The UNION opposes the appointment of James Tilton as CDC Agency Secretary which will be voted upon in the Senate rules committee on July ll, 2007. The quotes on this page appeared in California newspapers for the past year that Tilton has been acting CDC Agency Secretary. They speak for themselves to indicate why James Tilton should not be confirmed to continue permanently in his job as the man at the top of all California prisons.
check our alerts page for more updates on this and other calls to action and senate rules committee fax numbers as well as a sample letter to make your voice heard. This page is just the supporting quotations for documenting your views. Be sure to write short letters to editors and post about your opposition at the news sites.
A Year of Corrections Secretary Tilton in the Press (Excerpts)
Notes: Bracketed [ ] material indicates compiler’s clarification or annotation. Some of the links are old and are no longer available.
July 11, 2006 CALIFORNIA Prison plan attacked by expert Governor's proposals called out of touch
- James Sterngold and Mark Martin, Chronicle Staff Writers
A leading corrections and parole expert [Joan Petersilia] cited in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest prison reform plan has largely disavowed the proposals, describing the plan in an interview as a fantasy that would represent a giant step backward for the state's ailing prison system. . . .
"I can understand where some people are coming from -- when you look at the numbers, it looks like we're just building beds," said Jim Tilton. "But there are parts of this that represent real change." Tilton said proposals to shift female inmates into community-based facilities and open other programs designed to provide job-training and other services to inmates about to be paroled were based on successful reforms other states had implemented.
July 23, 2006 Uncertainty in the ranks over prison plan Schwarzenegger's proposal not enough
James Sterngold, Chronicle Staff Writer
Two top Schwarzenegger administration officials said in an interview that the governor's nearly $4 billion emergency plan for repairing the failing state corrections system will still leave the prisons crowded far beyond their capacity and does not address costly problems such as a major crisis in staff vacancies and medical care.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for a special session of the Legislature, to begin Aug. 7, to address what his administration now describes as a public safety emergency in the state's 33 prisons. With a record 172,000 inmates, the system is operating at double capacity and, by the administration's own admission, nearly every service and treatment program is in a state of collapse.
In the interview, Susan Kennedy, the governor's chief of staff, defended the governor's record but described the prisons as part of "a system that is so broken it's a powder keg."
In fact, she used the expression "powder keg" twice, and James Tilton, the director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, acknowledged in the interview that, because of the breakdown in training and therapeutic programs, 75 percent of the inmates in some prisons have no activities at all during the day, which he described as a volatile and unsustainable problem. "That scares me to death, but I can't do anything about programs if I haven't got any space," Tilton said.
Acting Corrections Secretary James Tilton told lawmakers at a Thursday hearing that the state is in a crisis situation. Well, duh. And let's not lay the blame on the folks who work in our prisons because the buck stops at the top, which is why no one lasts very long in the top job at headquarters.
The state's adult prisons are designed only to hold about 100,000 and the last 3,000 of an estimated 16,000 makeshift bed spaces will be used up in months, Mr. Tilton said, leaving the state in a crisis situation. He believes crowding has led to "an unsafe prison system that could suffer riots, mass escapes or hostage-taking that has been seen in other states with similar conditions." And, he warns, there are too few correctional officers and programs to keep inmates occupied and to prepare them for release.
Keating wrote that the finance department didn't push to fund the mental health positions because no court had ordered the spending. "The Department of Finance now has its court order," Keating wrote.
The decision not to seek funding was made last year by Acting Corrections Secretary James Tilton, who then worked in the finance department. He made that decision because corrections officials had not provided enough information to justify the extra hiring, said Molly Arnold, the finance department's chief counsel.
August 2, 2006 Billions in prison bond funds sought By Andy Furillo -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation acting Secretary James Tilton, laying out the cost of the administration's prison plan for the first time in a Tuesday press conference, characterized the expense as a necessary "investment" needed to solve the intractable overcrowding and recidivism problems. "The Department of Corrections owns the responsibility to assist inmates who are willing to change their ways with basic tools, of education, life skills, drug treatment and mental health, so they can be better when they leave Corrections, not worse," he said. "But until I get overcrowding reduced ... then I don't have the opportunity to provide the program that I believe is my charge," Tilton added.
Aug. 04, 2006 AP Interview: California should contract for inmate health care, Don Thompson, AP
"Clearly, I've seen examples where inmates are dying due to a lack of care in the system," said Acting Corrections Secretary James Tilton. "The facts are there: We have people not getting appropriate care." The department should spin off health care duties to an independent organization such as a university or private medical system, Tilton said during an interview with The Associated Press.
He also said the answer may be to create a new state agency. "It could very well be run as a state Department of Health Care," Tilton said. "The issue is an independent health organization ... separating the entity and not having it report to me." He equated the idea to the way the state Department of Mental Health already handles inmates with acute mental illnesses, a consequence of one of the many class-action lawsuits increasingly driving prison operations. "Something like that is what we need for the health facilities," Tilton said.
Tilton said his department has difficulty attracting top doctors, nurses and pharmacists who don't want to work for a prison system. That's why he welcomed the state Mental Health Department handling mentally ill inmates. "We never will be able to convince people that we are primarily a medical organization," Tilton said. "I'm not a doctor. I don't know how to get quality doctors and how to figure out who they are or what the proper medical services are."
Tilton also endorsed Sillen's suggestion that the two new prisons that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to build should be used for medical and mental health care. . . . Tilton said Sillen's proposal would help with both crowding and inmate care. "It won't be a duplication," Tilton said. "My goal is to get beds to meet the needs of the (inmate) population."
August 7, 2006 Hopefully at Last We Will Begin to Clean up the Mess in California’s Prisons
By Frank D. Russo
. . . . In a briefing for reporters last Thursday, James Tilton, the new head of the prisons, unveiled the $6 billion prison construction program and stated “We are in the process of drafting bills.” As late as July 23, the San Francisco Chronicle was reporting that what was then a $4 billion “plan” the Governor was developing was not ready for prime time.
August 7, 2006 In the Land of the Blind—Even One Eye Won’t Suffice: California prisons and medical care
by Moss David Posner, a physician currently in practice in the California Department of Corrections
08/10/2006 Sex-offender oversight proposed Mason Stockstill, Staff Writer
SANTA ANA - Supervision of released sex offenders is so haphazard that a new arm of California's correctional system should be created to oversee the high-risk parolees, an assemblyman said Wednesday. Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, has proposed the establishment of a Sex Offender Management Board, which would review the practices and policies of the state with regard to sex offenders.
James Tilton, acting secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said he endorses many of the proposed changes. Of particular concern is making sure the state coordinates with local law-enforcement agencies about the release and placement of sex offenders in residential neighborhoods. "We need to do a better job, not just in (the department) but in the community," he said.
August 15, 2006 Prison funds may go to medical care Governor approves of a plan attempting to relieve overcrowding, fulfill mandates with health facilities.
By E.J. Schultz / Bee Capitol Bureau
SACRAMENTO — Instead of building two new prisons, lawmakers this month may consider a plan to build up to six medical and mental health facilities for inmates, a Schwarzenegger administration official said Monday. The plan is seen as a way to relieve overcrowding and at the same time fulfill the mandates of Robert Sillen, a federal court-appointed receiver who has control over the state's failing prison medical system. Sillen says the state must dramatically improve inmate medical care.
. . . . "We agree that we shouldn't duplicate," said acting Corrections secretary James Tilton at a news conference Monday. "We shouldn't go build new prisons and then come back later and build medical beds."
. . . . Tilton did not rule out the Central Valley as a candidate, adding that he has yet to talk about specific sites with Sillen.
. . . . Tilton said Monday officials now are considering four to six facilities with a total of 5,000 medical beds and 5,000 mental-health beds, though the plan is in flux. He said the facilities could be built near existing prisons "so that you have that interface of the regular population."
August 15, 2006 Bills introduced Monday aim to help fix state's prisons. State legislators to consider new inmate facilities; timely passage of legislation unlikely.
By SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON The Orange County Register
THE ISSUE: Inmate overcrowding has reached epic proportions in California 's prisons, with officials saying they can't handle the growing population beyond next June. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called a special session of the Legislature to address the crisis, which in turn would allow any measures passed to take effect more quickly.
. . . . Acting corrections chief James Tilton said that after talks with a federal receiver overseeing inmate health care and a federal monitor reviewing inmate psychiatric care, the administration has agreed the two new prisons should become medical and psychiatric facilities.
. . . . Also, Tilton said the Legislature could provide more immediate relief by authorizing the state to moveup to 5,000 illegal immigrants to out-of-state prisons. The prisoners would be deported after their sentences are finished. Some 20 states have expressed interest in housing such inmates.
August 16, 2006 Hearings open on prison changes Key senator says plan must address behavior, not just buildings
By Andy Furillo -- Bee Capitol Bureau
James Tilton, left, acting secretary of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, makes a point Tuesday about a tracking device before the Senate select committee on prisons. Testimony by Mike Jimenez, right, president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, disagreed with Tilton.
. . . . Tilton, for his part, said he'd prefer that the technical violators didn't come back to prison at all, but that they instead be directed to re-entry facilities where they would serve out their short stays with access to community programs. "If I had the beds and the ability, I would say no parole violator goes back to prison," Tilton said.
August 17, 2006 SACRAMENTO – A new type of small prison could be built in San Diego County as part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $6 billion plan to relieve what lawmakers say is a crisis in prison overcrowding. HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune,
Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, said she was concerned that moving illegal immigrants to other states would separate them from their families and advocates who could help them fight deportation.
James Tilton, the governor's acting director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told the specially created Senate committee that the intent is to transfer only inmates already processed for deportation upon release.
. . . . Tilton said the plan for about 10 small prisons for 5,000 inmates, initially estimated to have about 500 beds each, was influenced by local law enforcement officials, including some in San Diego . “At one time we thought we needed these in inner cities,” said Tilton, who added a new facility could be placed near the existing state prison in Otay Mesa. “ San Diego convinced us you can put it in the county.”
. . . . Tilton said San Diego County, Sacramento County and the city of Los Angeles are talking to the state about getting one of the new prisons. He said others have expressed interest as well.
“What we have offered them is really a demonstration of partnership,” Tilton said. “Along with the beds we bring in solid programs, provide better services while they are on parole, and we develop a network of local providers.”
. . . . Tilton, appointed after two other prison chiefs resigned in rapid succession earlier this year, agrees with legislators who say that prison overcrowding a crisis that needs urgent action.
The push for change, he said, “is being driven by my walking into the department and being told we have less than 12 months of capacity.”
August 17, 2006 County eyed as site for prison Corrections officials, sheriff look at plan for short-term offenders.
By Andy Furillo and Ed Fletcher -- Bee Staff Writers
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials said Wednesday that they are "in dialogue" with local law enforcement leaders about building a "mini-prison" in Sacramento County .
Corrections Secretary James Tilton said at a state Senate hearing Wednesday that along with Sacramento County, San Diego County and the city of Los Angeles have expressed interest in locating mini-prisons in their jurisdictions. "Those three areas are very interested, and we're in dialogue with them now in terms of fleshing out the proposal as well as demonstrating to them how they can help us decide which inmates would best be served by these facilities," Tilton said. "Those three right now we're very excited about."
August 18, 2006 Lawmakers unconvinced by Schwarzenegger prison plan DON THOMPSON Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a lot more work to do to convince the Democrat-controlled Legislature to support even portions of his $6 billion prison building plan during this month's special session, key lawmakers said Friday.
The governor's proposals were left as deliberately vague "options" to allow for negotiation with legislators, Corrections Secretary James Tilton told lawmakers. Still, the plans are coming together, Tilton said. Communities are intrigued by the regional prisons proposal, private companies are interested in providing rehabilitation beds, and other states are agreeing to house thousands of inmates, he added.
Without swift action, the prisons will run out of even makeshift beds next spring, Tilton said. Already 172,000 inmates are stuffed into space designed for fewer than 100,000, with some living in hallways and gymnasiums.
August 29, 2006 Bill seeks to convert old prison to center Hank Shaw Capitol Bureau Chief
SACRAMENTO - Stockton 's former women's prison would be turned into a short-term "reception center" for male prisoners, according to draft legislation sponsored by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration and obtained Monday by The Record.
. . . . State prisons chief James Tilton says he is forced to consider using the former women's prison because of massive overcrowding in the state's prison system.
August 30, 2006 Democrats offer own prison plan Four bills are alternative to governor's bid to deal with overcrowding. By Andy Furillo -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Democratic legislative leaders Tuesday presented an alternative to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plans for addressing prison overcrowding, one administration officials said would force county jails to release thousands of inmates by next June.
The four bills would provide $918 million in bond and general fund financing for prison expansion, authorize the state to move 4,500 women to community correctional facilities, offer $25 million in grant money for neighborhood parole programs and allow for voluntary inmate transfers to out-of-state institutions.
. . . . Acting Corrections Secretary James Tilton said in a statement that he was "encouraged" by the Legislature's "focus" on the issue. But Tilton said the bills ignore the Republican governor's call to move 4,000 male inmates into private prison beds and to involuntarily transfer 5,000 foreign nationals] serving time in California to out-of-state prisons[ only those slated for deportation, according to another report].
"As a result, these bills do not solve the state's short-term capacity problem," Tilton said in the statement. "The lack of a short-term solution will create an emergency situation whereby the department will run out of beds by June 2007. When that day comes, the department will be forced to stop accepting inmates, and will notify counties that (the prisons) can no longer accept felons sentenced by the courts."
Tilton said 18,000 inmates a month already are getting early releases from county jails due to their own overcrowding problems, which he predicted will worsen with the Legislature's prison package, thereby "severely impacting the public safety of our communities."
August 27, 2006 Reader Rebuttal: Prison reform A response to a Register editorial By James E. Tilton, Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
The Register, in its editorial, "Thinking outside the cellblock" [Opinion, Aug. 16], about prison reform, is correct in saying that simply building new prisons won't make things better.
But, if California addresses overcrowding only by changing sentencing laws or releasing "non-violent" offenders, communities will face very real public safety problems.
We can only improve public safety through better prisoner rehabilitation. But we can only rehabilitate in prisons that are safe enough and large enough to accommodate these programs so that when prisoners are released, they can contribute instead of re-offending and creating more victims. The governor's plan is not about bricks and mortar. It addresses this very real relationship between good facilities, parole success, and public security.
The governor is proposing that 4,500 non-violent women move out of state prisons and into smaller, secure facilities where they can receive job training, psychological counseling and greater access to their kids. We've done the studies. Programs like these raise women's chances for success on the outside. The right facilities equal better rehabilitation equals successful community reintegration – bottom line.
He also advocates the creation of secure parole re-entry facilities that will give male prisoners access to similar rehabilitative services. Importantly, these facilities will be located in the communities where offenders are paroled. This will allow law enforcement and social services to connect directly with offenders while they're still incarcerated, making it easier to monitor and assist them once they're out.
Like it or not, parolees leave prison and fan out across California every single day, often equipped with nothing more than pocket change and a bus ticket. Cities and citizens would be far safer if their city cops, CHP and parole officers already had relationships with these individuals.
Some argue that construction isn't the solution. They say that the inmate crunch should be resolved with reforms that sentence fewer people to prison in the first place. But the public has spoken, repeatedly voting for tougher sentencing laws. While sentencing reform is a worthwhile discussion, it should take place within the context of public safety, not as a means for prison population control. The state prison system in California will run out of beds next June. Sentencing reform is a debate for another day. Addressing overcrowding needs to happen now.
August 30, 2006 California Prison Reform Plan Falls Short Lawmakers, calling it faulty, say they'll reject most of the governor's $6-billion proposal to ease crowding. By Jenifer Warren and Jordan Rau, Times Staff Writers
Assessing the prospects, Corrections Secretary James Tilton said he would be forced to close prison doors to incoming inmates next summer. Counties with caps on their jail populations probably then would be forced to release inmates, he said.
