Posted on 10/04/2006 8:20:13 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an emergency Wednesday over prison crowding, a step that lets him use his executive powers to free space by shipping inmates to other states.
The move comes five weeks after state lawmakers failed to act on a $6 billion prison building plan Schwarzenegger sought after calling a special session of the state Legislature. That proposal also included involuntarily sending inmates to prisons in other states.
"Our prisons are now beyond maximum capacity, and we must act immediately and aggressively to resolve this issue," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
California has the nation's largest state prison system with 172,000 inmates, a number that is about 70 percent over capacity. Without swift action, the prisons will run out of room as early as next August, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Privately run prisons in Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee are willing to take 2,200 inmates, Corrections Secretary James Tilton said. The transfers could start in 30 days.
Other prisons, public and private, are interested in providing as many as 10,000 beds for three to five years, he said.
A preliminary survey found that nearly 20,000 inmates are willing to be shipped out of California voluntarily, more than enough to meet an initial goal of 5,000 transfers.
"If I was living in a gym with 240 other individuals and had no programs, then I'd probably raise my hand, also," Tilton said.
Schwarzenegger's order permits Tilton to move convicts involuntarily if needed, starting with foreign nationals who would be deported after their release.
The involuntary transfers were opposed by Democratic lawmakers, who adjourned last month without acting on Schwarzenegger's special-session prison proposals, and by the union that represents state prison guards.
"If a guy doesn't want to leave, are you going to hogtie them and put them on the bus?" said Robert Dean, an official with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
Schwarzenegger's order allows the corrections department to bypasses competitive bidding, but Tilton said the transfers would save money for California taxpayers.
The pending out-of-state contracts include a daily rate averaging just more than $60, compared to the $71 a day the state pays county jails to house felons or the roughly $96 a day it costs for each inmate in a state prison.
Schwarzenegger's Democratic gubernatorial opponent, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, criticized Schwarzenegger for waiting this long to declare an emergency.
Let the prisoner initiated lawsuits begin. If they're out of state in prison who has jurisdiction?
Was thinking the same... this opens up a huge jurisdictional can of worms.
Psst... (R)nold, you can clear even more space by insisting that the feds deport all the illegal felons that CA is now supporting at taxpayer expense.
start charging Mexico for housing their citizens in jail.
Someone ought to clue the governor in on something called quonset huts.
He can ask any Marine what they are.
Quonset huts are:
- cheap to build
- hot in summer, cold in winter
- easily defended
- good enough for Marines, sure as hell good enough for prisoners
Supply and demand applies to prisons to!
We have NASA for a reason.. We need to set up a Prison Planet.. and I'm not talking about the left wing loon website!
They have over 600 people on death row. I know one good way to make 600 spaces.
How long before certain "conservatives" here start attacking him for shipping jobs out of State ?
How long before certain "conservatives" here start attacking him for shipping jobs out of State ?
Mexicans gain badly needed employment, California saves billions in expenses and there is no better deterrent for recidivism than a stint in a third world prison.
A sentence of life, without the possibility of parole takes on a much abbreviated meaning in a Mexican prison.
Oh, I know... ;-)
and to private prisons yet..
I would prefer to see incarcerated illegals deported to their country of origin myself.
If they can ultimately ship upwards of 20,000 inmates across to other states, they can certainly ship 20,000 illegal aliens from California back to Mexico. Not a lot. But a beginning. Anything will help.
This is a novel idea especially in light of the Rat legislatures failure to address the problem.
I'd presume jurisdiction would fall to the state within which the prisoners become housed.
We're housing a good many of Mexico's criminal element. Why not send Fox the bill?
This is a good idea for the short term. We could do better by cutting even just 5 years off death row appeals. Some of the 700+ inmates have been waiting for execution since the late 70's which itself ought to be a crime!
That the Rats couldn't agree on spending money to build prisons is a bit shocking and ought to be scandalous.
"I would prefer to see incarcerated illegals deported to their country of origin myself."
Not me ... if they go back they will probably be simply cut free - make them serve their time for the crime PLUS a bit extra for the crime of entering illegally, then deport them ....
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