Gavin Newsom wants to close prisons as coronavirus shreds California’s budget

The coronavirus pandemic and state budget woes are pushing California toward its first prison closures in nearly two decades.

In a revised budget plan unveiled this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed shuttering two state prisons within the next three years, ultimately saving the state about $400 million annually.

That’s a much faster timeline than the governor envisioned just a few months ago. His original budget in January proposed closing one prison in the next five years, if the inmate population continued its decade-long decline.

Now the state is facing a projected $54 billion deficit through the next fiscal year, and tens of billions more in years to come, because of the pandemic-induced economic recession. Funding for schools, universities and health care programs is likely to suffer. Newsom is looking everywhere for solutions, including changes that could allow thousands of inmates to earn a quicker release, positioning California to close a prison for the first time since 2003.

“It’s my intention to shut down a state prison to continue to invest more and more in education,” Newsom said during a news conference May 14. “It’s a core value.”

But political obstacles loom, from negotiations with influential labor unions to fears that freeing inmates would lead to a spike in crime.

Scott Kernan, a former corrections secretary under Gov. Jerry Brown, said that while he understood the budget pressure, it would be counterproductive to send more prisoners home when programs to help them transition back to society are under their own financial strains.

“It’s a completely terrible idea to reduce all services available to inmates coming out of prison and then accelerate the release of inmates,” he said. Read more >>>