BUILDING PRISONS IS NO SOLUTION

Stewart A. Alexander

2006 Candidate

California Lieutenant Governor

Peace and Freedom Party

California is facing an enormous task in dealing with the state’s prison population soaring well above the maximum limits, and conditions are only getting worst. Governor Schwarzenegger has promised major parole reform and has proposed increase spending to build more prison facilities however the governor has done little or nothing during his term in office that would indicate a serious plan for action.

“We have a serious problem with overcrowding in state prisons and county jail facilities throughout California and we need serious solutions, not just political rhetoric”, a statement made by Stewart Alexander, a candidate for California Lieutenant Governor for the Peace and Freedom Party.

Alexander also said, “We have women and men receiving poor health care, inadequate provisions and are being murdered because the governor has failed to act, and now his plan calls for building more prisons to exacerbate the problem. I recently made a visit to the Lake Elsinore Animal Friends shelter, also known as LEAF, and the condition and care the animals received in this facility was better and provided safer conditions than what prisoners receive in state prisons”.

The state’s prison population is expected to climb over 171,000 inmates in 2006 and most California prisons are close to being double the capacity limits. The state has recently completed a decade of building prisons, adding 22 new facilities statewide. Alexander says, “Now Schwarzenegger wants to borrow nearly $8 billion against the future income of Californians to throw more taxpayer dollars toward a broken down system”.

The Peace and Freedom Party believes it is not necessary to spend any state revenues on new prisons in the state; they need only to improve conditions in existing facilities and to reduce overcrowding. Stewart Alexander and the PFP also stands firm behind abolishing the state’s “three-strikes” law because it has been applied disproportionately to incarcerate Hispanics, Blacks, poor Whites, homeless and mentally ill individuals for longer prison terms only to fuel the prison industrial complex.

Alexander says, “I believe Sacramento can cut the state’s prison population in half by 2010 with responsible planning and reform. The planning starts with spending no additional revenues on building prisons and the reform is all about abolishing the “three-strikes” law and fixing our criminal justice system. Californians should not be spending billions on special interest projects to help elect Schwarzenegger into office for a second term; however voters need to be patient until November to vote the governor out of office and to elect a real governor.

stewartalexander4p&f@adelphia.net

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