Legislators wrangle briefly, then send prison package to governor

[Joanne98]

Source: OC Register

SACRAMENTO -- State legislators Thursday approved a $7.7 billion plan to expand the state's severely crowded prison system to stave off a threatened federal court takeover.

The plan, which has the support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, adds 53,000 beds to mostly existing prisons and local jails while committing $50 million to rehabilitation.

"We will add beds," the governor said Thursday, "but at the same time, we will add programs – rehabilitation programs, education, drug and mental health treatment – so that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation can truly live up to that name."

Officials hope the plan will be enough to appease the federal courts, which have given the state until June to do something about the crowding. About 172,000 inmates reside in state prisons designed to house 155,000.



Read more: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/state/article_1672858.php

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Cowards!

[Benhurst]

1. Thank God! The American Gulag survives!