Nice way to cut the budget

[Charlie P]

You can find the rest of the story on Drudge,

In what may be the largest early release of inmates in U.S. history, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is proposing to open the prison gates next year for some 22,000 low-risk offenders.
According to details of a budget proposal made available to The Bee, the administration will ask the Legislature to authorize the release of certain non-serious, nonviolent, non-sex offenders who are in the final 20 months of their terms.
The proposal would cut the prison population by 22,159 inmates and save the cash-strapped state an estimated $256 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1 and more than $780 million through June 30, 2010. The proposal also calls for a reduction of more than 4,000 prison jobs, most of them involving correctional officers.

[kevin1]

Considering that the majority of them will be minor league drug users the courts will simply replace their number the following year by obeying mandatory sentencing laws when they get arrested again. The prison system is also a huge cog in the state's revenue wheel, so what little money the measure saves will simply be absorbedby higher bills from all the private sector folks who will probably lose their jobs and require financial aid. Less prisoners means fewer people required to support the prisons. Congratulations Kookifornia, your entire system has become one big money gobbling revolving door. Fire all of your liberals in your Legislature next election time and start over, you won't be any worse off. Gawd I'm so deleriously happy that I moved away from that totally screwed up state...

[Aught Six]

I certainly don't see any easy answers to California's many problems. I respect the attempt to save a crumbling correctional system, but I think it's getting a little late in the game. Even the Governator can't clean up some 40 years of societal vomitus overnight.