3 experts on how California prisons have changed in the Newsom era

from Adam AshtonCalMatters

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

California’s criminal justice system looks different in a very tangible way compared to when Gov. Gavin Newsom took office seven years ago.

There is less prisons thanks to a drastic drop in the number of people the state incarcerates. Directs more resources to rehabilitation programs. And at the prison, which formerly held death row inmates, inmates can see the San Francisco Bay from new education center this is intended to help prepare them for life outside.

That raises the question of whether the next governor will continue Newsom’s emphasis on rehabilitating incarcerated people or go in a different direction?

This week, CalMatters hosted a panel discussion on what’s next for criminal justice in California that included Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman, Heidi Rummel of the Post-Conviction Justice Project, and Dave Lewis, the longtime head of the Department of Corrections who led the planning and construction of state prison facilities.

CalMatters Reporter Joe GarciaCalifornia Local News contributor moderated the panel. He is a former jailed journalist who is represented on the parole board by Rummel.

In different ways, each panelist is involved in bringing justice to victims of crime and shaping opportunities for people in prison who want to thrive.

“The power of hope can really move mountains, and I’ve seen it in so many people that I’ve worked with,” said Rummel, who has represented incarcerated people in parole hearings. She supports policies that provide incentives for inmates to pursue rehabilitation and earn a chance at freedom.

“It is my firm belief that there are many people in our prisons trapped by the sentencing regimes of the 1980s, frankly racist sentencing regimes, who could safely be released,” she said.

Hochman took office last year after defeating progressive prosecutor George Gascon. Hochmann’s victory is perceived as vote for harsher sentences as a result of voter disillusionment with crime following the COVID-19 pandemic.

He emphasized that the system should provide a sense of justice and retribution for victims of crime, although he said this did not necessarily depend on long prison sentences.

Hochman has visited San Quentin to see the changes aimed at Newsome suspension of the death penalty and an order for the removal of death row inmates. The prosecutor said he met inmates who took rehabilitation seriously and were aware of the pain they caused their victims.

“I was expecting to get out and I just thought we should throw the key away and not give anybody — especially these people — a second chance,” Hochmann said. “I came away feeling that even people who have done things that should stay in prison for the rest of their lives, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t invest in them while they’re in prison so they can do something productive while they’re there.”

Lewis had a role in designing the new San Quentin Education Center. It aims to evoke a different feel from what he described as bleak correctional settings marked by dirt fields and high walls.

Rethinking prisons to support one’s growth can deter crime, he said.

“There’s a lot of a sense that ‘criminals have nothing coming their way,'” he said, describing conversations with friends and family. “I was like, OK, but what about their community? And the community they’re coming back to? What’s in it for their community to come to them?”

“If we just send them back, you’re recycling the problem,” he said. “We can prevent the next victim by providing opportunities.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.