Fewer prisoners, bigger prison budgets

Since 2011, despite the state’s prison population declining by almost a quarter, California’s prison spending has ballooned by over a third, according to an analysis by the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
It’s not hard to understand why: both Democratic and Republican members of the state Legislature have consistently put the interests of California’s prison guards union ahead of actually building a sensible criminal justice system.
While it