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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

California Prison Spending Gobbles Up $8 Billion From Budget

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Monday, March 3, 2008   

Los Angeles, CA - When it comes to funding prisons, California is the undisputed leader. At nearly $9 billion, the state spent almost three times more than Texas, which has a larger prison population. A new study finds one out of every 100 Americans is now in prison, and it questions what California taxpayers are getting for their money. Adam Gelb with the Pew Center on the States says California's leaders need to look at more effective and efficient ways to keep the public safe.

"The large prison population is a result of policy choices that put more offenders in prison and kept them there longer. California is no different than the rest of the country. You have 171,000 people behind bars and the prison population has more than doubled in the past 20 years."

The study found some states are lowering costs and still protecting the public by reducing prison sentences for non-violent offenders and investing in alternatives to incarceration. Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed the early release of 20,000 low-risk offenders as a way to save money. Critics say that would defeat the purpose of rehabilitation and send the wrong message.

Gelb says almost 70 percent of California's inmates are back in prison within three years of being released.

"California has the highest recidivism rate in the country. And not necessarily for committing new crimes, but rather for failing to show up for a treatment session or failing a drug test. What other states are doing is figuring out ways to hold these people accountable by means other than putting them back in an expensive prison cell."

The study is entitled "One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008" and can be viewed at www.pewtrusts.org. More details of Governor Schwarzenegger's early release plan can be found at gov.ca.gov.


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