In light of a diminishing budget and court orders to reduce overcrowding, Gov.-elect Jerry Brown is expected to continue the cost-cutting and population reducing measures already under way for the state prison system.
State officials plan to cut $1.1 billion from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation this fiscal year, according to a budget report from the state Legislative Analyst's Office. Prison officials are also considering cuts to corrections officer staffing as well as implementing a 12-hour workday for the officers in response to the shrinking budget.
Jerry Evans, a Brown spokesman, said it's too early to provide detailed comments on Brown's plan for dealing with an overcrowded prison system.
But experts, such as Jack Pitney, professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College, said the next governor is likely to continue finding ways to reduce the prison population.
"I think he's going to look for alternatives to incarcerating and my belief is not driven by his record or ideology, but by arithmetic," Pitney said. "The state has to save a lot of money and keeping people in prisons is expensive."
Brown will have to tackle overcrowding and high recidivism with limited power because of increased federal court oversight, said Jennifer Walsh, professor of political science at Azusa Pacific University and a board member of the Association for Criminal Justice Research.
"Much of the control of the prison budget has been taken over by the federal court," Walsh said. "It's really handcuffed the state in dealing with offender overcrowding given the limited resources. The federal judges have taken control. I don't know how much influence (Brown) will have."
That power was made evident last year when a special panel of three federal judges ordered the California prison system to reduce its population by 40,000 inmates. The current prison population is about 165,000, down from a record high of 173,479 in 2006.
The judges ruled that cutting the population of the state's 33 adult prisons is the only way to improve the treatment of physically and mentally ill inmates.
They ruled in August that treatment in the nation's largest state prison system is so poor that it violates those inmates' constitutional rights.
Walsh said Brown should work to decrease the offending rate and reduce state recidivism, which is about 70 percent. Re-entry programs help toward decreasing recidivism, she said.
"Education programs can start in corrections and then offenders can have some sort of supervised community living to provide structure and guidance," she said.
Walsh also said Brown may work toward policy changes to reduce sentences for certain offenders, in addition to continuing privatization efforts. As of this month, nearly 10,000 state inmates are housed out of state in Arizona, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association is against privatization because it says it reduces members' jobs. The union has clashed with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to send inmates to private prisons.
Pitney said prison privatization would be difficult in Brown's Democratic administration, but Walsh said she doesn't expect Brown to take steps to stop sending inmates out of state.
"I don't think he's going to expand it either," she said. "If nothing else, I think he's going to tread water."
Republican lawmakers are expected to meet with Brown next week.
Assemblyman Curt Hagman said that the more than $25 billion state budget shortfall will be a huge challenge that needs Democrats and Republicans working together to solve.
"We need to pull all of our ideas together to come up with solutions to the budget shortfall and its effect on the prison system," said Hagman, R-Chino Hills.
"Hopefully, we can talk and he can consult with Republican leaders for public safety and he'll come meet with me as well.
The prison guards union endorsed Brown in the Nov. 2 election. Union officials said they believe Brown will be more willing to listen to its concerns than the Schwarzenegger administration, which has brought forward unwanted pension reforms and worker furloughs.
"Recidivism is actually increased over the last three years, so what Gov. Schwarzenegger's been doing has clearly not been working, even though he's been bragging about the reforms he implements," union spokesman Ryan Sherman said.
"I think Gov. Brown is a thoughtful, experienced, and understands how these things work. He's much more receptive to looking at innovative ways to improve the Department of Corrections."
The CCPOA and other unions lost their lawsuits seeking to prevent Schwarzenegger from imposing unpaid furloughs on state employees to help close the state's massive budget deficit. Correctional officers have been working without a contract since the administration ended lucrative benefits negotiated by previous administrations.
But the union still carries political weight.
Schwarzenegger last month blamed the union's influence on Republican state lawmakers for briefly stalling the Legislature's approval of changes to the state employees' pension system. That further delayed passage of the state budget during a record 100-day impasse.
