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Old 01-08-2010, 04:30 PM
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Jeanfromfillmore Jeanfromfillmore is offline
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Default Universities vs. prisons budget proposal raises eyebrows

Universities vs. prisons budget proposal raises eyebrows
By TERENCE CHEA
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - It's an idea any educator would like: California's governor wants to ban the state from spending more on prisons than universities.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to change the state constitution to guarantee funding to the University of California and California State University systems has been enthusiastically endorsed by the state's higher education leaders.
But the measure faces opposition from the powerful prison guards' union and state lawmakers wary of more budget constraints. And critics say it could compromise public safety and worsen the state's already dysfunctional budgeting process.
The governor's proposal, unveiled during his final State of the State address Wednesday, is aimed at boosting funding to UC, which has 10 campuses and about 220,000 students, and CSU, which has 23 campuses and about 450,000 students.
The state's dire budget crisis has prompted deep budget cuts to the universities that have led to steep tuition increases, faculty furloughs, enrollment cuts, reduced course offerings and rowdy campus protests.
State funding for UC and CSU, which made up 14 percent of the state budget 30 years ago, now makes up about 6 percent, according to the state Postsecondary Education Commission. Total higher education spending, including funding for the state's 110 community colleges, accounts for roughly 12.5 percent.
Spending on corrections, which comprised less than 4 percent of the budget 30 years ago, has grown to 10 percent, according to the commission, as California's prison population mushroomed under tougher sentencing laws.
The governor's plan would guarantee that UC and CSU receive at least 10 percent of the general fund budget, while the state's prisons would get no more than 7 percent.
'Not healthy'
"What does it say about a state that focuses more on prison uniforms than caps and gowns?" Schwarzenegger said Wednesday. "It simply is not healthy."
The funding shift would begin during the 2011-12 fiscal year and be fully in place by 2014. The proposal would bar the early release of prisoners and give the governor the authority to suspend the funding limits during a fiscal emergency.
The measure would need to be approved by a majority of California voters. But it first needs to get on the ballot, which requires approval by two-thirds of the Legislature, or the signatures of hundreds of thousands of voters.
The proposal represents a major shift in funding priorities for Schwarzenegger. Since he took office in 2003, spending on UC and CSU has fallen 10 percent to $5 billion in 2009-10, while spending on corrections has increased 56 percent to $8.1 billion, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office.
Schwarzenegger wants to reduce prison spending mainly through the privatization of prison operations and services, with an emphasis on inmate health care. California spends $50,000 a year for each inmate, about $18,000 more than the next 10 largest states, according to the governor's office.
"We believe a better mix of private and public staff could provide proper health care to inmates at a reduced cost to the state," said Gordon Hinkle, press secretary for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
168,000 inmates
California currently houses about 8,000 of its 168,000 inmates in private prisons in other states. Another 5,000 inmates are in private prisons in California. The state is fighting a federal court order to reduce the population of its 33 adult prisons, which are at nearly double their designed capacity.
University leaders say the funding guarantee would put UC and CSU on a solid financial footing and allow them to maintain access, affordability and academic quality.
But critics say it is another case of "ballot-box budgeting" that would make it even harder for lawmakers to pass a budget, and it could force cuts to other state services that aren't constitutionally protected.
"It's a very simplistic solution to a very complex problem," said Sen. George C. Runner Jr., R-Antelope Valley. "I believe the first priority of state government is to keep people safe. To cap that certainly doesn't make any sense to me."
Others are skeptical the state could significantly reduce prison spending through privatization to meet the constitutional mandate.
"If you look at privatization of prisons and how it has played out over the years, there are no cost savings," said Ryan Sherman, a spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
The union and governor have been battling for most of his administration over the union's once-lucrative contract and influence on prison operations. Union leaders this week sent legislative leaders their own proposals for savings and reform.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/s...8.482a4e8.html
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Old 01-08-2010, 05:21 PM
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ilbegone ilbegone is offline
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This is how the prison situation strikes me:

Some of it is a backlash on crime and some of it is about money and power.

I find it hard to believe a person in solitary confinement can run a criminal empire on the outside while being in solitary confinement without some collusion with correctional officers.

