(California) State says taxes needed to reduce prison population

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(06-07) 13:13 PDT Sacramento -- California's prison chief said today that Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to extend and increase taxes is the only way for the state to meet a court order to reduce its prison population by about 33,000 inmates over the next two years.

Matt Cate, director of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, called Brown's plan to shift thousands of state prison inmates to local jails - a plan lawmakers approved in March but have not funded - the solution to meeting the court order.

Republicans have balked at both the substance of that plan and the way Brown wants to pay for it, but Cate said realignment - which was codified in a bill known as AB109 - is the only responsible way to meet the court's requirements. The prison chief added that officials would move forward with the plan as soon as funding is approved by lawmakers, even though Brown has said he would go to voters to ratify those taxes.

"If 109 is not funded and implemented then we're in trouble - I just don't see any other way to get there," Cate said. "I expect voters to support it.... If voters reject it, we are going to have to find another source of funding because it's going to be tough to back off realignment once you've started."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/07/BARH1JQOVQ.DTL

[on point]

1. or, they could eliminate the drug laws and pardon thousands of non-violent people!