My firm’s philosophy is simple: Prison and incarceration are not only inhumane and unproductive, but most of the time unnecessary, especially when nonviolent clients are facing confinement. Prison officials stated in a recent article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, dated Saturday, May 12, 2007,

Surely, this fact alone cannot be beneficial to our society where children are further neglected by virtue that their parent is incarcerated.

JUSTICE KENNEDY FROM THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT SPEAKS UP

As further evidence of the dismal and horrible conditions in our prison system, United States Supreme Court Justice, Anthony M. Kennedy, addressed the American Bar Association at their annual meeting on August 9, 2003, with very shocking, but not surprising, concerns and statistics. Justice Kennedy, at the beginning of his speech, mentioned the “inadequacies and the injustices in our prison and correctional systems.” Kennedy goes on to further state that, “were we to enter the hidden world of punishment, we would be startled by what we see.” He further states, “consider its remarkable scale” when referring to the prisons in this country. The nations inmate population today is about 2.1 million people, Kennedy said. That was in 2003, but today four years later the prison population has since greatly increased! Justice Kennedy went on to say that “in 2003 California, alone kept over 160,000 persons behind bars.” In 2007, that figure is closer to 173,000 prisoners – a substantial increase! Justice Kennedy makes some very important and chilling comparisons. He states that, “in Countries such as England, Italy, France, and Germany, the incarceration rate is about one in one thousand persons. In the United States, it is about one in one hundred and forty-three.” This is appalling considering that two of the Countries that were just mentioned above were fascist dictatorships not too long ago – Germany and Italy! Justice Kennedy rightfully referred to the overly high percentage of “African-American inmates” in America's prisons. He mentioned that in some cities more than “fifty percent of young African American men are under the supervision of the criminal justice system.”

BILLIONS WASTED

In addition to Justice Kennedy alluding to the billions of dollars spent and wasted on the prison system here in California, he goes on to eloquently summarize the sad state of California’s prison system – he stated: “our resources are misspent, our punishments too severe, our sentences too long.” He further stated that, “the Federal Sentencing Guideline should be revised downward.”

HARSH JUSTICE – “A VERY BAD JAIL”

Justice Kennedy referenced Professor James Whitman’s recent book Harsh Justice where Whitman concludes that the goal of the “American Correctional System is to degrade and demean the prisoner.” Justice Kennedy states that, “That is a grave and serious charge.” Justice Kennedy further states that,

If one of our Supreme Court Justices is troubled and appalled by our criminal justice system, particularly the high numbers of the incarcerated, then we all should be concerned!

REFORM UNDER SCHWARZENEGGER?

Reforming California's Criminal Justice System is simply not going to become a reality under Governor Schwarzenegger. Fact: California has the nation’s worst re-incarceration rate at now 67%. His big “Prison Bill” that put another 15 billion dollars on the taxpayer credit card three years ago is merely window dressing for hard-line law critics and bolsters the special interest groups who run and control the jails and prisons. For the first time in California’s history this State is going to spend more money on prisons than its own prized university system. This misallocation of funds is misguided and wasteful. The Prison Bill will only add a few hundred million dollars more to the State's escalating annual prison operating costs. The Governor calls his reform a “monumental shift in how we manage prisons in California.” It may be a monumental shift, but is just building more and larger prisons a shift in the right direction?

Experts agree that it would be very beneficial and cost effective if the Governor reformed the State’s senseless and harsh sentencing policies instead of just making a mere empty gesture to rehabilitation or improved parolee services. Even Jeb Bush, the Republican Governor of Florida has a more comprehensive parolee program that attempts to reduce recidivism after the prisoners are released. For more information on the Florida Governor’s ex-offender task force, view this PDF. Governor Schwarzenegger (Republican) should learn from his Republican counterpart (Jeb Bush) of Florida.

Instead of real and meaningful prison reform, on May 3, 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger signed his “Reform Bill.” This bill will add 53,000 beds at a cost of 7.7 billion dollars. The Governor fails to address the compulsion to combine more and more prisoners together and the need to continue inhumane conditions and treatment. Charles M. Sevilla, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation makes a good argument against imprisonment, which was published in the California Criminal Defense Practice Reporter, March 2007. Charles Sevilla summarizes the hell of California prisons: “a warehouse teaming with gangs, racism, violence, indifferent or brutal guards, an incompetent health system and a paralyzed bureaucracy that cannot administer itself.”

STARTLING FACTS AND STATISTICS

If the new additional 53,000 beds that the Governor and the legislature plan to add were to be stacked one on top of another, bunk bed style, they would create a tower 40 miles high, according to a recent Press Democrat newspaper article dated May 12, 2007, page B-7; Laid end to end on Highway 99, these same 53,000 beds would extend from Sacramento to Modesto, according to the article written by Peter Schrag. This is staggering, but hardly a worthwhile solution.

The solution to the joint problem of a burgeoning prison population and the safety and security of California residents lies in alternatives to the traditional lock them up and throw away the key. Due to California's off-the-chart recidivism rate of 67% what we are building is long term, very expensive, housing for a significant portion of California's residents. The costs are astronomical and the results are abysmally short of acceptable. That is why this firm strives for any and all viable alternatives to jail and prison. There are many less expensive and more effective ways to incarcerate and protect society without a massive prison building spree.

Consider that the cost of rehabilitating one non-violent offender within his own Personal Support System, is less than 1/3 the cost of jailing the same person for the same amount of time. Now consider that the probability that the offender will commit another criminal act is nearly twice that of the non-jailed offender, it doesn't make any sense to fill up the state's prisons. It would seem that the more “frequently” you lock up, the longer you have to lock them up. Start early enough and you may as well throw away the key.

My experience in Sonoma County has taught me that there are many worthwhile alternatives and programs to jail/prison, and they are well worth exploring and going to battle with the District Attorney and Probation if necessary. These programs are not only available and accessible, but are proven alternatives to incarceration and provide the support, education and opportunity necessary to keep offenders inside of their Personal Support System and out of jail in the future.