"I'm out looking for every available bed," Tilton said in an interview. "It's a struggle, and I hope the Legislature will reconsider and help us find some immediate relief."
August 29, 2006 Lawmakers trim Schwarzenegger prison plan
By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer
. . . . Acting Corrections Secretary James Tilton said the package allows the department to continue planning for 34,000 additional beds to ease crowding.
Yet Tilton objected that the Democratic proposals fail to provide immediate relief because they do not let California prison officials send as many as 10,000 inmates to be housed in other states. The bills awaiting action as early as Wednesday in the Assembly and Senate would let inmates volunteer to be housed in other states' prisons.
"This is the only short-term solution I have. With the current language, I don't think I'll be able to get many beds," Tilton told the committees considering the bills Tuesday night.
Even makeshift housing units are likely to be filled by spring, Tilton said: "Then I'm out of beds. ... They'll stack up in county jails."
He estimated that by next June the state prison system will have to start deflecting potential inmates because it will be out of beds, meaning convicts will have to be housed in county jails until space is available.
September 4, 2006 EDITORIAL A 'special session' that wasn't
The inability of Sacramento to deal with the crisis now raises the risk that the entire prison system will be placed under federal receivership (A court-appointed administrator is in charge of the prison's health-care system).
Legislative inaction also virtually guarantees continued uncertainty in the leadership ranks of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The two previous heads of the department have resigned their posts during the last six months. What is now unclear is how long acting corrections secretary James Tilton will stay in his post. In a meeting with The Chronicle editorial board in June, Tilton, who was appointed by Schwarzenegger to his post in April, told us he would stay on past Sept. 1 -- of this year -- only if he got the resources that he needed to relieve prison overcrowding. "If I get the tools, I'll consider staying," he said.
With Schwarzenegger sitting next to him, Tilton said, "If we go forward, and we get no response (from the Legislature) to the overcrowding problem, I'd be crazy to stay." The reason, he said, was that failing to increase prison capacity would make it extremely difficult to introduce rehabilitation and other programs he said he was "excited about."
Tilton did not respond to a request last week to reveal his plans now that the Legislature has rejected every one of Schwarzenegger's proposals.
09/05/2006 Prison moving inmates out of gym Mason Stockstill, Staff Writer
. . . . The lawmakers' inability to reach consensus on even that proposal - a scaled-down version of a $6 billion package pushed earlier by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - frustrated many.
James Tilton, acting secretary of the department, said that without action, California 's prison system teeters on the edge of disaster. "There is a clear danger in our crowded prisons for staff, inmates and eventually for the community," Tilton said. "I remain concerned that the failure to pass any relief measure will lead us into an emergency situation that critically endangers public safety and needlessly burdens local governments."
September 9, 2006 Inmates may be sent out of state Florida firm interested in taking prisoners is donor to governor.
By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is conducting an inmate survey to see how many prisoners might be interested in serving their time out of state -- and a Florida company that has contributed $90,000 over the years to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says it would be happy to accommodate them.
. . .
Director James Tilton has said the state will run out of bed space by June 2007, at which point it will be forced to stop accepting inmates from counties -- 32 of which are already suffering severe overcrowding problems of their own.
Prision reform remains on lockdown Gubernatorial election, guards' lobby keep issue stalled By Mike Zapler MEDIA NEWS SACRAMENTO BUREAU September 15 ? 2006
James Tilton, who was named the permanent corrections secretary last week after serving in an acting capacity since April, said he believes he made strides during the special session persuading lawmakers that a crisis does in fact exist. He said he'll be prepared to forge ahead next year, particularly on the proposal to build "re-entry" facilities throughout the state to rehabilitate inmates before they're released.
September 19, 2006 GUEST EDITORIAL: An impossible job? He has experience in corrections and in government financial management. It remains to be seen whether that will make James Tilton the effective reformer who can actually clean up California's prison system, part of the problem, or another well-intentioned leader who will quit in frustration after butting heads with the prison guards union and getting lip service from the governor. Last Wednesday Gov. Schwarzenegger appointed Mr. Tilton to head the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation -- the $8 billion a year, 170,000-inmate state prison system. He has been acting chief since April, when Jeanne S. Woodford resigned.
She had held the post since February, when Roderick Q. Hickman, who had held the job for two years, resigned. Both Mr. Hickman and Ms. Woodford dropped strong hints that they were frustrated that political pressures made it nearly impossible to carry out the reform programs they wanted to undertake. To succeed, Mr. Tilton will need the authority to make sweeping changes. There are hopeful signs.
Last month he [Tilton] endorsed the idea of having an independent organization, whether a private group, a university facility or a new state department, handle health care for prison inmates. In April, after a federal judge found that an average of one inmate a week was dying of medical malpractice or neglect, he turned the prison health care over to a federal receiver. Improving health care in the prisons would be a start but only a start. A federal inquiry into conditions at Pelican Bay State Prison uncovered a troubling pattern of abuse and cover-up by prison guards, facilitated by a "code of silence" among guards and the political power of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the prison guards union. Previous administrators have turned a blind eye. At times there has been doubt whether the union or the appointed administrators were really setting policy and running the prisons.
Mr. Tilton will not only have to assert effective authority over the guards union, he will need to begin an array of programs designed to make rehabilitation more than simply a word in the department's title. Ms. Woodford made a start when the former San Quentin warden pushed wardens to encourage Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meeting inside prisons. But that's just a beginning. The recidivism rate -- about half [actually 70%] of California prisoners are back in prison within a few [actually 3] years -- is a sign of failure. Some of those people are no doubt career criminals beyond reach.
But some could be helped with drug and alcohol treatment, vocational education, counseling and better parole supervision. This is not a bleeding-heart idea. Most prisoners leave prison eventually. If a higher percentage is prepared to assume more responsibility for themselves rather than return to crime, California will be a safer place. James Tilton has his work cut out for him. -- The Orange County Register
Sep. 30, 2006 Schwarzenegger vetoes bill expanding media access to prisons
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - For the third year in a row, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Saturday vetoed legislation that would have made it easier for news reporters to arrange interviews with prison inmates. Schwarzengger said a bill by Sen. Gloria Romero, D- Los Angeles , would glamorize murderers and distress crime victims and their families.
"I do not believe violent criminals should be able to traumatize their victims a second time by having unfettered access to the media," Schwarzenegger said in a veto message. But the governor agreed reporters should have more access to a troubled prison system plagued with overcrowding, medical care problems and high recidivism rates. He directed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to issue new regulations allowing greater media access to prisons but restricting access to specific violent criminals.
"We're more than supportive of media coming into prisons, talking to inmates, walking the yards, talking to staff to make sure that the public and everyone else knows what's going on in our prison system," Corrections Secretary James Tilton. More 3,000 inmates have been interviewed by local, national and international media in the last two years, Tilton said.
Media organizations for years have sought expanded access to state prisons, criticizing a regulation that requires a reporter to write to a prisoner to get an interview. Once admitted, reporters have been prohibited from bringing writing or recording equipment.
Tilton said the new regulations would allow media to bring cameras or other recording devices needed to interview inmates.
Romero's bill would have allowed reporters to go through prison officials to set up face-to-face interviews with inmates and prohibited prison officials from recording the interviews.
Former governors Gray Davis, a Democrat, and Pete Wilson, a Republican, vetoed similar legislation.
October 5, 2006 Inmates to be sent out of state Schwarzenegger declares an emergency to ease extreme overcrowding. By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau Jim Tilton, state corrections secretary, said Wednesday that if not enough inmates volunteer to transfer out of California , the state will force some to move.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a prison overcrowding emergency Wednesday in California , paving the way for inmate transfers to out-of-state institutions within a month.
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary James Tilton said that the state is on the verge of signing no-bid, sole-source contracts with three private prison companies and that he expects to begin sending inmates to Indiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Arizona at a rate of 100 to 200 a month within 30 days.
