Sentinel staff report–
Citrus Heights Police Chief Ron Lawrence, speaking in his role as president of the California Police Chiefs Association, called recent comments by Gov. Gavin Newsom about closing a state prison “reckless.”
In an interview with The Epoch Times published on Friday, Lawrence said “[t]he notion of closing a prison at this point in the history of our criminal justice system in California, frankly, is a reckless idea.”
Newsom’s comments on prisons made headlines a month ago after the Fresno Bee published a video interview where the governor said his administration has been moving forward on “re-imagining a 21st century criminal justice system,” with a focus on rehabilitation.
“I would like to see, in my lifetime and hopefully my tenure, that we shut down a state prison,” Newsom told The Bee’s editorial board in the interview. “But you can’t do that flippantly… and that requires an alternative that can meet everyone’s needs and desires.”
Chief Lawrence, in his comments to The Times, said recent state prison reform efforts in California have led to the overcrowding of county jails, which he said has subsequently led to more violence in jails and more criminals being released on the street. He argued that closing a prison will only add more problems.
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“Police chiefs don’t prefer incarceration of individuals,” Lawrence said in an email statement to The Sentinel on Saturday. “[R]ather, we prefer those who commit crimes to held accountable for the crimes they commit, get treatment for any addictions and [get] rehabilitated while in jail or prison, and ultimately become productive members of society.”
“Closing a prison is not the answer to accomplish these, and only serves to undermine the rehabilitation programs in place today,” said Lawrence.
The governor has not stated which of the state’s 34 prisons he’d like to shut down, but said in his interview with The Bee that “more specific, tangible things” related to criminal justice reform would be addressed in his budget proposal later this month, and also likely in his 2020 State of the State address.
The governor’s video interview with The Fresno Bee can be viewed online, here. Chief Lawrence’s interview with the Epoch Times article can be read online, here.
