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Friday, February 10, 2012
Rally for Budget Change at Capitol
by Greg Majewski, published on August 19, 2009 at 8:45 PM
Storyline: Politics
Members of The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Drug Policy Alliance, ACLU of Northern California and Families to Amend California's Three Strikes gathered on the south steps of the Capitol on Tuesday, August 17, to speak in opposition of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts to the state prison budget.
Zachary Norris, director of the Books Not Bars campaign, hosted the rally and introduced the members of the coalition.
"We must address this elephant in the budget," Norris said before leading the crowd in chants of "books not bars" and "schools not jails." Norris and his fellow speakers urged legislators to rethink their policies on incarcerating petty criminals. California's 75 percent recidivism rate for convicts was a primary concern.
"Wake up, California," said Natasha Minsker, death penalty director of the ACLU of Northern California. "It's time to stop imprisoning people for petty crimes."
"If you don't go to prison in the first place, you don't have to worry about recidivism," said assembly member Jim Bell. "I'd like to send people to get their Ph.D.s in the UC system rather than in prison.”
The coalition stressed the importance of rehabilitation programs in the place of imprisonment for those found guilty of drug-related crimes.
“Drug treatment works, and we know it works," said Laura Thomas, a representative of the Drug Policy Alliance.” We could use the $1 billion for drug treatment instead of sending people to prison for petty drug crimes." She closed by saying, "Keeping people in the community works."
While Norris agreed with some of the governor's decisions, such as "converting some felonies to misdemeanors," he and the other groups were against all juvenile correctional facilities. "The average cost of one juvenile detainee is $234,000 per year,” Norris said. "We are wasting our money on recidivism."
"Waste is not a noun, it is a verb," said assemblywoman Nancy Skinner. "Something doesn't become waste until you waste it. We are wasting people."
More information about the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights can be found here.
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thsas
August 20, 2009 | 8:32 AM
This appears to be an organized effort to voice displeasure. Are they unAmerican?
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Nallelie Vega
August 20, 2009 | 1:21 PM
Good article. Very informative, but I'd like to know what Governor Schwarzenneger and his people have to say about this?. What is there response to the rally and the Three Strikes Law in California? Maybe somebody should ask them the million dollar question. Is education of people in California more important the punishment? What other things could be used with the money being distributed to the prison system?
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Anthony Bento
August 20, 2009 | 1:29 PM
Last month's budget was originally going to include over $1B in cuts to the department of corrections (for comparison over $6B was cut from K-14 education). When it was discovered that the budget might have failed if the prison cuts were included, state legislative leaders decided to postpone reform until August. The high current incarceration and recidivism rates are troubling; hopefully the state leaders will summon the courage and substantively reform the corrections system.
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