Brown Seeks to Cut $4 Billion in Prison Construction (Bloomberg News)
by Michael B. MaroisCalifornia, which once locked up more prison inmates than any other state, may slash $4.1 billion in construction plans, reclaim inmates housed in other states and close one of its costliest facilities.
That plan would reduce general-fund spending on prisons to 7.5 percent from 11 percent, under a blueprint unveiled yesterday by Governor Jerry Brown and the Corrections and Rehabilitation Department. The $4.1 billion is part of a $7.7 billion bond plan approved in 2007 to build more prison as a way to ease crowding.
California's inmate count of about 161,000 last year was about 175 percent of capacity. The number has dropped to 138,000 after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court's order to cut the population because of inadequate health care. Brown and lawmakers shifted felons convicted of nonviolent, low-level crimes to county jails or to alternatives such as monitoring by electronic bracelets.
Read entire article at Bloomberg.com >>