In a recent survey, Tilton said, 19,000 inmates expressed interest in doing their time in other states. He said his immediate goal is to get 5,000 of them to follow through. The corrections secretary indicated at a Capitol press conference that he anticipates no difficulty in getting enough inmates to sign up willingly. "If I was living in a gym with 240 other individuals and had no (educational or vocational) program, I'd probably raise my hand also, to get a chance to get out of that environment and into a safe environment, as well as to get some program," Tilton said. But if he can't recruit enough volunteers, Tilton said, the prison agency will try to force convicts into the transfers, starting with foreign nationals.
. . . . Tilton said he expected the transfers to result in a net cost saving to the state, with the private firms charging about $60 a day on average to house inmates compared to $90 in California . He identified the Corrections Corporation of America , Cornell Corrections and the Geo Group as the private prison companies that will receive the no-bid contracts to handle the initial movement of prisoners to the other states.
Geo had contributed more than $90,000 to Schwarzenegger over the years. Julie Soderlund, a spokeswoman for the governor's re-election campaign, said Wednesday that he recently returned the contributions to the company.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prison5oct05,0,4586437.story?coll=la-home-headlines
October 5, 2006 State Prison Crowding Emergency Declared Schwarzenegger's move could allow forcible transfers of inmates to out-of-state lockups.
By Jenifer Warren, Times Staff Writer,
. . . At a media briefing, Corrections Secretary James Tilton said the troubles are so pervasive that he could not wait for legislators to act. He said the emergency proclamation allows him to skirt the state's cumbersome competitive-bidding process and sign contracts for out-of-state beds quickly. Tilton said officials would begin by transferring volunteers as early as November and, if necessary, create more space later through mandatory moves. Tilton said the state is poised to sign three- to five-year contracts for 2,200 beds at private prisons in Oklahoma , Indiana , Arizona and Tennessee .
An additional 19 states have expressed an interest in housing California 's felons, he said, representing a total of about 10,000 beds in private and government facilities.
Based on early negotiations, Tilton predicted the cost of housing inmates out of state would be less than the in-state costs. The out-of-state facilities would need to provide the same protections to inmates that they receive under California law, Tilton said.
Tilton said he hoped to begin the transfers with 200 male inmates next month and continue transferring 100 to 200 weekly, after a screening process places convicts with facilities that match their security level.
A recent survey by authorities in the prisons suggested that as many as 19,500 convicts were interested in a voluntary transfer, though Tilton said the number may not be solid. "We want to make sure they know that this does not mean early release in Florida ," Tilton quipped, noting that the initial survey, completed by 141,833 inmates, was not a binding agreement.
10/09/2006 Shipping out inmates As long as it's voluntary, it's a good idea
Between campaigning for re-election and vetoing perfectly good legislation this past week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger finally found time to declare prison overcrowding an emergency.
Corrections Secretary James Tilton has said that if he cannot recruit enough volunteers, officials will force transfers, starting with inmates who had previously been deported by the federal government. Next would be inmates who will be paroled outside of California, then inmates with no family or "supportive ties" in the state, followed by inmates with families in other states and then "other inmates as deemed necessary," according to a Sacramento Bee news report.
Oct. 20, 2006 California to spend $51 million to send inmates out of state
DON THOMPSON Associated Press
The three-year contracts allow two-year extensions, which Corrections Secretary James Tilton said will give state lawmakers enough time to consider whether to add more prison cells in California or add programs to trim the inmate population.
10/26/06 Head of state prison system names 3 main obstacles to resolving prison crisis
BAKERSFIELD - The head of the state’s prison system Thursday named three main obstacles to resolving the state’s prison crisis: a shortage of funds, federal mandates, and the influence of the prison guards union. James Tilton, Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spoke this morning before the Little Hoover Commission. The commission held its third and final hearing Thursday, focusing on the progress of reform in the Department of Corrections.
Tilton said prisons are so overcrowded that facilities normally used for rehabilitation are now being used for bed space. “We need to have relief,” said Tilton. “I’ve got over 17,000 inmates, who are housed in unsafe environments. They’re in gymnasiums, they’re in day rooms, extreme situations where we have to reduce that overcrowding. You can’t put programs in place without a safe environment for those programs to operate.”
Tilton said the prison system needs more fun
ding before anything will get better.
October 29, 2006 Editorial: Failing prisons
The Little Hoover Commission's hearing on prison reform Thursday shows why California is sliding slowly but inexorably toward a federal takeover of its prison system. The system simply does not function, and reform is in name only. We've heard the same things for the last 15 years, yet little changes.
When pressed by Little Hoover Commissioner Stanley Zax for a five-year plan to deal with overcrowding and programming, Secretary of Corrections and Rehabilitation Jim Tilton said he'd already done that with the proposals presented to the Legislature in August. Incredible.
The Legislature rejected the department's proposal to launch a new era of prison construction with two new prisons (9,000 beds) and 15,000 new beds at existing prisons -- in a system that already has built 22 prisons in the last 21 years. A Senate committee said in August the proposals "lacked quality analysis" and "traditional information" that should accompany major capital outlay proposals.
Besides, criminal justice experts and independent panels all have said California cannot build itself out of its population management troubles. The hearing showed no sign that the department has done any reconsideration of the failed proposals or launched anything other than temporary fixes for reducing the population, now a record 172,000-plus.
Tilton testified to the Little Hoover Commission, an independent state oversight agency, that if he doesn't get the facilities he wants, he's going to put up a "no vacancy" sign come June 2007.
The secretary touted a $50 million plan for programming -- yet another a "pilot project" for how to move forward with programs, he said. But it will reach only 5 percent of inmates. The department never seems to get beyond the pilot stage. Oh, and this $50 million plan comes after the department cut $95 million in programs. That's progress?
Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, called this one. She testified that the ship is slowly sinking. We know where the holes are. Yet the department repeatedly draws up plans to plug leaks without taking action. Meanwhile, the ship is close to going under. We know what to do and other states have done it, she said, but we just don't do it unless a federal court orders it. The only noticeable reforms have come from court mandates.
The one positive thing that came out of the hearing is that everybody seems to agree that California has an incoherent, piecemeal sentencing system and needs a sentencing commission -- an ongoing, independent body that develops, annually modifies and monitors sentencing guidelines for legislative consideration.
Oct. 19, 2006 Prison guard standards still low By DON THOMPSON Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - The state corrections department has made little progress in improving recruiting standards and training for prison guards since a critical audit 16 months ago, the department's inspector general said Wednesday.
In a written response to the inspector general, Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton agreed there has been ''minimal visible progress'' but said his department has taken preliminary steps. Tilton blamed continuing disagreements with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which has a stake in the training and apprenticeship programs. He said the standards authority is starting to meet regularly now that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed 17 of its 19 members, with the last two vacancies to be filled by next month. ''While transformation is not always visible, significant improvements are being made,'' Tilton wrote Wednesday.
Nov. 09, 2006 Supporters say court ruling won't affect Jessica's Law Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - Supporters of a ballot initiative that slaps tough restrictions on paroled sex offenders say a judge's ruling against parts of it won't dilute its effectiveness.
. . . . Corrections Secretary James Tilton said the residency restrictions and satellite monitoring will be imposed on sex offenders released from prison after the results of Tuesday's election are certified by the secretary of state. The deadline to certify is Dec. 16 [2006].
November 20, 2006 Sentencing panel may get new life Idea hasn't fared well in state, but crowded prisons need relief. By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
Facing a double whammy of a population cap and a court decision that threatens to wipe out the state's sentencing law, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is considering a sentencing commission that would help decide who goes to prison and for how long.
"We are willing to engage in sentencing reform," Corrections Secretary James Tilton said in an interview with The Bee, adding that as part of the discussion, the Schwarzenegger administration is looking at establishing a sentencing commission.
December 6, 2006 Receiver rips prison-reform obstructions By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
California's prison health care czar [Robert Sillen] said in a report Tuesday that he has reached a "pivotal crossroad," with lawmakers failing to act and the state bureaucracy impeding his efforts to fix a system a federal judge found to be unconstitutionally bad.
