Pandering on Crime in CA.

The Sacramention Bee has an editorial taking both Schwarzenegger and Angelides to task for failing to come up with a solution to the issue of our failing prison system and for pandering to the prison guards union and citizen fear. As I've said before, both want to reinvigorate the building boom of years past which hasn't solved the problem and haven't come up with any true solutions. The SacBee says:

Neither Schwarzenegger nor Angelides has answered obvious questions. Why do we have overcrowding in our prisons despite having built 22 new prisons? Why is the prison population growing when crime rates are decreasing? Neither has presented an analysis showing where the growth in prisoners is coming and what custody levels -- minimum to maximum -- are needed.

California doesn't need new state prisons. The state needs to get serious about what to do with low-level, nonviolent offenders. The state needs sentencing reform that metes out long sentences to violent criminals and shorter sentences or alternatives for low-level, nonviolent offenders. It needs a more effective parole system. We need to invest in more county jail beds and other community alternatives for shorter-term, low-level, nonviolent offenders.

They are preaching to the choir here, but is anyone is our state government listening?