Friday, January 22, 2010

Meg Whitman's Correctional Policy

As this morning's Chron reports, Meg Whitman is currently the leading candidate in the GOP gubernatorial race. A few weeks ago we provided some information on Jerry Brown's correctional policies. Today, we'll take a look at Whitman's profile on correctional issues. Her website offers the following promises to California voters:

As Governor, I will:

Strongly oppose any state or federal efforts that lead to early release of prisoners
Build new prisons to address overcrowding and seek to extend existing authority to incarcerate prisoners outside of California
Demand that the federal government accept fiscal responsibility for incarcerating the 19,000 prisoners who illegally entered the U.S.
Support the “Three Strikes and You’re Out Law”
Enforce the death penalty and other key public safety measures
Work with local law enforcement to develop effective crime prevention and rehabilitation programs that don’t jeopardize public safety
Oppose an unelected and unaccountable sentencing commission

These are irresponsible, empirically unfounded, morally reprehensible and fiscally unsound policies. I hope Ms. Whitman will reflect further on her plans to reduce government spending, and realize that corrections constitute a large portion of such expenditures.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

families with officers that are working in these prisons would argue that fact. Families are losing their homes,falling short on bill money, and chlidren are doing without do to the cuts that C.D.C.R. have all ready recieved.