. . . . Sillen called for the construction of as many as seven medical facilities at existing prison properties around the state to add as many as 10,000 hospital beds for inmates in need of medical or mental health care. The Legislative Analyst's Office put the cost of the medical care beds alone at $3 billion over three to five years.
Dec 7, 2006 Transferring Convicts Out of State by Boston Woodard Insight and analysis from a journalist who is inside the prison system.
. . .
Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton estimated in a report to the receiver that it will take a staff of 130 to plan, design and manage construction of the new facilities. Sillen said in an interview he expects the personnel to be requested in next year's state budget.
In mid October Corrections Chief James Tilton said that sentencing reform was an issue the governor was willing to pursue. He also said that reforms should not be pursued in response to overcrowding, but rather be made "on their own merits." Who cares how its pursued as long as it ---is?
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Boston Woodard is a prisoner/journalist who has written for the San Quentin News and the Soledad Star, and edited The Communicator. The Department of Corrections has pulled the plug on all three publications.
December 11, 2006 The California prison system is so crowded that 16,000 inmates, including these in Sacramento , are assigned cots in hallways and gyms. By
JENNIFER STEINHAUER
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 10 — By nearly every measure, the
California prison system is the most troubled in the nation. Overcrowding, inmate violence, recidivism, parole absconders and the prison medical system are among its many festering problems.
. . . . James E. Tilton, appointed in September by Mr. Schwarzenegger as the secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, described the prison system as a “powder keg” at risk of exploding. “If you look at the characteristics of other states that have riots, we have an environment that is rife with the same,” said Mr. Tilton, who had been the acting secretary since April.
December 13, 2006 Bristling on prison control Assembly's GOP chief opposes 'blank check' for federal overseers. By Andy Furillo and Jim Sanders - Bee Capitol Bureau
Regardless of what the courts do, Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton said the state will be out of bed space by mid- to late summer. Tilton has said the administration is open to the creation of a sentencing commission to establish guidelines on which inmates should and shouldn't be allowed into prison and which ones might be better suited for incarceration alternatives.
California's corrections secretary [James Tilton] said Friday that the state will create a commission to review sentencing guidelines for felons, a potential key step in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to relieve prison crowding. Reform could give judges and parole officers greater discretion and lead to some offenders being released sooner than under current law, Secretary James Tilton told The Associated Press.
The proposal comes five days after a federal judge gave Schwarzenegger a June deadline to ease crowding in the nation's largest state prison system, where more than 173,000 inmates live in space designed for fewer than 100,000. Failure to do so could lead the federal courts to order remedies that include early release of inmates.
Schwarzenegger has endorsed the sentencing commission as he prepares to ask lawmakers next month to approve a building plan that will provide more than 35,000 additional prison beds, Tilton said.
. . . . Since 1977, California has used what is called a determinate sentencing system in which terms for incarceration are relatively fixed. Judges have some leeway based on the nature of the crime and the criminal's history.
Lawmakers and voters have added longer sentences since then through measures such as the "three-strikes" law for repeat offenders. In November, California voters approved tougher penalties for sex offenders [Jessica’s Law].
"We've been adding to it piecemeal...," Tilton said. "Maybe it's time to back up and take a look at it." He said the composition of the commission and the authority it would have to change state law have yet to be determined. It should include experts from academia and law enforcement who would consider sentences, parole terms and basing a period of incarceration on each criminal's risk to society, Tilton said.
January 12, 2007 Mule Creek State Prison to provide bottled water to those impacted by contaminated well water, By Judie Marks
[Supervisor Richard] Forster said county officials also met recently with Jim Tilton, the secretary of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and were assured that the county will be included on the list of regular attendees at future meetings.
The prison director, he said, stated that he wanted Mule Creek to be the model for the rest of the state. One big difference of opinion still remains between the prison system and the county, however, Forster said, because Tilton continues to advance plans for expansion of the prison.
January 16, 2007 Prison plan vexes counties Local jails could be swamped if the state changes how it assigns inmates. By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
Corrections Director Jim Tilton has said the state will run out of all available space sometime this summer.
. . . . Tilton said he has been meeting with sheriffs, other local leaders and legislators to devise a plan to "get through the interim."
Jan. 16, 2007 Running out of room in prisons
Re "Prison plan vexes counties": It is no secret that California prisons are in crisis. In 2005 alone, 233,388 offenders avoided incarceration or were released early from county jails due solely to a lack of space. With 173,000 inmates, the state is expected to run out of all space by this summer and will be forced to shift inmates back to county jails.
In response, the governor's prison reform proposal allocates $5.5 billion to add 50,000 beds to local jails and juvenile facilities. This expansion will allow for low-level adult and juvenile offenders to move out of state prisons and into county facilities.
Studies show that offenders with access to local support networks reoffend less once released. The governor's proposal allows nonviolent offenders to serve their sentences closer to home, helping to reduce recidivism while allowing the state to house the most serious criminals.
It is imperative that state and local governments work together to address the lack of bed space in state and local facilities and provide solutions to ensure public safety.
- James E. Tilton, Sacramento
Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=203533
January 19, 2007 Prison officials get an earful By Judie Marks
Mule Creek State Prison Warden Rich Subia, left, and Jim Tilton, secretary of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, address the crowd during Tuesday's town hall meeting at Ione Junior High.
Tilton, the secretary of the state's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told the crowd that when he was appointed to his post in September, he was aware of the problems. "We need to get some attention on the system - on the overcrowding, on the facilities that have not been maintained, that are overtaxed," he said. Tilton said the governor's new proposal for $10.9 billion for prisons would include funds to provide 78,000 new beds, as well as money to relieve overcrowding at the county jails.
"Almost 20,000 inmates are being housed in dayrooms, gymnasiums and locations not designed for inmates to be living in," he said, later calling them, "bad beds." "Together we can go to the legislature with people like Sen. Cox to get the resources necessary to address these issues," Tilton told the gathering.
"I want to demonstrate to you that I want to be a good partner with you in the community," he said. "I am here to listen to you, to identify what mitigation measures the prison needs to address."
When one speaker urged Tilton to commit himself to do more than listen, the secretary noted that there is "a little over $300,000 in the pot" for mitigation measures in the city and county. [What does that mean?]
SOLEDAD, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling for $10 billion to increase the capacity of the state's prisons, and that could mean more inmates in Soledad .
On Friday, the governor's secretary of prisons, James Tilton, came to Soledad to meet with city leaders about the potential impacts for the city. Tilton said Salinas Valley State Prison could expand by more than 400 beds. City leaders said 400 more inmates cut put a strain on the city's sewage treatment plant, which is already being overburdened by the prison.
Soledad officials told Tilton the state should help city with sewage and traffic improvements if they want to expand the prison. The improvements could cost more than $22 million and Tilton said he is willing to work with the city. "To the extent we can justify that cost being driven by the prison, we will certainly work with communities and move through the legislature to try and fund those issues," Tilton said.
. . . . One city planner said if the state does not provide adequate funding, the city might have no option but to stop providing sewer service to the prison. If that were the case, the prison would have to process its own sewage, which would be more costly.
In California 's troubled penal system, there are few bright spots. But the Prison Industry Authority may be one: The $200-million-a-year program trains some 6,000 who inmates do everything from grinding eyeglass lenses to milking cows to making license plates
. . . . Jim Tilton, California 's top prison official and [note this] head of the PIA board, agrees. "It is one of the bright spots for me because PIA is outside the [state] budget and self-supporting," he said.
"There has always been that pushback," he added, referring to the concerns of private enterprise. "Sometimes it's that the prices are too high, sometimes it's that there is the discussion that you are taking away jobs from private citizens. There is always that conflict."
The first transfers could start within days, although administrative appeals by inmates could delay some for up to 10 weeks. Corrections Secretary James Tilton said the action is needed to relieve overcrowding that threatens the safety of guards and inmates in the nation's largest state prison system.
"We are severely overcrowded, and the need for more space is absolutely critical," Tilton said in a statement. "These transfers allow us to improve the safety of inmates and correctional officers while avoiding the potential of being unable to accept new inmates. This decision is being made to protect public safety."
