As Calif. prison spending rises, so do concerns

updated 3:53 p.m. ET Aug. 23, 2009

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California devotes 10 percent of its operating budget to locking up criminals in state prisons, one of the highest rates in the nation and an amount that is becoming a drag on the state's ability to deliver other services.

The trend toward higher prison costs, which has been developing over the past three decades, has complicated attempts to balance California's deficit-plagued budget and is at the heart of the most recent deadlock in the Legislature.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and many Democratic lawmakers are seeking to cut $1.2 billion from corrections spending as part of their plan to close the state's deficit. The most recent proposal to do so involves diverting some 27,000 inmates to county jails, home detention or away from incarceration altogether. Those prospects have led to unanimous opposition from Republican lawmakers and from some Democrats who have their eyes on higher office and don't want to appear soft on crime.

While the legislative debate has been focused on how to make the immediate cuts, a broader issue is in play: How can a state with 38 million people that is a breeding ground for some of the nation's most violent street gangs maintain public safety without undermining other state services?

Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger say the state must revise its sentencing laws in a way that will reduce the number of people being sent to state prisons while ensuring that they are monitored. Republicans say there is enough bloat in the corrections budget to reduce costs without putting potentially dangerous felons back on the street.

Prison spending higher than education
If the divide persists in the current debate and compromise fails, $1 billion or more may have to be cut from elsewhere, forcing more reductions to health care, welfare and higher education programs.

The cost of housing state prison inmates has grown so much in the past decade that California now spends more incarcerating 167,000 adults than it does to educate 226,000 students in its 10-campus University of California system.

"In what civilized state or country do you spend more on prisons than on higher education?" said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat from Sacramento. "That's a compelling argument to vote for reform."

California spends more on corrections than all other states except Michigan, according to a 2008 survey by the National Association of State Budget Officers. In the current fiscal year, Michigan will dedicate nearly 20 percent of its general fund spending to state prisons.

That figure was about 11 percent for California in 2008, nearly a fourfold increase from 30 years ago. Between 2000 and 2008, the state's corrections budget doubled to $10.8 billion.

Some cite the explosion in prison spending as a poor reflection of the state's values.

"I don't understand how California has managed to build 24 prisons over the last 25 years but only one additional research university," University of California President Mark Yudof said during a recent appearance in Sacramento. "I don't understand how the prison population is supposed to grow more than the university student population."

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