SB xxx 18: Prison Credits - Information from Prison Law Office

The Prison Law Office has graciously posted to its website a letter of information to inmates, updated as of Feb. 1, which summarizes the changes to prison credits. While the letter is not, of course, a substitute to consulting one's attorney, it is a good resource to consult in order to understand the new rules. The main highlights are as follows:

1. Inmates in jails and prisons will now receive more credit for every day served. The details are in the letter. There are exceptions to these new rules, which are based, among other things, on the type of offense.
2. The new law applies to everyone sentenced after Jan 25, but there is still a dispute over its application to folks sentenced earlier (see our discussion of retroactivity earlier this month).
3. There have been no changes to the Three Strikes Law.
4. The Plata/Coleman panel's order has not yet gone into effect.

The retroactivity question is more than a technicality, given the volume of people to which the bill would apply. We'll stay tuned.

Reminder: CCC Talk Tomorrow

Tomorrow, between 6pm and 8pm, I'll be giving a talk about the California Correctional Crisis at Reed Smith, LLP, in downtown San Francisco. The talk is free and open to the public, but requires RSVPing.

More details

RSVP

It'll be fun to meet alumni and blog readers. See you tomorrow!

SHU at Pelican Bay

Our daily correspondence sometimes includes letters from inmates, informing us of the situation within walls. Recently, several letters have arrived from Pelican Bay Prison, from inmates incarcerated at the prison's Security Housing Unit (SHU). A form of supermax incarceration, SHU consists of 22-23 hours of solitary confinement a day.

SHU has been designed for escape risks, violent or threatening inmates, and "members of disruptive groups", such as gangs. There are some challenges involved in appropriately classifying inmates into SHU or general population. Classification is a crucial issue, because research on solitary confinement consistently shows that SHU-like conditions adversely and severely impact inmates' mental health (here's a 1993 piece by Craig Haney on this and a 2009 New Yorker article reviewing research and including interviews).

The concept of solitary confinement is not new. Our visit notes from Eastern State Penitentiary in PA might be useful. However, the purpose has changed. While the original ideology behind solitary confinement was to provoke repentance, rebirth, and rehabilitation, current supermax isolation conditions are aimed at incapacitation and safety.

Here is Laura Sullivan's 2006 NPR story about SHU and the solitary conditions. The institution currently exceeds its design capacity by approximately 1,200 inmates.

Juvenile Institution in Chino Closed

One way of working toward solving the overcrowding problem is to allocate space efficiently. Reallocation of prisoners across the system based on needs is one way to do so without building new prisons. Today, in an effort to find more room for adult inmates, CDCR closed the systems' largest juvenile prison in Chino. The Examiner reports:

The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Monday that it officially closed the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino, a 50-year-old San Bernardino facility east of Los Angeles.

Authorities say they don't need the space for 400 minors, who were transferred to other facilities. Changes in state law have cut the number of youths in state custody as more go to county centers.

Instead, the Chino lockup will be retrofitted with an electric fence and other safeguards to house 1,200 adults - for much less than the $500 million it would cost to build an adult prison.

Those of you who have been following the juvenile facility situation know that Stark has been unfavorably reviewed by Books Not Bars, which found it to fail in every possible category. In that respect, the hope is that juveniles will find themselves in better environments. But another mystery concerns the decline in juveniles in custody that even made this arrangement possible.

image courtesy CDCR.

Why is the population at juvenile facilities declining? A 1995 report from the Legal Analyst's office predicted an increase in juvenile arrests and showed that CA was well above average in juvenile arrests and prosecutions. A later report from 2000 showed a decline in arrests, which it attributed to "the improved economy (and thus more job opportunities for young people), the decline in the use of certain drugs, and the relatively peaceful gang situation in urban areas." I don't know which of these are true today--#1 certainly is not--and am also not sure whether some of the continued decline we're seeing may be attributed to more juveniles tried as adults and held in adult facilities. The main idea, however, seems to be to divert juveniles to county facilities, so they can be closer to home, which makes a lot of sense.

Justice Policy Institute Bashes Budget

Today the Justice Policy Institute issued a press release criticizing President Obama's budget proposal. The new budget would increase funding for law enforcement and prisons, and reduce funding for alternative justice programs. JPI has released a full fact sheet, here. The text of their release follows:

Group Criticizes Obama Administration's Budget Plan to Increase Policing and Prisons

Justice advocates disturbed by proposed $29 billion for ineffective and unfair policies

Washington, D.C. - The Justice Policy Institute released a factsheet today challenging the Obama administration's proposed Fiscal Year 2011 Department of Justice budget. The Administration is asking for $29.2 billion, which includes more funding for law enforcement and prisons, and reductions in spending on juvenile justice programs that have been proven to be effective at getting youth back on track for positive life outcomes. A hearing for the proposed budget was scheduled before the Congressional Budget Committee, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science on February 11, but was delayed and is in the process of being rescheduled.

"The Administration's rationale for dumping more money into COPS (the federal Community Oriented Policing Services program) is that we need more police while the economy improves in order to prevent crime," stated Tracy Velázquez, executive director of JPI. "That doesn't pass the smell test. Crime rates have been falling for the last few years and we've already put a billion stimulus dollars into more policing last year. If the Administration wants to buy jobs that will improve public safety, they should put that $600 million into struggling communities, schools, treatment, and social services."

