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Governor Calls Special Session

Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation today calling the Legislature into special session starting June 27 to address critical prison crowding and recidivism measures. The Governor has proposed several reforms to build new state prisons and local jail facilities, reduce crowding and move female inmates into community-based correctional facilities. Calling a special session enables the Governor to press for passage of these measures before the close of the Legislative session in August.

"Our prisons are at the crisis point because the State of California has not planned adequately for its future and has not faced up to the need to build new prisons as well as hire and train more officers. I am calling on my partners in the Legislature to join me in taking action to face these challenges head on," said Gov. Schwarzenegger. "By building more prisons, managing the inmate population more effectively and implementing common-sense measures that target the most dangerous criminals, we can greatly improve our prison and rehabilitation system.

"We can enact meaningful reform that ensures the safety of our correctional staff and makes sure more of our parolees stay out of prison after they're released. If we work together, I know we can do this and once again give California a model prison system."

California's prison population is at an all time high of more than 171,000 inmates. The CDCR is double-bunking inmates and there are currently more than 16,000 inmates housed in prison gyms and day rooms throughout the various 33 correctional institutions.

The Governor outlined his legislative proposals in his official proclamation convening the special session including:

  • Building more prisons - The Governor is proposing using lease-revenue bonds to build additional prisons, providing critically needed additional beds. This type of financing will allow prisons to be built more quickly.
  • Establishing local secure re-entry facilities- With a measure to relieve overcrowding and reduce the number of paroled inmates returning to prison, the Governor is proposing to create transitional local facilities where inmates about to be released would be detained. The facilities would be highly secured buildings that hold inmates and provide them with counseling services and other help to re-enter society safely and productively. The facilities would also serve as centers to confine parole violators for technical violations that would normally result in a short return to prison. Serious or high-risk parole violators would go back to prison, as they do now.
  • Placing non-violent women in community correctional facilities - The Governor proposed a measure to move 4,500 non-violent women out of state prisons into community correctional facilities. This reform would also allow low-risk, non-violent inmates, women who are near the time of their release, to be closer to their families in their final months of custody. Experts have said that this type of program is effective in reducing recidivism. Moving these women inmates out of prison, which consists of approximately 40 percent of the total female population, would make room for an entire prison worth of space that could be used for male prisoners.
  • Expediting state contracting - The Governor is proposing legislation to expedite and streamline the state contracting process for implementing programs and construction of additional prisons and secure re-entry facilities.

Gov. Schwarzenegger has made prison reform a priority in his administration. Under his leadership in 2005, the Governor's historic reorganization proposal was passed by the Legislature with bipartisan support to improve the California Department of Corrections. The reorganization focuses on safer working environments, better service to crime victims, organizational effectiveness, a changed prison culture, use of enhanced agency-wide information technology, validation of rehabilitation and re-entry programs, development of offender re-entry programs and an increased role for rehabilitation. The California Department of Corrections added Rehabilitation to its title, a change that reflects a desire to move away from three decades that the concept of rehabilitation was not a priority. The change reflects a shift in attitude that has the potential to improve public safety, save money and make it more likely that those who have committed crimes will chose to turn their lives around.

The Governor's 2006-07 budget proposes $52.8 million for rehabilitation programs including vocational and job training and education.

Below are fact sheets on each of the four legislative proposals and the proclamation.