Governor’s Prison Plan Announced

Gov. Brown’s website unveils the main features of his prison plan, AB 105, which:

  • Authorizes up to $315 million in immediate in-state and out-of-state capacity.
  • Lays the foundation for longer-term changes to the criminal justice system, in collaboration with the Legislature and stakeholders.
  • Strengthens existing local efforts (SB 678) to manage offenders by increasing the amount of funding that county probation departments receive if they can serve felony probationers locally and keep them from coming to prison.
  • Requires that if the court modifies the order in a way that reduces the cost of compliance, the first $75 million in savings will go to reducing recidivism.

The full text of the bill is here. Hear the Governor explain the plan here. More commentary on the plan in a later post.

Assembly to Consider Bill Allowing Parole for Juveniles Sentenced as Adults

SB 260, proposed by Senator Loni Hancock, offers the possibility of judicial review of sentences of juveniles who were tried as adults. From the bill [cleaned-up text]:

This bill would require the Board of Parole Hearings to conduct a youth offender parole hearing to consider release of offenders who committed specified crimes prior to being 18 years of age and who were sentenced to state prison and. The bill would require parole consideration to be given during the 15th year of incarceration if the person meeting these criteria received a determinate sentence, during the 20th year if the person received a sentence that was less than 25 years to life, and during the 25th year of incarceration if the person received a sentence that was 25 years to life. The bill would require the board, in reviewing a prisoner’s suitability for parole, to give great weight to the diminished culpability of juveniles as compared to adults, the hallmark features of youth, and any subsequent growth and increased maturity of the prisoner in accordance with relevant case law. The bill would require that, in assessing growth and maturity, psychological evaluations and risk assessment instruments, if used by the board, be administered by licensed psychologists employed by the board and take into consideration the diminished culpability of juveniles as compared to that of adults, the hallmark features of youth, and any subsequent growth and increased maturity of the individual. The bill would permit family members, friends, school personnel, faith leaders, and representatives from community-based organizations with knowledge about the young person prior to the crime or his or her growth and maturity since the commission of the crime to submit statements for review by the board and would permit the individual to designate one person to attend the youth offender parole hearing and read a brief statement. 

This bill is, in a way, an extension of SB 9, which created a similar process for juveniles sentenced to life without parole. It would extend the courtesy of judicial review to juveniles serving long sentences. The release is not automatic or mandated, and as the text says, the offenders will have already served lengthy sentences – 20 or 25 years, depending on the original sentence. The bill will not apply to third strikers or to folks whose resentencing is covered by SB 9.

The bill hits the Assembly floor tomorrow.

BREAKING NEWS: Inmates End Hunger Strike

The hunger strike in protest of long-term solitary confinement has ended. KTVU reports:

The strike ended after two Democratic state legislators promised to hold hearings this fall on inmates’ complaints that gang leaders are often held for decades in isolation units.

A federal judge also recently gave authorities permission to force-feed inmates if necessary to save their lives. However, even the hard-core strikers had been accepting vitamins and electrolyte drinks during their fast.

“We are pleased this dangerous strike has been called off before any inmates became seriously ill,” Beard said in a statement. He said the department will continue to carry out changes in its policies over sending inmates to Security Housing Units that were started two years ago.

The changes include more limits on which inmates are sent to the housing units at Pelican Bay, where the strike began, and at other prisons. The policies also make it easier for inmates also can work their way out of the isolation units.

It’s been a very, very difficult two months for inmates and their supporters. In the course of the last two months we’ve seen some successes, one death, accusations that the strike was a “gang power play” and their rebuttal, an order to force-feed that implied that some inmates were coerced into striking, and finally, a promise to hold hearings on long-term confinement.

What will stay with me is the sense that I know what’s right, and as I see it, I also see shades of gray. I have no doubt–in fact, I know–that hunger strike leaders were gang members. That CDCR Secretary Beard thought that telling us about the gang affiliations will convince us that the strike is illegitimate and that these folks deserve their conditions is an insult to my morality and my intelligence, and perhaps to yours, as well. Of course these are folks who committed serious crimes and joined gangs. That’s why they’re serving long prison sentences. But does confinement also imply all these other indignities and aggressions? Decades of isolation under abysmal conditions, and an “out” path that is marred with lies and misinformation?

