CA Prisons: All (insert anyone's name but the Governor's) Fault

Gov. Schwarzenegger did a dog-and-pony show at a crumbling state prison yesterday, and had the temerity to BLAME THE LEGISLATURE for the problem. Apparently some other Austrian bodybuilder has been governor for four years.

Schwarzenegger is campaigning for an $11 billion reform and building package that he says will alleviate severe overcrowding at the state's 33 prisons and avoid a federal takeover. At the photo opportunity, the governor said "the Legislature has not really yet committed to really solving this problem."

State Senate leader Don Perata said about the governor's visit: "I am disappointed that the governor today blamed the Legislature for the state's prison crisis instead of offering ways to attack the problem. As the governor said, we need to show the court short-term solutions. But the governor's only short-term proposal has been ruled illegal. ... It's time to stop the antics and give the Legislature something to work with – not hyperbole or hastily crafted fixes. I am committed to working with the governor, but he must step up and show real leadership."

Being post-partisan is all about NOT showing real leadership. It's about "bringing people together" and making sure other people take the blame when things go awry. That's why he hasn't actually submitted a health care proposal. That's why he won't say whether or not he supports term limits or any specific redistricting plan. Post-partisanship is about makeing sure your ass is covered and you always have a scapegoat. And it certainly isn't about acting decisively to solve major crises like the one we have in our prisons. Good for Perata for speaking the truth here.

SEIU Local 1000, which includes the second-most correctional workers of any other union (about 14,000 employees), tore the Governor's plan to build his way out of this crisis to shreds today.

The report said the governor's $41 million plan to reduce inmate recidivism is dwarfed by his construction proposals. They seek to add 16,238 beds at existing prison sites, 5,000 to 7,000 beds in new community re-entry facilities, 45,000 county jail beds for state and local inmates, 10,000 additional prison hospital beds to satisfy the federal courts and 5,000 juvenile beds.

"You cannot solve this problem just by building another prison," said SEIU 1000 representation and organizing Vice President Marc Bautista of the state's prison overcrowding crisis. "Something else has to be done now, and sentencing reform and parole reform are the first steps. If you're successful, you won't have to build a new prison."

Bautista said the union favors building only the prison hospitals. The rest of the governor's construction plan, he said, is "excessive."

It's obvious that we lock too many people away, including nonviolent offenders who should be treated medically instead of thrown into the nightmare that is our state jails. The self-interested thing for the SEIU to argue would be the governor's plan, which means more jails and more employees. But they have the interests of the state at heart, and would like to see us safer and more humane. The governor has only one interest: post-partisanship, which really means himself.