Fifty-five incarcerated women are well on their way to a rehabilitation “home run.”
Dozens of women received vocational certificates from the California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA), which provides productive work assignments for approximately 8,000 offenders in California. These particular women, all offenders at Folsom Women’s Facility (FWF), earned certificates in Pre-Apprentice Carpentry, Pre-Apprentice Construction Labor, Computer-Aided Design, Facilities Maintenance, Customer Service Representative Training and Warehouse and Logistics Training.
FWF Associate Warden Robin Harrington likened the women’s efforts to playing baseball.
“The home run has been hit, but you’ve got to run the bases,” she told the graduates. “The run doesn’t count until you run the bases and make that score. You all are running the bases, and you are making big things happen, big changes in your life.”
Through a partnership with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), CALPIA provides thousands of inmates the opportunity to participate in life-changing rehabilitative programs, all of which are aimed at reducing recidivism while keeping prisons and communities safe. Rosetta Turturici, who graduated with certificates in Pre-Apprentice Carpentry and Construction Labor, said she has no plans to come back to prison after she goes home in 2016.
“Now with this training, I know that I can automatically go into the union and be offered a construction job,” she said, proudly holding her signature pink CALPIA construction hard hat. “I know that I won’t be judged for what I was, but for who I am today.”
FWF’s A Yard was filled with not only graduates, but also family members, instructors, union representatives, officials from CDCR and CALPIA, and other female inmates cheering them on. State Senator Holly Mitchell, who represents the 26th Senate District and serves as chair of the Legislative Black Caucus and Select Committee on Women and Inequality, shared words of encouragement with the crowd as keynote speaker. She pointed out that women continue to struggle with job security and equality, and that women of color in particular have not seen improvement in their unemployment rate.
“You have taken your first step to defy that statistic and defy that odd,” Mitchell told the graduates. “Being released from here, from the programs here, with specific training for careers and jobs that are available on the outside with your certificates, suggests that you are in a position to get in front of the line for many of the women on the outside looking for jobs – because of the time you spent and the commitment you made to yourself and this program.”
Mitchell said she attended an international convention of women who work in the building trades, and had her “mind blown” by the professional opportunities and salaries the women had. Many of those women, she said, started in programs very similar to what CALPIA and CDCR offer.
“You need to recognize that you are an amazing force of nature,” she said. “Which means that you are in control of who? You. And so you have the power to make the decision about what your future looks like.”
CALPIA General Manager Chuck Pattillo said FWF represents one of the highest percentages of inmates participating in CALPIA programs in a prison, and that the women graduating are role models for their peers considering joining a program. He praised the women for their hard work and wished them success when they go home.
“We want you to be good mothers, good sisters, good workers, especially because we know that you’ve got a leg up on everybody else as you get out of prison.”
It’s been proven time and again that rehabilitative programs result in fewer returns to prison. Pattillo pointed out that CALPIA Career Technical Education (CTE) programs have a cumulative recidivism rate of about 7 percent, significantly lower than the statewide average. That results in millions of dollars of taxpayer savings.
“We love seeing you, but I will be very honest, we really never want to see you again,” Pattillo said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
CALPIA contracted with CDCR’s Division of Rehabilitative Programs this year for $2 million to provide 12 CTE programs statewide. The partnership provides programs that positively influence not only the offenders’ lives, but also the lives of their families, and reduces the number of people victimized by crime.
“I recognize that it is no small task for you to turn your life around, but the women graduating here today have made that decision and have taken concrete steps to reach those goals,” said Millicent Tidwell, Director of DRP. “The certificates that you’re going to receive today will allow you to continue to take those positive steps in your future.”
Inmate Caitlin Churchill, who was joined by her mother, grandmother and aunt for the graduation, proudly pointed out that her name was listed twice on the program. Churchill earned certificates in Pre-Apprentice Carpentry and Pre-Apprentice Construction Labor.
