IN SUMMARY
- California is incarcerating 70,000 fewer people than it held in 2010, enabling the Newsom administration to close five state prisons.
- A new analysis says the state can close one more and still meet its capacity requirements.
By the time Gov. Gavin Newsom leaves office, California will have five fewer state prisons than when he came into power.
Some California state lawmakers want to make it six.
They’re pointing to a new analysis that shows the state’s incarcerated population has fallen so dramatically that California can close another prison and still have capacity for the 90,000 or so people presently locked up.
That report prompted blunt questions to California Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Macomber at a budget hearing last week. Lawmakers anticipate tight budgets if not deficits in upcoming years, and the Newsom administration estimates that closing a prison saves about $150 million a year.
