In California, health care and other amenities in state prisons have been on the slump as the enormous inmate population consistently runs up the state bill. More than 160,000 California state residents are currently serving terms in penitentiaries; such a spike, dispersed around the state's 33 facilities, has forced wardens to cut corners.
The state is now ordering that the institutions "reduce" their populations by 30 percent. In other words, California is releasing close to 40,000 convicted criminals in order to free up space and to re-allocate state funding for criminal justice.
Citing several "experts," Californian movers and shakers believe that an increase in funding for law enforcement, made affordable by a decrease in the prison population, will effectively reduce crime. California, they say, is at the forefront of over-conviction.
The means by which California deals with its financial shortcomings have been some of the most controversial, as a spike in state college tuition brought angry students to the streets this past year and as Proposition 19 promised millions of dollars to the ailing state if only it might regulate marijuana.
If they pay in safety, as a result of prison overcrowding, we are willing to bet that many California residents are now regretting having not voted for Prop 19.
Obviously, prisoners are still people who deserve fair treatment and humane living conditions. But their current place in society, or in this case, outside of society, is truly problematic for a country that cannot afford them; and in states like California, it seems that nobody can win.
Saving money in state criminal justice methods sounds wonderful, but the money saved must go to increased law enforcement, another expensive public enterprise. And it seems counterproductive in reducing prison populations to add police, as if seeing more police will deter criminals from committing crimes, rather than that the higher number of police will bring in more arrests.
It would not be the first time that a state government was wrong about a money-saving prospect.
It is disappointing that state deficits have become such an issue that prisoners must be dealt with in this manner and thought of as the tertiary citizens with whom we must deal in order to keep our heads above water. Though they deserve to pay their debt to society, prisoners should not be treated like dead collateral.
From an outsider's perspective, it looks like California is the best place to live if you are into vice. Now it looks like crime is a more safe undertaking as police try to reduce crime by… getting more police?
Just be more careful and you will not get caught in California. The prisons are too full anyway.