"We will continue to seek volunteer inmates who are willing to serve their sentences in other states," Tilton said in the statement. "But we also will begin to move inmates involuntarily so that they are no longer sleeping in gymnasiums, day rooms and other inappropriate areas of the prisons and to delay the possibility of running out of beds for new inmates."
"We are severely overcrowded and the need for more space is absolutely critical," prisons chief James E. Tilton said in a statement. "These transfers allow us to improve the safety of inmates and correctional officers while avoiding the potential of being unable to accept new inmates.
"This decision is being made to protect public safety." "It has to be a better option for us to move them to a better environment vs. the option of putting them on the street," Tilton said
Tilton said pressure from gang leaders has undermined inmate interest in the out-of-state transfers, but Folsom inmates opposed to the program said Monday they're only trying to educate their fellow convicts.
"This is our community," said inmate Lafayette Nelson, 55, standing in the middle of a group of about a dozen inmates on the Folsom yard. "If people are not clear about this program, we're supposed to make them aware."
"I'm very pleased that the warden has stood up and said, 'We can do this now out of existing facilities,'" said James Tilton, secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, who was at San Quentin prison Friday for the unveiling of the expanded program. Tilton said the program is evidence of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's intention to implement comprehensive prison reform.
Schwarzenegger also has tried to address prison overcrowding in other ways. He has asked lawmakers to approve an $11 billion building plan for new prison space and health care units and to consider changing the state's sentencing and parole laws.
Tilton said relief from those measures would be years away, and the department has no other immediate options except the transfers.
Sacramento -- After decades of sending lawbreakers to giant, remote prisons, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing for a major change that would shift thousands of inmates to smaller facilities much closer to the state's urban centers.
"We were the best when the goal was to build them as big as we could and as fast as we could,'' said Jim Tilton, a longtime corrections administrator who became head of the department last year. Tilton now says the building binge -- in which California created some of the largest prison campuses in the world -- was a mistake.
California's corrections infrastructure is simply not designed to do anything other than warehouse inmates and is a contributing factor to the state's nation-leading recidivism rate, Tilton argues. Seven out of every 10 California inmates return to prison for a new crime or parole violation.
Tilton said the idea is to send inmates to re-entry centers in the last year of their term. There, they would be entered into programs ranging from drug treatment to job training that would continue for several months after they are released. By housing inmates in a secure facility in the county they are from, the counselors and job trainers could work with a prisoner both behind bars and as he gets out, Tilton said, something that is impossible if an inmate does his entire prison term in a facility hours from where he will be on parole
February 20, 2007 Judge Rules Calif. Inmate Transfers Illegal. The Governor Said He Would Immediately Appeal the Ruling. Taxpayers to Spend Billions on CA Prison Reform. CBS13 Explores The Prison Overcrowding Crisis
(AP) SACRAMENTO A state judge ruled Tuesday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to transfer inmates out of state to relieve severe prison overcrowding is illegal.
While the legal fight continues, Tilton said his corrections department still plans to transfer between 100 and 200 additional inmates who volunteered to go to other states. The department will then begin transferring inmates against their will, Tilton said, though Alexander warned that could lead to increased prison violence.
Tilton said he was also checking with county sheriffs to see if there was any jail space available to use for state prisoners. "We will evaluate every available facility," Tilton said.
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/126484.html
February 21, 2007 Prison plan dealt defeat
Officials to seek a stay of a judge's ruling that out-of-state inmate transfers are 'unlawful.' By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
"My advice right now is that we have to take action to get this order lifted," Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton said in an interview after Ohanesian's ruling.
Ohanesian stayed her own ruling for 10 days Tuesday. Attorneys for the state said they will seek a longer stay of the order pending the appeal. If they get it, Tilton said he would proceed with transfers of inmates "as long as we have available beds" in other states.
"If we have to bring them back, we'll bring them back," Tilton said. "If we're allowed to legally (transfer the inmates), we'll keep transferring until we're told not to."
Tilton said the state will have a "significant problem" housing the inmates if the agency loses the appeal and the prisoners are ordered back.
Five months ago, lawmakers refused to heed Corrections Secretary James Tilton's call for new construction. Tilton has been criticized for providing little more than repeated "pilot" projects to test new theories.
http://www.dailynews.com/antelopevalley/ci_5344508
03/02/2007 Tilton calls for prison reform Lancaster lockup is overcrowded BY GIDEON RUBIN, Staff Writer
LANCASTER - Standing in an overcrowded cell block next to makeshift double-bunked beds as the stench of body odor wafted about Friday, California's head prison administrator said conditions at Lancaster's state prison were an embarrassment.
"This is inappropriate," said James E. Tilton, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "An inmate should have an opportunity to serve his time, have productive activities and try to improve his life."
Tilton toured the facility to support Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's prison-reform package, which features a $10.9 billion expansion program that its backers say is needed to fix a beleaguered system.
"If you want to give me the inmates, give me the budget," Tilton said at a news conference after the tour.
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/133513.html
March 6, 2007 Governor says only judicial threat will push Capitol into prison action
By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
NORCO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that he welcomes the threat of a federal judge imposing a prison population cap in California and that the strong prospect of the courts ordering early inmate releases might be the only thing that can trigger action by an ideologically-burdened Legislature.
"I like the idea of a federal judge threatening us, because this is the only way that in our Capitol there will be action created," Schwarzenegger said in a brief interview after a short tour he had just completed at a prison in the heart of the Southern California media market. "Because for 10 years now, before I came in, they've been fighting about the same problem. They haven't built anything in a decade [Wrong! What about KVSP? And other prisons before that (?)], but we've seen this increase in inmates. So something is going to happen because of the judge telling us that he's going to take action if we don't."
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070315/news_lz1e15tilton.html
March 15, 2007 An urgent need to fix our prisons By James E. Tilton
Everyone knows that California's prison and jail systems are in the midst of an overcrowding crisis due to years of neglect. What you may not know is this: If California doesn't take immediate action, federal judges may force the early release of dangerous criminals into your community.
The time for inaction is over. The time for government, citizens and law enforcement to fix our prison problem is now.
The overcrowding crisis is well documented. In state prisons more than 16,000 inmates are double-and triple-bunked in gymnasiums, day rooms and other facilities never intended to house inmates – eliminating space for rehabilitation programs. In county jails, 18,000 criminals a month are released early or serve no time at all because of court-mandated population caps.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took the lead on corrections reform immediately after taking office. He launched an independent review of California 's prisons that led to the reorganization of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Last summer he called a special session of the Legislature to deal with prison reform. He declared a state of emergency on inmate overcrowding and pushed to transfer prisoners out of state. Unfortunately, these strategies have been stalled by courts and political inaction.
Undeterred, this year the governor is bringing legislative leaders, local government and law enforcement together to forge solutions. Local communities, where inmates will eventually return, also must become part of the solution. The general public can't afford its out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality on locked-up felons any longer. There are currently 60,000 prisoners who have less than three years on their terms, and California has a 70 percent recidivism rate. Without more space and better rehabilitation, about 42,000 of these inmates will re-offend, creating many new victims.
The governor's prison reforms address the corrections systems' short-and long-term issues in a systemic way, acknowledging that while overcrowding is our most immediate concern, California can't just build its way out of this problem.
His reforms invest $10.9 billion to expand California 's prison and jail capacity; expand rehabilitation so that inmates have tools to succeed upon release; establish a sentencing commission to ensure the time fits the crime; and address our parole structure so that offenders are properly monitored upon release.
The first phase of the governor's reforms would put 78,000 new beds in state and local facilities. If approved, the first 16,000 state prison beds would be built on existing sites, and be operational within 18 to 24 months. An additional 50,000 beds would be constructed locally to relieve county jail overcrowding and allow lower-level, nonviolent and juvenile inmates to serve their terms in their home communities where they have built-in support systems. Under the governor's proposal, another 5,000 to 7,000 state beds would also be built in smaller, secure re-entry facilities, and 10,000 in small medical facilities statewide.
