Schwarzenegger signs bill to release 20K prisoners

It doesn't matter, the R in CDCR stands for rhetoric. There never wa or wil there ever be rehabilitation in the California Prison system. Calif. does not beleive in educating the poor. Legislature needs them simple, dependent, and uninformed, otherwise they may vote. What then? Ignorance and apathy makes for a happy California. We don't know and we don't care - the mantra of the Sunshine State.. As long as we don't see people being exploited and enslaved it's not happening. The media doesn't lie and our government leaders have our best interests, It's easier that way.

Of course California can stand to release some of the pressure on it prisons, and it should release the number of inmates ordered by the federal judges. Not only will money be saved, but it can be put to use by creating more jobs and training programs and making families whole again! If each inmate released was paid at least $12 an hour to train for a job and job placement, this would save the state millions of dollars and there would be money left over! Then the prison system could start some real Rehabilitation!
The question remains, "is rehabilitation what they really wantor is it the politically correct thiing to say? Hmmm..........

I laugh when I hear talk of early release of prisoners, they can’t even get them out when they’re supposed to be. Lost paper work and the ego of Trilogy SAP (Debbie something) is causing 80 inmates to have their case reviews redone because she missed the meeting. These were “abstensia” reviews, even the inmates weren’t there. Now they will all be there an extra 30 days, let’s see, if it cost tax payers $52k a year to house inmates, 80 inmates x $4k = $320,000 to tax payers! Way to go Trilogy! and you’re the new substance abuse program providers so you’re just getting warmed up! Bravo! We should have this budget handled in no time!
No one gets released early, at least not from CRC.

My brother is sitting at Cocorran for knowing of a crime and not reporting it. California is one of the only states that put people into maximum security prisons for know of a frickin crime. My brother's boss didn't pay 1M in cigarette taxes and he is serving 2 years there. He has never even gotten a traffic ticket before, served 2 tours of duty, held top security clearance for the federal government and not sitting and rotting in this shit hole of a prison. These are the types of people that they need to release. It is a crime, what they have done to so many people and their families. My brother gets out in February, with our luck they will release these guys in January.

Start with people that have a couple of more months on their sentenses.. .. so they can be home with their families for the holidays.
Parolees with no new charges with the police and just over eager parole agents who were on a power trip.
Just cutting the sentences by a couple of months would make a dent in the system.
Why isn't anyone saying how soon this will happen....
If not soon the judges should hold him in contempt.

I think a lot more than 40,000 could be released, since 80% of the men and women in there are there for minor drug offenses or a technical parole violation like a missed appointment.

How did it get so bad? I think a reasonable correlation is the power of the employee unions such as CCPOA and the political influence of corporate prison interests both of which are totally committed to making sure that the prison system grows. The prisons are supposed to be run by the State but everyone knows it's the Correctional Officers Union that call the shots. Collecting almost 2 million bucks a month from its members makes it a powerful entity and a major donor to candidates who do their bidding, keeping prisons full and profitable. They do this by supporting legislators who they can count on to criminalize more and more behavior and increase the existing sentences for laws already on the books and by direct donations to every group that wants to throw another 'law and order' initiative on a public that obviously does not read before they vote. Their mission: Keep as many as they can cram in locked up for as long as possible so inept prison employees keep making $150,000 a year to babysit pot smokers.

It is not only the CCPOA that want the jails full, it's the companies contracting slave labor from them. All these uber-conservatives crying about illegal immigrants taking their jobs because they’re willing to do it for less money. They’re not willing to do it for a dollar a day! That’s what inmates get when they’re forced to work manufacturing everything from clothing to computers. Jobs that used to be filled by us. The sad part is California voters never bother to question anything and buy into the propaganda of whoever talks the loudest.

