Calif. Dept. Of Corrections Presents Plan to Reduce Prison Population

SACRAMENTO -- The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation presented a blueprint to save billions of dollars by drastically reducing its prison population.

Last October's realignment plan by Governor Jerry Brown set the stage for counties to take control of so-called "non-violent" offenders once overseen by state prisons.

"Since October 1st the prison population has been reduced by 22,000 inmates. It's a major change to our system," said CDCR Secretary Matthew Cates.

The savings will come through closing one of the state's 33 prisons, cutting 6,400 staff positions although much of that will come through retirements and attrition, and halting construction of new prisons that were needed to meet the requirements of several class action lawsuits. Those lawsuits have resulted in the court ordering improvements in health care and over-crowding conditions at state prisons.

The department expects to save $1.5 billion a year when all its cost saving initiatives are implemented. That includes recalling over 9,000 inmates from out-of-state contract prisons for a savings of $300 million. Billions more will be saved by halting the construction of new facilities that will no longer be needed.

The savings come at a cost to local governments.

"Where do they think that billion and half dollars in savings is going to come from?" said Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, one of the harshest critics of realignment.

Jones has always contended that the counties are not being reimbursed fully for probation and rehabilitation costs, and the cost of housing and supervising ex-cons that would normally be supervised by state parole agents.

In addition, Jones said resources would be pulled from other areas of his department. Jones said rehabilitation programs on the state and local levels in the plan will take time to work. In the meantime, he said citizens will pay through more property crimes committed by people who should be going to state prison.

"The crime rate at least in the near future will go up for certain," said Jones.