Pubdate: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA) Copyright: 2002 Los Angeles Newspaper Group Contact: http://www.ptconnect.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/244 PRISONS: THIS TIME AT THE TROUGH, BIG SPENDERS HIT A SNAG Oops! The prison system has overspent its budget again. But don't worry, it's only $277 million. This has happened before, all too often in fact, though you'd think this year would have been different. The state already is $20-22 billion in the red, and the prison population is declining. But the prison system always seems to get its way in Sacramento. In 2000-01, the prison deficit was $52 million, and in 1998-99 it was $106 million. Both times, the Legislature promptly paid up. As state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) told the L.A. Times, prison officials know they can come to the trough and get automatic approval for whatever they want. What's going on here? Well, the prison bureaucracy has a secret weapon for the budget battles: payoffs. The legal kind. The union for prison guards, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, is financing its own rapid expansion by spreading political contributions all over Sacramento, starting at the top. The union gave $2 million to Gray Davis in his first campaign for governor, and contributes generously to legislators of all stripes. In return (not directly in return, of course, because that would be illegal), legislators are generous with the prison establishment. The union gives state legislators millions, and the legislators give state prison employees billions. The current prison budget is $4.8 billion and rising. Operating costs aren't just rising, they are soaring. Our generous governor, despite the staggering budget shortfalls, plans to give prison guards a pay raise that will cost $500 million a year now, and more like $1 billion by 2006. That's quite a return on the original investment. Fortunately, there are signs that legislators are beginning to resist opening the cash drawer for the prison bureaucracy. A state Senate subcommittee Wednesday rejected the governor's proposal for a $500 million prison that would cost $100 million a year to operate. Sen. Polanco is chairman of the subcommittee. State Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana) describes the $277 million deficit as shocking. He and Polanco also oppose Gov. Davis' plan to shut down five privately operated state prisons, which would please the prison-guard union but would add millions more to the cost of the prison system. Polanco and Dunn are raising the right questions about the prison system. Other legislators must look beyond the campaign contributions and make decisions based on what is right, not just for prison guards but for the penal system, and for the taxpayers who support it. Critical Resistance 1212 Broadway, Suite 1400 Oakland, CA 94612 Phone: (510)444-0484 Fax: --- MAP posted-by: Beth