Prison Population Drops for First Time in Years

California’s prison population declined slightly over the last year, the first such decrease in more than two decades, Department of Corrections officials said Monday.

The prison population of 161,401 in late June was 360 below the total last year at the same time, representing a year-to-year decline not seen in the nation’s largest prison system since 1977.

In describing monthly declines seen late last year for the first time in recent years, authorities both in and out of the Department of Corrections attributed the trend to a variety of factors including the buoyant economy, lower crime rates and improved supervision of parolees.

California Department of Corrections Director Cal Terhune said the slowdown in growth of prison populations began three years ago. It is unclear whether the decline since mid-1999 is temporary, he added.

‘We do not yet know if this slowdown over the past three years represents a long-term trend or a short-term picture,” Terhune said.

The change comes at the end of nearly two decades of spiraling prison growth. Between 1980 and 1989, the number of prisoners grew by 14.5% a year. During the 1990s, the growth averaged 6.3% a year. From 1996 to 1997, alone, the number of prisoners behind bars jumped by nearly 12,000.

Analysts have attributed much of that growth to demographics and to tougher sentencing such as the three-strikes law, which generally doubles sentences for second-time felons and imposes terms of 25 years to life on three-time felons.

The booming prison population fueled a wave of prison construction. Most of California’s 33 prisons were built last decade.

Corrections officials said it is too soon to back away from the state’s commitment to prison construction. Many of the facilities, like one being designed for the Central Valley town of Delano, are designed to house high-security prisoners, for whom the state adequate space, corrections officials said.

No other prisons are on the drawing board after the Delano facility. But the need for more space--particularly for maximum security prisoners--will have to be continually reassessed, said Judy McGillivray, deputy director of planning and construction for the Department of Corrections.

Terhune said his department deserves some of the credit for the drop in prison population. He noted that recidivism rates have decreased markedly. Nearly 70 in 100 offenders on parole returned to prison more than a decade ago, compared with 55 in 100 who return to lockups today.

A parolee program that provides substance abuse treatment, employment preparation and computer literacy has helped reduce the rates, Terhune said.

He said state budget additions will allow even more intense supervision, particularly of parolees who are mentally ill, violent or missed meetings with their parole agents.