“California’s obsession with incarceration – at $50K a year per adult, $250K per juvenile – is unsustainable! 

It’s estimated that over a 10 year period, more than 90 percent of our adult California prisoners will be arrested again or be returned to prison or jail.  So we’re talking about a system that has a huge failure rate.  Why do some people stop offending?  The research shows that a big factor is employment – to come out and have some financial stability. Another crucial factor is family connections. Those inmates who stay connected to family members do substantially better upon release.  A third is transitional housing.  In the last several years we’ve seen a growth of homelessness among formerly incarcerated people, both adults and youth.  Providing housing for the first 90 days after release is critical – making sure nobody leaves prison with just $200 in their pocket and no place to go.”     

Criminologist Barry Krisberg, UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Criminal Justice