The people of California pride themselves on many things.  Our state leads the nation in the fight to curb green house gases while boasting one of the strongest economies in the world, driven by high tech innovations, trade and agriculture.  We are a state that is proud of our rich culture and diversity; and we continue to be nationwide trendsetters when it comes to civil, human and workplace rights.  This is why it is so troublesome to me that as a state, we have failed to effectively tackle one of the greatest crises of our generation—diverting young offenders from becoming repeat visitors to the penal system.  The current prison budget is $10 billion, and it is clear to me that we are not going to be able to build our way out of our prison problems.

Seven out of every ten offenders will return to jail or prison.  This 70% recidivism rate is one of the highest in the nation and a glaring symptom of a broken system.  It also begs the question—where are we failing our children that they have no viable alternative to committing crimes?  This year has given us an historic opportunity to address the issue of our prison problems.  In one aspect, California leaders have been forced to seriously tackle the issues of an unacceptable prison recidivism rate, dangerous overcrowding conditions and deplorable access to healthcare by inmates.  All of these issues have contributed to a federal judicial system poised to remedy the problem without any regard to California’s budget priorities.   

Last December, a U.S. District Court Judge gave the state six months to provide a plan to remedy overcrowding in the state's prison system, which at that time was 70% over capacity.  Also last year, a federal judge appointed a receiver to overhaul the state prison's healthcare system, which an audit found to be wasting millions in taxpayer dollars and blatantly unconstitutional.  

When I was elected to the California State Assembly last year, we inherited a prison system that is broken from years of neglect.  However, I am eager to embrace this challenge and confront the real question plaguing the California Legislature:  How do we stop the problem at its source?  In other words, how do we as legislators and community leaders protect our most precious resource—our children—from getting thrown away into a revolving-door prison system that isn't working?  

One of my greatest legislative priorities is confronting the California prison crisis head on. My bill, the Probation Youth Success Act (AB 407), passed both the Assembly Public Safety and Education Committees with unanimous, bipartisan support, and provides for a three year pilot program of career and technical education, literacy support and transitional services to reduce the recidivism rate among youth in selected county-operated probation camps in Alameda and Los Angeles Counties.  This $4.5 million program includes a public-private partnership that will depend on government funds and the commitment of the business community to see our young people grow and prosper as contributing members of society.  The Youth Probation Success Act is structured to directly stop the high rate of recidivism dead in its tracks by instituting training and education for the incarcerated youth about to be released.  Repeatedly incarcerating the same youth only puts a band aid on the existing problem.  By investing in training and education for the troubled youth who enter the penal system, we provide practical alternatives to criminal acts and behaviors and produce a taxpaying responsible citizen. 

Stopping the revolving door not only makes moral sense, it makes economic sense.  For every youth averted from incarceration in a Division of Juvenile Justice facility, the state will save between $70,000 and $154,000 per year in detention and related costs.  For every youth prevented from going to prison as an adult, the state will save over $43,000 per inmate annually in detention costs alone.  Both the Legislative Analysts Office, which is California's nonpartisan fiscal and policy advisor, and the Chief Probation Officers of California, agree that instituting probation programs that are targeted at young adults will result in a reduction of crime and prison population growth. 

We already know that these programs work.  When I presented AB 407 to the Assembly Public Safety Committee in March, two young men who had gone through similar programs that my bill proposes testified from personal experience that this kind of investment has had a life changing effect on them.  Stated one:  "In my eyes, this program ultimately provided me an alternative to future incarceration by giving me a job skill and opportunity.  I am living proof that the program does work with youth's lives."  Knowing that this young man now works full-time at the national engineering firm that gave him a chance through a probation program fuels my conviction that the Youth Probation Success Act is the correct course of action in this environment of prison reform.  As wards of the State, these incarcerated youth are owed our attention and best judgment in rehabilitating them into contributing members of society.  If we achieve that, we will have eliminated the hidden taxes on the economy and society that are inherent to criminal behaviors.  Providing incarcerated youth with these skills before they re-enter society is a proven strategy for equipping them with the ability and confidence to succeed.  

I believe that AB 407, the Youth Probation Success Act, fulfills a fundamental obligation that we owe our children, which is to provide them with the tools and opportunities they deserve to lead productive and meaningful lives.  AB 407 is a proven way to show our children that we care.