Such a person needs to be executed and his uniformed enablers need to do some time in a federal prison far from home

The same for any prisoner who kills another prisoner for any reason in jail. Take 'em out back and cap 'em.

No more life sentences. You get one swiftly addressed appeal, and it's done either way.

Then there's my belief that drugs are just or more available in prison as on the street. There has to be collusion.

The petty stuff or where self interest conflicts with justice

DA's generally get re-elected by their conviction rate. Prosecuting people is a gainful occupation.

So is jail oversight of convicts.

I believe that if it is found that a person is wrongly convicted due to a DA's contrived prosecution or police invention of evidence, those parties should serve double the sentence for the conviction.

Then there's the other crap. Such as: I understand that everything necessary to preside over an Anger Management class can be taught in sixteen weeks.

The court instructs the "school" to drag it out over 52 weeks. More money for the court, more money for the "school". More hassling the "subject" beyond what is necessary to achieve the social goal.

A lot of things need to change, not the least the graft built into the system.
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Last edited by ilbegone; 01-08-2010 at 05:28 PM.
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Old 01-08-2010, 05:51 PM
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Jeanfromfillmore Jeanfromfillmore is offline
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I spoke to someone recently who has spent 15 years in prison. She told me that drugs are easier to get in prison than on the outside. She was in prison for stealing Jaguars off the docks as they were being brought into the country. Next time I speak with her I'll as her more about her time in prison. She said she had a hard time getting through the court system to get off of parole because they couldn't find her file or told her the wrong place to go. She's now the manager of a department of a rather large corporation. Very interesting woman, you would never expect her to have been in prison. She is bright, went to private school and had a decent family. I wouldn't think that would be the common criminal.
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Old 01-08-2010, 06:55 PM
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ilbegone ilbegone is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeanfromfillmore View Post
I spoke to someone recently who has spent 15 years in prison. She told me that drugs are easier to get in prison than on the outside. She was in prison for stealing Jaguars off the docks as they were being brought into the country. Next time I speak with her I'll as her more about her time in prison. She said she had a hard time getting through the court system to get off of parole because they couldn't find her file or told her the wrong place to go. She's now the manager of a department of a rather large corporation. Very interesting woman, you would never expect her to have been in prison. She is bright, went to private school and had a decent family. I wouldn't think that would be the common criminal.
You just never know who has what colors, and there are people who do learn their lessons.

One of the problems concerning recidivism in the correctional process is that no one wants to hire a convict - sometimes out of good reason and sometimes because of the stain of having a record. Right or wrong, our society is generally not forgiving of those who have "paid their debt to society", some never end paying.

I believe the visual concept of a criminal is a beetle browed knuckle dragging individual with a brick who assaults a man with a wallet.

Charming, articulate, good looking people have it all over everyone else in every way concerning judgment of themselves by others, including the attractive and personable among the criminally inclined.

Particularly if they have money to throw around.

No money, no honey.

Money talks, bullshit walks.

A person with money and an attorney get sprung right away. Those with modest to poverty stricken income get screwed in that respect. Justice is blind, until it comes to the dollar.

Something which comes to mind is the celebrity, unless he is found to be cheating on his wife - something few would pay attention to outside the of family if it was Joe
Schmoe running amuck on a beer budget.

Tiger Woods - is all the criticism because the man is wealthy and has women hanging all over him? Is that some sort of hypocritical social envy judgment by people who would do the same if they were in the same respective boat?

I believe a person will do a lot more time for knocking over a liquor store for a hundred bucks than faceless person who defrauded thousands of people out of millions of dollars over the internet.

And the first one will be locked into a cycle, the other will have easier opportunity to either go legit or renew covert, anonymous criminality.

The old saying is that a lot more people have been robbed with a pen than a gun.
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Freibier gab's gestern

Hay burros en el maiz

RAP IS TO MUSIC WHAT ETCH-A-SKETCH IS TO ART

Don't drink and post.

"A nickel will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat." - Old New York Yiddish Saying

"You can observe a lot just by watching." Yogi Berra

Old journeyman commenting on young apprentices - "Think about it, these are their old days"

SOMETIMES IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.

Never, ever, wear a bright colored shirt to a stand up comedy show.


Last edited by ilbegone; 01-08-2010 at 07:16 PM.
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