California Prisoners!

Over 30% of the prisoners are illegal aliens

Here is the breakdown on how much it costs to incarcerate a inmate in California (fy 2008/2009).

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In order to get his increases in the budget, thew govenor is threatening to release these prisoners. He's using scare tactics on the public. What a beauty.

Simple cost breakdown according to previous site, and ignoring many "other" costs.

$53.00+ per day for security.
$34.00+ per day medical care.
$9.00+ per day administration.
$4.00+ per day food.

Those alone total $100.00+ per day per inmate.

The California system appears bloated and vastly inefficient.

I know people that survive on less than $4.00 per day for food. Have no medical care unless they go to an Emergency room at the hospital. And the cost of security seems too large.

Something vastly wrong there.

Not only California but all states should reinstate the death pentaly. The death pentaly for people who commit murder (of any individual) and repeat offenders of serious crimes. It sad to see criminals that take a human life of law abiding citizens be put in a place where they continue to be a cost tax payers money. This could be done in cases where there is no question that they are guilty without a reasonable doubt. If it only costs $1,000/$10,000 that way too much. We have way too many good people living below the proverty level in this country as it is. There is no choice of paying the costs or releasing them even enter into this problem.

The cost of security is high in California because the cost of living there is high. Prison guards have to be able to afford housing, and the commute to work. Death row prisoners are more expensive to house than those that get life in prison. If you eliminated the death penalty you would eliminate some of the costs in any prison system that has it. Someone else mentioned what we are really paying for now is the zero tolerance policies, mandatory minimums and three strikes laws that were all the rage among conservative politicians and talking heads 10-15 years ago. Many things that use to be misdemeanors are now felonies. There are a ton of folks sitting in state prisons that have been convicted of nothing more than DUIs, Marijuana possession and other things that were considered to be minor offenses 20-30 years ago.

DonDiego proposes the "Escape From L.A." solution.

Turn L.A. into a man-made island stretching from Anaheim to Malibu and wall-it-in. Allow residents to voluntarily depart. Dump the now-incarcerated prison population onto the island. Allow them to govern themselves.

It might be easier to remove the 3500 residents of Catalina Island and dump the prisoners on its 75 Square Miles. You'd need a Navy to prevent pirates from helping them escape though. After a few decades they might start speaking Austrailian.

20 years ago I had a coworker, high school diploma, making about $12/hour. He became a corrections officer in California so he left my company. Came back about two years later driving a $45-50K new truck, told me he had made over 150K his second year with his overtime.

DonDiego has a good idea, but it needs to be adjusted... take all of the inmates and put them on boats departing Key West, Fla for Mariel, Cuba. Yes, a reverse boat lift. Send all prisoners to Cuba with a $500 cash incentive in their pockets. Give the Cubans back what they sent to the USA 30 years ago.