“I’m overwhelmingly proud,” said her mom, Michele Hofer. “She has been working on this for a very long time, and I love hearing the officers praise her work.”
“This program has been invaluable,” Churchill shared. “They have taught us not only trade skills, but life skills. Our instructors have shown us how to work through instances where we thought we weren’t capable of handling the situation. They helped us push through, they’ve given us courage, they’ve given us confidence to be successful.”
Roy Bergerson, a CALPIA construction labor instructor from the Laborers Local 185 labor union, said that not only are women able to thrive in the industry, they are also in high demand.
“These women will leave as an apprentice and in time they’ll become journeymen,” he said. “We’ve had women who were released before who are currently working right now.
“It’s a miracle program,” he added. “This program here gives an opportunity for a person who needs a second or third chance the ability to live the dream.”
More information about CalPIA can be found at www.calpia.ca.gov.
Archives for November 2014
Raising Compassionate Young Boys to Adulthood
“The language of marriage is often the language of ownership, rather than the language of partnership. We use the word ‘respect’ to mean something a woman shows a man, but not often something a man shows a woman.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian author and feminist.
There exists inside every young boy a compassion that must be cultivated and nurtured into adulthood. How is that compassion translated? What societal responsibilities do we have to the younger generations? Moreover, what personal responsibility do we bear as fathers and OGs?
While it certainly does take a village to raise a child, when it comes to raising a male child fathers should be at the forefront of teaching young boys the universal value of having respect for themselves and the opposite sex. Fathers should engage their sons in active conversations about gender equality. These lessons are best learned by example.
In today’s society, our young men are constantly bombarded with words and images of women that construct their idea of what it means to be a man. Therefore it’s crucial that we begin any discussion of manhood by first understanding the social context in which these notions of gender and masculinity are formed.
In early September, Baltimore Raven football player Ray Rice was caught on tape knocking his fiancée unconscious and dragging her body from an elevator. Though Rice publicly apologized for his actions, the question of how and to what degree he should be punished by the NFL is being challenged in court. As of this writing, he is suspended indefinitely.
Here at San Quentin, during discussions about this incident, some prisoners recognized that Rice’s abuse was indisputably wrong. However, some went on to ask what she might have done to provoke or anger her fiancé.
These damaging responses result from the fact that young males grow accustomed to the idea that women are inherently guilty. We often send messages to young men that being brutal without self-control is acceptable while we teach girls shame. Often women are taught that they are naturally inferior to men simply by being born female. Girls grow to be women whose opinions are not as valued, who cannot say what they truly think or feel, and believe they must cater to the needs of men.
Not only are women silenced or their opinions ignored, but women are objectified, their bodies used to sell anything from cars to cottage cheese. Objectification devalues the female contribution to society. Exposed to this, women often unwillingly become complicit with their own oppression. Despite the fact that women make up 51 percent of the planet, men often perceive the role of the female as marginal. Governments and organizational heads are predominately male. Women still make 77 cents on the dollar compared to men for the exact same position. What is that about? And how does it persist?
Reflecting on my complicity in female gender vilification, I came to several conclusions: I would usually laugh, remain silent and/or repeat sexist remarks acceptable within my circle of friends. Although racial epithets offended me, sexist remarks were not as degrading; they were less demeaning. It was not until I reflected upon my experiences that I made this distinction.
Fathers, OGs and men should actively engage in conversation about gender inequality, particularly the wrongful way in which women are often portrayed by society.
Young boys should be taught from the onset that reducing women to mere body parts (legs, vaginas, butts, breasts, etc.) is sexist, inaccurate and wrong, and damaging to the very intimacy and depth of relationship that human beings need.
A good way to begin is with men becoming aware of and taking full responsibility for how we demean girls and women. We must find the moral courage to speak up and out against gender discrimination in its various forms.
A Testimonial Account of Prisoners’ Journey with Christianity
Kathleen Jackson never imagined she’d be vouching for a room full of men doing time for crimes ranging from kidnap to murder.
Still, she takes on this mission in Bind the Testimony, a new collection of 19 testimonies from San Quentin State Prison that presents the stories of criminals in a new light, and their own words.
“In my wildest imagination, I could not have pictured myself as part of that scene,” Jackson writes in the book’s introduction. “And yet I have been sitting in such a circle at San Quentin State Prison, facilitating the Christian Creative Writing Class, for over two years, loving every moment and marveling at the men’s intensity.”
The public has a certain conception of prison. Your average civilian would tell you prisons are not for “nice people” and “bad things” happen there. But that’s just part of the picture. In this collection, Jackson asks the public to reevaluate these generalizations. She leaves it to readers to decide whether listening to a bunch of convicts calling themselves Christians is worth the time and effort.
Jackson’s course on creative writing allowed her students to address questions of spirituality on their own terms and through their own life experiences. Writing about their troubled pasts, it turns out, helped them finally come to terms with past mistakes.
Cole Young is doing a life term for second-degree murder. He has been locked up since 1995. His story, An Uphill Battle, is jam-packed with self-inflicted pain and suffering, coupled with the deaths of loved ones during his incarceration. Young’s incredible saga takes readers on a frightful journey that ends when he finds his salvation. Finding God, he says, allowed him to come to terms with his identity and gave meaning to his day-to-day life.
Minor crime to minor crime turned into a Three Strike sentence for drifter James Earl Vick. Vick comes from the poorest state in the United States, Mississippi. He writes about how poverty and a traumatic upbringing led him to a series of bad decisions in his essay Counted Among the Saints. Vick’s story indicates that he is not just a criminal, but also a victim of circumstance.
All the essays grapple with spirituality and its role in inmates’ lives.
“Prison has brought out the worst in me,” writes Syyen Hong in Not an Easy Walk. “I never really considered the consequences behind my actions because, in reality, I didn’t care. I was miserable; I hated my life, and sometimes even wished for death.”
Hong had spent years miserable at San Quentin when another Christian encouraged him to attend church and explore religion more deeply. After this, he had a total turnaround. His story of spiritual redemption, even while in prison, shows that finding meaning is possible anywhere and at anytime.
Religion also offered relief to Raymond Gaddis, who is serving a life sentence for murder. Prison life took its toll on Gaddis. He said that at one point, he collected more than 200 sleeping pills and took them all in an attempt to kill himself.
“I was a self-centered, selfish coward,” Gaddis said. “God, on the other hand, had a different plan.”
After his suicide attempt failed, Gaddis received reasons to live a spiritually based life from friends and family. Understanding the reward of having patience with himself, not giving up and putting one foot in front of the other each day is Gaddis’ story.
The effect that spirituality has on rehabilitation is profound. Writing about it when it’s happening is even more powerful.
Other writers: Elliott Beverly: Rescued by His Grace, Mark “Lucky” Edwards: A Dad’s Only Son, James Metters: Amazing Grace, Simon: Never Turning His Back, Curtis Roberts: What’s Next, Papa?, Bryant Harrison: Destiny, Kenneth “Musa” Bailey: The Prescription, A. Kevin Valvardi: Born Again Catholic, Joel Dillard: Full Circle, Jeffery Williams: Freedom From the Inside, Henry Poe: The Lord was with me all Along, Douglas “Jimmy” Manns: Come as you are and Zitsue Lee: Please God, Abandon Me.
Identifying With Two Different Lives
Critics reviled Director McG’s 3 Days to Kill, but the movie struck a place of resonance with SQ Reviews.
In 3 Days to Kill, Kevin Costner plays a CIA assassin named Ethan Renner. He has spent his life choosing career over family, but when Ethan discovers he has cancer, he retires and dedicates the remainder of his time to reconnecting with his ex-wife (played by Connie Nielson) and daughter (played by Hailee Steinfeld). He promises his ex-wife that he is finished with his work, but when femme fatale Vivi Delay (Amber Heard) offers a miraculous cancer treatment in exchange for another assassination, Ethan finds himself juggling work and family once again.
