Jerry Brown's California budget slashes $1 billion from prisons

[SixthSense]

Gov. Jerry Brown wants to cut state prison spending by a billion dollars in the next fiscal year — mostly by cutting staff. Prison officials say they won’t need as many employees because the number of prisoners they oversee is dropping fast — the state has 11,000 fewer inmates since California’s “realignment” law took effect in October. The law diverts low-level felons to county jails. The state this week met its first court-ordered benchmark for reducing the prison population.

California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations is changing and rearranging and shrinking, as realignment drives the prison population down.

"We see the churning of inmates has stopped, great reductions in our total number of inmates already," Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate said.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/01/07/30706/jerry-browns-california-budget-slashes-1-billion-p/

[Cleita]

1. Don't know what to think about this.

First, it's good that the private prison industry has less opportunity to make a profit, but I'm sure the county and city jails are feeling overwhelmed. I wish we lived in a world where prison was only for the really uncontrollable felons and bad asses in our system. I think many prisoners, like the ones caught with some drugs on them, don't belong there. I can't see putting petty thieves in jail either. I'm sure there is some other apt punishment, like community service and fines that could be levied.

[SixthSense]

2. it is a good thing

the less money going to prisons, the fewer people will be imprisoned

given our astronomical incarceration rate such a correction is absolutely necessary - we imprison more people than open dictatorships

Prison ruins lives.