Make Way For The Prison Inmates

Liberal lawmakers' inaction figures to have thousands of felons released

Amid bills about light bulbs, spanking, animal neutering and the countless other "Nanny State" issues being debated in the state Capitol, a terrifying deadline is looming. May 16, 2007.

On this date, a month from today, a federal judge very well may release 50,000 violent felons from our state's bloated prisons and back into our neighborhoods. And if this happens, Sacramento, and liberal legislators in particular, will be to blame.

The judge has given the Legislature until May 16 to develop a plan to alleviate California's overcrowded prisons, a plan the judge must find reasonable and acceptable.

Republicans have said they will support a plan that includes adding prison beds and proposals to make inmates more successful at re-entering society. Liberals have offered only a proposed sentencing commission to take away power from voters and the Legislature in setting appropriate punishment for future offenders.

For months, my Republican colleagues and I have attempted to spur the Legislature into action. We've toured eight prisons across the state. We've spoken out on the Assembly floor about the crisis. We've even instituted the "Countdown to Community Chaos," marking the time remaining until the May 16 deadline. Our actions have been an exercise in futility.

Liberals also know our prisons are dangerously overcrowded. They know that the violence is spilling back onto our streets. They know gang members, many of whom should be in county jails but have been released early because of overcrowding, are indiscriminately gunning down children in the streets. They know that Los Angeles' recent drug and gang raids are all for show there's simply no place to incarcerate these dangerous felons.

They know all of this, and yet they've done nothing.

Arguably, the county that stands to lose the most from early release of inmates is Los Angeles. Approximately one-third of all state prison inmates come from Los Angeles, so about one-third of the estimated 50,000 inmates projected for early release would be bound for L.A. More than 3,000 inmates figure to come home to Orange County.

Logically, one would assume that Los Angeles would be up in arms; that the mayor, council members and county supervisors would be storming the Capitol, demanding the Legislature get its act together. After all, when Los Angeles felt shortchanged in highway-construction bond money, officials capitulated and gave them $1.3 billion. But when Los Angeles faces re-absorbing approximately 16,000 felons, what do we hear in Sacramento? Nothing.

So what are we to do? First and most obviously, we must build more beds within our existing prisons. But that will not solve the greater problem. California has one of the worst recidivism rates in the nation; we must do more than just house and release offenders. We should maximize the now-idle time inmates spend in prison to ensure they earn a GED or vocational training so that they can attempt to be successful upon release. Inmates should not receive any "good-time/work-time" credits until they achieve these goals.

We also must welcome the clergy into our prisons; faith can produce life-changing results.

In addition, the governor has proposed a re-entry program where prisoners would serve the final 12-18 months of their sentences in county jails, where the soon-to-be-released inmates can learn about available services, which also could help reduce recidivism.

Whether we think they should be, inmates are being released onto our streets and into our neighborhoods. Allowing them to cycle in and out of prison only leads to more victims, more crime, more damaged lives. The solution is much more complex than simply opening the prison gates and letting felons walk out.

How many more prison riots must we have? How many more gang-related drive-by shootings will liberals tolerate in their own districts? How many felons will be released early back into our neighborhoods before liberals realize that their complacency has endangered their own children's lives?

On May 16, these questions will no longer be rhetorical. And we will know exactly who to blame.