Brown again asks judges for more time to reduce prison crowding

By Paige St. John

January 23, 2014, 9:48 p.m.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown has again asked federal judges for more time to reduce crowding in California's prisons and, in an about-face, proposed to free inmates early if he misses an extended deadline.

California is under orders to remove thousands of inmates from state lockups by April 18, a deadline already delayed more than a year.

In papers filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, Brown asked for an additional two years. That is "the minimum length of time needed to allow new reform measures to responsibly draw down the prison population while avoiding the early release of inmates," the documents say.

Brown has declared repeatedly that releasing prisoners early would jeopardize public safety. But to assure the court of his good intentions, the governor now proposes that the court appoint a monitor with the power to release prisoners if the state fails to meet a 2016 deadline or a series of smaller benchmarks before then.

The monitor — not Brown's administration — would decide whom to set free, according to the proposal.

Lawyers for inmates made their own filing to the judges Thursday, calling for the appointment of a federal compliance officer to monitor inmate numbers. They called the shift in the governor's position a positive step but said releases should begin now.

"It delays what should have been done years ago," said Don Specter, lead attorney in one of two class-action cases that caused the judges to impose crowding limits four years ago.

The judges, who have been hearing lawsuits over inadequate care of inmates, have suggested they might accept a further delay in return for immediate improvements in that care. But state officials recently conceded that the prison population is growing, not shrinking: As of Wednesday, officials reported that the prisons were at 144% of their designed capacity, with 117,500 inmates.

Brown contends that even so, he can meet the court-ordered crowding limits by making more inmates eligible for parole. In the budget plan he recently released, the governor said he would increase parole options for medically frail and elderly inmates and allow some repeat offenders to shorten their sentences with good behavior.

In Thursday's filing, Brown said he was also willing to consider paroling some repeat felons, sentenced under California's "three strikes" law, if they have served at least half of their sentences. The offer would be restricted to those convicted of a second strike — which comes with a doubled sentence — if that crime was not violent.

Brown also proposes immediately releasing murderers and other inmates serving life sentences who already have been deemed suitable for parole but were given future release dates.

Christine Ward, director of the Sacramento-based Crime Victims Action Alliance, was upset by the state's proposal. "We are in just a horrible, horrible, horrible position right now, with the courts forcing the state to come up with ridiculous plans of action," she said. "If the wrong people are let out, somebody could be killed."

The governor agreed to set aside $81 million for rehabilitation programs if the court agrees to the two-year delay. He also expressed an intention to open pre-release centers at 13 prisons within the year to help inmates prepare for freedom.

California has more than 12,000 prisoners in private prisons and county-run facilities, according to reports by the corrections department. The court filing states that a two-year delay would avoid "sending thousands more inmates to private prisons in other states."

In a proposed order included in the filing, the administration admits that even if granted more time, the state intends to lease more cells in private prisons, county jails and community-owned corrections centers.

paige.stjohn@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ff-prisons-20140123,0,1442682.story#ixzz2rMCl5nSl

Declaring an impasse, judges to order solution on prisons

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown and lawyers for state prison inmates have failed to agree on a plan to handle crowding in the state's prisons, and the judges who ordered the two sides into talks said they would now order a solution themselves.

The judges gave Brown and the prisoners' attorneys until Jan. 23 to file proposals for achieving "durable compliance" with population limits that are scheduled to go into effect April 18.


The federal jurists — U.S. District Judges Thelton Henderson in San Francisco and Lawrence Karlton in Sacramento, and 9th Circuit Appellate Judge Stephen Reinhardt in Los Angeles — had set last Friday as a deadline for a negotiated solution to overcrowding that they say endangers inmates' health and safety.

But after three months of talks, "it now appears that no such agreement will be reached," the judges said in an order released Monday.

The jurists said they would make their decision within a month, possibly extending the April deadline.

Brown said Tuesday that any deal permitting the early release of offenders would have been untenable.

"We've talked a lot to the prison lawyers, and I understand their job is to get people out of prison, regardless of what the law may say," he told reporters in Bakersfield, where he stopped during a brief state tour to discuss policy issues. "My job is to protect public safety."

The governor said he would handle any order to further lower inmate numbers by moving more prisoners to privately owned lockups and county facilities.

"We're prepared to respond, and certainly over the next couple years to purchase more prison capacity," Brown said.

Brown had asked the judges to delay the population caps by three years. The state budget he proposed last week assumes at least a two-year delay.

The judges' latest order means a short delay before Brown and state lawmakers learn whether they will need to increase spending to send more prisoners to alternate facilities.

If the judges push the April deadline back to 2016, as Brown seeks, the governor proposes in his budget to direct $81 million in savings to prisoner rehabilitation programs.

Meanwhile, as the governor revealed in his budget plan, he is immediately extending eligibility for parole to more frail and elderly inmates, as well as expanding the number of some repeat offenders eligible for early release.

Those steps would make about 2,200 inmates newly eligible to be removed from the prisons, but state officials have told the court they expect only about 440 to be freed in the first six months of such changes.

California's prison population has dropped by more than 27,000 since Brown took office. But state reports show it has been growing since June and will continue to expand in the coming years.


"We are hopeful the court will recognize that the state has made significant reforms to our criminal justice system and will allow us an extension so we can build upon these landmark reforms," corrections spokeswoman Deborah Hoffman said.

via: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ff-prisons-20140115,0,1442683.story#axzz2qVgzIeX5

Governor Brown, put money into California's communities and stop warehousing humans!

