TIME TO OPEN LOCKED DOORS ON STATE PRISON REFORMS

A state Superior Court judge this week eliminated the last excuse for
inaction on the state's prison crisis. She ruled that the state
cannot ship thousands of prison inmates, mostly against their will,
to out-of-state private prisons.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an emergency in the prisons last
fall to justify transferring 5,000 of the state's 174,000 inmates.
And he called Judge Gail Ohanesian's order blocking the move "a
threat to public safety" that could result later this year in a
court-ordered discharge of felons to relieve crowding.

If that does happen, Schwarzenegger and legislators will have only
themselves to blame. They have watched the numbers of inmates swell
to the point that they're stacked like cordwood in every gym and
library, creating incendiary conditions.

There are remedies to crowding that don't involve a building binge or
prematurely freeing robbers and rapists on the public. In the near
term, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation could tweak
its parole policies to prevent the return to prison, on technical
parole violations, of thousands of non-violent offenders. The
governor could authorize discharging some offenders who are within a
year of completing parole. Neither move would endanger the public. To
imply otherwise is hyperbole.

In her ruling, Ohanesian sided with two unions that challenged
Schwarzenegger's order. They argued that the governor had no
authority to sidestep civil service laws to transfer inmates to
non-union prisons out of state and that he exceeded his authority
under the Emergency Services Act.

The prison guards' union acted to protect its own interest, of
course. But it is encouraging to see that this union, which has
amassed political power through the explosion in prison building, has
now joined Schwarzenegger and others who advocate a commission to
change the state's parole and sentencing laws.

Their support signals hope for comprehensive reforms -- if only the
governor would stop blaming judges and grasping at straws.