Pubdate: Thu, 07 Apr 2016
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2016 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Author: Sal Rodriguez

NO TIME TO THROW MORE MONEY AT PRISON GUARDS

California can no longer afford the failed experiment of mass 
incarceration. When the voters approved measures like Proposition 36, 
which amended "three strikes" laws, and Prop. 47, which reduced 
penalties for petty theft and drug crimes, they were sending a clear 
message to Sacramento that trudging on with the same old policies was 
no longer acceptable.

Yet, with $10.6 billion in proposed spending on the state's 
corrections system, the most ever and equal to $70,000 per prisoner 
per year, California government seems set to continue overspending on 
prisons that mostly fail to "correct" those who enter them, while 
underinvesting in alternatives.

The current legislative session has mostly mirrored others in recent 
years, in that lawmakers have shown little interest in curbing 
spending on corrections or figuring out how better to allocate the 
state's finite resources on preventing crime and keeping former 
inmates from returning to prison.

If there's anything California legislators need to get right this 
session, it's ensuring the savings from a reduced prison population, 
thanks to Prop. 47, are properly allocated to the Safe Neighborhood 
and Schools Fund, which Prop. 47 created to invest those savings in 
things like drug treatment, mental health programs and other crime 
prevention efforts.

Unfortunately, Gov. Jerry Brown, curiously, has estimated savings of 
less than $30 million, well below the $100 million projected by the 
independent Legislative Analyst's Office. "We find that the 
administration likely underestimates the savings and overestimates 
the costs resulting from" Prop. 47, the LAO reported in February. 
"For example, we estimate that the actual level of prison savings due 
to Prop. 47 could be $83 million higher compared to the 
administration's estimate."

Getting the math correct is important because, without crime 
prevention programs adequately funded, it simply makes it harder for 
state and local governments to actually implement the wishes of the 
electorate. Keeping people out of state prisons for petty offenses is 
only part of the package with Prop. 47, while making sure they stay 
out, or never enter in the first place, is just as important.

Whether lawmakers adequately contemplate this remains to be seen, but 
they will be faced with another, costly feature of the criminal 
justice system: a new contract with the union for the state's prison 
guards, who, arguably, have benefited the most from overreliance on 
incarceration.

The proposed contract with the California Correctional Peace Officers 
Association, which represents Bargaining Unit 6, calls for a 9 
percent pay raise through July 2018. According to analysis by the 
LAO, this would add roughly $600 million in spending commitments by 2018-19.

Of course, there's no evidence that California prison guard pay at 
present isn't competitive  after all, state prison guards routinely 
earn $100,000, with overtime - and it would be counterproductive for 
such a giveaway to be entertained at a time of overall fiscal constraints.

Whether there is any political will to reject the contract is another 
matter. After all, the CCPOA has long been one of the most 
influential unions in the state, contributing vast sums to 
politicians for decades and aggressively pushing a pro-incarceration agenda.

Throwing more money at prison guards isn't what is needed. Investing 
in alternatives to incarceration and evidence-based crime-prevention 
programming is a far greater need than taking care of a politically 
potent public-employee union.

Perhaps state lawmakers need to be reminded that the criminal justice 
system is supposed to advance the interests of justice, not fatten 
the pocketbooks of those who work within it. To date, Sacramento 
lawmakers have shown an inability to understand this, to the 
detriment of a coherent, well-functioning criminal justice system 
that emphasizes the salaries of public employees, instead of results.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom