California Prison Teachers Protest Layoffs

Here we have the highest recidivism rate by far at 70+ %- California is long known as the ‘revolving door’ system. I find this article a bit ironic!! And we all know there is NO REHAB and hasnt been for some time now!! CDCr doesnt cut admin, they cut all programs!

Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer

Posted: 11/12/2009

The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will soon slash drug rehab programs for state inmates as part of $1.2 billion in budget cuts – though some fear the severe program reduction may be more trouble than its benefit.The system will have enough money to treat 2,350 inmates, down 80 percent from the current 12,164. State officials say between 600 and 900 counselors and teachers will be laid off in the corrections drug rehab and academic reduction plan.The California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, which specializes in substance abuse rehabilitation, will have its treatment load reduced from 914 to 225.

The 650 inmates receiving treatment at the California Institution for Men in Chino will be reduced to 150. The 752 at the California Institution for Women will drop to 175.

“Those inmates will have very little treatment service to deal with behavioral issues that they’ve spent years to develop, most of of which was put on them from an early age,” said Darrol Monfils, a drug counselor at the California Institution for Women. “Their chances of succeeding are slim.”

Treatment programs, which had normally lasted nine months to more than a year, will be cut down to about three months. Monfils said he fears not only the loss of his job, but a reduction in the effectiveness of prison substance abuse programs and a possible increase in recidivism.

“California prisoners will be paroling inmates with little or no

rehabilitation,” he said. “They will be paroling with the same behaviors as they did when they arrived. Now, having said that, there will be a few exceptions to the rule, but they will be the larger minority.Matthew Cate, state corrections secretary, said the state budget crisis has forced the department to make a “tough choice” with significant budget cuts and layoffs in order to meet a $1.2 billion shortfall. Cate and spokeswoman Peggy Bengs said Corrections is using the money it has to more carefully target substance abuse programs for the inmates most in need.

“One thing we are doing is we are now scientifically evaluating and assessing inmates, those at the highest risk of recidivism and so we are targeting our resources to that population group and identifying what their needs are,” Bengs said.

She said the new approach is a “research-based risk and needs assessment tool to assist us to place the right inmates in the right program at the right time.

“We had a first-come, first-serve sort of a system, and that was not always an effective use of resources,” she said.

David Conn, senior vice president for Mental Health Systems, Inc., the substance abuse rehabilitation company that contracts at CIW, said he has concerns, despite the targeting of resources.

“Let me say the state did not want to make these cuts,” Conn said. “These were sort of last-minute budget cuts to balance the budget, and everyone agrees it’s probably a foolish decision. Individuals who are incarcerated to support drug habits will not receive substance abuse treatment. The likelihood of them reoffending increases significantly.”

Still, Bengs said it is difficult to foresee the impact the reductions will have on inmates returning to prison. Corrections, she said, will encourage community programs for inmates who participate in the prison rehabilitation programs.

“Statistics show that substance abuse programs combined with a community program after release, reduces recidivism,” Bengs said.

“All of the inmates who participate in substance abuse in the prison have an opportunity to participate in community substance abuse programs. It’s voluntary but they are strongly encouraged to do it and we’ve had a good success with that.”

Contracts for substance abuse companies operating at substance abuse treatment programs in state prisons end by January. Monfils, like other rehabilitation counselors, won’t know if he will return to work next year until Corrections announces winning bids on new contracts by the first of next year.

Conn said the reductions will reduce his rehab workers from a high of 970 to 120.

“I’m somewhat heartbroken and sad and of course unsure about what I’m going to do,” Monfils said. “But the inmates are upset about it as well, because they love being here and they love coming here.”

Source: Contra Costa Times

By Sara Sandrik

Chowchilla, California (KFSN) — The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is planning to cut between 600 and 900 prison staff members across the state to deal with a more than one billion dollar budget deficit.

But employees at the two prisons in Chowchilla say the proposed lay-offs come with too high of a price for the public.

Dozens of staff members from the two women’s prisons in Chowchilla rallied outside the gates of the Central California Women’s Facility in hopes of sending a message to the community.

John Plain said, “The state of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to severely cut the number of teachers who work in prisons and that will severely impact public safety, and we want them to know what’s coming.”

Many of the protestors are teachers or vocational instructors. They say their classes and programs help prepare the women serving time inside these walls to be contributing members of society once their sentences are complete. They teach everything from reading and math to carpentry and landscaping.

Catherina Fowler said, “We also teach life skills which is important. We teach people how to balance a checkbook, how to read a contract, how to apply for a job.”

The teachers say without those skills, the women are more likely to commit crimes and end up back in prison. But prison officials say the state budget has left them with no choice but to scale back the programs.

Bart Fortner said, “We’re looking at anywhere from 30 to 50 percent cut in staffing in our education and vocation programs.”

Spokesman Bart Fornter says CCWF and the other state prisons will try to minimize the impact of those cuts by giving help first to the inmates who are closest to being released. There are also plans to use teachers aides instead of certified teachers … and to train inmates to mentor each other. But the protestors say those substitutes won’t be the same. And it will still leave them out in the cold.

Barbara Greninger said, “We are about to join one of the largest unemployment lines there is.”

The protestors say the programs also save taxpayers money by keeping released inmates from returning to prison. They’re asking residents to contact their legislators and demand they prevent the lay-offs.

Meanwhile, officials here at cCWF say they’re still waiting on word on exactly how many positions will be cut.

Source: ABC Local