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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that California needs more prison beds before it can run a successful rehabilitation program, which he said should eventually include expanded drug treatment and even four-year college degree programs.
The Republican governor, in a meeting with The Bee's editorial board, said he is in "total agreement" with a federal court official who indicated Tuesday that the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fix its prison health care system. The federal prison health care receiver, Robert Sillen, said in a report that 5,000 new medical care beds would be necessary, which could cost at least $600 million.
Schwarzenegger warned that if lawmakers do not approve revenue bonds next year to pay for improvements, Sillen could raid California's general fund, which pays for schools, medical care and other state needs.
"What I am worried about is, they're going to tell us to do all of those things, and we have to take it out of our general revenues, whereas our plan was to use revenue bonds," Schwarzenegger said. "There's a difference. I think for us to be fiscally responsible, the revenue bonds are the better way to go."
Schwarzenegger sought $6 billion for prison construction -- including $5.8 billion in revenue bonds -- during a special legislative session last month. The state Senate approved a scaled-back $918 million plan, but the Assembly balked altogether, stalling action until next year.
Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, blamed Schwarzenegger for a prison plan in the final month of the session that received scant support from either party in the lower house. He said the governor's proposal dealt with only a "sliver" of the overcrowding problem -- capacity -- instead of addressing failures in rehabilitation and sentencing.
"When the administration finally gets around to giving us a complete and well-thought-out plan, we'll consider something," Maviglio said. "But to package something in the final few days of session and call it reform is a joke."
After signing two bills Wednesday morning targeting sex offenders and emphasizing his tough-on-crime credentials, Schwarzenegger placed a special emphasis on rehabilitation in his meeting with The Bee. He insisted that building more beds and improving rehabilitation are part of a "chicken-and-egg" dilemma.
"Build more space so we can implement the reforms," he said. "You cannot have reform when you have no space. You cannot rehabilitate the inmates."
The governor also rattled off a list of inmate programs he believes would cut down on recidivism, including drug treatment, vocational education and "four-year degrees if they're in there long enough."
"All of those things should be made available so that when they come out, they can go to a gas station and say, 'I'm a mechanic, I learned this, and this is my background,' " Schwarzenegger said.
The governor reiterated support for sending as many as 25,000 inmates to other states able to house them. He also suggested moving 5,000 inmates who committed lesser crimes to a lower-security prison.
State Sen. Mike Machado, D--Linden, said he agrees more space is necessary, but added that the governor needs to include immediate rehabilitation changes rather than wait for more beds to arrive.
"I think we have to look at them concurrently," said Machado, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Prison Population, Management and Capacity, during the special session. "I've asked the administration to come back and tell us how it's going to manage population and not just cell space."
Machado suggested a four-year college degree program would be impractical.
"Look, we have a hard enough time keeping classrooms open for GEDs, let alone providing coursework allowing someone to get a four-year degree," Machado said. "We don't do a proper assessment to know what their education needs are."
Asked about the power of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, Schwarzenegger defended his and his aides' meetings with union President Mike Jimenez, though contract negotiations remain unresolved. The governor also disparaged former corrections chief Rod Hickman for criticizing Jimenez's visits, calling those objections "nonsense."
In a Capitol Park ceremony Wednesday morning, Schwarzenegger signed bills targeting sex offenders, including two proposals backed by Democratic lawmakers that increase penalties on certain sex crimes and require high-risk sex offenders to wear Global Positioning System devices.
Senate Bill 1178 by Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, makes permanent a pilot program that allows local law enforcement to track high-risk sex offenders with GPS bracelets.
Senate Bill 1128 by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, increases penalties on various sex crimes. It will, for instance, punish continuous child sex abuse with an automatic 25-year-to-life sentence and make child pornography possession a felony in certain cases.
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