By Alex White
Staff Writer
According to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May, the California prison system constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and is in desperate need of reform. The state must give shorter sentences in county jails to non-violent criminals, and make it easier to abide by parole terms.
Many prisons are dangerously over-capacity, with some holding as many as 60,000 more inmates than they were designed for. The overcrowding problem has lead to unsanitary and even deadly conditions. The state spends 11% of its total budget, or $9.1 billion, on funding state prisons. The problem arises not from a rise in violent crime, but from an unprecedented abuse of extended sentences. If less severe punishments were set fourth for first-time offenders, the solution would already be in reach.
Governor Jerry Brown responded to the Supreme Court mandate last Tuesday with a plan to move low-risk, non-violent inmates into smaller, already-full county prisons, which only localizes the problem.
California prison expenses have gone up for 35 consecutive years, but this has not led to better prison rehabilitation or accommodations. Non-violent criminals should by no means go unpunished, but there is a need to reconsider what constitutes serious incarceration and misdemeanor offenses.
Overextended sentences for minor offenders are the root cause of the breakdown. Judges have increased convictions of non-violent offenders, compounding the problem of prison overcrowding. The decision, has thus, hurt state prisons.
The second problem is parole violations. Conditions of parole have become increasingly harder to follow and have caused parolees additional time in prison. In fact, 70% of parolees are returned to prison. Consequently, sentences are often longer after the second offence and further contribute to overcrowding.
A solution can be achieved by detaining and rehabilitating only those who fully deserve it, like those who are set to be released early on good behavior terms.
Others have said that it is unsafe to allow criminals to run free on short sentences with easy parole. However, 11% of the state budget cannot go toward funding a broken, unorganized system.
Still, others suggest building more prisons, but this is not a tangible option considering the current state financial crisis. Although releasing harmless inmates early may be dangerous, the minimal harm they have caused to society counteracts these fears and makes their release worth it and mitigates the extra costs of keeping them incarcerated.
Giving long sentences to only those who deserve it is a start to amending the prison system. Prisoners on parole must be subject to softer regulations so they will not be immediately returned to prison. By addressing the root causes of overcrowding, California can create a fair penal system.
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