Benoit On Prison Releases: ‘We Should Not Lie Down’ On Court’s Decision

PALM DESERT – California’s prison system is broken, according to a panel of three federal judges. They find that prisons are packed at twice their capacity and there’s little rehabilitiation to speak of. That leads to a revolving door of criminals coming right back in after they serve their time.

The judges say the state’s failure to give proper medical care leads to one inmate death a month and can be called “cruel and unusual punishment.”

So, they’re ordering the inmate numbers tobe decreased by 44,000 within three years. That has local state Sen. John Benoit upset.

“The mortality rate for prisoners in California is below the national average,” says Benoit. “There’s a strong argument that there does not exista problem on the scale the judges have based their decision on.”

Those 44,000 inmates simply won’t be walking out the prison gates at once. The judges say they could change sentencing guidelines or parole prisoners earlier.

“We have to provide the program for these guys so once they’re released from behind the gates, they need to have the capability to have a second chance in life,” says Palm Desert resident Emad Michael.

“I think you have loads of property out here in the desert. You can build another prison miles away which would help with the population problem,” adds Palm Desert resident Charles Ibbotson.

Benoit says the State Assembly came up with a quick fix. Assembly Bill 900, which presses for additional cells to be built on existing prison grounds, is stalled.

Benoit adds, “We’re getting fighting from the environmental side that says ‘we need a completely new Environmental Impact Report.’ That takes five years. Go ahead and get started before we can build that additional prison facility inside an existing prison. We need to take every step possible to avoid releasing people of this nature back into the population. We should not lie down and take a federal court decision.”

So, it’s a stalemate. California is broke and can barely afford to build new prisons, and our police officers cannot afford to meet released inmates they helped put in prison in the first place.