Last August, in a screed about the Legislature's political cowardice on prison reform, this column pointed out that California spends a far higher percentage of its state budget on corrections than any other state and that if we reduced costs just to the average of other large states, it would save $4 billion a year.
Someone in Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration must have been paying attention. The governor cited the same data last week during his State of the State address in comparing California prison costs ($50,000 per inmate per year) to those of other states ($32,000).
"They spend less and yet you do not see federal judges taking over their prison health care system," Schwarzenegger reminded legislators. "Why do we have to spend so much more than they do?"
Why indeed? Why, for instance, does Texas imprison almost as many felons as California but spend less than a third as much on its system? The Lone Star State's per-inmate cost is roughly what California spends just on health care, especially since a federal judge seized control of the prison health system and gave a court-appointed receiver carte blanche to spend.
The biggest driver in the doubling of California prison costs over the past decade, however, is the system's extraordinarily high payroll, thanks to sweetheart contracts that pre-Schwarzenegger governors handed to the politically powerful California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
Schwarzenegger has tried, and failed, to persuade the Legislature to reduce pressure on a dangerously overcrowded prison system by, in effect, releasing some low-risk inmates and putting fewer behind bars.
His fellow Republicans refuse to go along, contending that having fewer inmates would pose a danger to law-abiding citizens. Democrats, who could approve Schwarzenegger's reforms without GOP votes, have also balked, afraid of being branded as soft on crime.
While the Legislature voted last year to trim prison costs by $1.2 billion a year, its stalling on implementation means that little, if any, money is being saved, thus contributing to the state's stubborn budget deficits.
Schwarzenegger is now taking a new tack, proposing that lower-cost private prisons take a bigger share of the load. That's equally unlikely to fly in a Legislature dominated by the CCPOA and other public employee unions. He's also suggesting a constitutional amendment that would place a cap on future prison spending vis-à-vis state support of colleges. That's more a throwaway gesture than a serious proposal.
All in all, it's one of those fine California political messes, a Gordian knot of conflicting priorities that shows no sign of being unraveled. Meanwhile, prison costs are continuing to grow, federal judges are threatening more intercession and politicians are bemoaning education cuts while shunning serious prison cost-cutting.
Call The Bee's Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/walters.
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