The governor's plan significantly invests in rehabilitation programs, such as substance-abuse treatment, anger management and vocational training.
Public safety is your government's most important job. Reforming California 's corrections system is something that all government officials and the citizens they represent should take part in. With three federal judges threatening to force the early release of criminals if concrete steps are not taken to reduce overcrowding, it is critical that the governor's comprehensive reform package is acted on – now.
The op-ed column written by James Tilton on March 15, 2007 is just the continuing saga of fear mongering and scare tactics to get the public to support the Governor's $11 billion prison "reform" bill. Releasing the sick, elderly and those close to their release date does not threaten any citizen. It is an outrage to spend this kind of money on prison building rather than education and rehabilitation. It is further outrageous to use BORROWED money and mortgage our future generations.
While the Governor's prison reform plans appears to be different from the past, its main components are essentially the same whereby we reward the CCPOA for their inadequate performance by increasing prison beds by 78,000. We don't need new prisons or new beds, we need sentencing reform. How are they going to staff this "idea" when they cannot adequately staff the current system? Lastly, rehabilitation is part of the CDCr's name, yet none is taking place.
This is a critical component of prison reform. A great majority of prisoners are trainable and able to benefit from rehabilitation. Job skills, which lead to better self esteem, will allow individuals to be released back into society as productive and contributing citizens. Punishment alone does not work. California is living proof of this...we have a 70% of our parolees return to prison. This is not success! We cannot build ourselves out of this problem. Let's try something different since status quo is not working.
SACRAMENTO - Hundreds of recently paroled sex offenders are being housed for weeks at a time in hotels throughout California , a year after lawmakers complained about the practice.
. . . . "The whole accusation that we were sneaking people into communities -- there was some truth to that," Corrections Secretary James Tilton told reporters after addressing the summit.
Tilton said the department now views its role as helping communities decide where to place offenders, rather than independently finding them homes.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_5588716
04/03/2007 'I expected what I saw' Chino mayor, corrections secretary visit crowded CIM
By Shelli DeRobertis, Staff Writer
CHINO - A top state official saw for himself the cramped and hot conditions of the California Institution for Men in a special tour past prison beds Tuesday.
Tilton said CIM's staff was doing a great job keeping an eye on inmates under the severe conditions, but that it was a waste of taxpayers' money. Many of the inmates in the "bad beds" are parolees that have returned, and he said the state needs to get a facility to house them. "We need a better way to deal with that instead of sending them to prison," he said. "We've done nothing to assist them. They should stay in the community." Tilton said if the parolees are taken off the streets, there should be a short-term, fully programed facility to house them, rather than put them in a prison.
April 13, 2007 Prison plan takes a beating. Senator says governor's $10.9 billion blueprint is sketchy, but official says sites still being analyzed. By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
The state Senate's point man on the prison budget ripped the Schwarzenegger administration's $10.9 billion corrections expansion plan Thursday as "incomplete, inadequate and unacceptable."
Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton sat in front of Machado while the San Joaquin County lawmaker criticized what he characterized as an incomplete effort on the part of the administration. The secretary disagreed that the governor's proposals were so terribly undercooked, saying that the broad outlines of the plan give plenty to lawmakers to go on for the time being. The fine print will be forthcoming once corrections officials conduct further siting analysis at the assorted locations where they want to expand or build, Tilton said.
. . . . "The primary focus of this package is to find different ways to deal with this population that is churning through the prisons," Tilton said.
05/16/2007 Prison health advocate seeks expanded powers
OVERCROWDING DELAYING MEDICAL CARE REFORMS, APPOINTEE SAYS
By Edwin Garcia, MediaNews Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO - The court-appointed state prison medical-care czar suggested Tuesday that his role be expanded to include overseeing prison construction and the hiring of correctional officers.
Corrections Secretary James Tilton withheld criticism of Sillen, a former Santa Clara County public hospital administrator who has been given unprecedented authority and an unlimited budget by a federal court judge to drastically improve medical care in the state's 33 prisons. "My responsibility is to run the department, and I very much want to coordinate with his efforts to provide both the staff and facilities, to provide access to care," Tilton said in an interview. "We have the same goal there, and I plan on working with him."
Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton, deputy legal affairs secretary Louis Mauro and other administration officials held a telephone press conference to announce their plans to comply with a federal court order that sought an update on the state's efforts to reduce overcrowding in the prisons.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/16/BAGGNPRJT11.DTL
May 16, 2007 SACRAMENTO Call for more guards at state prisons Greg Lucas, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
James Tilton, Schwarzenegger's Cabinet secretary for prisons, said Monday he objects to Sillen taking control of hiring new prison guards.
"I think it's my responsibility to hire correctional officers," said Tilton, adding that the academies training new prison guards are full.
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Severe prison crowding is complicating efforts to improve California 's abysmal inmate health care system, a court-appointed receiver warned Tuesday in a report that also said any remedies will be costly.
Corrections Secretary James Tilton said the plan approved by Schwarzenegger and the Legislature will improve conditions for inmates. He noted that it includes 8,000 medical beds for the prison health care system and $50 million for rehabilitation, drug treatment and vocational education programs.
. . . . Sillen already manages the hiring of medical workers but said he also should directly oversee the state's efforts to recruit prison guards. The state cannot hire enough guards and medical staff to properly handle inmates now, Sillen said, and the problem will get worse as more inmates are added to the system.
Tilton objected to that proposal, saying it is his responsibility to hire guards.
http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48723439_california_california_responds_federal_courts_plan_reduce_prison_overcrowding
05/21/2007 California Responds to Federal Courts with Plan to Reduce Prison Overcrowding
05/16/2007 -- Today the state of California detailed its aggressive, comprehensive plan to reduce overcrowding in California's prisons in a court filing with a federal judge contemplating whether an inmate population cap is warranted. State attorneys filed the brief in response to U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson's February 15, 2007 order in the case of Plata v. Schwarzenegger. The state argued that the new prison reforms in AB 900, coupled with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's (CDCR) administrative parole reforms
*, should pre-empt the need for further court intervention.
"The state is working on many fronts to reduce overcrowding in California 's prisons," said Secretary Jim Tilton, CDCR. "We will be utilizing all of the tools at our disposal to implement the new reforms, and ensure that public safety is protected."
*Prior practice within the Division of Adult Parole Operation (DAPO) resulted in fewer parolees being discharged from parole at the 13th and 25th months than is allowed by California Penal Code Section 300l. DAPO is issuing a memorandum clarifying when parolees must be released from parole under state law. Historically, DAPO discharged approximately 13,800 parolees annually at the 13th month, and 5,000 at the 25th month. Based on the revised practice, it is anticipated that there will be an additional discharge of between 2,000 and 4,000 parolees from parole in the next 12 months. By discharging more parolees from supervision, CDCR expects to experience a reduction in the number of parolees returned to custody for technical parole violations.
. . . . California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary James Tilton, who supports fixing the system's medical component, acknowledged a sometimes-awkward relationship with Sillen, because the receiver can make widespread decisions for the agency, which Tilton then has to implement. "It's fair to say that Mr. Sillen has a clear mandate from the court, and I want to make sure that I'm not a barrier to that," Tilton said, "because I don't want him to throw me in jail and hold me in contempt."
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/49145.html
05/22/07 Inmate laborers compete for work. State labor group's food-packaging move worries small business. By E.J. Schultz and Robert Rodriguez / The Fresno Bee
Though it operates freely, the PIA still must hold a public hearing before going into a new business. It also must "take into consideration the effect of a proposed enterprise on California industry."
Small businesses say the authority failed to do either in the case of peanut butter and jelly. PIA rejects the claim, saying they fulfilled the mandate when they first approved the overall food packaging enterprise at a board meeting in October 2002.
But, at the urging of private suppliers and lawmakers, Corrections Secretary James Tilton has agreed to accept testimony on the matter at today's PIA board hearing in Corcoran, according to a letter he sent to Arambula. Tilton sits on the PIA board.
