Hundreds hurt in California prison riot: What’s wrong with California?

Earlier this year crime victim and restorative justice
advocate Cheryl Ward-Kaiser and I went to speak at a medium security Northern
California prison. I have spoken at and visited a number of prisons in
California, Texas and even outside the country. I was taken
back by the obvious fact that the system was dealing with severe
overcrowding. Cheryl and I spoke inside a housing unit for the inmates.
That was quite unusual, but the choice was
only due to the effort of the administrator to bring in as many
inmates as possible to hear our restorative justice presentations. But what I
saw that day was a housing unit jammed full with inmates, virtually
one on top of each other. You hear about the overcrowding then you see
it. But it is no surprise if you have been following the prison crisis in
California. The system is in crisis, something the state
itself has created. And that’s with its collective eyes wide open.

Dan Walters, columnist for the SACRAMENTO BEE, wrote an
excellent column on this problem: “State of Denial on Prisons Boomerangs”
(August 5, 2009). As Walters points out the state has committed itself to a
tough-on-crime stance which translated means that everyone who has committed any crime is locked
up: violent and nonviolent offenses included. That stance on crime has
produced a prison system that has grown from 20,000 inmates to an
astounding 160,000 inmates over the last 30 years. At approximately $48,000 a year to house one inmate you can see why the
state of California is in the financial straits it is today. With this level of
overcrowding, running at 190% capacity, the state is being sued daily by many
and being fined, federally, for refusing to remedy the situation. But at
the same time you have inmates on top of inmates. It’s a recipe for
violence. 

Can nonviolent offenders, who are largely
inmates serving time for drug offenses and property crimes
and parole violators with technical violations, be punished through
intermediate sanctions often referred to as community corrections? Such
offenders would serve their time in communities where they do community service
and be in a position to make things right with their victims through victim
offender mediation programs. It is clear the time has come to do something
radical with this badly broken system.  Experts have agreed time and again
through various commissions that we must commit ourselves to reform on a systemic level. What we don’t
need is another blue ribbon commission to study the problem again and come up
with the same recommendations.

In the 1990’s when I served as state director of
Justice Fellowship, the legislative arm of Prison Fellowship, we wrote
legislation urging that the state of California embrace community corrections as
a first step towards implementing restorative justice. Legislation was passed
and signed in 1994, AB 99x, which put a basic community corrections statute on
the books. But even with that legislation becoming law community based
sanctions for nonviolent offenders are not the norm today. That must
change. At the very least the diversion
of nonviolent offenders to these community based intermediate sanctions is
needed. It’s complicated business requiring sentencing reform.
But it time. The state really has no choice.

With our prisons overflowing there is no wonder we are
beginning to see prison riots. The state prison correctional
officer’s union, CCPOA, often refers to its work as the “toughest beat
in the state”. If it is the toughest beat in the
state it is because the state has let the system run amok. There is a better way
and restorative justice principles can guide the state to a saner criminal
justice system that is good for victims and communities while holding
offenders accountable. On top of that it is cost effective. But those who have blocked this kind of no-nonsense reform in the past,
and there were many, need to get out of the way.

That includes the California Correctional Peace Officers
Association. This type of change will take bold leadership. Otherwise California will see more prison riots in its 33 prisons.
We are a powder keg waiting to happen.