TAKE ACTION ON PRISONS

PERHAPS NOW THAT a federal judge has given California a six-month
deadline to ease prison crowding, the Legislature will do something
constructive about the problem.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton made the obvious conclusion that
a prison system with 173,000 inmates that was designed to house
100,000 is grossly overcrowded.

He said that unless the state does something to solve the problem, he
will be forced to order a cap on the prison population, which could
result in the early release of convicts.

Such drastic action does not have to take place if the Legislature
and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger come to an agreement on building more prisons.

For years, just about everyone in Sacramento has understood that the
state's prison system is in deep trouble with gross overcrowding, the
highest recidivism rate in the nation and a health care system so
flawed it has been taken over by a federal receiver.

Despite all of these problems, which are leading to a crisis, the
Legislature failed to pass any legislation addressing the situation.

Schwarzenegger did offer a credible reform package, but lawmakers
failed to support the governor in the special legislative session he
called in June or in the general session.

The governor's $6 billion plan would have financed two new $500
million prisons with bond money, which would allow them to be built
quickly. Schwarzenegger also sought to establish new community-based
prison facilities to house and counsel criminals who are about to be released.

As an emergency measure, the governor seeks to transfer 2,260 inmates
to other states. Eighty already have been sent to a private Tennessee prison.

Sending prisoners out of state may be a necessary short-term way to
deal with prison overpopulation, but it is not a long-term solution.

It is unfortunate that the state has to spend large sums of money
keeping people behind bars, but there is no other realistic solution.
California needs to build or expand prisons.

It also must build the new prison hospitals recommended by Robert
Sillen, who was appointed by a federal judge to take over the prison
health system.

Unless more prison facilities are built, prisoners may have to be
released, and the state's successful "three-strikes" law may have to
be weakened.

Moving some nonviolent prisoners to community correctional facilities
could ease the crowding problem, and perhaps there are some
nonviolent inmates near the end of their sentences who could be released early.

However, even if such steps are taken, there is no escaping the need
for increasing the capacity of California's prison system.

We hope that Karlton's warning and the threat of action by judges in
two other cases will be incentive enough for the Legislature to take
quick and substantial action to correct a prison problem that is bad
and getting worse.