| Are we ready for fourty thousand? | There is little doubt that the State of California is in a bind when it come to our current financial predicament. Major cut backs are taking place across the State, including within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Some have voiced concerns that the Department might release up toward 40,000 inmates early, others are looking forward to the day the prison gates will be opened. Naturally inmates and their families are keeping their fingers crossed while victims of crime are nervously monitoring the messages coming from both the Governor and CDCR. The general population is in a loose/loose situation; release and safety may be compromised. Not releasing and the State budget might not get out of the red for a long while. If the State is forced to decrease the numbers of inmates the Department have plans in place to do so without actually releasing anyone early. By simply adjusting the length of parole from 3 years to 6 month CDCR would be able to drop the number to the required level in two years. So the fear that public safety and security might suffer by early releases probably won’t be realized. On the other hand the hopes of many inmates that they will be out any time soon won’t happen either. But let’s say the scenario were to take place: I asked three people currently incarcerated and very much involved with POH what would happen if they were to be released tomorrow. You might be surprised to find that inmates themselves have no illusion of their lack of readiness. “If I were to be released tomorrow it would be a shock.” says Carlos C. “Waiting for release has put an automatic boundary in my mind, as if the day to parole is in 2011, not anytime sooner—in some case maybe even later”. Since his arrest at sixteen Carlos have grown up in prison. Nine years into his term he has managed to complete a college decree yet have no outside experience as an adult. Unlike most inmates his age Carlos have a very stable relationship with his wife and young daughter. Still, when asked what would happen if he was to be let go tomorrow his answer is sobering; “I would have to hope for the best but expect the worst.” - Moses on the other hand is four years away from release. The chance that he would be released early is very unlikely. He agrees that’s probably a good thing. He has not yet mentally shifted gear and finds himself in that difficult mid term period where he is tired of being locked up, yet unable to think of life on the streets. It’s just a very unproductive phase and without his participation in POH he would probably find himself on “cruise control” until a few weeks before his scheduled release in 2013
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