May Blog

I just received my first response to my blog posts. A great man told me that writing was like pouring water from a bucket, you must be careful when your bucket is too full. Pour carefully because when you pour too fast, the water goes where you did not intend for it to go. The more you pour, the lighter the bucket will become.

I am sometimes not careful where and when I pour. I just slop it all over the place. I am not carrying a bucket, I carry a water tank. :)

By now, most of you may have heard the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision for California's prisons. I know this is not a popular discussion, but think about it for a minute. In order for the court to make such an extreme decision, how bad must the conditions be in here? Does a prisoner's life have value? Can an inmate be a productive member of society? Do we as a society have so little compassion that we just lock people up and throw them away with no chance of redemption?

YES, there are people who need to be here for the rest of their natural life. Is California so narrow-minded that the only answer they have is to "lock 'em up"? The state of California houses more inmates than most countries! That in itself is quite a statement.

If you rehabilitate instead of incarcerate (or while incarcerating), it will improve society and the economy in the long run. Are people aware that the budget for California's prisons is ten billion dollars? There is absolutely no accountability and lots of waste. Other states have managed to incorporate true rehabilitation, and it continues to work. The only reason I can see for not incorporating true rehabilitation is that if they do rehabilitate, what better way to keep a multi-billion dollar giant going? If they truly rehabilitate, then the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will cease to be the money pit that it has become. Jobs will be reduced and the Union CCPOA will cease to be the giant that it is.

Is it all a scare tactic? There have been inmate releases before in California with no discernible spike in crime. Ronald Reagan did it. I am not just for opening the gates and letting thousands of inmates run the streets. Look at the statistics and see who is the least likely to re-offend. As long as you mandate some type of after care.

OK, so there are no easy answers and it will be interesting to see what becomes of California Department of Corrections. If any of you know what the general public's perception is out there, please write me and let me know. Or leave a post and it will be sent to me. I remind everyone that these are just my opinions and they are subject to change when I hear something to change my mind. Hope to hear from you soon. If you leave a comment, it will be sent to me and I will answer it. If you want, you can write me at the address on my profile page.

Love through struggle.

Terra O'Key