Experts Expound

"With a budget shortage now estimated at $16 billion to $19 billion, the're's a new shock: The long-awaited plan to fix the prison system has $7 billion price tag, plus a long-term hit on the General Fund of $1.2 billion–all at a time when the economy is weakening. Is it time to free thousands of non-violent prisoners?"

And how much doobie have you been smoking? Thanks to Willie Horton, or Lee Atwater, that ain't gonna be happening.

Yes and have them trained by the State Building Trades and then put them get to work on the state's new highways. Let's fight crime and Rebuild California. It is a win-win!

Pass the time. Although I'd make room for John Yoo.

No. Early release will not reduce the receiver's price tag. The governor's early release proposal will save little or no money (and is only scored at a 375 million savings…far below 10 percent of the corrections budget) and will release prisoners onto our streets with little or no supervision. The resulting crime wave will only exacerbate our budget woes and put communities at risk.

"It's time to do a realistic assessment of the sentencing laws and parole policies that cost the state's taxpayers billions of dollars every year while providing questionable public safety benefits in return. Until legislators realize that increasing the prison terms for non-violent crimes isn't something voters actually care about, this is a problem that will only be solved by a wholesale opening of the doors."

Yes but it is also time to develop half way houses and other job transition programs for prisoners we release. those will cost money too. You can't just dump them on the streets. It is like a shell game for who pays.

Yes, absolutely yes.

I don't want them in my neighborhood, and neither do most Democrats nor Republicans. There's not going to be any changes.
It's time to Free the Weed.

If the Governor and the Democrats in the Legislature free thousands of non-violent prisoners instead of actually getting rid of some of the less important departments the following new Legislators will be in office — Assemblyman Jeandron, Assembly member Wilson/Rao/Kamena/Lloyd, Assemblyman Gilmore, Assemblywoman Holt, Assemblyman McCann, Senator Strickland and

Senator Aghazarian.

This will make Villines and Cogdill heroes with Republicans.

YES! Stop charging me to house, feed and care for men and women who pose no physical threat to anyone. It's time for my fellow Republicans to join me in this massive cost savings plan.

The Republican-led, tough-on-crime drive on Three Strikes is finally coming home to roost. So is their decades-long effort to build a prison-industrial complex in California. It's tempting to let them figure out how to pay for it all. Maybe now they'll realize it's time to ease up on non-violent offenders so they can return to their families and find jobs to help pay for the hard-core criminals who better deserve to be behind bars.

The people from whom we sought opinions: Elizabeth Ashford, Andrew Acosta, A.G. Block, Mark Bogetich, Barry Brokaw, Morgan Crinklaw, J Dale Debber, Peter DeMarco, Jim Evans, Kathy Fairbanks, Jeff Fuller, Rex Frazier, Ken Gibson, Evan Goldberg, Deborah Gonzalez, Sandy Harrison, Bob Hertzberg, Jason Kinney, Mike Madrid, Nicole Mahrt, Steve Maviglio, Adam Mendelsohn, Barbara O'Connor, Bill Packer, Kassy Perry, Jack Pitney, Adam Probolsky, Tony Quinn, Matt Rexroad, Matt Ross, Roger Salazar, Dan Schnur, Will Shuck, Ralph Simoni, Sam Sorich, Ray Sotero, Gary South, Kevin Spillane, Rich Zeiger.