Pubdate: Tue, 08 Aug 2006 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2006 San Jose Mercury News Contact: http://www.mercurynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390 Author: Mike Zapler, MediaNews Sacramento Bureau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Schwarzenegger Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?247 (Crime Policy - United States) AMID PRESSURE, LEGISLATORS CONSIDER PLAN TO FIX PRISONS Governor's Call for Special Session Follows Criticism SACRAMENTO - The Legislature began a special session Monday to try to fix the state's broken prison system amid powerful competing pressures -- some that demand reform, but others that make sweeping change unlikely. The pressures are both political and practical. There is pressure on the prisons themselves, which are bursting with inmates -- more than 170,000 of them, or almost double the intended capacity. Thousands of prisoners are sleeping in double- and triple-bunk beds in gymnasiums. There is pressure on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, after vowing to stand up to the powerful prison guards union, has come under scathing criticism for allegedly cozying up to the union to enhance his re-election prospects. There are money pressures. Schwarzenegger's prison reform plan carries a $6 billion price tag, at a time when the state faces an estimated $5 billion deficit next year. There is pressure on prison officials from reform advocates who want more emphasis on rehabilitation. Seventy percent of inmates return to prison within three years, which is the highest recidivism rate in the country and a major contributor to overcrowding. And there is pressure on the Legislature to show that it is capable of solving a seemingly intractable problem -- in the face of federal judges and court officials with sweeping powers to act if lawmakers do not. At the same time, prison reform has never been a big vote-getter. "It's hard to think of any major California politician who's won an election by getting better treatment for prisoners," said John Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. The special session got under way Monday as Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez announced the creation of a committee of legislators -- six Democrats and three Republicans -- to take up prison reform proposals. He said the panel would look closely at ideas to break the cycle of recidivism. Schwarzenegger called the special legislative session in late June, just days after a federal watchdog accused him of reneging on crucial prison reforms. Schwarzenegger came into office in 2003 vowing to clean up the prisons, but court-appointed watchdog John Hagar wrote that the governor retreated under pressure from the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. The 31,000-member guards union is a legendary force in Sacramento politics, having helped elect governors and defeat unfriendly legislators with millions of dollars in campaign contributions. Schwarzenegger's prison reversal, the special master added, led to the resignations of two prison chiefs in a span of two months this year. Special Session Schwarzenegger's staff denied the allegations, but the governor responded by calling the special session to consider a package of reforms. Politically, the move allows him to take credit if the Legislature passes his proposals or shift the blame if it does not. But politics aside, there is widespread consensus that prison reform can't wait much longer. "We have a very serious problem on our hands," Schwarzenegger said in announcing the special session. He warned that the federal courts, which have been scrutinizing the management of state prisons, "may very well take over the entire prison system and order early release of tens of thousands of prisoners." Schwarzenegger's plan includes building two prisons at a cost of $1.2 billion; constructing 10 "community re-entry facilities" around the state to rehabilitate prisoners before they're released, for $2 billion; paying other states to house 5,000 inmates scheduled to be deported once their sentences end; and moving 4,500 non-violent female inmates into community facilities. "The point of the special session is to put a special emphasis on taking up reforms that will create the space necessary to alleviate the overcrowding crisis," said Adam Mendelsohn, Schwarzenegger's communications director. Some criminal justice experts have called the governor's plan a hasty, election-driven response to a complex problem. Robert Weisberg, law professor and criminal justice expert at Stanford University Law School, was more generous, calling it "a starting point in the conversation." Weisberg, who directs Stanford's Criminal Justice Center, said the governor's emphasis on new facilities may be warranted but needs more analysis. What Schwarzenegger and others are neglecting, Weisberg said, is the effect that California's parole system has on overcrowding. Non-violent parolees, he said, are routinely sent back to prison for technical parole violations. One study found that 10 percent of inmates cycled in and out of prison at least six times over a seven-year period. "There is only a small core of state legislators who are interested in this and aware of it," Weisberg said. The timing of the special session in the midst of the governor's re-election effort could complicate reform efforts. As he campaigns against Democrat Phil Angelides, Schwarzenegger is negotiating a new contract with the prison guards union. The union has yet to make an endorsement, but is prepared to spend millions on the race. Schwarzenegger's dilemma: Offer too generous a contract, as his predecessor Gray Davis was accused of doing, and prompt charges of trying to buy off the union. Or fail to reach an accord and have the union work to defeat him. Meanwhile, the Democrat-controlled Legislature may be reluctant to hand Schwarzenegger a victory on prison reform before the election. "There's a great deal of politics wrapped up in solving the prison crisis," said prison guards union spokesman Lance Corcoran. Contract negotiations are at a standstill, he added, and the union began airing a TV ad Monday criticizing Schwarzenegger's record on prison reform. 'Illusion of Reform' As for the governor's call for a special session, Corcoran said: "There is some talk that it is nothing more than a political exercise. We remain cautiously optimistic it is more than that." Corcoran joined victim and prisoner advocate groups at a news conference Monday and said Schwarzenegger has offered only "the illusion of reform." Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, set low expectations for the special session. "I haven't seen anything right now that looks to me like a reform plan," Perata said of the governor's proposal. "The problem is, I think there's a little too much thinking on the run." But Perata and other legislators face a real possibility that court officials will take matters into their own hands. It has already begun to happen: Robert Sillen, the federal receiver who in February was handed control over the prison health care system because of the substandard care it has been providing, suggested to the Mercury News last week that he would unilaterally seize state funds for two new prison hospitals if lawmakers don't agree to build them. "We're not dependent on the state," he said. And a federal judge last week ordered the Schwarzenegger administration to present a proposal to the Legislature for 550 more mental health staffers in the prisons. Meanwhile, overcrowding continues to escalate. Officials say the state is on track to run out of prison beds by the middle of next year. "The fact is the Legislature has had almost nothing to say on these issues in recent years, and they're going to have to get involved," Weisberg said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake