On the heels of a federal court ruling that says prison overcrowding is causing unconstitutional medical care in California prisons, a change in sentencing credits may be a viable option for law makers to bring the state prison population down.
For years it has been rumored among prison inmates that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) was considering a change in the sentencing credits to alleviate prison overcrowding. More than ever it seems as if the rumors may come to fruition. The CDCR is now considering rewarding inmates with enhanced sentence credits for completing predetermined rehabilitation programs.
The Secretary of the CDCR, Matthew Cate “wants to reduce the prison population with enhancements for inmates who complete certain rehabilitation programs such as GED, college degrees and vocational training,” according to an April article in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The article was published in the wake of Counsel to the Senate Public Safety Committee, Steve Meinrath and Jerry McGuire’s visit last March to an Ethics class at San Quentin, which is part of the Prison University Project (PUP). A week later secretary Cate visited the same class. The visits were in culmination of Jody Lewen, PUP director, testifying March 10 at a joint hearing of the State Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committees on prison education.
Why visit a college class jammed with inmates, why hold hearings and why now? A possible answer to the question is: state officials must respond to the federal court ruling demanding a fix to the prison overcrowding problem. Changing the sentencing credits for prisoners who obtain an education is one option to help lower the prison population.
It makes sense to reward those prisoners who utilize prison education programs and take a proactive role in their rehabilitation. The benefits of an education on the offender’s ability to assimilate back into society are immense. Furthermore, empirical data proves that educated people commit less crime. Thus, education is a proven strategy that can be used to help quell California’s depressing offender recidivism rate, which stands at more than 70 percent.
In a time when the CDCR is looking to implement evidenced based rehabilitation programs, it is time to reward those who are striving to educate themselves and those who learn trades. Education is rehabilitation and those who are rehabilitated should be rewarded through the elevation of their sentencing good-time credits.
Does society want an uneducated, unskilled offender with little hope of success paroling to their neighborhoods, or an educated offender with job skills and a mindset to succeed? The obvious answer is the latter, as is a proven fact that when a prisoner is rehabilitated through education the risk they pose to public safety is greatly diminished.
With California’s dismal financial situation, taxpayers should no longer have to burden the cost of keeping offenders, who have achieved educational milestones and are ready to be released, behind bars. Longer prison sentences do nothing for public safety; 90 percent of offenders will be released, when and how is currently in the hands of the legislature and state officials. Making an allowance for education in the process of lowering the prison population seems like a no-brainer and is a step in the right direction.
