Article from CA Cities Advocate

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced changes are underway to address population management, staffing, and facilities use in light of the new realities resulting from realignment. The plan is captured in a newly released document titled, “The Future of California Corrections: A Blueprint to Save Billions of Dollars, End Federal Oversight, and Improve the Prison System.”

Key areas of focus are intended to address improved prison outcomes and reduced recidivism while realizing significant savings for the state totaling several billion dollars. The areas include returning prisoners housed out of state to California facilities, establishing standardized staffing ratios to reflect lower facility populations, changing prisoner classification to better reflect safety needs, facility repurposing or closures, and rehabilitation program reinvestment.

The announcement and plan includes an assessment of meeting the federal three-judge panel population reduction requirement. While benchmarks between now and the December 2012 will be met, Secretary Matt Cate stated that the final goal of reducing the state prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity will not be met. Instead, the state will appeal to the court and demonstrate that it can competently provide care with population at 145 percent of design capacity.

CDCR’s full press release is available on its blog.