Release lifers or staff in the budget cuts to come?

Dortell Williams Approximately 160 words H—4577l / A2-206 Non-fiction P.O. Box 4430 ' Lancaster, CA 93539 RELEASE LIFERS OR STAFF IN THE BUDGET CUTS TO COME? Dortell Williams In October, 2008, I shared lament with AVP regarding the unnecessary layoffs of thousands of state workers. The layoffs were predictable after Conservatives refused early releases of prisoners -- who were within 90 days of release anyway. At $49,0000 a year, per prisoner, their release would have saved taxpayers a bundle. Williams/RELEASE LIFERS OR STAFF IN THE BUDGET CUTS TO COME? Page 2 The California economy has limped along since -- at times falling into occasional potholes as a result of a chronically neglected infrastructure. The economists are at wit's end. They portend that whenever the national economy recovers, California will still lag behind. Turning to the prison system, again, there lifers who have duly exceeded their eligibility requirements, but are restrained for no other reason than ole Romanesque politics —- that's according to the Hoover Commission. (Lifers have less than 1 percent recidivism rate.) If I were a member of the prison guards‘ union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association -- one of the most muscled syndicates in the state -— I would taut the extraordinary rehabilitation that CDCR has provided these prisoners and bid for their monitored release. I would cite the need to concentrate the state's limited resources on the knuckleheads who have yet to change. In comparison to other states doing the foresaid, such as New York, Texas and Georgia, the Golden state comes in tarnished. The wave of public demand for its fiduciary sacrifices in its prison systems is fast traveling from the East and strong Westward. It would be an utter shame if history is left to Williams/RELEASE LIFERS OR STAFF IN THE BUDGET CUTS TO COME? Page 3 repeat itself.