On Monday, California lawmakers debated a very controversial prison reform plan proposed by the Governor that would have cut $1.2 billion in prison funding and reduced the inmate population by 40,000 over the next two years.

The plan, which passed the Assembly, cuts prison spending, reduces the state's 155,000 inmate population by 17,000 over the next year, reduces the number of prisoners under parole supervision following their prison terms, raises the threshold for what crimes are considered felonies and gives inmates the chance to reduce sentences by completing educational or rehabilitation courses.

Due in part to the hard work of the LAPPL and other law enforcement organizations, Assembly leaders cut a controversial provision in the bill which would have established a Sentencing Commission to review state sentencing guidelines. As the League has said for months, this was one of the most unacceptable portions of the bill.

While the Sentencing Commission provision was killed in the Assembly, it remains alive in the Senate portion of the bill. To be clear, a Sentencing Commission is an unelected group of people with the power to create and revise all sentencing laws.  For over 20 years, legislators, criminal defense attorneys, and other prisoner interest groups have been attempting to create such a commission allowing them to weaken the sentencing laws in this state, because They have been soundly defeated at the ballot box every time they have tried to  undercut the “Three Strikes” law!

 The responsibility of setting the range for prison sentences should rest only with the Legislature, as they are directly responsible to the voters of California.  If they want to weaken the sentencing laws, then they need to have the courage to propose and pass legislation to do so – and not try to hide behind a commission which allows them to both weaken our effective sentencing laws and avoid responsibility for doing so.  

The LAPPL supports the Assembly alternative to the Sentencing Commission, a commission to study why so many prisoners fail while on parole.  We need to understand how we can stop released inmates from violating their parole and get the recidivism rates down.  This is the smart and effective way to save money on the prison budget.