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Date:
KUWAIT TIMES 2010.06.13
14:28:38 +03'00'

The first daily in the Arabian Gulf

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Number of inmates in California prisons soar

Published Date: December 10, 2007
FOLSOM: When California adopted its criminal sentencing code 30 years ago, a state appeals court
marveled that it was virtually incomprehensible, comparing it to income tax forms and insurance
policies. The appellate judges wondered if the state Legislature had used "some long departed
Byzantine scholar to create its seemingly endless and convoluted complexities." Since then, California
has added more than 1,000 felony sentencing laws and more than 100 other changes that can lengthen
prison terms. As a re
sult, the state's prisons are so dangerously jammed that there is a possibility federal courts could cap
the population, potentially forcing the early release of some inmates.

The number of inmates in California prisons has soared, from nearly 25,000 in 1980 to more than
170,000 this year. The state has an incarceration rate of 475 per 100,000 residents, well above the
national average of 445 per 100,000. So far, political efforts to simplify the convoluted process have
failed. However, the Legislature did approve a new law in April to build more prisons and jails, at a
cost to the taxpayers of $7.8 billion. "California's prison policy is to just build more prisons because the
y can't agree on anything else," said Don Specter, director of the nonprofit Prison Law Office, which
wants to cap the prison population. "Without a sentencing commission, you're going to eventually fill
as many prisons as you build because you're not affecting the number of people going in.

Proposals by Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic lawmakers to create such a commission to
review sentencing collapsed this year amid partisan infighting. Some feared that a commission could
open prison doors too wide. "We are jammed up with this situation right now because we have fallen in
love with one of the most undocumented beliefs: That somehow you get safer if you put more people in
jail," Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said this spring while reluctantly supporting the
construction plan.
The problems with the current system date to 1977, when lawmakers adopted what are called
determinate sentences, setting terms of incarceration by law rather than allowing a parole board to
decide them on a case-by-case basis. Judges retain some leeway based on the nature of the crime and
the criminal's history.

The system is so confusing that even the harshest penalties do little to deter many criminals, said
Donald Jones, 42, who has spent much of his life behind bars. He is serving 76 years to life at
California State Prison, Sacramento, for having a stolen lawn mower and an illegal knife while he was
on parole in 1996. It was his third offense under California's three-strikes law, after prior offenses
including robberies and assaulting a police officer at age 14. "One of the jurors said that if they'd known
i
t was a third strike they wouldn't have voted to convict because they thought it was too much for
receiving stolen property," Jones said in a prison interview. "To tell you the truth, I heard of the third
strike but I didn't know what it was. Somebody told me if you do a lot of violent stuff, they can put you
away for a long time, but I never thought about it," he said. Neither Schwarzenegger's plan nor a
competing legislative proposal would touch three-strikes. However, a commission could make strides t
oward setting appropriate sentences that deter crime, protect public safety and consider the capacity of
state prisons, said Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Sally Lieber. "Our criminal code has become a rabbit's
warren of conflicting laws," Lieber said.

A commission would take several years to make recommendations and would take even longer to affect
the prison population. But Lieber said it would at least show California is serious about reform as
federal judges- who already oversee inmate medical and mental health care, employee discipline,
juvenile and parole programs -consider taking more control of the state's prisons. Talks between
Democratic lawmakers and the Republican governor on creating a commission broke down in a
fundamental disagreement ove
r how much power the panel should have. "We don't just want an advisory, blue-ribbon commission,"
Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero said. Schwarzenegger, however, insists the commission be only
advisory. Law enforcement officials and Republican lawmakers say anything more would usurp the
Legislature's responsibility to pass laws. The Democratic proposals would create an unaccountable
group of appointees, Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian said. "This unelected group is going to decide who
stays in our prisons and who gets out," he said. - AP