40,000 Inmates Released

Sorry I’ve not blogged in a few weeks I’ve been under the weather, so to speak. But I’m back and the three judge panel, who is deciding the fate of California prisons, has finally issued its ruling. I only have an article by Howard Mintz (hmintz@mercurynews.com). However, according to the article approximately 40,000 inmates will have to be released. The main thrust of the ruling is putting a cap of 110,000 total inmates in the adult male prison system. What that means is: The aprox 40,000 inmates that have to be cut free must be permanent. This is not a onetime thing. So that means that not only does the prison system have to cut 40,000 inmates it has to continue to do it even with daily intake from all the various county jails and the 70% recidivism rate. From where I sit, and it’s a very small cell, I like the judges, have no faith that the California politicians will come together and solve the prison situation themselves. It will require real reform of parole and parole revocation policies. It will require the Dept of Corrections and Rehabilitation to actually rehabilitate. As of now the CDCR just cut aprox 43% of the educational vocation budget. And it will require a real commitment to restructure California’s sentencing laws. I just don’t see any of the above happening. I have very little faith in the group of politicians who aren’t balance the state budget on time every year! The only thing the state wants to do is appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. So I ask – then what? What will the state do if the appeal fails? Well I suppose that if the states appeal fails then the state will be forced to do what it has been fighting against since 1990. However, in a perverse way the panels cap will help the state with its budget. Here’s how: The stat had already agreed to release 27,000 inmates. Mostly love level offenders and non-violent – they say. The reason for doing this is to cut $1.3 billion from the states corrections budget. Now, the panel wants 40,000 plus inmates released and a cap at 110,000 men in the state prisons. Well according to my very rough accounting the cap will save the state $2.3 -$2.7 billion a year. The state can use that number as a direct state budget savings thus the actual savings will be aprox 4 billion towards the state deficit. Funny how accounting gimmicks make money grow. When money is actually taken away from a budget – Say corrections, and put into the general fund but not spent the actual budget savings is more. It’s like going from -3 to 3, the amount between them is 6 not 3. That’s how a direct general fund cut from an existing budget expense is greater. Why is the state fighting a $5 billion savings? There is only one thing greater than money: That’s power. In this case political power. Since the 1960’s and Nixon’s war on drugs. Prisons populations have steadily risen. The U.S. now has one (1) person out of (32) thirty-two on parole, probation, in jail or in Prison. And has over two (2) million people in its various jails and prisons. Both of those last states are the highest in the world. The politicians, as they have done for thousands of years, played on the peoples fear to get re-elected. Each would be the politician trying to appear toughest on Drugs and crimes then his or her opponent. Over the years this has led to all the draconian laws and sentences that are causing our prisons and jails to now hold more than any other country on earth. And the political handlers, who advise the politicians, always remind them to never be or even appear to be soft on crime. As a result California is willing to make massive cuts to children’s education, and thus ensuring more uneducated or undereducated people who will come to jails and prisons; but Fought for 19 years not to reform the state’s prisons. So they don’t look soft on crime. Even now the mantra “Don’t look soft on crime,” is so pervasive in political circles that the California state politicians are willing to flush the state’s future in order to keep the prisons and jails full. The three judge panel just gave them a free out and a way that they, the politicians, can blame the “Liberal Federal Judges!” Why continue to fight when it’s a win/win for the states politicians. The only reason I can come up with is the states politicians can only hold on to their power by the continuation of selling the “Fear”. Long gone are days when an elected official went to office to serve the peop.es interest and to come up with new solutions to the problem that continue to plague the state. Now a new politician comes to the capital and is told by the others “This is how it’s done, if you want to get re-elected, you have to sell the Fear.” The politicians now know no other way to operate. Fear has worked so well, for so long, it’s hard to change. But if the leaders of the state of California do not take this as a positive opportunity to remake the state prison system and at the same time make strides to balance the budget. Then they are all fools. And the voters who would re-elect fools are bigger fools. Size this moment to restore funding to the children’s schools. Reinvent a prison system whose goal is to produce productive educated men and women. Who will have a chance to make it on parole through a network of half – way houses and a chance to get a job through a state incentive program to hire parolees; also an overhaul of the States sentencing laws and parole revocation policies. These things must be done. California must take the steps away from fear based power to leadership based power. Remember 1 in 32 in the U.S. is on parole, probation, in jail or in prisons. Let’s turn this around- and start in California right now. Until Next Time, Respectfully, VERITAS

US Executions

A new week a new blog. That’s what I try to do anyway. What’s new: Out of USA Today 7-16-09; in the front page there’s a little graph that shows the USA is 4th in the most executions in 2008—executions of people. It ranks China as 1st with 1,718; Iran 2nd with 346; Saudi Arabia 3rd with 102; USA 4th with 37; and Pakistan 5th with an, oh so close 36—better luck next year Pakistan. Yes, living in a free county like the USA is great! We aren’t anything like those commie Chinese or Evil Iranians. Nope, we put people to death after a fair trial—guilty or not. Here in America we try to only execute the innocent, but if a mistake is made; well, we just sweep it under the rug. No sense the voters getting worked up over a little thin like that. Besides it doesn’t affect them anyway. The guy was guilty of something? Right??? Several blogs ago I wrote about how a man in Texas was executed and then it was proven he was innocent. I only ever saw—read—one article about that. Why is that? Where the hell is the free press. The so called fourth estate. Maybe it’s because my life is so free from the constant barrage of the media. That I’m able to see things clearly. From where I sit there is something wrong with the use of the death penalty in America. But I’m more surprised by the silence coming from the media on this. And that worries me more. In Irving L. Janis 1982 work Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes. Janis points out symptoms of Groupthink. I believe that the media in America has fallen into several of the groupthink consequences. Self-censorship. With this consequence self criticism is muted in the group (newsroom). Because of norms of consensus as it is impolitic to alienate colleagues. The days of Lou Grant are over in other words. Now it’s the going along to get along; where dissidents and miscreants tend to suppress their disagreements with the dominant view. In big corporate media it’s no longer about the “Big Scoop”, it’s about the bottom line. So almost all news outlets report the same homogenized stories. Some knowingly or not get into bed with the various government agencies—police, fire, military and form groupthink bonds with them and actually begin to spew propaganda on behalf of the agency that is supposed to be covered impartially. That is another groupthink consequence—belief in the inherent morality of the group. If a reporter is embedded with a military unit at war, and that unit does something wrong (real war crime) there is going to be a lot of psychological pressure on and within the reporter not to report the wrongdoing. The reporter will see the unit as his or her group so both the self-censorship and inherent morality of the group will exert overwhelming force on the mind of the reporter. That persons whole world view is tied up with our side being the good guys. And another consequence of groupthink is stereotypes of out groups. We—the USA or the police are the good guys—are right! The others—terrorists, gangs, commies or whatever are wrong. Corporate media doesn’t want the folks back home to think the we, (our group), maybe are wrong. So they too apply pressure on the reporter. So that truth probably will never come out. I see it all over the news. Reporters reading a police press release as if its real news. Where are you truth when we need you the most? So, Texas put an innocent man to death—so what ? The media is too interested in where the first dog des his doo-doo or what the first lady’s new shoes look like. Not news; not real news. Corporate news made to perpetuate the illusion of a free America and a us—them paradigm. So a man in Texas was put to death—so what? Did you see the latest movie by so and so? Please if you are reading this WAKE UP! It might be you next. With Respect, Veritas5509 Thank you to the Independent Review and Charlotta Stein and D.B. Klein