There are currently many laws that call for mandatory first offense prison sentences. Offenders are "always" (with the exception of capital cases) offered a plea agreement (the courts could never handle it if all defendants elected to go to trial) and their choice is take the plea agreement or take it to trial, but, if they elect trial and found guilty the will receive the highest sentence possible. Most defendants (guilty or not) go for the plea agreement. Judges no longer have any discretion in sentencing ... so it's the D.A.'s call and a notch in there conviction scorecard. Once the convicted defendant reaches prison he or she faces a hostile environment that is so perverse in nature that even the convicted persons family suffers it's wrath, gray gloom that can crush the hardest of souls

California now has the biggest prison system in the world, a system 40 percent bigger than the Federal Bureau of prisons. The state holds more inmates in its jails and prisons than do France, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Singapore, and the Netherlands combined. At the current rate of expansion, assuming they again ignore a court order that forces release of prisoners, it will run out of room in a very short time. To remain at double capacity the state will need to open at least one new prison a year, every year. This would just maintain the current standards, not improve them. It doesn’t take a genius to see the problem here, but then again California isn’t real big on education.

SEND RELEASED INMATES BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!!!!
I believe that non-violent offenders should be given a 2nd chance to become providing members of society. I live in South Central Los Angeles and trust me, no matter what the gov't does crime will always be around in the Barrio.

FREE POCK aka DOH BOI !!!!!!!!!! Hermanos Por Vida {H4Ls}

they are not going to be terminated

who did he pick for release

It's about time, but in a few years guess how many more will go back into prison due to stupid minor offense laws with big penalties.

Well it's about time. They should fire a lot of cops too.

This doesn't make any sense to me.

I ABSOLUTELY support reducing prison populations. There are 3 million people in prisons in America. At $50K a pop per year that's $150 Billion a year. No other nation on Earth imprisons at even half the rate we do. We should be able to cut our prison population in half at least with just moderate policy changes. With an actual sane legal system we could probably cut it in half again.

But how do you just decide on a number of prisoners to release? Who do you pick? What are the guidelines? The sane process is to revisit your legal code and decriminalize this, lower the sentences on that yada yada yada. The number of people in jail is a CONSEQUENCE of legal policy. It is not a primary variable. This country is insane.

Sleep well tonight. Or the night they get out.

Maybe we can send all the criminals to a nice island somewhere.

It worked out okay for Australia....

And now we can bring cameras along and start a new reality show that would blow the rest of them out of the water.

Con Island. See who survives, as Con Island finds it's King Con!

Obviously, yes, California is famous for an outstanding population of cannabis users, criminals behind bars, and criminals of cannabis possession incarcerated. Sure, it would help the state to release the lighter criminals.

But discharging the best of the worst behaved only treats the problem, it doesn't cure it.

What california really needs are more outlets for their youth to have fun without drugs, better role models, and more opportunity for common people to make money enough to live near their families there without crime. Legalizing cannabis doesn't seem like it would hurt either.

Free the Herb that has so many locked up just for wanting to be free to smoke the weed that is no weed at all it's just a herb with a bad name getting a bad wrap.

id be extremely happy if somehow i could legally get high in dear ole hometown atlanta.. ::sigh::

you'll be okay, the pot heads are just going to be extremely happy they're free.

It’s sad that Cali is only releasing prisoners because of budgetary problems. This means that tens of thousands of citizens guilty of minor crimes and imprisoned due to the three strikes law would still be in prison if not for the current budget crisis.

Who decided that it was ok to turn people guilty of minor offenses into hardened criminals by sending them to the same place that murderers and rapists go?

All non-violent drug offenders I hope.

Senator Jim Webb was supposed to be working on America's prison problems. I 'hope' he really is. I 'hope' it wasn't just spin. If he truly examines our prison problems, he will see the non-violent cannabis users should not be in prison. The facts do not support their incarceration.

a judge ordered something that's being ignored... sounds like breaking the law to me...

three strikes law is total BS.

The decriminalization of MJ and Minor drug offenses will be a Judicial laxative like no other. This move is akin to buttering your anus when constipated.