3 ms·

Correction: contractors are fleecing tax payers.

Shivetya 9y ago
Correction : Union. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association is very powerful in state and local elections and through association with other providers who are also union pretty much have the state on the ropes. Contractors might be part of the problem but they only are as much as CCPOA allows for. As in, you play by their rules or you don't get to play. Same reason we spend so much on education and don't see improvement. Nothing is about the prisoner or the student, it is all about political control
- pessimizer 9y ago
  Prisons are not expensive due to high salaries for prison guards, so I'm not sure why you think it's the union's fault.
  - nilved 9y ago
    Well, that's one part of it.
  - HillaryBriss 9y ago
    Apparently, California's prison guard union (CCPOA) has a history of lobbying against measures that would reduce the prisoner population and/or reduce state spending on prisons: 1994: With the help of CCPOA’s $101,000 support, Californians passed Proposition 184, the nation’s toughest three-strikes law mandating 25-years-to-life sentences for most felony offenders with two previous serious convictions. 2000: The CCPOA contributes at least $75,000 to the opponents of Proposition 36, the 2000 initiative that replaced incarceration with substance abuse treatment for certain nonviolent offenders. 2004: The CCPOA spends over $1 million to defeat Prop 66, the initiative that would have limited the crimes that triggered a life sentence under the Three Strikes law. 2005: The CCPOA defeats Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan to “reduce the prison population by as much as 20,000, mainly through a program that diverted parole violators into rehabilitation efforts: drug programs, halfway houses and home detention.” 2008: The CCPOA contributes $2 million to Jerry Brown’s gubernatorial campaign. The CCPOA contributes $1 million against Prop 5, a measure to reduce prison overcrowding by providing treatment rather than prison sentences for nonviolent drug users. Source: http://californiapolicycenter.org/the-role-of-the-prison-guards-union-in-californias-troubled-prison-system/ http://californiapolicycenter.org/the-role-of-the-prison-gua...
- FullMtlAlcoholc 9y ago
  Prison guards aren't regularly raking in six figures, they make on average less than police officers. Ultimately, I think you've got it the other way around. Prisons don't build themselves, contracts are put out for their construction, their vastly overpriced buses, cells, etc. For example, the absolutely disgusting and dehumanizing water fountain/toilet combo, ensuring that every sip you take you smell and taste feces, costs $2600 while a normal stainless steel toilet runs about $250. Also, private prisons gain the benefits of a conscripted labor force without having to worry about slavery laws. Corps have co-opted the unions to vote in their interest. After all, they have the carrot of offering a nice, kushy corporate gig. That prison guard's pension isn't going too far. Follow the money
  - greeneggs 9y ago
    "More than a third of officers [at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] make more than $100,000 a year." http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sdut-prison-population-down-payroll-up-2015mar25-htmlstory.html http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sdut-priso... (dated 3/25/2015)
    - jayd16 9y ago
      That doesn't seem very outrageous. Even at $500m in overtime that's only 5% of the total prison budget. You'd probably have to hire up to counter the overtime cost so its not like its more than a few percentage points of waste.

Correction : Union. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association is very powerful in state and local elections and through association with other providers who are also union pretty much have the state on the ropes. Contractors might be part of the problem but they only are as much as CCPOA allows for. As in, you play by their rules or you don't get to play. Same reason we spend so much on education and don't see improvement. Nothing is about the prisoner or the student, it is all about political control

pessimizer 9y ago
Prisons are not expensive due to high salaries for prison guards, so I'm not sure why you think it's the union's fault.
- nilved 9y ago
  Well, that's one part of it.
- HillaryBriss 9y ago
  Apparently, California's prison guard union (CCPOA) has a history of lobbying against measures that would reduce the prisoner population and/or reduce state spending on prisons: 1994: With the help of CCPOA’s $101,000 support, Californians passed Proposition 184, the nation’s toughest three-strikes law mandating 25-years-to-life sentences for most felony offenders with two previous serious convictions. 2000: The CCPOA contributes at least $75,000 to the opponents of Proposition 36, the 2000 initiative that replaced incarceration with substance abuse treatment for certain nonviolent offenders. 2004: The CCPOA spends over $1 million to defeat Prop 66, the initiative that would have limited the crimes that triggered a life sentence under the Three Strikes law. 2005: The CCPOA defeats Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan to “reduce the prison population by as much as 20,000, mainly through a program that diverted parole violators into rehabilitation efforts: drug programs, halfway houses and home detention.” 2008: The CCPOA contributes $2 million to Jerry Brown’s gubernatorial campaign. The CCPOA contributes $1 million against Prop 5, a measure to reduce prison overcrowding by providing treatment rather than prison sentences for nonviolent drug users. Source: http://californiapolicycenter.org/the-role-of-the-prison-guards-union-in-californias-troubled-prison-system/ http://californiapolicycenter.org/the-role-of-the-prison-gua...
FullMtlAlcoholc 9y ago
Prison guards aren't regularly raking in six figures, they make on average less than police officers. Ultimately, I think you've got it the other way around. Prisons don't build themselves, contracts are put out for their construction, their vastly overpriced buses, cells, etc. For example, the absolutely disgusting and dehumanizing water fountain/toilet combo, ensuring that every sip you take you smell and taste feces, costs $2600 while a normal stainless steel toilet runs about $250. Also, private prisons gain the benefits of a conscripted labor force without having to worry about slavery laws. Corps have co-opted the unions to vote in their interest. After all, they have the carrot of offering a nice, kushy corporate gig. That prison guard's pension isn't going too far. Follow the money
- greeneggs 9y ago
  "More than a third of officers [at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] make more than $100,000 a year." http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sdut-prison-population-down-payroll-up-2015mar25-htmlstory.html http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sdut-priso... (dated 3/25/2015)
  - jayd16 9y ago
    That doesn't seem very outrageous. Even at $500m in overtime that's only 5% of the total prison budget. You'd probably have to hire up to counter the overtime cost so its not like its more than a few percentage points of waste.