Statecraft Informer

The following recently came across the wire:

Los Angeles, CA. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the total number inmates in American prisons and jails on June 30, 2005, was 56,428 more than at the same time in 2004.

The government reported nearly 2.2 million U.S. residents, or approximately 1 in every 136 Americans was incarcerated at that time, a 2.6 percent increase from mid-2004 to mid-2005, for an average of 1,085 new inmates each week during the year studied.

The rise was more or less in keeping with several previous years’ inmate growth rate, and projected government estimates call for like increases through the year 2020.

The rapid growth in the number of Americans behind bars is attributed to the massive prison and jail construction boom begun late last century, combined with so-called “three-strike�? laws enacted in many U.S. states which call for mandatory incarceration for two-time felons convicted a third time for crimes ranging from murder to aggravated spitting.

Over the past three years, ballooning federal, state and local deficits caused by the Iraq conflict, tax giveaways to FOW (Friends of W), and other long-range government boondoggles, many localities have begun instituting a policy of “early prisoner release�? to ease mounting overcrowding.

In Los Angeles County alone, about 1 in 10 prisoners or almost 4,000 inmates a year, are now sent back out into the streets, most well before their full sentences are served. Although a quarter of those set free are charged with violent or life-endangering crimes, Sheriff Lee “Chew�? Baca has said the early releases were a necessary last resort to trim millions of dollars from budget shortfalls, and keep the revolving doors of justice turning.

As head of the nation’s largest jail system and in response to some people actually paying attention during this election year, Baca held a press conference today to announce the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department latest plan to solve its growing prisoner housing problem, called, “You Do The Crime, You Do The Time-Share.�?

Starting January 1, 2007, all county inmates designated for early release will instead be required to serve out their full sentences at various locations under contract with the department, mostly undersold or utilized “resort�? properties throughout the state. In addition, prisoners must also pay their own room, board and transportation costs, and view a 90-minute presentation about the property sometime during the balance of their sentences.

Sheriff Baca estimates his new “Crime/Time-Share�? program could raise more than 10 million dollars for his department annually, eliminate jail overcrowding, and stimulate California’s flagging development industry. Counties and states across the country are taking a long look at the bold, new initiative.