California prison and sentencing reforms getting closer to reality

As detailed in this local article from California, "Democratic lawmakers and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are poised as soon as today to enact a package of far-reaching prison reforms that would allow some prisoners to serve the last 12 months of their sentences under house arrest, reclassify some property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and create a new sentencing commission to examine how sentencing laws contribute to prison overcrowding."  Here are more details:

Altogether, the proposal would cut the prison population by 27,000 in the next year, saving $1.2 billion, and 37,000 in the next two years. Republican lawmakers strenuously object and assert the plan would put dangerous criminals back on the streets, but they appear to be powerless to stop it.

The Capitol is under enormous pressure to act. Two weeks ago, a panel of federal judges ordered the state to craft a plan that would slash the 165,000-inmate population by about one-quarter within two years to relieve what the judges called a dangerous level of overcrowding. And the state budget plan the governor signed late last month included $1.2 billion in unspecified cuts to corrections; this proposal would realize those savings, proponents say.

To overcome GOP opposition, Democrats say they will pass the prisons package on a majority instead of a two-thirds vote. Although doing so means the plan would not take effect for 90 days, the governor's staff and Democrats say any erosion of savings would be minimal. Many ideas in the plan came from the governor, and Schwarzenegger has signaled he will sign it into law.

Some recent related posts:

• Federal judicial panel orders California to drastically cut prison population
• "Free 40,000 California inmates? Not so fast."
• "Gulags in the sun"
• Prison reforms and cuts left uncertain in final California budget deal
• Economic necessity finally forcing long-needed reform in California
• "State police chiefs' association backs prison plan in budget"
• Defending the prison cuts in the new California budget
• "The Fiscal Crisis in Corrections: Rethinking Policies and Practices"
• Reviewing how tough times are resulting in prison releases