Safety in California hinges on continuing to close prisons, fund crime prevention

OPINION – As both a survivor of violent crime and someone who has had loved ones who are incarcerated, I commend Gov. Gavin Newsom for his bold new vision for California’s most infamous prison, San Quentin. In words and action, his administration is elevating the urgency to make corrective rehabilitation real in California, and creating a national model for an evidence-backed, effective justice system that actually builds safer communities. Crime survivors around this state, specifically those from communities most impacted by crime and violence every day, understand that the failed ‘tough on crime’ approaches of the past have proven to be ineffective in achieving the safety we all want to see. We understand, firsthand, the need to focus on innovations and strategies proven to actually interrupt the cycles of crime and drastically reduce recidivism.

Given the most recent Legislative Analyst’s Report on California’s bloated prison budget and dwindling inmate population, crime survivors urge Gov. Newsom to continue his ambitious work in closing unnecessary and costly facilities, while also expanding the rehabilitative and restorative services in carceral settings that are proven to decrease crime, prevent harm and increase safety.

According to the LAO analysis, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has the space to close five more entire prisons by 2027– without violating the federal court order that caps the system’s capacity. This is because our corrections department is currently operating with 15,000 empty beds, and without action, that number is expected to balloon to 20,000 empty beds by 2027. Previous California prison closures have resulted in ongoing General Fund savings in the hundreds of millions and allowed the state to avoid funding new infrastructure repairs to the now-closed facilities. Given that California is facing a whopping $31.5 billion budget deficit this year, it is more important than ever to protect our finances from these kinds of significant and unnecessary costs.

Those of us from the communities most impacted by crime know that punishment alone fails to address the drivers of crime. Study after study shows that incarceration alone does not stop cycles of crime and violence. Our national recidivism rates remain among the highest in the world. And a comprehensive National Academies of Sciences review of existing research concluded that prison sentences, particularly long sentences, are unlikely to deter future crime.

Additional research suggests that surrounding people with peers who have committed crimes while also cutting them off from their communities, families, and friends may increase their likelihood of committing future crimes.

And as a survivor of crime let me be perfectly clear about this: what survivors of crime want more than anything else is for what happened to us to never happen to anyone else ever again.

Importantly, the cost savings from closing unnecessary state prisons will allow the state to make stronger investments to plug major gaps in public safety approaches proven to actually prevent crime and harm, such as mental health treatment, violence prevention programs and community-based programs aimed at ensuring people regain economic security and family stability after coming home from a period of incarceration. Research backs up decades of survivors’ lived experience that over-reliance on enforcement and incarceration only compounds the conditions that create violence and does nothing to actually prevent crime in the first place. Rather than spend precious state dollars on empty prison beds, we can invest in proven, community-based initiatives like violence intervention, assertive outreach, youth employment and mentoring programming, community-based victim support and trauma recovery centers.

And as a survivor of crime let me be perfectly clear about this: what survivors of crime want more than anything else is for what happened to us to never happen to anyone else ever again. Indeed, a vast majority of victims in California believe prisons help rehabilitate people, and more than eight-out-of-10 victims would support using 10 percent of the state’s $14 billion+ annual prisons budget to fund mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment and trauma recovery services.

What we want is a plan to establish a new culture of accountability that moves us closer to a reality in which all communities can experience safety. Gov. Newsom must continue his work moving California away from an overreliance on punitive incarceration toward rehabilitative incarceration so we can protect California’s limited budgetary resources and help build a safer future for all.

We have made significant strides in recent years transforming the justice system into one that prioritizes the needs of communities and prevents crime and harm from occurring in the first place. Gov. Newsom has already announced the closure of four prison facilities due to steep inmate population declines, and the state’s most recent LAO report makes it clear: we need to close more.

Tinisch Hollins is the executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice and a member of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s San Quentin Transformation Advisory Council