Here is an interesting read from Stateline.org, a political website. The story, "Strapped states eye prison savings," is a rather long piece that examines what other states are doing to mitigate prison crowding.
Unfortunately for the people of Kentucky, the governor and legislature decided that saving money was more important than protecting citizens when they passed a law to release 1,800 felons early from prison — some of them rapists, murderers and other violent criminals.
Without giving specifics the article also mentions that lawmakers in some states are using satellite tracking (GPS) to monitor less dangerous offenders like drunken drivers. GPS is a vanguard tool for law enforcement agencies. For local jails, it allows the sheriff to place less dangerous offenders on house arrest while wearing a GPS ankle bracelet, allowing the more dangerous offenders to spend their full sentence behind bars.
The governor signed a bill last year (that I authored with Democrat Senator Gloria Romero) that allows the Los Angeles sheriff to place prisoners on involuntary house arrest. This is a pilot project that has allowed LA County Sheriff Lee Baca to manage jail crowding, while making sure offenders serve their time. By the way, GPS cost a whole lost less than prison beds. So yes, government can save money while still keeping families safe.
What the Stateline article did not mention was other new ideas such as using existing county facilities to jail low level offenders. Many California sheriffs favor this idea, yet we can’t get a measure passed out of the Legislature to enact this sensible idea.
Another sensible idea left out of the Stateline story: the issue of illegal aliens occupying state prison beds. And frankly I don’t have a problem with incarcerating illegal aliens who have committed serious crimes, but I – like so many other legislators in other states — am waiting for the day when the federal governement reimburses state prisons for housing ilegal aliens, who are in the first place breaking federal law. I can assure you that if the federal government began reimbursing California for the 30,000 + illegal aliens incarcerated in our prisons, our budget picture would look different.
One more observation, the Stateline reporter quotes a Pew Report that says one in every 100 adult is behind bars in America. The good news is that the same Pew Report reflects the fact that California has an average level of imprisonment but is one of the few states with a prison incarceration rate that has declined in recent years.