Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

Washington State wants to deal with its budget crisis by releasing prisoners. California, which has just as much of a budget squeeze, is proposing to expand its prison system:

Decision on prisoner releases rests with Legislature, prisons chief says

Last updated April 1, 2009 10:35 p.m. PT

By LEVI PULKKINEN

SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/404517_corrections02.html

Responding to competing budget proposals from the House and Senate, Department of Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail said Wednesday that either proposal would likely lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners.

Earlier this week, leaders with the corrections officers' union objected to the Senate proposal that they argue would see as many as 1,900 prisoners receive early release from prison during the next two years. Proposed cuts from both houses would also curtail programs designed to prepare inmates for release from prison.

Vail said he will continue to push for Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposal, which would include larger cuts to community supervision of offenders but preserve prison bed space.

"When we worked on crafting the governor's budget, we worked with prosecutors and police and we came up with what we thought presented the lowest threat to public safety," said Vail, arguing for cuts also supported by the state associations representing prosecutors and police.

The Department of Corrections estimates that the House proposal would see 1,200 to 1,300 inmates released early. The Senate budget would see 1,800 to 1,900 receive early release, though Vail conceded that the department is "guestimating a bit" because both proposals include changes in sentencing that have not yet been approved by the Legislature.

According to budget documents, the Senate proposal would see about 107 positions cut during the coming two years, leaving the department roughly 662 workers short of the staffing level needed to support current service levels.

Suggested cuts would still see spending at the department increase by $31 million from 2009 to 2011. While overall spending would increase under the proposal, the Senate plan would eliminate $124 million in expected expenses, either through spending cuts or by obtaining other funding sources.

A House budget proposal released Tuesday contained similar cuts in state spending but preserved current staffing levels by in part by directing $182 million in federal grant money to the department. Unlike their Senate counterparts, authors of the House budget don't order the closure of McNeil Island Corrections Center.

Vail said he would prefer the Legislature settle on a budget that doesn't dictate which facilities should remain in operation.

Both proposals would see post-release support for inmates cut as well, which Vail described as "inevitable but unfortunate. " Given the proposed cuts to other social services, he said the department is hardly in a position to complain.

The decision as to which offenders will be released ultimately rests with the Legislature, Vail said. State law dictates the minimum sentence to be served for specific crimes, which means lawmakers will have to decide which crimes should be treated more lightly.

"It's a determinate sentencing state, so it's up to the Legislature, " Vail said. "Those are the hard votes that they've got coming, because it's up to them to decide who gets out and who stays in."

The Legislature is expected to reconcile the proposals and produce a final budget in coming weeks. Legislation modifying state sentencing standards has not yet been adopted.

Calif. seeks prison expansion to reduce crowding
By DON THOMPSON

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) The head of California's prison system said Wednesday he will ask state legislators to approve expanding three prisons as a way to relieve overcrowding so severe federal judges may soon order the state to free inmates.

The construction projects would be the first to draw money from a nearly $8 billion bond measure approved two years ago. The money was stalled, though, until Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the state budget into law in February.

Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate said he plans to seek approval within weeks to build more cellblocks at two prisons near Delano and to convert a juvenile lockup near Paso Robles. Those moves combined would house 2,800 inmates.

The $810 million Cate will seek from legislative budget committees would pay for those three expansions, plus building a re-entry center in Stockton for 500 inmates who are nearing the end of their prison terms. It would be the first of several planned regional re-entry centers to help inmates adjust in the months before they are paroled.

Actual construction of the four facilities will still depend on when the bond markets thaw, Cate said, because bonds to pay for construction can't be sold until then. Building the facilities would take about two years, he said.

The proposed construction comes as a special panel of federal judges is preparing a final order that could force California to release a third of its nearly 170,000 inmates. The judges tentatively ruled in February that severe crowding is causing unconstitutional conditions for physically and mentally ill inmates.

To that end, Cate said he is working with a court-appointed receiver to see if some of the planned construction could be used for sick inmates.

California already has taken other steps to relieve crowding, including sending about 8,000 inmates to prisons in other states and changing policies to keep more parolees from returning to prison.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.