Where I see more shades of gray is with regard to the coercion/pressure concern, which I’m sure Judge Henderson had in mind when giving the force-feeding order (so as to give pressured inmates a dignified exit from the strike). But social movements seldom boast members who all share a 100% conviction in their path, and why should this one be different? The decision to risk one’s life, and to fight back with the only thing one has left–one’s body–is a very drastic one to make. Not everyone will share that level of conviction, and that’s okay. The extent to which pressure is put on people to comply is where the shades of gray come into the picture. My thoughts about this stem from the fact that I know Judge Henderson, through his decisions and public speaking, to be an upstanding, moral judge, who has been a friend and supporter to inmates for decades of his career. I want to believe that he would not have authorized such cruelty had he not known something about the internal dynamics of the strike that I wasn’t privy to. And yet, I am troubled. Medical professionals must have been frustrated and upset at the prospect of being asked to solve what is, essentially, a social and political problem via medical means. What a miserable situation.

And so, I am left frustrated and confused, and living in a state where a nonviolent struggle to achieve a fairly modest goal–making sure that segregation for 23 hours a day lasts “only” ten years–has ended with little to show for it, amidst misleading publicity and some serious doubts about some of the events and the internal dynamics. But there is one thing I know is true. Holding a human being, no matter his or her gang affiliation or former crime, alone, for decades, in a small cell, with no window of hope and change and no human contact, and providing him or her with abysmal health care under conditions that would render anyone insane, is wrong. It is wrong no matter what we are being told. The strike has ended, but the struggle must continue.

BREAKING NEWS: Bill Allowing Charging Simple Possession as Misdemeanor Clears Assembly Floor

SB 649 (Leno) will allow prosecuting simple possession of certain controlled substances, including, among others, opiates, opium, opium derivatives, mescaline, peyote, tetrahydrocannabinols (marijuana), and cocaine base, as “wobblers”, that is, either as felonies or as misdemeanors. SB 649 has just cleared the assembly floor, 41-30, and it’s on the way to Gov. Brown via a Senate approval of the amendments.

This is very good news to those who would like to see the end of the war on drugs, and who think that nonviolent drug offenders are being punished too harshly.

UPDATE (Sep. 10, 2013): The bill has now passed the Senate floor as amended and is on its way to the Governor for signatures.

Same Sex Marriage and CA Prisons

The big news in the correctional world is that the CA assembly has approved Gov. Brown’s recent proposal to use $315 million of my money and yours to build private prisons. This is not the end of the story, however, because–

[a]pproval by the full Assembly would set the stage for a showdown in the Senate, where Democrats oppose the measure. They want more money spent on rehabilitation services and drug and mental health treatment so offenders do not end up back in prison after their release.

Meanwhile, Day 58 of the hunger strike brought a statement of frustration from the mediation team, who was encouraged to hear about the potential public hearings, but concerned for the strikers’ deteriorating health.

And, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano has submitted a query to CDCR regarding same-sex marriage for inmates. Here is the CDCR memo, verbatim, from scribd:


In other words, inmates are now allowed to wed non-inmates in CDCR institutions. There are two notable things about this: First, that inmates who are both currently incarcerated cannot get married. This is, presumably, a continuation of the previous policy, but since prisons are segregated by gender it becomes much more meaningful now that folks of the same sex can get married. And second, that chaplains may refuse to perform the ceremony on conscience grounds, but in that case CDCR will substitute the refusing chaplain with another officiant.

The no-marrying-already-incarcerated-inmates rules, which is presumably in line with previous policy, raises some interesting questions. What happens if two women, who are already married, both get prison sentences (say, for unrelated felonies)? Does CDCR have policies about whether they should be kept in the same facility or in different facilities? And, while inmates can’t marry each other, surely they can have relationships with each other, and so, why the prohibition?