The movie’s attempts at sexiness with leather-clad characters like Vivi Delay come off as cheap, and caricatures of foreigners reflect either the director’s lack of imagination or his lack of respect for his viewer’s imagination.
When SQ Reviews sits down in the back lot behind the Education Department to talk, we are aware of the director’s artistic failings. It quickly becomes clear, however, that Ethan Renner’s struggle to make the right decisions is our struggle. His victory when he wakes up and chooses his family, when his family chooses him, is our victory.
“I think it was a good idea poorly executed,” Emile DeWeaver says. He wears glasses with brown rims and seems to smile for no reason. “The story strived for something worthwhile though.”
“I think whoever made this movie would like you to think there’s some redeeming value,” said Erin O’Connor who is also 6’4” with a narrow mouth and jaw that makes him look furious even when his face is at parade rest. “But what’s redeeming about a guy killing everybody?”
Rashaan Thomas sits a little straighter. He is from New York, and he would look like Spike Lee if Spike Lee was Puerto Rican and tall. “I’ve done some wicked stuff, man, doesn’t mean I don’t love my kids. I feel the dude. He’s killing people for his country, thinking he’s making the world a better place for his family.”
“He’s doing the wrong thing for the right reasons,” Miguel Quezada says.
“I used to tell myself stuff like that all the time,” Thomas continues. “I felt like I had to take care of my kids. I didn’t want them to suffer like I’d suffered. So, I got them trust funds and all kind of crazy stuff. I thought I had to get them out the hood. But, it’s crazy; everything I tried to get for them, they didn’t need. I went to prison, lost everything, and they made it without any of that trust fund stuff. My son hit me with that once, and it messes me up. He didn’t need that stuff. He just needed me there.” Thomas emphasizes his words by repeatedly raising his hand and throwing it toward the ground. The atmosphere swims with Thomas’ regret. If the rest of us add ours, we will all drown in our collective disappointments.
We averaged out our ratings, and on a scale of one to five dinner cookies, 3 Days to Kill rates two and a half cookies.
Contributors: Emile DeWeaver, Aaron Taylor, Erin O’ Connor, Juan Meza, Miguel Quezada, Rahsaan Thomas and Tommy Winfrey
Public Defender Throws Last Resort Lifeline to Nevada Death Row Inmates
In a state with a per capita death penalty rate that ranks fourth in the country, inmates on Nevada’s Death Row can always call on their friend Michael Pescetta.
“Pescetta, an assistant federal public defender in Las Vegas who specializes in capital punishment cases, is often a final resort for inmates who have exhausted their options at the state level to appeal a death penalty conviction,” the Las Vegas Sun reported.
He has provided legal representation for dozens of defendants facing Nevada’s often-imposed yet seldom-used death penalty. “Today, his office represents more than half of the 83 men sitting on Death Row,” according to the Sun.
In a recent interview, Pescetta spoke with the Sun about Richard Moran, who was executed in 1996. He was a client who committed multiple murders while under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Pescetta seemed surprised how this case went very quickly through the system.
Jesse Bishop was the first volunteer executed in Nevada in 1979. Pescetta told the Sun, “He committed offenses in 1977, and was executed less than two years from the date of his offense.
According to Pescetta, 11 defendants “volunteered” to die. These people “gave up any further appeals and asked to be executed.”
When pressed to explain why a defendant volunteers to be executed, Pescetta told the Sun, “People often start out suicidal. They ask the police to shoot them. It’s like a slow version of suicide by cop.” Furthermore, he believes “most people on Death Row have mental health issues.”
After botched executions in three other states, Nevada’s officials are now scrambling to complete a mandatory legislative audit of the death penalty by Jan. 31, 2015.
No one has been executed in Nevada since 2006. When asked to explain why, he told the Sun “Botched executions in Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona in recent months could lead to more scrutiny about the process locally.”
The Sun reported three drugs, “sodium thiopental, which is an anesthetic, pancuronium bromide, which is paralytic, and potassium chloride, which is what stops the heart,” have raised concern about their use.
Pescetta told the Sun, “All of those drugs, if the state has them at the time, have a shelf life that we would be past now. And, as I understand, the execution protocol in effect at the time was that the state got the drugs for the execution when the execution was pending. They did not keep those drugs on hand.”
“The ratio of Death Row inmates to lawyers is significantly high. We have such a small bar compared to bigger states. There’s less legal talent available to do criminal work”
In the recent executions in Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma, sodium thiopental was not available. According to Pescetta, “they have been using different drugs, sometimes one drug, sometimes two drugs.” He believes, “They’re essentially experimenting.”
“The willingness of manufacturers and suppliers to supply them is very different now than it used to be,” Pescetta said. There are not many drugs available today.
“How prepared is the state to execute someone again?” the Sun reporter asked. “Pescetta said it is unknown what kind of execution protocol the Nevada Department of Corrections would use if an execution were scheduled.”
However, hesaid, “The old protocol specified these three drugs had traditionally been used.”
When asked, “Where do most death penalty cases originate in Nevada? Is it significant that the state’s per capita ratio is relatively high compared with other places?” Pescetta said, “No other county in the state has as many death penalty cases as Clark County. There probably aren’t more than three or four in the entire rest of the state.”
He told the Sun, “The ratio of Death Row inmates to lawyers is significantly high. We have such a small bar compared to bigger states. There’s less legal talent available to do criminal work. ”
Nevada’s Death Row is located at Ely State Prison, a maximum-security facility where inmates waiting to be executed live in single cells. “Contact with other inmates is limited. Most people in there spend 23 hours a day in a cell,” Pescetta said. “This is not like being out in the yard with other inmates.”
Ex-Gang Member Dedicates His Life to Helping Youth
Willie Stokes, an ex-gangster from East Salinas, has re-dedicated his life to saving kids.
Stokes spent much of his childhood in and out of juvenile hall, according to an article by Joel Hersch in the Santa Cruz Good Times Weekly.
After 17 years in and out of the prison system, including 10 years at Pelican Bay, Stokes, now 43, asked himself, “Look at what you’re doing. Is it worth it?”
Stokes chose to become the executive director of the Salinas-based gang intervention nonprofit “Black Sheep Redemption Program,” (BSRP).
He said his decision to drop out of the gang life means there will always be a target on his back.
“I’m not afraid, but I’m not stupid either,” Stokes told Hersch. “I was willing to die for that stupidity, so why shouldn’t I be willing to die for something that can save kids?”
Stokes explained that having personally used powerful indoctrination tactics to rope kids into the gang mentality, he is now able to use the same methods to influence youth in positive ways.
Inspector Mario Sulay of the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s anti-crime team, which includes the gang and narcotics task forces, has worked with Stokes numerous times and is impressed with his work.
Sulay told GT Weekly, “I hold Willie Stokes in very high regard. I think he is somebody who can relate to some of these at-risk youth because he’s come from there.”
States Choose Ways To Compensate the Wrongfully Convicted
States have a variety of ways to compensate persons determined to be innocent of crimes for which they were wrongfully convicted, NPR.com reports.
Twenty-one states provide no money, but the former prisoner can sue for compensation. Some former prisoners have been awarded $1 million for each year they served in prison, NPR said.
Twelve states and the District of Columbia pay on an individual case basis.
Seventeen states pay a fixed amount for each year of imprisonment, ranging from $80,000 per year in Texas and $70,000 in Colorado to $5,000 in Wisconsin. California pays $36,500 per year.
Several states and the federal government pay $50,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration. The states are Alabama, Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina and Washington.
The fixed amounts usually require a former prisoner to agree not to take the case to court.
