Mariah Beatty

Intro to Gov-PS 1
11/19/2015
Journal 3
Criminal Justice and Its Costs
For my third journal I decided to write from chapter 6 in the California Politics book. One of my
brothers is a CO (Corrections Officer) and he has shed some light on the issues of the justice system that
he sees. I am also including topics from chapter 6 as well as some websites regarding the cost of running
inmate facilities.
In chapter 6, page 81 of California Politics, it says Although crime rates have declined over the
past two decades, the states prisons have been busting at the seams for years. Our state alone has more
inmates than our prisons have room for. We cannot even afford nor employ enough correctional staff to
effectively run these institutions. More than 163,000 inmates are inside these facilities when the max
capacity is 85,000. That is 185% more than allowed (page 81). My brother works a minimum 12 hour
shift and he often has to work double shifts. The process to become a corrections office is lengthy so
many applicants do not hang on to get the job, hence the reason for doubling up on shifts. I think
president Obama was trying to fix our prison issues by lessoning the length of time and punishment for
petty crimes and non-violent crimes, which is a great idea. At the same time, what message does that
send?
In 1980 the total prison population was 22,500 and in 1985 it cost less than $100 million to run
the entire correctional system. Today the correctional system devours $11.2 billion to run (page 82).
Governor Brown in 2013 proposed a plan to release 10,000 inmates and to transfer some to other
facilities. California and the justice system have not done enough to fix its prison problem. Many

inmates are in need of around the clock medical care which became a huge problem in the 90s. A third of
the prisoners being released will end up back in LA County (LA Times) which is an alarming number.
But we have to remember that most of the people being released are well beyond their crime-making
years or were incarcerated for non-violent, non-sexual crimes. Only the population reduction order, and
the courts' hard line on enforcing it, has moved the state and counties, reluctantly, to set priorities for
prison space and consider alternative community-based sentencing. There is little evidence to suggest that
state officials will move faster or smarter if the order is softened. Continued resistance merely compresses
the period before Dec. 31 in which thousands of prisoners will be released, turning reentry from a steady
flow into a flash flood (LA Times).
In conclusion, the criminal justice system now has to make up for the very long time that nothing
was done. All of those years where costs were rising, prisons becoming crowded, closing down gyms and
libraries to put more beds (page 81-82). The only common fear is that this will cause more crime leading
to more incarcerations and ending back to square one: a costly criminal justice system. Is this what is
happening since Reagan closed down all of those mental health facilities and rehab centers? I wonder.

Works Cited:
California's Prison Mess. (2013, August 9). Retrieved November 23, 2015, from
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-prison-release-california-jerrybrown-20130809-story.html
Vechten, R. (n.d.). The Court System. In California politics: A primer (Third ed., pp.
81-84).