Posted on 04/27/2004 8:52:22 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Prisoners at a handful of facilities statewide will be triple-bunked in two-person cells under a recently declared state of emergency triggered by overcrowding in the state prison system, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
The state Department of Corrections says 1,200 unexpected inmates, most of them destined for maximum-security facilities, are arriving from financially strapped counties that can't accommodate them in their jails, according to a memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
The emergency declaration took effect April 1 but was never made public.
In it, prisoners at the low- security facilities of Avenal State Prison, Chuckawalla Valley State Prison and California State Prison, Solano, will be triple-bunked. Other space-saving changes will go into effect at Folsom State Prison and Pleasant Valley State Prison.
The declaration could lead to increases in overtime for the corrections department at the same time that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to cut those costs.
The department memo, signed by Chief Deputy Director Richard A. Rimmer, said "spring projections indicating a decrease in population" have not happened.
As of April 14, there were 162,456 inmates in the state prison system, an increase of 2,592 over the same time last year. With the influx from the counties, Rimmer said the prison population "is approaching historical highs." California has the largest state prison system in the nation.
J.P. Tremblay, a corrections department spokesman, said the emergency declaration was necessary to suspend rules that require the state to give inmates three days' notice that they will be moved.
"This allows us to move them right away," he said.
The department has declared such an emergency five times in the last eight years, he said, although legislative staffers said they could never recall such action.
The news comes as Schwarzenegger is working on a plan to cut $400 million from the corrections department as part of the administration's proposal to close a $14 billion budget gap in the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Lawmakers said they were concerned to hear about the emergency declaration, particularly because of the cost overruns it might incur.
"This is exactly the kind of thing we are concerned about," said Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "Emergency declarations without notifying the Legislature? This is not good."
Not nearly enough! They should put the sicko addicts UNDER the jail!! </WOD reactionary>
Just thinking silly here for a bit, of course. Unless someone (besides me) really thinks there is merit to the idea.
(But think of all the vacant buildings there would be. We could use the prisons as interim living facilities and free crash pads for out-of-work politicians after the election and for all those alphabet soup employees no longer needed. Perhaps the chief flip-flopper, Mr. Beaux Toxic himself, can be pursuaded to head up a new agency for his contribution to the demise of the jackass party. Yeah, that's the ticket. Appoint him chief of the F'n Bureau of Indigents. Heh heh.)
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