[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Ann Nisenson and Vanessa Huang
Justice Now

“Ludicrous" is what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called California’s lack of process for releasing Daniel Provencio from prison in 2005. Provencio, who was left brain dead after a prison guard shot him with a foam bullet, cost the state over $30,000 a day for his care.

All of that was supposed to change in October 2007, when Schwarzenegger had the rare opportunity to pass common sense into law by signing Assembly Bill 1539, “Medical Release and Fiscal Savings Bill,” which streamlines the existing medical release process for people who are terminally ill in prison, and enables people who are permanently medically incapacitated like Provencio to also qualify. Before AB 1539 passed, people who are permanently medically incapacitated were not eligible to apply for medical release.

[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.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

The California State Senate has just adjourned, having failed to pass SB 1665 (Machado) which would have authorized $7 billion in bonds to pay for prison health care construction that the federal court receiver indicated he needs in order to bring California’s system into constitutional compliance with orders in cases pending against the state. By a vote of 24 to 15, with 27 votes needed for the two-thirds required for passage, the Senate failed to pass this bill, despite passages from a letter from the receiver read on the Senate floor by Senator Machado. The only votes for the bill came from Assembly Democrats.

The stage is set, given the reaction of the receiver, which his office has indicated will be his only public commentary today, for the receiver to go to court for an order that funds be immediately paid by the state of California, thus worsening the state’s deficit for the current fiscal year and severely impacting it in the 2008-09 fiscal year beginning July 1 which has an estimated $15 billion deficit without further cuts or revenue.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Nothing less than the future of marriage as we know is in the hands of the state Supreme Court, and defining the 'M-word' is a thorny issue for all parties, writes Lawrence Levine in today's Sacramento Bee. On the one hand,there is valid concern about whether the courts—or the court of publicopinion—should decide such sensitive measures, but on the other, issuesof liberty and equality have always risen above majority vote.

As California's prison overcrowding crisis goes down to the wire, U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson says he is confident theGovernor and inmate-rights lawyers can reconcile before trial,according to the Bee. Unfortunately, the Republican "tough on crime"mantra is part of why we're here—a little common sense, and lesspolitics, is in order.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi weighed in again on the Obama-Clinton fight on ABC's "This Week," saying superdelegates should honor the candidatewho is ahead in the delegate count, the San Francisco Chroniclereports. While Pelosi did not mention either candidate by name, thisposition is clearly favorable to Obama, who is all but guaranteed tomaintain his lead.

There's more...

Photo courtesy of the Sacramento Bee.