Major Changes in Sentencing, Prisons, and Penal System Quietly and Methodically Advancing in Sacramento

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

There's an old saw that not much happens in the State Capitol in Sacramento until the weather heats up into single digits. The mid 90's are predicted for today, but there is still a lot going on in the legislature that you might not know if you just read your local newspaper.

Take the state's prisons, for instance. There has been a fair amount of coverage about the massive prison bed construction bill that was passed in blitzkrieg fashion by the legislature and signed into law by the Governor last week. That was major news in light of the threatened Federal court takeover of our prisons due to overcrowding and because a solution had been elusive for so long with a two-thirds vote in both houses needed.

But this week a number of bills are up for votes in committees and on the floors of the legislature that will help to make sure that sentences are appropriate to fit the crimes, that prisons fulfill their role in rehabilitating those incarcerated, and that those convicted are in fact guilty.

SB 110 by Senator Romero would establish a sentencing commission to make some sense out of the hodge-podge system that has seen hundreds of sentence enhancements passed without regard to the $43,000 per year it costs to lock someone up. The penal code is in need of a careful and in depth review to see whether all of it provisions are really needed to protect society. This bill will be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee today.

Two other bills by Senator Romero will be heard in the committee. SB 299 would require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to set up an honors program for the most dangerous of prisoners. There are requirements that those eligible for these programs not be in any prison gangs and have a good record while in prison and the like. But if they enter the program and participate in vocational, educational, life skills, and other rehabilitative endeavors, they will be allowed increased visitation by family members and friends. The goal is to reduce the 70% recidivism rate in our prisons.