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Battle looms over prison spending in state budget January 22, 2003 By Dan Morain and Jenifer Warren, Los Angeles Times Facing a historic fiscal crisis, California Gov. Gray Davis is calling for deep cuts to schools, health care for the poor and scores of other programs. But one corner of government is being spared such pain: the state's sprawling prison system.Davis, a Democrat who treasures his law-and-order image, actually wants to boost Department of Corrections spending in the coming year, though modestly. The governor proposes opening a new prison, building a $160-million department headquarters and remodeling San Quentin's deteriorating death row. Critics are angry about what they see as an inequity, and a state Senate subcommittee will meet today to begin paring back the $5.2-billion prison budget. But many analysts say the on
http://www.ocregister.com/commentary/ Wednesday, June 19, 2002 Guard our budget from prison spending As California's government faces a budget crisis, Gov. Gray Davis (and, to be fair, most legislators) are avoiding studiously one department where budget cuts would be good public policy and popular with voters. Instead, the administration is moving ahead with plans to increase spending on prisons and boost the salaries of prison guards. This defies ordinary fiscal logic.
On the other hand it may reflect short-term political calculation. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the prison guards' union, has been especially generous with campaign contributions to Gov. Davis and other California politicians.
Prison spending cuts endorsed Poll indicates public priorities during shortfall BY NOAM LEVEYMercury NewsSacramento Bureau Signaling a possible change of heart about the state's massive commitment to prison spending, Californians are more willing to cut spending on corrections to balance the state budget than to cut any other state program, according to a poll released Thursday.
The state's portfolio of energy contracts, which Gov. Gray Davis' administration negotiated this year in an attempt to stem the summer energy crisis, is a more tempting target for cuts, the poll by the Field Institute found. But the state cannot make such cuts without the cooperation of energy producers.
``The indications that the prison share of the state budget may be vulnerable to public mood is really revolutionary in recent history,'' said Franklin Zimring, director of the Earl Warren Legal Institute at the University of California-Berkeley and an authority on criminal justice policy.
US CA: Web: Budget Crisis Forces California Governor to URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n012/a13.htmlNewshawk: Please Add Your Broadcast Events Here: http://www.mapinc.org/onair/Pubdate: Fri, 03 Jan 2003Source: The Week Online with DRCNet (US Web)Contact: psmith@drcnet.orgWebsite: http://www.drcnet.org/Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2514Author: Phillip S. Smith, EditorForum: http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/list.htm (California)Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/states/ca/ (California)http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
BUDGET CRISIS FORCES CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR TO CONSIDER EARLY RELEASES, OTHER PRISON MEASURES California Gov. Gray Davis ( D ) never met a prison-building program or "tough on crime" bill he didn't like, but now, faced with a $35 billion state budget deficit, he is being forced to consider measures that could begin to pare down the state's mammoth prison budget -- and free some prisoners. With California's budget deficit greater than those of the other 49 states combined, Davis is finding that there are no sacred cows when it comes to budgets -- especially when it's a question of prisons or health care, prisons or education, prisons or social services. As recently as last month, when he proposed mid-year budget c