Prison Reform: Officially Dead
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 26, 2006 Contact: Ari Wohlfeiler, 510-688-0934 (cell)
Prison Reform: Officially Dead
Governor’s Special Prison Expansion Legislative Session Kills Hopes for Change
Oakland, CA – With a controversial call today for a “Special Session of the Legislature to Address Prison Crowding and Recidivism,” Governor Schwarzenegger renewed his failed proposals to construct up to 90,000 new prison and jail cells using debt funding.
The Governor’s new version of the plan combines several elements of proposed legislation including a call to build 4,500 “community prison” beds for people in women’s prisons, and to follow through on a proposal for lease-revenue bond prison construction as introduced by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez in AB 2902, and expedited state contracting processes.
“The only reason to build prisons using a lease revenue bond is to avoid voter approval,” noted Craig Gilmore of the California Prison Moratorium Project. “Right now, the polls say only 5% of Californians prioritize prison construction. Using a lease-revenue bond is more expensive, but ensures that legislators can make this decision without going to the voters.”
Historically, prison expansion has failed to decrease and even in some cases has contributed to growing prison crowding problems. Delano II, for example, a controversial new 5,000 bed prison opened in late 2005, failed to dent the overcrowding crisis.
“The problem is that the prison population is artificially tied to the number of beds that are available,” explained Sitara Nieves of Critical Resistance. “It’s time to stop pretending that increased capacity is part of the solution. The Governor’s plan would put us right back in the thick of the Wilson and Davis years – we know that a policy of expansion is a guaranteed disaster.”
Advocates for people in women’s prisons were equally up in arms over the Governor’s continued support for new prisons to be built for women. “This really justifies what we’ve been opposing in AB 2066 the whole time – that it is an expansion plan,” explained Cynthia Chandler, JD, Co-Director at Justice Now. “You can’t build your way out of overcrowding. If building new prisons solved problems, California wouldn’t be running the worst system in the world today.”
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Critical Resistance is a national grassroots organization working to end our reliance on policing, imprisonment, and surveillance as a solution to social problems
Prison Reform: Officially Dead
Governor’s Special Prison Expansion Legislative Session Kills Hopes for Change
Oakland, CA – With a controversial call today for a “Special Session of the Legislature to Address Prison Crowding and Recidivism,” Governor Schwarzenegger renewed his failed proposals to construct up to 90,000 new prison and jail cells using debt funding.
The Governor’s new version of the plan combines several elements of proposed legislation including a call to build 4,500 “community prison” beds for people in women’s prisons, and to follow through on a proposal for lease-revenue bond prison construction as introduced by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez in AB 2902, and expedited state contracting processes.
“The only reason to build prisons using a lease revenue bond is to avoid voter approval,” noted Craig Gilmore of the California Prison Moratorium Project. “Right now, the polls say only 5% of Californians prioritize prison construction. Using a lease-revenue bond is more expensive, but ensures that legislators can make this decision without going to the voters.”
Historically, prison expansion has failed to decrease and even in some cases has contributed to growing prison crowding problems. Delano II, for example, a controversial new 5,000 bed prison opened in late 2005, failed to dent the overcrowding crisis.
“The problem is that the prison population is artificially tied to the number of beds that are available,” explained Sitara Nieves of Critical Resistance. “It’s time to stop pretending that increased capacity is part of the solution. The Governor’s plan would put us right back in the thick of the Wilson and Davis years – we know that a policy of expansion is a guaranteed disaster.”
Advocates for people in women’s prisons were equally up in arms over the Governor’s continued support for new prisons to be built for women. “This really justifies what we’ve been opposing in AB 2066 the whole time – that it is an expansion plan,” explained Cynthia Chandler, JD, Co-Director at Justice Now. “You can’t build your way out of overcrowding. If building new prisons solved problems, California wouldn’t be running the worst system in the world today.”
--30--
Critical Resistance is a national grassroots organization working to end our reliance on policing, imprisonment, and surveillance as a solution to social problems
posted by Noel at 9:41 AM
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