It has been said for years that the State of California was not rehabilitating inmates in the California Department of Corrections but merely performing Human Warehousing so that the state receives it maximum reimbursement back from the Federal Government. Well, things have changed last November the voters approved a new ballot measure that makes simple possession a misdemeanor instead of a felony which in the past might have triggered a mandatory prison stay. This measure will also give judges more leeway under new sentencing guidelines to send addicts to treatment instead of prison. This new ballot measure doesn’t however cover sentences for other offenses that were performed while under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. A majority of those currently sentenced were under the influence of some type of narcotic when they committed their offense. It was noted in the Los Angeles Times during the year 1999 that it was the first year the prison population went down in 30 years in the state of California due to rehabilitation programs that were in place at the time. Since the year 2000, the State of California was forced to shut down most of these programs due to a lack of Federal funding.
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