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PRIVATELY RUN: MINIMUM-SECURITY UNITS CALLED MOST COST-EFFECTIVE IN THE STATE
SACRAMENTO - Even before setting up a commission to study prison closings, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is planning to shut down two privately run facilities supporters say are among the most cost-effective in the state.
Critics of the plan to close the minimum-security prisons suggest that the Department of Corrections is advancing the agenda of one of the state's most politically powerful labor groups.
``We know the prison guard union has done as much as they can to get rid of private facilities,'' said state Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Nevada City, whose district includes one of the facilities slated to close. ``There's got to be something political in this. It doesn't make economic sense.''
The Department of Corrections plans to close the small prisons, including the state's only minimum-security facility exclusively for women, when their contracts expire June 30, according to an internal department memorandum obtained by the Mercury News.
After June 30, the state ``has no legal authority to pay any expenditure related'' to the correctional facilities at Live Oak, 60 miles north of Sacramento, and in San Bernardino County, according to the Jan. 29 memo, signed by Suzan L. Hubbard, deputy director of the institutions division.
The memo casts doubt on the impartiality of the proposed closings commission and whether it will push to shut other private facilities where the California Correctional Peace Officers Association doesn't represent workers.
The union, which could not be reached for comment, has come under fire in recent weeks as lawmakers have examined the Department of Corrections and questioned whether the labor group unduly influences policy-setting.
The planned closing also clouds the future of private prisons at a time when the corrections system has been engulfed in controversy over its skyrocketing budget and treatment of inmates at state-run lockups.
Tip Kindel, a deputy secretary to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's corrections chief, said ``the union had nothing to do with it whatsoever.'' While he described the closing plan as ``premature,'' a prison system representative offered a seemingly contradictory statement that the move made economic sense.
In his proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, Schwarzenegger said his administration would create a commission ``that would proactively evaluate and recommend future closures'' because the number of inmates, now around 160,000, is expected to drop. Schwarzenegger has yet to name any members to his commission on closings.
Both of the private facilities -- Leo Chesney, the prison for women at Live Oak, and a prison for men at Baker in Southern California -- previously have been targeted for closing but have escaped the budget knife. Both facilities are run by Houston-based Cornell Corrections and employ officers who are not members of the prison-guard union.
At Chesney, 190 women who have less than 18 months left on their sentences are able to take classes to prepare them for life on the outside. At the 262-inmate Baker facility east of Los Angeles, prisoners are taught basic rescue skills and help provide emergency services for a barren stretch of desert roadway.
The contracts, which expire later this year, for the two facilities are worth $7.1 million annually.
Two years ago, a legislative analysis of a plan to close private facilities could not determine whether such a move would save money, partly because a comparison of per-inmate costs is difficult.
The per-inmate cost at state prisons runs between $22,000 and $50,000, depending on the type of facility, according to figures compiled by a state Senate committee.
Mark Nobili, a Cornell lobbyist, said his firm's costs are considerably lower, between $16,000 and almost $19,000 per inmate.
The use of private prisons to save money increased during the 1980s and 1990s under Republican Govs. George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson.
Officials of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association have praised past efforts to scrap private prisons.
Nobili contended the ``union wanted them closed, so the department moved to close them. That's how this works.'' But, he quickly added, he doesn't believe that the proposal was approved by Schwarzenegger's advisers and predicted that the governor would reverse course.
``I don't think this administration will close these facilities once they're reviewed,'' he said. ``You can't cut your best and cheapest prison beds.''
Bob Martinez, assistant communications chief for the department, said the number of less-violent prisoners is declining, so the state doesn't need the private facilities and can accommodate the inmates in state-run institutions. So, the idea of renewing the contracts is ``not cost-effective,'' he said.
Aanestad plans to urge Schwarzenegger to keep open the prison inside his district at the postage-stamp-sized town of Live Oak. ``Just keep the doors closed,'' he quickly added.
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