California Decides to Scrap Rehab and Cultivate Crime

California's 70% recidivism rate –- the highest in the nation -– was always an indication that the prison system was horrifically broken. Well, that astronomical rate is about to go even higher.

Over the next few months, California will cut $250 million in prison rehab programs as part of the budget decision last July to reduce state prison spending by $1.2 billion.

The Modesto Bee reports that by the time the state finishes eliminating that $1.2 billion, two-thirds of all inmate rehab and education programs will be eradicated. Already gone is Harrison's 35-year-old mill and cabinetry class, as well as the graphic art shop at the Sierra Conservation center.

Statewide, there's many more on the chopping block, and that means losses for prisoners as well as staff jobs. This first round of cuts will yield about 850 job losses: bad news for a state with unemployment rates ballooning over 10%. As for the direct impact on prisoners, The San Francisco Chronicle has some good numbers on what saving 250 million bucks really means: for example, 17,000 fewer prisoners will be able to enroll in academic or job-related programs, and access to drug treatment for 3,500 prisoners will likewise be cut off. As the Chronicle reports, "At San Quentin State Prison alone, 13 of the 19 programs currently offered are slated for elimination...including all but two of the six vocational programs, an anger management course and a high school program."

Who needs anger management courses and a high school program when you've got shiv-making class, criminal activity brainstorming, and gang networking 101? Without rehab programs, prisons really are just a breeding ground for more crime. Cellmate networking served as a convenient plot mechanism in The Usual Suspects, but it's a real phenomenon, and it means more crime and prisoners serving repeat sentences.

These cuts mean more recidivism and fewer cases like that of Orson Aguilar, who writes in the Chronicle about how a rehab program “saved his life.” He grew up in L.A.'s Boyle heights, shot someone in the arm and pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon. But while in prison, he managed to get a job in the attorney's office as part of a work-furlough program. After getting out, he finished college, completed a master's degree and is now executive director of the Greenlining Institute, a social justice advocacy group.

Rehab works. It's an essential part of the prison system. The Chronicle, for example, points out how Schwarzenegger himself added the word “Rehabilitation” to “California Department of Corrections.” Too bad he isn't putting the money where his mouth is.

California isn't the only one struck with this apparently "brilliant" plan of short-term savings and long-term disaster. On February 16, for example, Texas state leaders proposed cutting $294.3 million for prisons and rehab programs -- axing nearly 3,100 jobs in the process. A real twofer.

The twofer for California is the sharp reduction in forward-thinking prison funding, coupled with a new early release program. In other words, California's pulling out the rehab rug and shoving inmates onto the street, only to take them back later on different charges. If we continue to cut programs for prisoners, stories like that of Kevin Peterson (which I blogged about earlier this week) will only serve as a prelude.

Photo Credit: Sean Hobson