this week's post is about the ratio of Californian inmates to civilians, or California's "incarceration rate." an incarceration rate is expressed as "inmates per 100,000 persons" (examples provided below). this blog post will also compare California's incarceration rate to the rest of the U.S. and the world, and also address other ways to measure the expansive Californian prison system.
the U.S. has the world's highest national incarceration rate: 670 inmates per 100,000 persons (Sentencing Project). many of us may have heard the statistic that the U.S. is just 4.4% of the total population of the world, but home to 22% of the world's incarcerated population (Washington Post). so if you're from California, that means you're from the country that leads the world in detaining its own civilians.
Oklahoma and Louisiana currently have the highest incarceration rates in the U.S. with Oklahoma nearing 1,079 inmates per 100,000 persons. California's population is the highest in the U.S. (39 million people), producing an incarceration rate just around 581 inmates per 100,000 persons. California's incarceration rate is below the U.S. average but still well above average global rates (Prison Policy Initiative 2018).
maybe to gauge California's dependence on incarceration, one can consider other factors including the following...
history of state prison operations
before 1850, prisons were used by Spanish colonizers up and down the land that would one day be called California. for example, the Presidio in San Francisco was used by the Spanish as a garrison and a prison. additionally, Catholic officials at Mission Dolores in San Francisco used incarceration to control and exterminate Native American families.
after 1850, penitentiary construction was an early priority for the newly established government of California. the state's first prison, San Quentin State Prison, opened in 1852 — just two years into California's statehood. the state's first execution occurred in 1893 at San Quentin (CDCR). evidence shows that, throughout California history, prisons were used not only for corrections or rehabilitation, but also for execution.
the 1980s was when California accelerated its construction of prisons. today, there are over 40 state prison institutions operated by the CDCR — and, of course, hundreds more correctional facilities under federal, local, and private operation (see: ca count).
incarceration in California has been foundational since the establishment of the state. current attachment to this system could be, in part, due to corporate greed and the profitability of the industry (which is conversely very expensive for taxpayers, both financially and socially). and also maybe it's partially due to the fact that there's never been an American iteration of California that didn't incarcerate its own people... imagine that.
taxpayer money spent on corrections annually
in 2015, California spent up to $8.6 billion total on corrections (Vera Institute).
in 2018, California spent $12,14,288 on funding California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation programs alone (CDCR).
in 2015, on average the state paid $64,642 yearly per inmate.
in 2018, the figure per inmate rose to an estimated $81,203, according to California legislative officials.
California is, without any doubt, the nation's top spender on incarceration.
(yes, California pays tax-dollars to private prison corporations like the Geo Group and CoreCivic. and federal tax money is also allocated to federal prison facilities in California.)
annual profits earned by private prison contracts in California
California currently contracts with the following private prison companies: Geo Group, CoreCivic (aka CCA), and Management and Training Corporation (MTC).
in 2015, Geo Group reported yearly earnings of $1.84 billion. though the company operates nationwide, their 2018 report shows that contracts in California made up 3% of the company's revenue that year. if we guess 3% x $2.33billion, then California inmates earned the Geo Group somewhere around $69,900,000 in 2018.
70 million dollars!
and that's just one company's numbers.
longterm statewide prison plans: construction or deconstruction?
even though California's incarceration rate is below the U.S. average, its statewide corrections spending ranks highest in the nation. and while some facilities have closed since the beginning of the 2010s, expansions and construction have continued as well (Board of State and Community Corrections, BSCC).
in his 2019 inaugural address, Governor Gavin Newsom promised to fold the private prison industry in the state. recently, the last California prison inmates housed out-of-state were returned to in-state facilities (CDCR 2019). will the Governor continue going after private contracts?
in recent years California has emboldened and expanded the city and county jail system, seemingly to take pressure off the CDCR with its reputation of being overcrowded and extremely expensive. this development seems parallel with police departments receiving hand-me-down weapons and vehicles from the Department of Defense in a national trend of militarizing local law enforcement agencies.
California is also increasing its implementation of alternatives to detention, like using county probation. for example, "in 2017, about half of inmates released from state prison (17,400) went to county probation—known as Post-Release Community Supervision—instead of state parole (18,200). By July 2018, the parole population was 47,500 (PPIC January 2019)." also, "County sheriffs are using alternatives such as electronic monitoring, day reporting centers, community service, and alternative work programs (PPIC January 2019)."
tldr: California's incarceration rate, while below the U.S. average is still higher than most places around the world. but to gauge the state's dependence on incarceration, there are other factors to consider, including: California's use of prisons since even before 1850s, the large sums taxpayer money spent on California's corrections, high profits made from private corrections contracts in California, and the state's longterm plans for incarceration policy.
thanks for reading. feel free to share, comment, and also leave suggestions for future blog posts. this one was a suggestion from a friend of thesussery.
additional resources: