In the public relations rag for Mike Ramos (the Sun Newspaper--this time, though below the front page fold!!), Ramos proposes "to seek tougher penalties for parolees who commit new crimes under a policy to be implemented by the DA's office" because of early release plans by the state due to [the] budgetary crises".
First, was Ramos letting parole violators off or giving them inappropriate sentences before?? If so, he needs to do some answering.
Second, Ramos should do whatever is appropriate, but implementing a determinate sentencing plan is hardly what an office that is already over budget and in desperate need of moving pending case volume down should be doing. The Deputy District Attorneys (DDA) need the flexibility to move cases that should be moved, so they can free up time and resources and litigate the bigger cases.
Third, it almost seems as if Ramos does not trust his DDA's to do what is appropriate? Why does Ramos need to micromanage staff? If you read his soon to be coming out campaign mailers, he will tell you he is the big and bad crime fighter? Why mess with success if true?
Bob Conaway
Candidate for San Bernardino County District Attorney
Why I never see anyone in law enforcement addressing why prisoners leave the prison system only to return at about 80% recidivism, I just don't understand. No one wants to talk about how insane the prison environment has become, such that survival demands have rendered rehabilitation efforts ineffective, or how rehabilitation programs have virtually all been discontinued. Nor does anyone want to recognize that the little question on every Employment Application -- Have you ever been arrested or convicted of a felony? -- prevents parolees without "connections" in a business from being hired if they check Yes. First, law enforcement permits a prison environment that brings out the primal survival instincts for years on end, imposes difficult parole conditions when these guys are paroled, and then keeps them out of nearly every decent job market where they could possibly create a successful law-abiding life for themselves despite any prison-made disorders they likely left prison with. What I see is quibbling about money, and no dialogue about how California prisons tend to destroy those who came in already dysfunctional. Interesting industry we have here. Truth is, California citizens can't trust anyone in law enforcement to do what is appropriate because keeping the System foot on the neck of the inmate and parolee group is politically popular. I think politicians should just stop complaining about recidivism and what prisons and prisoners cost. If you create the problem, you got to live with the consequences, just like the convicts have to live with the consequences of their actions, even where the consequences are misguided and irrational.
ReplyDeleteAs a District Attorney candidate, all I can do is promise to urge staff to look at what is being charged and if it is a wobbler and the person butfor the one mistake is otherwise a stalwart member of the community, to allow staff to consider possible pleas deals which do not forever brand the person socio-economically as a felon-- also, creative (but appropriate) alternative sentencing may in the right case provide some relief and frankly, be a better outcome. Taking off my DA candidate hat, I see some problems as (1) The prison industry is big money--between the prison guard unions (one of the top 3 or 4 political contributors in the state), the trades that make money building new prisons (also sources of big money to candidates), the sheriffs in counties like San Bernardino that are trying to get into the prison business by buying up privately owned lock-ups, there is economic power, incentive and opportunity to push political buttons for votes; (2) The optimistic approach is that if the economy grows, there will be more jobs for parolees to do, but the problem is that job growth is not in the short term cards and what is left is the scramble for what is left and the problems it creates. Whatever the solution, we need to keep dialogue open, honest and continuous.
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