California Governor Gray Davis and the politics of law and order [View All]

[IndianaGreen]

California Governor Gray Davis and the politics of law and order
By Shannon Jones
2 October 2003

The fact that Davis insists on expanding the state’s prison system under conditions of a virtual financial meltdown says a great deal about the social base upon which his administration rests. It is also a telling exposure of the Democratic Party, which has systematically adapted itself to the program of the Republican right, abandoning its previous connection to policies of liberal reform and competing with its rival big business party for the mantle of law-and-order “toughness.”

The 2003-2004 California budget allocates some $5.2 billion for the prisons. By comparison, California community colleges will get $4.4 billion and the University of California system just $2.9 billion. A total of only $14 billion is allocated for health care, under conditions where more than 7 million Californians lack health insurance.

The growth of California’s prison population has been astounding, even by US standards. In 1976 California had just 19,600 inmates and it spent six times more on higher education than prisons.

Since 1980 California has built 23 prisons and only one new university. California currently incarcerates more than 160,000 people. Its prison system is the third largest in the world behind China and the United States as a whole. More people are held in jail in California than in France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and Singapore combined. More young black and Latino men are in prison than are attending college.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/oct2003/cali-o02.shtml