State officials announced on Monday (3/23) major changes in the California prison system. The proposals would bring the state system nearly into compliance with Federal court orders by next summer.
If state lawmakers and federal judges sign off on the proposals, California's long-troubled prison system would look significantly different by 2016 — smaller, cheaper and more autonomous.
"It's a massive change," said Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, touting the plan at a Capitol news conference.
Inmate numbers are already shrinking as low-level offenders are kept in local jails rather than sent to state prisons, part of officials' effort to comply with federal judges' orders. But prisons still weigh heavily on California's bursting budget, increasing from 3% of general-fund spending just over three decades ago to a proposed 9.4% in the next fiscal year.
If the new plan is successful, prisons will fall to 7.5% of spending in the 2015-16 budget.
"California is finally getting its prison costs under control and taking the necessary steps to meet federal court mandates," Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement Monday
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Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times.
