducing the impact on the counties by limiting lengthy sentences:

• Adjust the dollar threshold for felony property theft—not changed since 1982;
• Make certain low-level drug and property crimes into misdemeanors; and
• Make possession of small amounts of drugs (for personal use) a misdemeanor.
  

Eliminate unnecessary costs at the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation without adding any additional burden to the counties:

• Eliminate “time adds” which unnecessarily extend the sentences of youth; and
• Replace the costly and dysfunctional death penalty with permanent imprisonment.

Provide judges more flexibility in sentencing, to safely reduce the costs of handling low-level offenses at the county level:

• Eliminate probation ineligibility for some low-level drug and property crimes; and
• Eliminate mandatory minimum jail sentences for some low-level misdemeanors.

In addition, to keep crime on the decline in California, we must also restore funding for alternatives to incarceration and rehabilitation by creating a funding system for counties that provides effective incentives to reduce the number of people in custody at all levels of the system, rather than paying the counties to keep more people locked up. Federal Byrne Grant funds are available to support these critically underfunded crime-prevention programs.

Experts Agree: Small Changes Would Have Major Pay-Off

To end wasteful corrections spending and promote public safety, California should follow the advice of every expert panel and commission that has considered the issue: California needs to reform its sentencing practices. California can achieve over $550 million in annual savings and promote public safety by implementing the following reforms instead of the Governor’s flawed proposal:

• Keep petty offenders at the local level (and out of the costly prison system): Two-thirds of California inmates are in prison for non-violent, property or drug offenses. To ensure that those convicted of petty drug and property crimes are dealt with at the local level, sentences need to be readjusted as follows: (1) the dollar threshold defining when property theft is a felony should be adjusted based on inflation (it hasn’t been changed since 1982); (2) certain low-level property crimes that can be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor should be treated as misdemeanors only; and (3) possession of small amounts of drugs should be treated as a misdemeanor.

• Ensure fair sentencing and rehabilitation for youth: Youth in California serve the longest average sentences in the nation. Currently, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) has the ability to keep youth locked up longer by giving them "time adds" based on behavior. Time adds account for one third of all custody time in DJJ. Assembly Member Nancy Skinner's bill, AB 999, would eliminate time adds and establish an incentive program in which young people can earn credits for program participation. AB 999 would cut state costs by over $130 million and would lead to further facility closures by reducing the number of young people in state custody.

• Replace the dysfunctional death penalty with permanent imprisonment: The Governor has the power to convert death sentences to permanent imprisonment today, a reform that will have absolutely no impact on public safety and put no extra burdens on the counties. Permanent imprisonment provides swift and certain punishment. Replacing the death penalty with permanent imprisonment will save the state $125 million every year. In addition, we’ll save an additional $400 million in construction costs because we won’t need to build a new death row.
  

In addition to these reforms to keep costs down, to keep crime moving down in California, we must also restore funding for alternatives to incarceration and rehabilitation.

It is time for all Californians to demand a just budget: Sacramento must end the waste in corrections, ensure that public safety dollars are used effectively, and protect all Californian communities by preserving funding for education, rehabilitation, and core social services.

For Safer Communities, Reserve Prison Space for Responding to Serious Offenses

Governor Schwarzenegger has the right idea when it comes to one corrections proposal: handle more low-level nonviolent offenses at the county level and give counties additional resources to cope.

Prison cells are expensive and should be reserved for responding to serious offenses. People who commit non-violent drug and property crimes should be dealt with at the local level, where they are more likely to find support from family and successfully re-integrate into the community. Because keeping more petty offenders at the local level will cost counties more, it’s only fair to give counties part of the savings.

Unfortunately, the Governor’s proposal – as currently designed - is fatally flawed. It would require that all inmates sentenced to three years or less for a non-violent, non-serious offense would serve their time in county jail rather than state prison. This plan would simply shift the state problem of over-incarceration to the counties.

In fact, the plan would create a financial incentive for counties to sentence more people to longer terms of incarceration (and therefore keep petty offenders behind bars longer), because the counties would get paid for each person that they keep out of prison by incarcerating in their local jail. Counties would receive nothing for individuals sentenced to probation or to court-mandated treatment.

The plan will also create enormous confusion, confusion that will inevitably lead to litigation. Are these inmates in the “custody and control” of the CDCR, or the local county Sheriff? The Penal Code says the CDCR has jurisdiction only over people housed in one of its facilities, not individuals in county jail. This could impact whether the inmates may legally be placed on parole, whether their convictions will even constitute “felonies,” whether the convictions are “prison priors,” and whether the inmates retain their rights to vote. Who is responsible for providing (e.g., paying for) adequate health care for these inmates? Will these inmates be allowed to participate in programs like fire camp and programs for women prisoners with children? These are just some of the potential problems.

The Governor has the concept right but the execution wrong. We have a better approach!

Stop Making Fake Cuts to Corrections, While Other Programs Really Suffer!

Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed what even his office calls “absolutely terrible cuts” to core services for millions of struggling California families. The Democrats in the Legislature have responded with a proposal to increase revenues by $4.9 billon, a proposal the Republicans have vowed to fight.

While this all too familiar scenario plays out again in Sacramento, wasteful state spending on criminal justice and corrections continues unabated. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has overspent its budget again – by nearly $500 million so far. And the Governor’s May Revise actually proposes an increase in corrections spending of $795 million compared to last year’s budget.

A recent poll by Public Policy Institute of California found that an overwhelming majority (79%) of Californians oppose tax increases to spare prisons and corrections from budget cuts. FBI statistics also show that crime continues to decline, in California and across the country. Experts cite effective investment in violence prevention programs and technology as the reason for the decline.

Yet, California continues to spend more and more on corrections, while proposing to slash the very programs that have helped reduce crime over the last decade.

True, the budgets proposed by the Governor and the Assembly Democrats both contain “cuts” to the CDCR budget of more than $1 billion. Last year’s budget theoretically included cuts of $1.2 billion. But less than half of those theoretical cuts turned into real cuts. And the cuts that did happen were almost all in rehabilitation and education programs.

The proposed cuts on the table this year will prove just as illusory as last year’s. Most of the proposed cuts—$811 million—come from cuts to prison health care. No one has explained how this will be accomplished and if past experience is any lesson, that’s because it won’t be. When the CDCR returns halfway through the year $800 million over budget, the Legislature will once again quietly sign the check.

This is the year for real cuts to corrections. No more fake cuts!

Join Us to Demand Budget Justice!

Because of the state’s dire fiscal situation, the question is no longer will we cut the corrections’ budget but how. The answer to that question is critically important. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of past years. The decisions made now will have real and lasting consequences for the health and safety of California communities for decades.

Join us to demand budget justice in Sacramento!

To find out more, contact Margaret Dooley-Sammuli (mdooley @ drugpolicy org), Natasha Minsker (nminsker @ aclunc org) or Kris Lev-Twombly (kris @ ellabakercenter org).