Tag Archives: jails

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Recidivism Is the Target

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How do we work to address overpopulation at jails and prisons?

by Brian Leubitz

Sometimes you’ll see some unlikely collaborations, and just kind of look askance at the written words. Sometimes you do a true double take, and that is exactly what happened upon reading this op-ed by Tim Silard, President of the Rosenberg Foundation, and Mike Jimenez, president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA).

Counties also are tasked with dealing with California’s recidivism rate, one of the highest in the nation, and local law enforcement must ensure that the state’s revolving prison door problem does not become a county jail problem. A job is one of the best tools for reducing recidivism, and one solution is for the state and local officials to join forces to create multi-county re-entry facilities, again at less cost. Inmates nearing the end of their sentences can be trained and eased back into society, and given the job and life skills they need when they leave jail. (SacBee)

I’ve have enormous respect for Tim Silard, and his work on criminal justice reform. CCPOA, on the other hand, is known to be all over the map on prison reform.  A collaboration with a foundation that focuses on civil rights, and has a history with prison reform, isn’t really all that expected. But there it is.

With realignment, counties will now be expected to take up a lot more of the slack. However, they need the tools and the resources for the state. With a 2/3 majority, Democrats need to move past any fears of “Willie Horton” ads. We simply cannot continue spending billions upon billions on warehousing inmates.

But there is a win-win opportunity here with programs like job training. They help reduce recidivism, saving us money, and also making our communities safer.

Prisons

This Is the Year California Will Stop Shackling Pregnant Women

By Alicia M. Walters

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is a popular definition of insanity. Those of us across the country trying repeatedly to pass bills that would prohibit the shackling of pregnant women in jails and prisons are hardly insane. Dedicated? Yes. Stubborn? Possibly. Unwilling to accept women suffering? Absolutely.

This year marks the third attempt to get a signature on a bipartisan, unanimously supported bill in California (AB 2530) that would ban the practice of putting incarcerated pregnant women in dangerous shackles. Similar bills have passed two previous legislative sessions with overwhelming support from both political parties, only to be vetoed. Opposition from the powerful law enforcement lobby surely played a role in these vetoes. But we have persevered, and this year we’ve been successful in keeping law enforcement neutral. While we’re happy with this progress, we still need the Governor to sign the bill.

We’ve kept at this for several years for a fundamental reason: Shackling is dangerous for a woman and her baby. It’s well-documented that shackling pregnant women causes them to fall. Falls could cut off oxygen to the fetus and could lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, or fatally premature birth.

Despite how long it took us to convince law enforcement, the general public has gotten it right from the start. Whenever I talk to folks about how we’re trying to stop California jails and prisons from shackling pregnant women, the most popular response is, “What?! We even need a law for that? Seems like common sense.”

Yes, folks. It is common sense. The vast majority of incarcerated women are behind bars for low-level offenses and exhibit no violent behavior. The majority of women do not pose a security or flight risk, and with pregnant women, the risk is even less likely. So why is a state like California – a state once at the forefront of ensuring the health and safety of pregnant women in so many ways – resisting this?

Third time’s a charm. Whatever it takes, this must be the year. Take action and tell Governor Brown to sign AB 2530. Enough is enough.

Alicia M. Walters is a Reproductive Justice Advocate for the ACLU of Northern California

Orange County

Going to Jail? Make Sure You’re Here Legally!

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Look at what I found in today’s OC Register! In case you missed it, the Orange County Grand Jury has recommended that seven Orange County cities should follow the OC Sheriff Department’s lead in conducting immigration checks in their city jails. And yes, this is for real.

All of Orange County’s large cities should follow the sheriff’s department lead and train officers to do immigration checks in their jails, a grand jury said today.

In a report on Sheriff Mike Carona’s new program that partnered with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the panel said the cities of Anaheim, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Orange, Fullerton and Garden Grove should have similar plans.

Carona won approval for his plan from the Board of Supervisors in March, although many civil rights groups were opposed to it because they feared it would lead to racial profiling.

Under an agreement with ICE, 14 deputies were trained to check the immigration status of inmates using federal databases. The plan also allows deputies to create a file on a foreign national and notify federal authorities that the inmate should be detained and possibly deported.

So what’s so bad about this? What’s so good about this? What’s the big deal about this? Follow me after the flip for more on this…

So why not do this? It will get dangerous criminals off our streets and back in their home countries! Why allow these thuggish illegal aliens to suck up any more taxpayer dollars while sitting in our comfortable jails? Why not just send the dirty criminals back to where they belong?

But why do this? Most of those immigrants in jail are incarcerated for rather minor crimes, like tagging a fire hydrant or riding a bicycle on the wrong side of the street. Does that merit being separated from one’s family indefinitely? Does a parking violation merit losing one’s job and one’s livelihood? These are poor, desperate workers trying to survive. Do they really deserve this draconian measure?

And what about those inmates who are here legally, but are unfairly targeted by this system? Is that a real problem that we will face in Orange County? Is it fair to be targeted on the basis of the color of one’s skin? Is it fair to be targeted on the basis of “looking like an illegal alien”?

What do you think about this program? Should the seven Orange County cities join the program? Should the OC Sheriff continue the program at county jail and cities that contract with the OC Sheriiffs?