MORE ON: prisons

Daily Report: Public Safety

Number of children with parent in prison growing

January 14, 2011, 12:05 AM
When California lawmakers and policy wonks talk about reforming the state’s prison system, they’re typically talking about the public’s safety. Or how incarceration impacts the people living in cells. Or how expensive this whole exercise has become. Less often, the... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Nunez serving (shorter) sentence in 'sensitive needs' prison

January 10, 2011, 12:05 AM
Esteban Nunez received a huge break a week ago when former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger commuted the 22-year-old’s sentence for manslaughter, reducing his prison time by more than half. It was the second decision regarding Nunez’s incarceration that benefited the young man, son of... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

County jails not a quick fix to prison costs, crowding

January 4, 2011, 12:06 AM
Newly inaugurated Gov. Jerry Brown will propose shifting low-level offenders from state prisons to county jails as one of many budget cuts to shrink California’s $28 billion deficit, according to the Sacramento Bee. But this solution also poses a number of problems. First among them:... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

For public safety, 2011 a year of big decisions

January 3, 2011, 12:06 AM
California is carrying the weight of decades-old public safety woes into the new year. Not that the state is becoming a more dangerous place. To the contrary, crime rates across nearly all major categories and in almost every region are retreating, as they have for several years. Many of... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Despite fee hikes, UC still cheaper than prison

December 22, 2010, 12:05 AM
Even with the latest tuition increase, a year at Cal is still cheaper than a year at San Quentin. After soul-searching and protest, University of California President Mark Yudof last month persuaded the regents to hike UC student fees by 8 percent. The increase will likely push the total cost... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Repeat offenders may be Harris' biggest challenge

December 7, 2010, 12:05 AM
Incoming Attorney General Kamala Harris has set reducing California's out-of-control recidivism rate as her number one priority. But a sickly job market will make her pledge "to close the revolving door on crime" exceptionally hard to carry out. Currently two-thirds of inmates... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

High court's prison case: It's about money

December 6, 2010, 12:05 AM
The U.S. Supreme Court’s pending decision on how California must address its colossally overcrowded prisons is about the unconstitutional state of inmate health care. But it’s also about money. Specifically, the hundreds of millions of dollars the state spends each year to house... + read more
A mural of shooting victim Oscar Grant.
Daily Report: Public Safety

Ex-BART cop got big break at sentencing, records show

December 2, 2010, 12:05 AM
Johannes Mehserle, the former transit police officer who shot an unarmed* man on an Oakland BART platform, wants the judge to set him free pending appeal. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry already gave Mehserle a big break at sentencing, state prison records show. After a... + read more
Daily Report: Money and Politics

Report questions why state auditors pack heat

December 1, 2010, 12:06 AM
The state's top prison watchdog has spent tens of thousands of dollars arming its auditors and lawyers with semiautomatic weapons and body armor under a "questionable" rationale that "presumes gun-toting auditors and lawyers will engage in police functions such as hand-to-hand... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Fewer repeat offenders, but cuts planned for prison rehab, literacy

November 8, 2010, 11:13 PM
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has made reducing recidivism a chief priority. So there was some cause for celebration last week as the agency announced a drop in the percentage of the state’s paroled inmates who reoffended and landed back in prison within a... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

California's prisoner 'exports' welcomed in other states

November 7, 2010, 11:16 PM
California’s prison crisis is proving to be something of an economic opportunity for other states. Last week, officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced a deal to send more inmates to facilities out of state in order to meet a court order to... + read more
Daily Report: Health and Welfare

How do prisons treat their pregnant inmates?

October 28, 2010, 12:05 AM
As a record number of women enter prison, many states are failing to provide adequate medical care to pregnant inmates and even shackling some women during delivery, according to a new report by the Rebecca Project for Human Rights and the National Women's Law Center. California did better... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Immigrants underrepresented in California's crime rates

October 13, 2010, 12:05 AM
During precisely the period that California experienced the biggest immigrant population increase in its history, the state also experienced a precipitous drop in crime rates, according to a report by Barry Krisberg, a renowned criminologist at UC Berkeley's School of Law. ... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Coroner: As SF jail inmate was dying, nurses ignored moaning from cell

October 8, 2010, 12:05 AM
Issiah Downes died in a padded room at the San Francisco County Jail after sheriff’s deputies worked to restrain him. And now, questions about what caused the inmate’s death have focused on the conduct of those at the scene. Those questions gained greater attention in September... + read more
Daily Report: Public Safety

Thousands of state inmates shut out of the classroom

September 20, 2010, 12:05 AM
Fewer than one in every ten California inmates are enrolled in an educational program, despite a pledge by state officials to enhance rehabilitation efforts in order to cut recidivism and relieve prison overcrowding. An estimated 14,360 inmates were taking part in a variety of academic classes... + read more
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