Deukmejian Asks for $77 Million to Ease Prison ‘Crisis’

Gov. George Deukmejian, declaring that “prison overcrowding has reached crisis proportions,” asked the Legislature on Monday for $77 million and a waiver of the state’s strict environmental review process to clear the way for emergency construction of 5,050 new prison beds by next July.

The crash construction program would increase capacity at low- and medium-security institutions in Tehachapi, Jamestown and Susanville; convert day rooms and other prison facilities into cell blocks, and temporarily house minimum-security inmates at two California Conservation Corps camps in Northern California.

Additionally, an abandoned Conservation Corps facility in the San Gabriel Valley, Camp Klein, would be permanently converted into a minimum-security prison.

In a special message to the Legislature, Deukmejian called for obtaining the $77 million from offshore oil revenues and the state’s $1-billion surplus. He also proposed a $500-million bond issue for the November, 1986, ballot to speed and expand a much-delayed effort to build 10 new prisons by 1989. The program is going forward under $1.2-billion in bond issues approved by voters in 1982 and 1984.

In what is bound to be his most controversial request, Deukmejian asked the Legislature to loosen requirements for environmental reviews, not only on his emergency construction program but on all future prison projects, including one proposed for Los Angeles County.

Administration sources said their aim is to reduce legal challenges by environmental and community groups that have delayed much of the governor’s ambitious plan to nearly double the state’s prison capacity by the end of the decade.

The crash construction program immediately drew fire from environmentalists and the Legislature’s Democratic leaders, who predicted a major fight.

In his message, Deukmejian said the state’s crime rate has steadily declined over the last four years, while the prison population has soared.

“With an average increase of 170 additional inmates into our state prison system every week, you and I face a harrowing choice: We can either act decisively and immediately to expand our state prison capacity, or we may no longer be able to continue to remove more violent criminals from the communities of California. To me, that’s no choice at all.”

Deukmejian cautioned, however, that even if all of his requests are approved, it is unlikely to permanently resolve the problem of where to house the state’s rapidly increasing prison population.

Department of Corrections officials say the state’s 12 prisons hold about 48,000 inmates in facilities designed for about 29,000. As a result, inmates are sleeping in warehouses and hallways, and offices are being hastily converted to prison cells.

At the same time, prison violence has escalated, particularly at maximum-security facilities such as Folsom and San Quentin.

All of this presents a serious political problem for Deukmejian, who was elected to office on a strong pledge to get criminals off the streets and now finds he has no place to put them. In his message, Deukmejian attempted to put the best face on the situation, saying that his dilemma is “born not of failure but success” in obtaining more convictions and longer sentences.

Yet, unless the Legislature acts quickly--there are only four weeks left before adjournment--the prison situation is likely to deteriorate further, leaving Deukmejian vulnerable to political attack when he faces reelection in 1986.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers agree that something needs to be done quickly. However, some lawmakers are annoyed because Deukmejian’s request comes so late in the session and because the $1.2 billion already approved by voters for prison construction has not resulted in a single new cell being completed.

Leaders of the Democratic-controlled Assembly and Senate predicted on Monday that the plan will meet strong resistance, particularly the governor’s proposal to scuttle formal environmental reviews.

“I have real problems with waiving environmental requirements,” said Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco).

Brown chided Deukmejian for suggesting a solution only “in the twilight of this session,” but he predicted that “something will be done.” He also said he would not support any measure that would deprive local community groups of the power to challenge new prison locations.

Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti (D-Los Angeles) said he believes that the environmental waivers are “negotiable items” that the Administration might abandon in exchange for other concessions to speed completion of the prison construction program.

Under existing law, all major projects must undergo a thorough analysis of their effect on water, air and other environmental factors. Community groups that oppose prisons often mount legal challenges to the environmental review process to hold up the projects.

Review Process

In the case of Deukmejian’s emergency construction proposal, no environmental review process would be required for expansion of existing prisons or use of Conservation Corps camps, including the new permanent prison camp planned for the San Gabriel Valley.

For all future prisons, including those planned for Corcoran, Riverside, Soledad and Los Angeles, the Deukmejian Administration is seeking an abbreviated environmental review that could be completed in 60 days, with final approval by a legislative committee.

Gerald Meral, a spokesman for the Planning and Conservation League, said such environmental waivers would be a “total mistake” that would set a dangerous precedent and ultimately backfire, because serious environmental problems would go unchecked.

Notable Exceptions

However, Rodney J. Blonien, undersecretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, said the precedent was set when the Legislature waived environmental requirements for other projects, most notably exemptions for the Olympics and a recently abandoned high-speed rail project proposed to run between Los Angeles and San Diego.

“We feel the prisons are at least as important as the Olympics and (there is a) need to move ahead without being hamstrung by the environmental process,” Blonien said.