States that pay the wrongfully convicted might actually be trying to save money, according to Brandon Garrett, University of Virginia law professor and author of Convicting the Innocent.
Supreme Court Slightly Tightens Standards for Executing Mentally Disabled Prisoners
The U.S. Supreme Court has voted 5-4 to set new standards for executing mentally disabled prisoners.
The May 27 ruling requires a new capital punishment trial for a Florida inmate who scored 71 on an IQ test, Reuters reported. Florida’s law had said 70 or less indicates mental disability.
The ruling noted the IQ test contains a five-point margin of error, meaning the 71 score could have meant a real level of 66 to 76.
“Florida’s law contravenes our nation’s commitment to dignity and its duty to teach human decency as the mark of a civilized world,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote on behalf of the majority.
“The strict IQ rule struck down by the Supreme Court today is just one example of the many ways in which our state’s death penalty system falls short of constitutional and human rights standards,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Florida had initially determined in 1992 that Freddie Lee Hall, 68, was mentally disabled when he shot and killed a sheriff’s deputy and a woman seven months pregnant.
“The Supreme Court concluded that states should defer to the clinical consensus for determining whether people are mentally disabled,” Reuters reported.
The American Psychiatric Association found that IQ tests should include a “standard error of measurement of five percentage points, meaning results could vary that much either higher or lower,” Hall’s attorneys said. Florida’s test did not take into account this standard of review.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing on behalf of the four dissenters, wrote that the court had embraced a “uniform national rule that is both conceptually unsound and likely to result in confusion.”
Florida’s Republican attorney general, Pan Bondi, declined to comment, saying, “Officials were reviewing the decision.”
John H. Blume, Cornell Law School professor, found that only approximately 10 Death Row inmates with borderline IQ scores stand to benefit immediately from the Supreme Court decision.
–By Charles David Henry
Ley Proposición 47 Aprobada para la Re-clasificación de cargos por Felonías
En los primeros diez condados afectados por la Proposicion 47, el promedio de ahorro mas bajo de cada condado es de un $28.5 millones y el mas alto en $49.9 millones
En el día de las elecciones el partido Demócrata arraso en todas las posiciones de liderazgo en Sacramento. 58% de los electores de California dijeron que un número de crímenes previamente tratados coma felonías ahora son delitos menores.
La proposición 47 aprobada en Noviembre 4, causando que el castigo de ciertos crímenes sean reducidos, incluyendo algunas ofensas por posesión de droga, robo menor, recibir propiedad robada y falsificación/ escribir cheques sin fondo siempre y cuando la cantidad sea de $950 o menor.
Conocida como la acción Escuelas y Vecindades Seguras, personas con condenas previas por crímenes como asalto sexual, asesinato o abuso sexual a menores son excluidos, al igual que los delincuentes sexuales registrados. Para estas personas la ofensa seguirá siendo una felonía.
Ofensores que actualmente están cumpliendo condenas por los crímenes previamente mencionados tendrán la oportunidad de aparecer ante un juez para que sus sentencias sean reducidas aun término equivalente a un delito menor. Para que un recluso sea beneficiado por la Proposición 47, una revisión completa del historial criminal del recluso y un asesoríamentó del riesgo de peligrosidad deberá llevarse acabo. Esto es necesario para garantizar que ellos “no posean un riesgo para la sociedad,” de acuerdo a un reporte por Californianos Unidos para un Presupuesto Responsable (CURB).
EL Departamento de Rehabilitación Correccional de California (CDCR), estima que aproximadamente 4,770 reclusos de las prisiones estatales (a la fecha Nov. 4) serán elegibles para pedir a la corte que los re-sentencien, de acuerdo con la oficina de prensa del CDCR.
La Oficina Analista Legislativa (LAO) estima que 40,000 personas son anualmente encontradas culpables de los crímenes especificados y serán afectados por esta disposición, pero se reconoce que esta estimación puede ser incorrecta por varios miles.
