tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019576612260940832.post4519664820737050419..comments2024-03-16T03:02:39.336-07:00Comments on California Grand Jury News: Meg Whitman's plan to reduce fraud and abuseKathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04189195739707792418noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019576612260940832.post-85070925047345987922010-09-07T07:24:44.460-07:002010-09-07T07:24:44.460-07:00You don’t need a grand jury to find waste in State...You don’t need a grand jury to find waste in State government. Anyone can just look at a couple facts to find massive waste in the prison system budget. According to the Department of Corrections budget, contract beds cost $22,500 less to operate than a standard prison bed. The beds cost nothing for construction. Ignoring this fact, less than 3% of California’s prison inmates are in contract beds compared to 13% in Texas and 16.5% in the Federal prison system. If California had 16.5% of its inmates in contract facilities, over $500 million in operating costs would be saved annually and it wouldn’t be necessary to spend $6.5 billion for new prison construction. Contract beds can and should be used to house technical parole violators and inmates serving sentences of less than a year (“wobblers”). Both the operating and construction cost savings could be applied to the deficit. Instead of increasing contract beds to save money, the State has been closing contract facilities. Those obvious facts should save the cost of investing in a grand jury to find waste!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com