new members on the way ... 
makes sense .... the longer they would stay in the pen, the better they would be criminals ....
Sacramento, CA (AHN) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may rewrite American penal history with his planned release of 22,000 non-violent prisoners to reduce the state's budget deficit. The prison release is found in the budget proposal Schwarzenegger submitted to the state legislature for approval.
Schwarzenegger specified the mass prisoner release, which is expected to save the state coffers $256 million for the fiscal year 2009-2010, covers only non-serious, nonviolent and non-sex offenders on the final 20 months of their sentence.
Aside from reducing the number of inmates, the budget proposal also called for downsizing the number of correctional officers by 4,000.
Governor Schwarzenegger has been pushing for an early prison release in the past. On May he signed a $7.7 billion program to build new jails to house 53,000 prisoners over the next five years. He announced on February a plan to release prisoners in an effort to ease the state's overcrowded prison system.
However, the governor's twin proposals then did not impress two federal district judges who separately ordered the formation of a special three-judge panel to oversee the reduction of California's inmates.
While the 22,000 will enjoy early freedom under the proposed mass release, they will still be under summary parole, which requires them to be under supervision by parole officers and still subject to searches by local law enforcers any time. They cannot be returned to prison over technical violations, but they could be jailed anew for another criminal case.
Schwarzenegger specified the mass prisoner release, which is expected to save the state coffers $256 million for the fiscal year 2009-2010, covers only non-serious, nonviolent and non-sex offenders on the final 20 months of their sentence.
Aside from reducing the number of inmates, the budget proposal also called for downsizing the number of correctional officers by 4,000.
Governor Schwarzenegger has been pushing for an early prison release in the past. On May he signed a $7.7 billion program to build new jails to house 53,000 prisoners over the next five years. He announced on February a plan to release prisoners in an effort to ease the state's overcrowded prison system.
However, the governor's twin proposals then did not impress two federal district judges who separately ordered the formation of a special three-judge panel to oversee the reduction of California's inmates.
While the 22,000 will enjoy early freedom under the proposed mass release, they will still be under summary parole, which requires them to be under supervision by parole officers and still subject to searches by local law enforcers any time. They cannot be returned to prison over technical violations, but they could be jailed anew for another criminal case.
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