“Si estas ofensas llegan a ser delitos menores, la mayoría del las personas culpables de estas ofensas ya no serán elegibles para la prisión estatal, dando como resultado una continua caída de varios miles en la población de la prisión,” el Centro de Justicia Juvenil y Criminal revelo un estudio efectuados en el mes de Septiembre. Los ahorros de la reducción poblacional de las prisiones aunado a la reducción de la carga en las cortes estatales estaría “apenas pasando los cientos de millones de dólares anualmente,” concluyo el LAO. En un estudio subsiguiente en el mes de Octubre, CJCJ menciono que la Proposición 47 daría como resultado que de un 10,000 a 30,000 camas podrían estar desocupadas en las cárceles a lo largo del estado, lo cual se traduce en un ahorro anual en el condado de $400 millones a 700 millones.
El dinero ahorrado al implementar esta medida será distribuida de la siguiente manera: 25% al Departamento de Educación para reducir la vagancia escolar, apoyar estudiantes que están en riesgo o victimas de crímenes. 10% ira a la Compensación de Victimas y para el Consejo de Demandas de Gobierno para los centros de recuperación del trauma. 65% ira al Consejo Estatal y Correcciones de las Comunidad para concesiones a agencias publicas que proveen terapia de salud mental y tratamiento para el abuso de sustancias con el fin de reducir la reincidencia en el sistema judicial.
Centro de Justicia Juvenil y Criminal – Tres Condados:
El Centro de Justicia Juvenil y Criminal (CJCJ) examino los condados de Los Ángeles, San Diego y San Joaquín para determinar la cantidad de dinero que cada uno ahorraría como consecuencia de la aprobación de la Proposición 47.
“El condado de los Ángeles ahorraría entre $99.9 millones y $174.8 millones, el condado de San Diego entre $28.4 millones y 49.7 millones, y el condado de San Joaquín entre $6.8 millones y $12.0 millones,” anualmente de acuerdo a CJCJ.
El análisis de ahorros del CJCJ contabilizo por las camas vacías que serán creadas en los tres condados por la reducción de convicciones por felonías. Todas estas camas necesariamente no quedaran vacías debido a que muchos condados batallan con la sobrepoblación en sus cárceles. Ellos probablemente usen una porción de las camas para reducir la liberación temprana de presos. A través de California, más de 10,000 personas son liberadas temprano de la cárcel cada mes para aliviar la sobrepoblación. Esto incluye aproximadamente 1,500 personas en el Condado de los Ángeles, 900 en el Condado de San Diego, y 500 en el Condado de San Joaquín, de acuerdo a la Comisión del Estado y Desarrollo de la Comunidad.
En los primeros diez condados afectados por la Proposición 47, el promedio de ahorro mas bajo de cada condado es de un $28.5 millones y el mas alto en $49.9 millones. Ver, La Tabla de los Primeros Diez Condados de California.
De acuerdo al CURB “California tiene un historial de definir la póliza de la justicia criminal a través de la iniciativa del voto.” La CURB reporto que la medida incluye “disposiciones para apelar el racismo y ha fortalecido aspectos políticos que ‘son estrictos en crimen.’ Algunas disposiciones refuerzan el uso de pólizas que dañan a las comunidades de color al desviar los fondos del estado en programas cuestionables para la ‘prevención del crimen.’”
-Traducción por Marco Villa y Tare Beltranchuc/ Samantha SantaMaria
News Briefs
Sacramento—Death penalty support is at its lowest point in nearly 50 years in California, The Sacramento Bee reported. However, 56 percent of the state’s registered voters still believe the death penalty should be kept as a possible punishment for serious crimes, with 34 percent opposed and 10 percent undecided, a new Field Poll shows.
Sacramento—Chuck Supple, 56, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Board of Parole Hearings, Juvenile Division. Supple has a master of public administration degree from Harvard University. This position requires Senate confirmation and the annual compensation is $117,504. Supple is a Democrat.
