Whore Next Door: Prisoners’ Dilemma

by Siouxsie Q May 18, 2016

Although California is known as a liberal haven, it is also a state with a serious incarceration problem. In 2009, federal courts mandated that the Golden State reduce its prison population, which was the highest in the nation at the time.

From a peak of 163,000, the number of people currently in state custody has fallen to just over 127,000, with nearly 5,000 incarcerated persons housed out-of-state in Arizona and Mississippi. This puts the state in compliance with the court’s mandate to get the prison population down to only 137.5 percent of capacity. (California was at 143 percent as recently as 2014.)

Additionally, there’s a growing movement in California to repeal mandatory minimum-prison sentencing, which has contributed to the state’s overcrowded prison system.

Governor Jerry Brown is behind the latest round of prison reform that may be on the November ballot. There’s strong opposition, including — get ready to die of not-surprise — from the Republican Party.

A few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to observe the initiatives committee meeting at the California GOP convention. Two initiatives on the docket — one that would increase parole chances for felons convicted of nonviolent crimes, and another repealing the death penalty — were met with near-unanimous opposition.

Three middle-aged white male politicians presented their cases as to why these proposals were no good, and not a soul spoke…