Pandering to the Lowest Common Denominator

Newsflash to Fran Florez-- Democratic candidate to the 30th A.D. California:

Your current political advertisement berating state prisoners for being on their beds in the middle of the day speaks volumes about your lack of knowledge about prison life. Unless of course, you know perfectly well those prisoners have little choice about where they spend their time. If this is the case, your ad is a poster session for pandering to the low information voter, a tactic eschewed by true Democrats and Independents.

You mention your Shafter experience, citing instances where prisoners picked up trash in the community. Those inmates are usually county prisoners with sufficiently short sentences to minimize their risk by assigning them to jobs in the community during the day and returning them to the county jail in the evening. On the other hand, state prisoners are *not* assigned to community work unless they are Level I prisoners with a very short time to release or are the select prisoners who receive fire fighter training to assist in wild fire management operations. Otherwise, the typical state prisoner is assigned to an institution, which is likely overcrowded to the tune of nearly 200% in many California correctional facilities. Prisoners not requiring special housing arrangements because of their high risk status are assigned to dormitories or gymnasiums or other areas in the prison that have been converted to housing. Fewer than 50% of the prisoners eligible to be assigned to a work detail inside the prison (kitchen worker, porter, groundskeeper, clerk, etc.) actually have jobs because there are not enough jobs for all eligible workers. So, for lack of any other viable alternatives including recreation on the yard or substantive programs that could prepare for them for successful reentry into their communities, they do sit on their beds…a lot. They read, they write, they converse with staff and fellow inmates. Given the circumstances, these are pretty orderly arrangements, a tribute to the staff that supervise and control large groups of folks who have a track record of not getting along well with others.

If you are really serious about getting the boys off the bunks, then let’s hear about how you as the Democratic candidate for the Assembly seat in your son’s Senatorial District plan to address involuntary idleness in the state prisons. Let’s hear about how you would advocate for a fair share of the CDC&R budget to improve the availability of life skills opportunities for those who want get off the bed and “to learn how to fish.” A well programmed prison is a well managed prison. Corrections officials who have studied the issue know that viable programs for deserving prisoners improve the working conditions for our corrections personnel. It’s certainly worth the effort to attempt to reduce the attrition rate of our trained personnel while providing an opportunity and the proper conditions for fundamental and enduring change to prisoners willing to invest in themselves.

We can do better!