Source:
Union TribuneSACRAMENTO – Scrambling to avoid a court-ordered release of inmates, legislative leaders yesterday unveiled a $7.4 billion plan to ease severe prison overcrowding with 53,000 new beds and the transfer of up to 8,000 inmates to out-of-state prisons.
The bipartisan agreement contains increased rehabilitation programs, such as education and drug abuse treatment, and greater oversight of prison management troubled by its depleted ranks and questions about competence.
But the proposal, negotiated over several months and scheduled for a vote in the Legislature today, contains no provisions to ease overcrowding through parole or sentencing changes, which are politically controversial.
And a prison guard union that obtained a court order blocking earlier inmate transfers to other states opposes the plan in general, including provisions aimed at lifting the court order.
The Republican governor is “particularly proud” of the proposal for 6,000 beds in innovative re-entry facilities, up to 500 beds each, placed in local communities to house and rehabilitate soon-to-be released inmates and some parole violators.
Read more:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070426-9999-1n26prisons.html
This begs a question. Who is making money off the half-way houses?