Monday, September 28, 2009

Financial Appropriation?

May 14, 2009:
"To date, $356 million has been authorized for the new CIC. The original project was designed to provide 1,408 beds which were projected to meet the CDCR’s condemned inmate population needs through 2037, but unless CDCR determines it can double-cell the inmates, the CIC will hit capacity just three years after it opens.
The state deficit is currently projected to be $15 billion. In the event the measures fail on the ballot next Tuesday, the Governor predicts the budget deficit will reach $21 billion. San Quentin is estimated to be worth upwards of $2 billion."

According to the DPIC (Death Penalty Information Center); "Using conservative rough projections, the Commission estimates the annual costs of the present (death penalty) system to be $137 million per year... The cost of a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty would be $11.5 million per year."

Putting those facts together;

The California Budget Administration proposed a $215 million dollar a year budget cut for community colleges last year. Governor Schwarzenegger authorized $356 million for facilities for prisoners condemned to death row, in a system of capital punishment that is already costing the state $137 million a year.
I don't see how it makes sense to force students to drop out of college due to insufficient space, yet spend almost twice as much in a single year on death row.
How can this be allowed to happen? Where executions have taken financial precedence over education?

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