By The Vanguard Staff
SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Dept. of Corrections should “comprehensively explore opportunities for prison population reduction and facility closure,” demanded Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) Thursday in a detailed critique of the prison agency’s “Final Capacity Assessment.”
CURB cited the agency’s “meager data and deliberate omission of policy recommendations as a stark evasion of accountability.”
CURB termed it a “demand” that CDCR provide: “Comprehensive analysis with future projections, opportunities for open engagement and public feedback, actionable steps with strict accountability and inclusive analysis of prison conditions.”
The group also noted “California faces a $58 billion budget shortfall. (Gov. Gavin) Newsom recently announced plans for a $380 million rebrand of San Quentin Prison as a “Rehabilitation Center,” adding, “more than any other state department, CDCR has a clear pathway to reduce spending,” and could save $1 billion a year by closing five prisons, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
“CURB has carefully analyzed the CDCR Final Capacity Assessment and remains deeply concerned for many of the same reasons that we have articulated in our analysis of the preliminary report. We implore the Legislature to recognize the assessment’s deficiencies and urge CDCR to comprehensively explore opportunities for prison population reduction and facility closure,” said CURB in a statement.
“(W)e foreground these deficiencies with special attention to two kinds. First, there are serious methodological issues concerning data selection bias, ambiguous presentation, and insufficiency. Second, there are issues related to the bias of CDCR toward downplaying its own responsibilities and opportunities.
“Amidst these concerns, there is a sustained risk that the ‘California Model’ initiative could be abused as a vague, catch-all term to justify new funding requests under the guise of ‘rehabilitation,’” added CURB.
The group noted “the CDCR capacity assessment fails to satisfy the mandate stated in the Legislature’s 2023-24 enacted budget. This mandate required CDCR to inform the Legislature of the required operational capacity for each facility to be ‘rehabilitative, safe, and cost-efficient.’ Failure to do this obstructs the Legislature from taking the required steps to reduce California’s inhumane reliance on incarceration.”
CURB’s full analysis of CDCR’s Final Capacity Assessment is here.
