In an effort to bring the State budget under control, California lawmakers have slashed spending in many areas, including education. Over the last two years, $18 billion of the education budget has been cut. After-school and summer programs have been cancelled, and 26,000 teachers have been laid off. The $50 billion education budget allocates $7,440 per child, per year.
By comparison, the money spent on housing each prisoner is seven times as high.
According to a recent report by Sacramento television station News10/KXTV, California spends $53,263 per year, or $143 per day, on each of its 166,000 prisoners. More than fifty percent of the prison budget pays for operating costs, such as maintenance and perimeter security. Another thirty five percent is used to pay for 24 hour a day staff supervision of the inmates. The $53,363 price tag for each prisoner can be compared to the cost of college tuition, room, and board for one year at a California university or college. That price range includes the highest cost, $50,576 at Stanford, to $25,850 at University at Davis, California.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed an $800 million cut in the prison budget, according to the Governor's Deputy Director of Finance, H.D. Palmer. A proposed state constitutional amendment was offered in January by Schwarzenegger. The ammendment would put a cap of seven percent on correctional spending, and would require at least ten percent of the budget to be spent on higher education. So far, the State Legislature has not moved on that proposal. Meanwhile, some California citizens have responded to News10/KXTV's story by proposing measures of their own on how to reduce the prison budget. The suggestions range from alternatives to incarceration programs, to the immediate deportation of illegal aliens in the prison system.
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