. . . . Michael Keating, the special master overseeing treatment of the system's estimated 30,000 mentally ill inmates, said prison officials have been making progress in their efforts to prevent inmate suicides. In a report this month to U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento, he said the progress "is still too early to evaluate fully."
Keating faulted the state for not moving quickly enough to build more exercise yards and said some guards are cheating when they record how frequently they conduct the suicide checks. But he also praised officials for expanding the use of the 30-minute checks to the first three weeks after an inmate is placed in segregation, instead of just the first 72 hours, when the danger is highest. Some inmates also are now allowed to have radios or televisions while in isolation.
"We are hopeful, of course," said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. But she added, "We all feel it is way too soon to say whether all of these things are working."
Prison overcrowding also contributed to the soaring number of suicides the last two years, said attorney Jane Kahn, who represents inmates in a class-action lawsuit. "It is incredibly overcrowded, understaffed and locked down, with inadequate mental health care," she said.
Corrections Secretary James Tilton said the central effort to solve the problem is the $7.8 billion prison and county jail building program recently passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. That program, coupled with transferring thousands of inmates to private prisons in other states, will free space for treatment and rehabilitation programs, Tilton said.
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/202940.html
June 2, 2007 Inmates shifted to Arizona . State resumes policy of transfers out of state, even as courts wrestle with legality. By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
State corrections officials resumed transferring inmates to out-of-state prisons Friday, moving 38 convicts by bus to Arizona .
"Temporary out-of-state inmate transfers will provide immediate relief to California 's prison system while the rest of the governor's comprehensive reforms are implemented," Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton said in a prepared statement.
Tilton said the transfers "will also give us breathing room" to try to pick up the system's rehabilitation effort and also to help improve its medical delivery system, which a San Francisco federal judge has declared unconstitutional.
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/231727.html
June 20, 2007 Parole policy change pushed. Panel to urge that fewer violators be returned to prison. By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
The California Rehabilitation Oversight Board - including, from left, Dr. Stephen Mayberg, Reneé Zito, Matt Cate, James Tilton and Susan Turner - meets Tuesday at California State University , Sacramento . The panel is reviewing prison school and job-training programs.
Sacramento Bee/Randall Benton
Seeking to free up space for inmate rehabilitation, a state panel reviewing prison school and job-training programs will recommend that California stop re-incarcerating some low-risk parole violators, the group's chairwoman said Tuesday.
The panel chairwoman, Joan Petersilia, a consultant to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration on prison rehabilitation policy, said the proposed change would reduce the state's prison population by as many as 5,000 to 7,000 inmates over the next year and make more room for inmates who would get more out of the programs.
. . . . But even the re-entry space, Petersilia said, shouldn't be used to house technical parole violators. Offenders who only violate the technical terms of their release -- but don't commit new crimes -- shouldn't be returned to prison, according to Petersilia. Instead, they need to be put on "a separate track" in community programs with intermediate sanctions, she said.
Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton said in an interview that short-term parole violators make up "a population we think we can serve with re-entry." He said the Schwarzenegger administration is not prepared to offer a wholesale endorsement of a plan to cut back on the reincarceration of low-risk parole violators. He added, however, that "we do want to ask the question, before we ... send them back on a bunk for five months, whether we can be better served by putting them in a program" outside prison.
SACRAMENTO—Of the roughly $43,000 California spends annually to house each of its prison inmates, just 5 percent goes toward rehabilitation programs. That will have to change—in a big way—if the state is reduce its inmate population and avoid a federal court takeover of its troubled prison system, according to a report released Friday. New programs and policies for inmates and ex-cons could eliminate the need for as many as 48,000 prison beds, the report said. . . . Read the report at
http://www.corr.ca.gov/
. . . . In response to the report, Corrections Secretary James Tilton ruled out reducing inmates' sentences and releasing them early as an incentive for completing various programs. But he did embrace lesser incentives, such as increased visitation rights, long-distance telephone calls or vouchers inmates can use to purchase goods. He also said the state needs to take other steps, such as finding community treatment programs for parole violators who now are sent back to prison for a few months. "They test dirty for drugs, put them in a drug treatment program" instead of a prison cell, he said.
June 30, 2007 Report offers prison fixes Panel urges rehabilitation credit and parole rule change to reduce inmates. By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
A panel of corrections experts reported Friday that California can cut its inmate population by 27 percent and save nearly $1 billion a year with a few recommended parole and prison rehabilitation fixes that state officials appear ready to embrace.
The 198-page report, commissioned last year in the state budget and conducted under the auspices of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, laid out a road map leading to a promised land of prison population reduction if the state: • Expands time credits for offenders who complete vocational, educational, drug treatment and other programs. • Better assesses convicts' risks and needs and puts them in the right prison programs. • Stops returning low-risk offenders to prison on technical violations of their parole.
Corrections Director Jim Tilton told reporters at a news conference where the report was unveiled that the administration views it as "a starting point" for a new way in which his agency will work rehabilitation programs into the fabric of its prison and parole operations.
"This is not going to be one of those reports that you put on the shelf and we say, 'Thank you for your information,' and there it sits," Tilton said. "This is going to be very much the initiation of action by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation."
The report recommended strategies that, if enacted, "would reduce the number of prison beds that California needs by 42,000 to 48,000," according to its executive summary. The system currently houses about 173,000 inmates. Savings gained through the population reduction would range from $848 million to $996 million, the report said.
Marisela Montes, the corrections agency's chief deputy secretary for adult programs, said the report anticipates a two-year rollout period.
"I think we're prepared to hit the ground running," she said. "We've been positioned in the department to move in this direction, and we're just very excited to be here at this junction today."
The report, entitled "A Roadmap for Effective Offender Programming in California ," was released two days after two federal judges held a hearing in Sacramento to consider taking steps toward imposing a state prison population cap.
Although the report will not affect the pending decision by U.S. District Court Judges Thelton Henderson and Lawrence Karlton on whether to create a three-judge court to consider the population limit, it could play a large role if the court is empaneled and is looking for a way to reduce the number of inmates.
"It shows that there are ways the state can easily and voluntarily reduce the prison population relatively quickly without endangering public safety, and I hope they do that," said Donald Specter of the Prison Law Office, who filed one of the motions that led to Wednesday's hearing. "If they do, it will reduce the need for a court to do it for them." The report could help a three-judge court determine "how something could be structured to reduce overcrowding," he said.
Huge population reductions such as those envisioned in the report also come less than two months after the Legislature passed and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a $7.9 billion bill to build 53,000 more jail and prison beds in the state.
State Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden, the author of the bill, said that "absolutely you can scale back" the magnitude of the construction program if it turns out the beds aren't needed. "We don't need to build for the sake of building," he said.
One recommendation in the report's recommendations will need legislative action to take effect. It calls for a new method to motivate prisoners to "successfully complete their rehabilitation program requirements" and obey prison rules. The incentive: four months off their terms, on top of time credits they're already getting.
Machado said he would "take a look" at the provision, and if the evidence warrants it, "work to make it happen." "There are those of us in the Legislature who stand ready to assist them and give them that flexibility," Machado said.
Republican Assemblyman Todd Spitzer of Orange , chairman of the lower house's select committee on prisons, did not specifically address the time credit issue. He said the report "does make significant and important recommendations" concerning "the current state of programs in our prisons."
"We do need to move corrections in a direction that focuses on and allows for significant rehabilitation, but let's not take the focus out of corrections," Spitzer said, adding that the state's emphasis on punishment in its prisons has reduced crime over the past decade. [This is not true!]
Spitzer said he has no problem with the state reducing the number of parolees it re-incarcerates on technical violations of the terms of their release, such as missing meetings with their parole agents or leaving their assigned counties of residence without authorization. But he said the administrative move needs to be coupled with an improved "tool" to assess which inmates benefit, "and there's going to be a lot of discussion (in the Legislature) about what that tool is." [Issue: Don’t these “tools” discriminate against many who could benefit from programs solely on the basis of a perceived or assumed risk? It seems that they provide the CDC with an excuse for providing programs to a select few. What does the Prison Law Office think of these “tools”?]
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