MORE ON: prisons

Daily Report: Public Safety

High-tech plan to block prison cell phones 'unwise,' report says

May 11, 2012, 12:05 AM
A deal between Gov. Jerry Brown's administration and a private communications company to deploy special equipment to block the rampant use of contraband cell phones by state prison inmates is based on a technology that is unproven and could undermine public safety, according to a new report.... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

ACLU: Counties focus on jail expansion, not inmate reduction

March 21, 2012, 1:05 AM
California counties receiving an influx of low-level convicts are preparing to spend millions of dollars for more jail space in the years ahead, but plans for reducing the number incarcerated are far less concrete. That is the overarching finding of a new report by the ACLU of California,... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Counties ready to handle state's juvenile offenders, study says

February 9, 2012, 12:05 AM
County governments have invested nearly a half-billion dollars over the past 15 years to modernize juvenile lockups and now have the capacity to absorb offenders currently housed in the state’s youth prisons, if those facilities are closed, a new study contends.  The report [PDF] by... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Savings from '3 strikes' reform may be smaller than claimed

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],... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Shifting prisoners to counties could strain local services

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... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Inmates vow to resume hunger strike

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... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

A tale of 2 inmates in California's Security Housing Units

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... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

State auditor calls for end to prisoner rehabilitation test

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... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Prison officials move to improve isolation units

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... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Analyst says lawmakers should do more for overcrowded prisons

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... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Prisoner reduction expected slightly behind court schedule

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... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Pelican Bay inmates agree to end 3-week hunger strike

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... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Prison audit finds ‘high potential for fraud’

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... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

18 counties take outsized share of prison spending, study finds

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... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Few sex offenders deemed 'violent predators,' audit finds

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,... + read more
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
© 2012 California Watch   /  development:  Happy Snowman Tech   /  design: