Prison University - Enrolling California Students Now

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Elena Morris and Kim Albanese
(Disenfranchised Republicans)
Co-founders
21st Century TEA Party for Criminal Justice Reform

Why have we been so slow to learn that incarceration without rehabilitation doesn’t work? America’s prisons have become a massive black hole, eating up billions of tax dollars better spenton the education of our children.

The United States has reached another milestone, albeit one we should not be proud of. We now hold the record for incarcerating the largest number of citizens of any country in the world. Over one in 100 American citizens is now serving time behind bars, a 500% increase over the past thirty years. This has resulted in prison overcrowding and state governments being overwhelmed by the financial burden of funding a rapidly expanding penal system.

California has the highest incarceration rate, per capita, of the entire nation, as well as the largest prison budget (or non-budget as recent events have transpired) in America. In fact, California has nearly the same number of prisoners as the ENTIRE federal prison system. All this, despite increasing evidence that large-scale incarceration is not the most effective means of achieving public safety.

Follow the statistics and it becomes painfully clear that we are pouring billions of tax dollars into a system which does little to turn lives around. Our prison system has become the de facto education system for one in 100 people. With very few constructive rehabilitation programs like drug/alcohol counseling, education and job training, inmates merely learn how to survive and victimize others--in effect, they learn how to become better criminals. They bring these finely honed skills back to your neighborhood and mine.

95% of all prisoners will be released back into society. The vast majority will not have the necessary tools to become law abiding, tax paying citizens. As many as 80% in some areas will return to prison. Of the roughly $47,800 California spends annually to house each of its prison inmates, a mere 5% is spent on rehabilitation programs. This, despite the fact that numerous studies have shown that the more we spend on rehabilitation, the more we save in the long run.