In 2009, a panel of three federal judges ruled that California’s prison capacities were at an unconstitutional level. 

Now in 2013, Gov. Brown plans to expand prison capacity to keep up with a federal court order on prison crowding at the cost of $315 million this year alone. 

Brown will keep up with federal standards for inmates by moving them into a prison in California City owned by Tennessee-based prison company Corrections Corp. This move is a massive step in the wrong direction and will set a terrible precedent in California.

 Thankfully, not everyone is on board with Brown’s plan. President pro tempore of the California State Senate, Darrell Steinberg, has called Brown’s plan “money down a rat hole” and “a risky gamble.”

 Steinberg stresses that instead of simply expanding California’s prisons, the state should take measures to reduce prison populations with rehabilitation programs and improved mental health services.

 “Temporarily expanding California’s prison capacity is neither sustainable nor fiscally responsible,” Steinberg said in a statement to Gov. Brown’s office regarding Brown’s proposal. 

Steinberg proposed the state ask for a three-year extension on the federal ruling on prison overcrowding so that all possible avenues could be considered.

 If the plan succeeds in the Senate, not only will it cost the California taxpayers $315 million this year, but it is also expected to increase to $415 million next year alone.

According to a legislative analysis, California spends $142 per prisoner, per day, for inmates kept in prisons run by the state. It would be substantially cheaper to move these inmates to private prisons – they only charge about $63 a day. 

Efficiency is always a good thing, especially if it can save the taxpayer money, but California’s correctional department should never turn a profit for private institutions.

Despite what the convicts did to end up behind bars, the state has a duty to make sure these criminals are still treated fairly in the system. When you break the social contract, you serve your time to the state, and hopefully come out a better person than when you went in. 

Now, 63 percent of inmates return to incarceration, according to a 2012 California Department of Corrections evaluation and dismal as the current “revolving door” situation the California prison system is in it will only be made worse by stockholders and corporate heads who will likely see these human beings as nothing but numbers to meet quotas.

After all, anyone who has taken a high school economics class knows that a corporation such as Corrections Corp must do one thing – make a profit. 

According to Business Insider, Corrections Corp has lobbied congress to the tune of $17.4 million since 2003 for stricter laws in America. And why not? After all, Corrections Corp has a vested interest in keeping prisons full.

 When Corrections Corp. built its facility at California City in 1999, it did so at the cost of $100 million. Corrections Corp. charges the state $214 million a year for the prisoners it already houses. Allowing the prison to house even more prisoners and charge even more scratch for its services is a terrible precedent to set when it comes to how the state deals with inmates.