California is facing a budget deficit, the gap between income and expenditures, of up to $73 billion. Prison spending is part of this budget, which the state is constitutionally required to balance, unlike Uncle Sam, which can and does use deficit spending.
Meanwhile, there are 93,000 state prisoners in California. The cost to imprison one person is roughly $132,000 per year, far above the annual price of a student to receive a higher education. The 2006 California prisoner population was 165,000, or 56% of the current total.
Should the state budget reflect this math of a reduced prison population? Yes, according to Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB).
Given the current budget deficit, and a chance to save over $1.5 billion per year via closure of more state prisons, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to close 46 housing blocks at 13 state prisons. In other words, he proposes to save $80 million, or 0.0055% of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s $14.5 billion budget and overall bed capacity.
What is wrong with his math? We turn to Amber-Rose Howard, the executive director of CURB. “If the administration can’t select a prison to close,” she said in a statement, “we are prepared to advocate for closure at specific prisons across the state. Closing entire prisons, starting with a prison like the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco (CRC), is a sensible step towards significant cost savings.”
To this end, CURB began a petition to close CRC in Riverside County in Southern California. That is not all. The criminal justice group wants five more prisons closed, and a commitment to shutter a minimum of four more state prisons in the future.
“This petition will represent the collective voice of thousands of Californians who believe in a more just and fiscally responsible approach to public safety,” said Viju Mathew, a lead organizer with CURB member organization Critical Resistance, in a statement. “We are calling on Gov. Newsom to change course and really step into leadership on prison closure.”
Will the governor heed the call of prison closures to reflect the nearly 50% decline of state prisoners since 2006? Much is uncertain.
Philosophers have only interpreted the world, an old German of some note observed at the dawn of industrial capitalism. The point, he continues, is to change the world. That brings things to the economics and politics of the prison closure struggle.
CURB is a grassroots group. It lacks deep pockets. Interests with deep pockets can and do donate to politicians to gain their backing of friendly policies. Author and journalist Greg Palast terms this system “The best democracy that money can buy.”
The state prison guard union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), has deep pockets and political juice. Consider this.
The CCPOA “successfully negotiated $1 billion in raises and bonuses from Newsom for their members last year,” according to CURB. “CCPOA is one of Newsom’s biggest and most reliable donors.”
What does all this mean? A David and Goliath battle is taking shape over the future of prison spending in California. Many living human beings, from prisoners to their families, and the workers and communities whose lives connect with Golden State prisons, face an uncertain future as the politics of the incarceration budget play out.
Seth Sandronsky lives and works in Sacramento. He is a journalist and member of the Pacific Media Workers Guild. Email sethsandronsky@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, June 15, 2024
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