Tagged: realignment

Thirty years ago, the state spent three percent of its general fund dollars on corrections and prisons. Today it spends more than 11 percent – that’s $10 billion running the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

In 2011, when Governor Brown took office, he inherited a massive corrections problem. The state's 33 prisons were at nearly 200 percent capacity, and the recidivism rate was running at 70 percent. The federal courts stepped in and ordered California to reduce its overcrowded prisons by more than 30,000 people.

At the moment, Austin Hills is wearing an orange t-shirt, orange pants, and wrist shackles. He’s sitting in an interview room in the San Francisco County Jail in San Bruno.

Hills, who’s been in custody since December 31, 2011, was born and raised in San Francisco. He went to good schools and graduated from college. Now, he owns a business renting out luxury cars. After an incident late last year, Hills was arrested and charged with arson and making a criminal threat. He’s been in jail ever since – four months – because having been charged with multiple felonies, his bail was set high.

Not too long ago, the men now sitting around a table at the Contra Costa Probation Office were in prison. “I want to ask how long have you been in prison,” Chief Adult Probation Officer Philip Kader asks them. They respond with three, six and even 12 times.

But now they’re getting a taste of their newly found freedom. Thanks to realignment, they’re here under a new program called post-release community supervision. They’re having dinner with the probation officers that are responsible for them. Sharing a meal together is how they start their weekly class called “Thinking for a Change.”