Velázquez also noted that the proposed budget will likely result in increased incarceration costs for states, with only marginal public safety benefits. This is at a time when financially-strapped states are trying to downsize prisons through such mechanisms as greater use of community supervision and more diversion programs. While Velázquez praised funding for the Second Chance Act, which helps formerly-incarcerated people with their transition back to the community, she added, "More money should be focused on programs that help to keep people out of the criminal and juvenile justice systems in the first place." These alternatives include community-based prevention and early intervention programs for youth, education and employment training, and substance abuse and mental health treatment services.

Some of the key findings in the newly-released fact sheet http://www.justicepolicy.org/content-hmID=1811&smID=1581&ssmID=87.htm include:

* Byrne Justice Assistance Grants: JPI found that while the $500+ million proposed for this program can be used for prevention and education, in reality most money goes to law enforcement. Research has shown that increased law enforcement results in the least-effective solution-higher drug imprisonment rates-while this money could be more effectively spent on community drug treatment.
* Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Funding: The Administration is requesting $600 million in hiring and retention grants for police officers, purportedly anticipating a rise in crime as the economy recovers. Such increased policing is likely to have a concentrated impact on communities of color, who are already disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system. JPI suggests this money would be better spent on creating jobs, housing, and treatment programs for increased public safety.
* Juvenile Justice Programs: Funding for essential juvenile justice programs has been declining for years, and the Administration is proposing a $133 million decrease this year. Evidence shows that youth who spend time incarcerated have decreased educational and employment opportunities. Currently, there are more than 90,000 youth imprisoned in the United States. Investments in prevention programs, by contrast, are associated with improved public safety and better life outcomes for youth. "At a time when the Administration can't seem to find the time to hire someone to run the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention," stated Velázquez, "this lack of commitment to funding core programs that protect and help youth is discomfiting."
* Drug Courts: JPI commends the federal government's interest in pursuing treatment as an option for people with substance abuse problems as an alternative to incarceration. However, drug courts, and the criminal justice system generally, can't and shouldn't be used as a substitute for community-based treatment services through the public health system, where it is most effective and appropriate.
* Adam Walsh Act: Having failed to bully states with threats of funding cuts if they fail to comply with the Adam Walsh Act, the federal government is adding a "carrot" to the "stick": $20 million to help states implement the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). A number of reports have found little correlation between the use of sex offender registries and keeping children safe. In addition, broad compliance with SORNA will increase the number of people who cannot meet their basic needs (housing, employment), which is a major risk factor for recidivism. Especially hard-hit are youth on registries that may be barred from pro-social activities that can have a positive impact on improving their lives and on public safety.
* Increased Funding for Prisons: Increased funding for prison beds will likely lead to higher prison populations and expenses without significantly improving public safety. In fact, most states are reducing prison populations due to the current economic crisis and are seeking more effective solutions.

"While I hesitate to grade the Administration," concluded Velázquez, "we certainly were optimistic that it would use the research that groups like JPI have done over the years in developing its justice budget. We hope the Administration will more seriously engage the reform community in the budget process in the future so that budgets and policies will be prioritized to one day allow the United States - land of the free-to leave behind the shameful moniker of being the world's largest jailor."

To read JPI's factsheet: The Obama Administration's 2011 Budget: More Policing, Prisons, and Punitive Policies, CLICK HERE <http://www.justicepolicy.org/content-hmID=1811&smID=1581&ssmID=87.htm> or visit this URL: http://www.justicepolicy.org/content-hmID=1811&smID=1581&ssmID=87.htm

The Justice Policy Institute (JPI) is a Washington, D.C.-based research and policy organization that promotes fair and rational justice policies. For more information, please visit www.justicepolicy.org

All's Well that Ends Well

The Sacramento Bee reports:

Yolo County prosecutors are dropping their bid for a life sentence for a man who put cheese down his pants at a Woodland market.

A new psychological evaluation convinced prosecutors that Robert Preston Ferguson's most recent convictions for petty theft did not warrant a life sentence under the state's three-strikes law, said Jonathan Raven, Yolo County's assistant chief deputy district attorney.

Raven said the district attorney's office had recently received a psychological report, requested by the public defender's office, that "shed some light on Ferguson."

"The district attorney's office is no longer looking at this as a life case," Raven said.

I think this one pretty much speaks for itself.

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Props to Noam Finger for the link.

"Five Faiths" Prison Chaplain Policy: Developments

A while ago, we reported about Patrick McCollum's legal stuggle for recognition by CDCR as a paid Chaplain for the Wiccan inmate community. The Pagan blog The Wild Hunt, which is closely following the proceedings, offers a rather useful summary of the developments in the case, including some links to documents. One notable new development is this amicus brief by the right-wing Christian organization Wallbuilders, which argues that the Founders' original intent would not have included Paganism or Witchcraft as a religion in its own right, and therefore, McCollum cannot be awarded standing for representing Pagan taxpayers. This seems to be a rather dated argument, especially in light of developments such as the Department of Veteran Affairs agreement (after a legal struggle) to allow the pentagram, a Wiccan symbol, as a marker on soldiers' graves. Constitutional law enthusiasts might be interested in following this case when it gets to the 9th Circuit.