California Democrats are pressuring Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) to close more prisons as the state aims to reduce its budget and prison population.
Assembly leaders released their 2023 budget plan last week, shortly after Newsom unveiled his revised
California 2023-24 budget plan
. The California Legislature must reach a budget deal by June 15.
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The Assembly plan presses the Newsom administration to announce five additional prison closures by 2027. The proposal suggests that this increase is needed due to the increased number of unused prison beds, with the subcommittee report, released by Democratic Assembly Budget Chairman Phil Ting of San Francisco, estimating that there are about 20,000 unoccupied beds.
Ting has been a staunch supporter of the prison closures in the past, noting the Assembly’s budget blueprint last year that adding three prison closures by 2025 could save the state “up to $500 million annually and avoids billions in capital expenses.” The newly released 2023 report adds two more prison closures to the subcommittee’s previous proposal.
Under Newsom’s revised proposal, originally released in January, he seeks to decrease the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation budget by over $100 million.
During his time in office, Newsom has already identified four prisons to shut down.
The Newsom administration shut down the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy in 2021, and the California Correctional Center in Lassen County is expected to close by June 30. Two other prisons in Blythe and California City are expected to close by 2025.
In March, Newsom
announced
his hefty $380 million plans to reform San Quentin State Prison, California’s oldest prison, transforming the facility into a rehabilitation and education center by 2025.
Under Newsom’s new budget many grants are cut, including $50 million from the Public Defense Pilot Program passed in 2021 to correct over-sentencing.
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Newsom received backlash from prison rights advocates and public defenders, with Alameda County public defender
Brendon Woods
calling the news “shocking, devastating and shameful.”
However, the Democratic Assembly plan rejects the reduction of the general fund for the Public Defense program, pushing Newsom to restore the funding.