My name is Nicole and I am living in a homeless shelter provided by Time For Change Foundation.  This was the only option available to me when I left prison December 3^rd after serving 17 years, with $200 in my pocket and the clothes on my back. 

Although I had employment skills prior to my incarceration and gained more during over the years in prison, I do not qualify for monetary assistance.  If it weren’t for programs like Time For Change Foundation, I would be living on the street, which would violate my parole and I would become a statistic of recidivism. 

Without a job, I am living at the poverty level.  I am here to raise my voice to call on Governor Brown to build a road out of poverty in California for myself and the 8.7 million Californian’s.

Until very recently I was part of the overcrowding in the California prison system.  I felt firsthand the impact of Governor Brown’s efforts to reduce the prison population and his repeated failures to follow the letter and the intent of the numerous federal court orders to reduce the prison population.  

Time and again Governor Brown has suggested the solution of building more prisons, spending more money outsourcing inmates and attempting to warehouse human beings instead of looking at the cost effectiveness, both financially and on a human level, of spending that money on rehabilitation instead.

California does not need more prisons.  California does not need to ship its prisoners out to other states.  California needs to provide avenues not only for reintegration following incarceration but for survival to avoid incarceration in the first place.  

Putting the money he seeks to allocate to building more prisons, back into the California communities, will ultimately save the State money and improve the lives of Californians.  Reallocating funds to restorations to Medi-Cal, childcare, CalWORKs, SSI and IHSS will accomplish these goals.

It is my sincere hope that Governor Brown will look at the whole picture, the long range goals, the potential in many people who are currently living below the poverty level and make some sweeping changes to the proposed budget to really invest in the people of California and their unlimited capacity to thrive if given just a little assistance.

Nicole La FontaineTime for Change Foundation

California gets extra time to reduce prison crowding: another month

SACRAMENTO — Federal judges on Monday gave Gov.Jerry Brown an additional 28 days to meet their order to reduce prison crowding.

Brown, whose administration has been in court-ordered talks with inmates' lawyers in search of a long-term solution to overcrowding, now has until Feb. 24 to remove about 9,600 prisoners from state lockups.

The three-judge panel also said Monday that the negotiations must continue. State appellate judge Peter J. Siggins has been mediating those confidential talks, and on Monday he was told to provide another update in mid-November.

The judicial trio did not describe the state of the discussions in their order, and Siggins' report was confidential.

Last month, Brown filed a plan to expand rehabilitation services in hopes of eventually reducing new offenses by inmates who return to society, and he asked for three years to lower prisoner numbers that way. The judges gave him an extra month instead, moving their deadline to Jan. 27 from Dec. 31 and ordering the talks.

Corrections spokeswoman Deborah Hoffman said Monday the agency was pleased by the judges' extension of their deadline and would work with local government and law enforcement groups to "build upon California's landmark reforms to our criminal justice system."

Inmate advocates and civil rights groups want the state to take a different path from the one Brown has outlined in court filings. The groups want reductions in criminal penalties, expanded parole programs for the sick and old, and a backlog cleared for thousands of prisoners eligible to have their cases reheard.

California is halfway toward meeting the judges' inmate population cap through contracts for 3,180 beds in privately owned facilities and an increase in the number of prisoners sent to firefighting camps around the state.

The latest contract, announced Monday, is an $11-million, five-year deal with the private prison company Geo Group. California already has 8,300 prisoners in private prisons in other states, but the federal judges have temporarily blocked further such transfers.

In 2009, federal judges ordered California's prison population reduced, declaring that overcrowding was the root of unconstitutionally poor inmate care. Despite construction of a new medical prison and a court-run healthcare system, lawyers for prisoners say that care remains substandard and that mentally ill prisoners are mistreated.

California's corrections department "has never taken its obligation to provide basic healthcare seriously," said Don Specter, lead attorney for the Prison Law Office, testifying Monday at a legislative hearing on the state's prison problems.

The hearing was mostly a basic briefing, and no corrections officials testified. Assembly Public Safety Committee Chairman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) said the next hearing, Nov. 13, will focus on alternative programs and sentencing.

Brown has taken the position since January that California's prison conditions are vastly improved. But court experts have continued to report poor medical services at some prison hospitals. A federal court has refused to relinquish control over mental health services, and the U.S. Supreme Court has rebuffed Brown's attempts to appeal capacity limits that he argues are arbitrary.

A report last week from the corrections department shows California's prison population up by more than 500 from a year ago, to more than 133,860 inmates.

paige.stjohn@latimes.com

chris.megerian@latimes.com

via http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ff-prisons-20131022,0,1115000.story#axzz2j3QS5Rql

California signs private-prison deal

SACRAMENTO -- California has signed a contract with private prison contractor Geo Group to lease space for 1,400 inmates in overcrowded state lockups.

The company announced the contract early Monday morning, even before Gov. Jerry Brown learns whether federal judges will grant his request for a three-year delay in the courts' orders to cap the prison population. The governor's lawyers have asked judges to make their own decision by Friday.

Geo Group issued a news release Monday from its Florida headquarters announcing the company had inked deals with the state for two lower-security prisons it owns in California, in Adelanto and McFarland. The company said the contracts are for five years, and it expects to begin receiving inmates by the end of the year.

It estimated its annual revenue from the deal at more than $30 million.

Brown has asked federal judges to delay its order to remove some 9,600 inmates from state prisons by the end of December, in trade for promising to restore $150 million to a grant that funds community probation and rehabilitation programs.

Brown's lawyers have said the state will go ahead with some private prison leases within California even if the delay is granted. The state corrections department has already begun the process of identifying inmates to be moved.