January 11, 2012, 12:05 AM
Prisoners serving long sentences under California’s “three strikes” law are so expensive that legislative analysts say releasing some of them early could eventually save the state $100 million. A proposed ballot measure, called the Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012 [PDF],...
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November 21, 2011, 12:05 AM
California needs to pay attention to potential strains on county services as it implements Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to shift nonviolent criminals and parolees to counties, a RAND Corp. study says. The study [PDF], “Understanding the Public Health Implications of Prisoner Reentry in...
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September 23, 2011, 12:05 AM
Corrections officials are taking security precautions and gearing up medical staff in response to growing indications that inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison will resume a hunger strike that was suspended July 20. Strike leaders are calling on state inmates to begin refusing state-issued food...
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September 15, 2011, 12:05 AM
One man was a petty thief mistakenly identified as a player in a violent Latino prison gang. The other was a convicted murderer whose numerous assaults behind bars and continuing influence on the streets earned him a reputation as a ruthless gang leader. The fact that both men were locked for...
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September 7, 2011, 12:05 AM
The state auditor is recommending that California’s corrections system shut down tests that determine what rehabilitation prisoners need, calling the tools unproven and little used. Since 2006, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has developed and repeatedly...
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August 18, 2011, 11:35 AM
State corrections officials are moving forward with a major policy initiative that could improve conditions and reduce the length of time some inmates spend in controversial isolation units. The changes are being proposed amid threats of another hunger strike by inmates who spearheaded one last...
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August 8, 2011, 12:05 AM
The Legislative Analyst’s Office is calling on state lawmakers to get more involved in reducing the number of inmates in California’s overcrowded prisons. In a report released Friday [PDF], the analyst's office recommended that the Legislature start by asking federal courts for...
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July 25, 2011, 12:05 AM
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a court filing last week that it has the funding to reduce its prison population in compliance with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling [PDF], but it anticipates it will meet the court’s first prisoner reduction benchmark a month behind...
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July 21, 2011, 4:38 PM
Inmates at California’s highest-security lockup agreed to end a three-week hunger strike that appeared to be gathering momentum despite an apparent lack of concessions from corrections officials. In a statement, Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections...
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July 21, 2011, 12:05 AM
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation lacks adequate financial controls and repeatedly failed to recoup overpayments of salary and travel advances from its employees, an audit released yesterday by the state controller's office found. The report concluded that the...
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July 18, 2011, 12:05 AM
California has too many inmates, the U.S. Supreme Court and nearly everyone else agrees. Orange-jumpsuited felons pack cell blocks, and row after row of bunk beds claim countless square feet in gymnasiums and other correctional buildings in the state’s 33 prisons. The burden of...
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July 13, 2011, 12:05 AM
The year before California voters passed Jessica’s Law, a broad crackdown on sex offenders, the state prison system referred 512 potentially “violent predators” for examination. By 2007, the year after the law (Proposition 83) passed, that number had rocketed by more than 1,...
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June 29, 2011, 12:05 AM
Built in 1989, Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City was California’s first supermax prison, designed to keep the “worst of the worst” criminals under strict security, often in solitary confinement. On Friday, about 100 of those inmates plan to start a hunger strike...
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June 27, 2011, 12:05 AM
California is shrinking retirement benefits for the managers who oversee corrections officers at state prisons, saving $9.6 million next fiscal year. The rank-and-file officers guarding inmates negotiated away the extra pension contribution they'd received for more than a decade. In...
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June 20, 2011, 12:05 AM
Come November, California voters might again be weighing changes to the state’s “three strikes” law. The San Jose Mercury News reported last week that a group is crafting ballot language and seeking high-profile endorsements for an initiative that would require that a...
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