BREAKING NEWS - New Budget Plan: Less Felonies, Less Inmates, Less Parole

The Chron reports on the Governor's plan for corrections cuts, which includes changing the definition of some offenses, charging wobblers as misdemeanors, moving undocumented immigrants to the hands of the Feds, and narrowing the scope of parole. This plan will reduce the CA prison population by 27,000 inmates, and is already generating much opposition from Republican politicians.

Stay tuned for more.

A Solution in Search of a Problem? More Sex Offender Legislation Dies in Committee

CA Assemblyman Paul Cook's legislative proposal - the newest version of sex offender legislation - died in committee. The novelty? Forbidding registered sex offenders whose offense included a child under 16 to sell ice cream. As is often the case with this sort of bill, it is presented as prompted by a particular incident, reported on Cook's website, where "the Megan's Law database revealed that a local ice cream truck driver was a registered sex offender".

Senator Mark Leno's questioning at the Standing Committee on Public Safety addressed the necessity of this new venture.

Current law says a registered sex offender whose offense involved a child under 16 cannot work "directly and in an unaccompanied setting with minor children on more than an incidental and occasional basis."

"Where is the weakness in that statute that ... you believe we're going to have registered sex offenders selling ice cream to our children?" Leno asked Cook Monday during a committee hearing. "I don't think there's any problem with the current statute."

But Cook said that leaves some ambiguity because an ice cream vendor isn't working with children in the same way as a day care worker.

"Are you working with kids, or are you selling ice cream?" he said. "If you're working with kids, then prevailing law applies. But if you're selling ice cream, you're selling ice cream to everybody."

Cook said the issue is particularly important because children are attracted to ice cream trucks and tend to trust those who operate them.

Sen. Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood, who voted for the bill, said an ice cream vendor can build a relationship with a child that can later lead to exploitation or an attack.

. . .

Leno called Cook's bill "a solution in search of a problem."

In response to Leno's question whether there were actual examples of sex offenders operating the trucks, Cook mentioned the case that allegedly inspired the bill, but Riverside County Sheriff's officials denied having heard of the situation. Read more at The Sun.

It should probably be mentioned that a similar law was being considered in Iowa last year. Follow this one up to its probable doom at the CA legislation website.

More News Regarding the Michigan Deal

The negotiation regarding the transfer of CA prisoners to Michigan facilities seems to be well under way. Bay City News reports:

Representatives from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation made visits to the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility and the Muskegon Correctional Facility last week and negotiations between the two states are ongoing.

Seth Unger, spokesman for the California prison system, said the meetings were "very productive."

He said Michigan needs to assure officials that their prisoners will be living under standards set by the state of California.

John Cordell, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections, said his agency is working on a formal proposal to put forth to California.

The proposal will include the cost of housing California prisoners in Michigan, among other things.

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Props to Jerry Jarvis for the update.

More CDCR Cuts in New Budget Deal: California Police Chiefs Wage War on Potential Inmate Release

The new California budget deal has been struck yesterday, and among other policies, it includes $1.2 billion in unallocated cuts to CDCR. While the San Jose Mercury reports that inmate release is not explicitly mentioned as one of the cuts, the broad issue is still on the table. As expected, some are not thrilled with this humonetarian move. The Sac Bee reports:

The campaign, expected to consist of thousands of phone calls, targets Democrats who plan to run for higher office next year, represent hotly contested districts, or who have been sympathetic or outspoken about law enforcement issues in years past.
"Frankly, it will not be possible for anyone who votes for the early release of felons to ever be taken seriously on public safety issues again," the campaign said in a memo to participants.
As part of a much larger plan to bridge the budget gap, the prison agreement would cut $1.2 billion from the prison system, which Melekian and other opponents fear could release more than 19,000 prisoners before their sentences expire.
"The concern is that the only way that you get to that amount of money is to release people from prison," Melekian said.
He said police chiefs are also concerned that there is no money available to help with prisoners' return to society.
"There's no money for job training – there's no money to do anything to transition these folks from institutional life to life back in the community," he said. "It's more than just releasing them. It's releasing them with no real plan for dealing with them."
Also see the report from UPI.

While releases of non-violent offenders would do good to a system that had no business locking up so many people in the first place, the concerns regarding reentry are certainly warranted. The time to think about reentry options for these released inmates is now.

Proposed GPS Monitoring of Domestic Violence Offenders

(GPS tracking device image courtesy Slate Magazine)

Violators of domestic violence protective orders are increasingly subjected to GPS monitoring in several States, as reported by the NY Times and by the Chronicle. Implementing such legislation in CA, as opposed to Illinois and Texas, is somewhat of a challenge. The Chron elaborates:

Without GPS, police have been lax to follow up on complaints that partners are ignoring protective orders, said Tara Shabazz, executive director of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.

However, Shabazz and her organization oppose California's proposed GPS legislation because it would require the state to order GPS tracking for an offender without providing details on how to implement it.

. . .

In California, the cash-strapped government can't pay for the program, said Alexis Moore, the president and founder of Survivors in Action, a California-based advocacy group. Similarly in Texas, no money was appropriated for GPS implementation.

Given our financial situation, relatively inexpensive alternatives to incarceration or confinement can and should be considered, which does not mean we should not examine such technologies with a critical eye. How is the GPS system managed and monitored? And, should we rely on it to the exclusion of community programs to treat abusive partners, of which we have several in CA?

Back in CA

Dear Readers,

Thank you for your patience with the recent scant posting. I've been away, backpacking through China (and, incidentally, learning a bit about the Hong Kong correctional system). We're returning to a regular posting schedule and look forward to informing you and being informed by your comments and emails.

Best, HA

Modest Proposal

Slightly stale but interesting news: Michigan offers to take some of California's inmates.

California corrections officials are "intrigued" by this proposal, but no details yet . . . stay tuned. Thanks for the tip, Jerry Jarvis.