PRISON DIRECTOR SAYS PROP. 36 WON'T SOLVE CROWDING PROBLEMS

SACRAMENTO -- A California ballot measure that would put thousands of drug
offenders into treatment rather than behind bars wouldn't solve the state's
prison crowding problem, Corrections Director Cal Terhune said Tuesday.

Crowding is worst among the most violent inmates and those who face life
terms under California's three-strikes law, said Terhune, who is retiring
Nov. 4.

Nonviolent drug users, by contrast, are generally housed in 16
dormitory-style minimum-security community correctional facilities, most of
which are run by public or private agencies under contract with the
Department of Corrections.

"That isn't where our pinch is," Terhune said in an interview. "I wouldn't
suggest anybody do too much experimenting with putting high-level security
cases in those lower-security beds."

Regardless of whether Proposition 36 passes Nov. 7, the department must
still reduce the number of violent inmates housed two-to-a-cell, Terhune said.

All told, the system is housing nearly double the inmates envisioned in its
design capacity.

Terhune took no position on the merits of Proposition 36 itself during an
extended interview. However, he said he favors drug treatment for those who
need it. And he noted that the number of treatment beds in prisons have
increased from 400 to 8,000 during his three-year tenure as director.

The proposition would require treatment rather than incarceration for those
convicted for the first or second time of being under the influence of
drugs or possessing drugs for their personal use.

That would divert as many as 24,000 nonviolent drug offenders a year who
currently go to prison or are sent back to prison for violating their
parole, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office estimates.

Many serve just a few months in prison, however, so the analyst projects
the state would need 9,000 to 11,000 fewer prison beds if Proposition 36 is
approved.

"That's a huge dent in the prison population," said Dave Fratello, campaign
manager of the California for New Drug Policies, Proposition 36's prime
supporter.

A typical year of treatment costs about $4,000, compared to an average
$23,000 to house an inmate in prison. However, a domitory-style prison
costs $15,000 to $17,000, the department said.

The proposition would also cut parole caseloads by about 9,500 per year,
the analysis estimates, because drug users wouldn't be sent to prison in
the first place.

"It's a solution to a crisis that's been building for 10 years or more,"
Fratello said.

He doesn't dispute that the state may still need more high-security beds.
But Fratello argued there would be an incalculable long-term savings and
social benefit from those whose early treatment deters them from other
crimes that would eventually send them to prison.

Lance Corcoran, vice president of the California Correctional Peace
Officers Association, questions the analysis because he thinks most
first-time drug offenders already are sidetracked into treatment programs.

He also questions the social benefit of repeatedly sending drug users to
treatment rather than prison.

"We're not talking here about 'Joe One-time-casual-user' here who gets
popped," Corcoran said. --