Stanford— Professor Jennifer Eberhardt recently received portion of a $625,000 MacArthur fellowship. The fellowship is “to encourage creative development into fresh new fields,” reports San Jose Mercury News. Eberhardt’s research conducted at Stanford University discovered that the perceptions of jurors, police officers and ordinary students make them more likely to mistrust and severely punish black people than those with lighter skin color. Eberhardt currently studies footage from Oakland police officers’ “body camera” videos for continued research.
San Antonio, Texas—Federal immigration officials are planning to open a 2,400-bed detention center to hold illegal immigrant families. If plans go through, the facility will be located 70 miles outside of San Antonio. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to hire Corrections Corporation of America to operate the facility, reports AllGov.com.
Dallas — County officials in Texas presented a measure to city officials that would have eliminate face-to-face meetings between inmates and their visitors. The measure would have also charged their visitors for the video access, reports the Dallas Observer. In addition, the contract would have given management of the jail telephone to the company. The county’s commissioners voted down the measure 4-1. The commission reopened the bidding process to all original bidders. Any new bids are required to eliminate commissions for any paid video visits and to continue to allow in-person face-to-face visits.
Oklahoma City — Richard Glossip, 51, will be the second person executed under new procedures for lethal injections and in a newly renovated chamber at Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Glossip, whose execution has been set for later this year, is concerned that the facility is so new that prison officials are not yet prepared to use it, CNHI News Service reports. In a July letter to a reporter, he wrote, “They have moved the execution table … so that they could put a window in the door where the person administering the drugs, so that if an inmate starts flopping they can give them a little more muscle (relaxant) to stop it.”
Portland, Maine— A program that helps keep drug addicts out of jail will remain open, after Gov. Paul LePage intervened to solve a dispute between the Department of Corrections and court officials, The Associated Press reports. The disagreement centered on how to enforce violations in Cumberland County Drug Court, which led to a freeze on new cases.
New York — A 21-member panel pushed for the decriminalization of drugs such as marijuana, the end of incarceration for drug use and possession, and heightened focus on protecting public health in a report published this fall, ABC News reports.
New York — The nation’s second-largest jail system, Rikers Island, will stop sending teenage inmates to solitary confinement by the end of the year, reports The Associated Press.
Frankfort, Ky. — Felons lobbying for the right to vote are turning to the Kentucky General Assembly for support. The assembly, which convenes in January, will vote on constitutional amendments that would automatically restore the voting rights for felons not convicted of sex offenses, homicide, treason, or bribery. The amendments require the support of 60 percent of legislators and ratification by voters.
Nashville, Tenn.— Tennessee must turn over the names of pharmacists and others involved in the execution procedures of death row inmates, following a state appeals court ruling, reports The Associated Press. Death Row inmates are suing over the state’s lethal injection and electrocution procedures, claiming they are unconstitutional. Attorneys think that having the names will help them check the qualifications of the executioners.
Philadelphia — In order to prevent another in a series of recently botched executions nationwide, the American Civil Liberties Union and four Pennsylvania newspapers have filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to find out where corrections officials are purchasing execution drugs. The lawsuit aims to shed light on the process by which these drugs are obtained, reports Nation Now.
Montpelier, Vt. — The Vermont Corrections Department says it has received a $1 million federal grant to help reduce recidivism. Vermont is one of five states to receive the grant under The Second Chance Act, which is designed to help offenders re-enter society after leaving prison.
Florida — Thirty-two guards with the Florida Department of Corrections were fired for criminal wrongdoing or misconduct in connection with the deaths of inmates, reports the Miami Herald. The deaths, some of which happened due to what the DOC is calling “inappropriate use of force” by the guards, occurred at four state prisons over a 14-year period. The U.S. Department of Justice is now investigating one of the deaths.
Jackson, Miss. — The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit alleging that one Mississippi county illegally held inmates in jail for as long as a year without appointing counsel or presenting cases to a grand jury, The Associated Press reports.