LOS ANGELES - California State Treasurer and Democratic nominee for Governor Phil Angelides, joined by law enforcement leaders, today pledged to take a series of swift actions to protect the public safety and fix Governor Schwarzenegger's prison mess. Angelides pledged that on his first day as Governor he will declare a state of emergency, expedite hiring to resolve the prison and parole staffing crisis, immediately open two unused prisons to expand capacity, appoint permanent, top-flight managers at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and give those managers 90 days to present a prison recovery plan that will protect public safety.
While Governor Schwarzenegger has periodically paid lip-service to reforming California's correctional facilities, he has stood by idly and incompetently during a prison crisis that by his own admission could lead to the release of tens of thousands of inmates onto our streets. More than eight months ago, Schwarzenegger's Director of Adult Institutions warned the Governor of "an imminent and substantial threat to the public safety" that "requires immediate action."
Yet rather than take responsibility and fix California's prisons, Schwarzenegger is casting blame and has called a toothless special legislative session. After calling that special session on June 26, he has presented no legislation and no action is contemplated before August 7. This election year stunt has little meaningful impact - legislation approved and signed into law during the special session would take effect only 30 days prior to bills approved during the regular legislative session. Governor Schwarzenegger admits that on his watch, our prisons are "falling apart in front of our very eyes" - yet he has averted his eyes throughout his term in office.
As Governor Schwarzenegger belatedly acknowledged on June 26, after being in office for more than two and a half years, "Our prisons are at a crisis point right now because the state of California has not planned adequately for our future…. If we don't address this very dangerous situation as quickly as possible, the courts may very well take over the entire prison system and will order us the early release of tens of thousands of prisoners."
"Governor Schwarzenegger has presided over a meltdown of California's prison system that is threatening the safety of our families and communities," said Angelides. "As Governor, I won't wait until my final days in office to clean up the Governor's mess. I'll be a hands-on CEO and immediately take action to keep dangerous offenders behind prison walls and protect public safety."
On his first day as Governor, Angelides will immediately:
- Expedite hiring of staff for both prisons and parole
- Immediately increase prison capacity by opening two unused prisons
- Personally contact the federal judge who holds California's prison health care system in receivership and schedule a meeting within 30 days
- Name the Cabinet Secretary and top-level managers at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and give them 90 days to produce a prison recovery plan that will:
A. Increase prison capacity by building new prisons and assuring completion within 3 years of authorization
B. Improve and expand rehabilitation, education and job training
C. Improve mental health and substance abuse treatment
D. Provide a new focus on juvenile diversion programs
E. Set a goal to take the prison health care system out of federal receivership by the end of Angelides' first term
"We need a prison recovery plan that puts public safety first," Angelides said. "Increasing prison capacity, staffing our prisons and ensuring we have top quality leaders in our prisons are essential to running an effective prison system and keeping our streets safe."
Even after Schwarzenegger's top adult prison official warned of "an imminent and substantial threat to the public safety" that "requires immediate action" and the federal government placed Schwarzenegger's $1.5 billion per year prison health system in federal receivership, the Governor still failed to act. Currently, California's prisons are understaffed by at least three thousand personnel, and the parole system is so understaffed that it has lost track of 20,000 parolees. Despite the need for increased capacity, Governor Schwarzenegger's infrastructure plan proposed in January called for no new prisons before 2015. And, Schwarzenegger's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is now being run by temporary managers.
"Governor Schwarzenegger has failed to act, failed to lead, and failed California's families. He's done little more than rearrange the deck chairs on a sinking bureaucracy. This is a crisis of competence," said Angelides. "Governor Schwarzenegger has ignored our prison crisis for his entire term, and Californians understand that Schwarzenegger's supposed newfound interest in the subject is nothing more than a transparent election-year ploy," Angelides added.
Angelides is supported by law enforcement officers across the state. He has been endorsed by the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), the nation's largest statewide law enforcement association, which represents 58,600 rank-and-file peace officers and 710 local peace officers associations, and by more than two dozen additional law enforcement organizations, including officer associations of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Schools, Los Angeles Airport, San Bernardino, Azusa, Buena Park, Cypress, Fontana, Fresno, Garden Grove, Inglewood, La Habra, La Verne, Montclair, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego City Schools, San Francisco, San Gabriel, San Jose, Sierra Madre, Torrance, and others.
