<http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-prisons26dec26,1,3618609.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage>http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-prisons26dec26,1,3618609.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
From the Los Angeles Times
Court orders and ballot measures like Jessica's Law have helped fuel spending, which has climbed 79% since '03. By Jordan Rau Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 26, 2007
SACRAMENTO When a judge put Robert Sillen in charge of healthcare in California prisons, the medical staff was vastly underpaid. Software used to track inmates' medical histories could not transfer information between computers.
San Quentin State Prison had only one phone line for incoming calls and none to dial out, isolating doctors who needed to talk to specialists and other professionals.
"It's just shameful what the state has done," Sillen said in an interview.
He has been trying to fix things, but solutions come at a price: Healthcare spending in state prisons has doubled in the last two years.
Sillen's court-ordered intervention is just one reason California's prison spending has far outpaced the swelling number of inmates, contributing to the state's projected $14-billion budget gap, which would be the worst since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's election in 2003.
The prison population has grown by 8% since 2003, to more than 173,000. But the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's budget has exploded, increasing 79% to $8.5 billion, and is expected to top $10 billion next year.
Prison spending now is greater than that for any other major program except public schools and healthcare for the poor. The nonpartisan legislative analyst's office projects 6% annual increases in prison spending for the next five years as a new prison and dozens of building additions are constructed and opened.
"We know there's a lot coming down the pike," said Daniel Carson, who oversees criminal justice spending for the legislative analyst.
Several causes of the department's fiscal metastasis are the same that plague many parts of California's $145-billion state budget: spending set at the ballot box and in the courts; bureaucratic waste; and more than a decade of neglect in construction, repairs and other improvements. In addition, failed efforts to help inmates stay away from crime after their release have boosted prison spending.
The fiscal problems might not be so severe if the prison population had dropped as crime rates went down. But it hasn't, largely because lawmakers have been lengthening sentences and many released inmates end up back behind bars for new crimes.
Voters too have contributed to the burgeoning budget, notably by approving the three strikes initiative in 1994, which authorized life imprisonment for repeat felons, and Jessica's Law in November 2006. The latter measure, supported by 70% of voters, restricts where released sex offenders can live and requires that they be tracked by satellite for life. Over time, the cost of tracking paroled offenders could grow to $100 million or more, the state says.
Another initiative is being readied for the ballot next year by the authors of last year's measure: Sharon and George Runner, two Republican lawmakers from Lancaster; she in the Assembly and he in the Senate. The proposed initiative, which has not yet qualified, would require the state to spend nearly $1 billion to combat gang crimes and lengthen some prison sentences.
"People are trying to do one-upmanship to claim 'I'm tough on crime,' and it has a cost to it," said Sen. Michael Machado (D-Linden), who oversees the corrections portion of the state budget.
But spending on prison programs has not always been a good investment. For example, some programs intended to help inmates avoid future prison stays have proved ineffective.
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